It is difficult to realize there was a time when the summit of Mount Everest was as remote as the surface of the moon.

   Then, in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary stood where no man had stood before.

   Now-- in what has to be one of the strongest environmental ironies--so many people have followed in Hillary's footsteps that the trail to the summit is one of the more polluted areas on the planet.

  It is equally difficult to realize, in 2008, that Hillary's accomplishment once was the cause of a Cold War crisis.

   At the time that Everest still was unconquered, the northern slope of the mountain was claimed by what in those days was called "Red" China.

   While the rest of the world gave Hillary the same awe and respect it later would afford Neal Armstrong, Beijing (I think it was Peiping then) was livid.

   That's because, as the very top of the mountain, Hillary planted the Union Jack, representing the British Commonwealth.

   Red China took great exception. It considered this patriotic act as an invasion of its territory. It demanded a hearing before the United Nations.

   As reported then in the Saturday Evening Post, the Red Chinese representatives were their usual sarcastic and belligerent.

   Finally, Sir Hillary had had enough. He suggested a simple solution to the diplomatic crisis.

   "If you don't like the flag up there," he suggested to the Red Chinese, "Why don't you climb up there and take it down?"