Kathmandu, May 2:

The political situation here and the travel warnings issued by the New Zealand government did not bar Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to scale Mt Everest along with Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, to visit his ‘second home’ after two years.

Hillary arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday with his wife Jun and and son-in-law David. His step-daughter Sue is already here for the past three weeks. The Hillary family is here to attend the annual board meeting of the Himalayan Trust.

“Nepal is really his second home and the recent turn of events did not stop him from visiting the country,” Ang Thukten Sherpa, advisory committee member of the Himalayan Trust, told this daily. Sue arrived here with a group for a trek in the Everest region. While, the group members have returned, Sue has stayed back.

Hillary is flying to Khunde in Solukhumbu district tomorrow to oversee his projects run by the Himalayan Trust and to catch up with his old friends, Ang Tshering Sherpa, chairman of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said.

The Himalayan Trust members and Hillary today discussed the ongoing projects. “However, nothing concrete was decided in the meeting,” Ang Thukten said. Hillary has been directly funding around $400,000 a year for the organisation’s education and health projects since 2003 and is expected to continue his support for another seven years.