Sir Edmund Hillary

Most famous for being the first man to ascend Mt Everest (along with his Sherpa), Sir Edmund Hillary was also the third man to ever reach the South Pole, the first to do so since 1912, and the first ever to use motorized vehicles. He partook in a Commonwealth expedition in 1958 (as leader of the New Zealand mission) and his Antarctic accomplishments are still revered nowadays.

After his first Antarctic mission, Hillary spent the following two decades surveying the White Continent and his detailed accounts are still considered required reading for modern-day missions.

In 1985, he joined American astronaut Neil Armstrong on a flight to the North Pole and became the first man ever to stand on both Poles and the world’s highest peak. Not without fair reasons, Hillary is the face of the Kiwi $5 note.