EVEREST CURIOSITIES

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Blakey

Trad climber
Sierra Vista
Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 13, 2013 - 06:08pm PT
Yesterday the husband of my wife's cousin kindly gave our son Tim his old climbing gear and a ton of climbing books.

We are slowly sorting the books, but two relating to the 1953 Everest expedition immediately caught my eye. As a boy I was brought up on Hunt's book and the great adventure, along with those of Herzog and Terray.

But I never came across these two; the first is Shipton's account of the 1951 reconnaissance, from which I've scanned some portraits and landscapes. the other is a book of cartoons penned by Charles Evans of the 53 expedition itself. 'Eye on Everest'. In particular the latter gives an impression of the 'English' humour of the time.

As ever if any valid objections are raised I'll remove the items. But if you are interested in Everest, this stuff (I think) is great!

Steve
















Eye on Everest. (There are 123 illustration in the book - this is a selection)







PREPARATIONS


























John Butler

Social climber
SLC, Utah
Sep 13, 2013 - 06:41pm PT

cool... thx
Jan

Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
Sep 13, 2013 - 07:05pm PT
How very interesting! Riddiford and Hillary were the first two Europeans into the Rolwaling Valley that I researched, but this is the first time that I've seen a photo of Riddiford.

As for the yeti tracks, they were actually photographed on the Rolwaling side of Menlung Pass. Shipton declared it too crevassed to cross and retreated back down to the Menlung Valley which is in Tibet (they were there illegally and ended up running down valley for the Nepalese border with Tibetan frontier guards after them).Shipton's Account of the 1951 Reconnaissance is in fact well known and still in print.

However, the sketch book is a real find. I've never even seen it mentioned in the Everest literature before so it must be quite valuable. Are those all the sketches or are there more?

PS. There's one copy of ther sketchbook on Amazon for $55.
steve shea

climber
Sep 13, 2013 - 07:35pm PT
What a great find! Thanks for posting. The iconic photo of the ice axe and yeti print was indeed in the Rolwaling. The Menlung La is particularly treacherous some years. Menlungtse or Jobo Garu sits at the head of the Menlung valley and a sanctuary for for the wildlife of the region. The area saw virtually no tourist or expedition traffic until after the late eghties. Only summer grazing by the yaks from the villages in the Rongshar. Shipton, Shipton, Norwegians and British/American. Only three sanction trips by westerners from '53 to '88. If there was an area to search for the yeti that would be it. '88 was also the year that Messner did his three week solo speed hike/run across the Himalaya. He was convinced he saw a yeti on that trip.
Jan

Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
Sep 13, 2013 - 07:49pm PT
To put things in perspective, Shipton pronounced the pass un-descendable because of the crevasses. Of course the Rolwaling people were crossing it every year in grass lined boots to trade with their relatives in the Rongshar Valley.
Roots

Mountain climber
SoCal
Sep 13, 2013 - 08:09pm PT
Great stuff! Thanks for posting.

The pictures are amazing but those drawings are even better : )
NutAgain!

Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
Sep 13, 2013 - 08:23pm PT
Definitely one of the more interesting posts here in a long time, and the amount of good quality stuff here is already pretty high.
Gene

climber
Sep 13, 2013 - 09:07pm PT
Great stuff. Thank you. What a treasure.

g
guido

Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
Sep 13, 2013 - 11:49pm PT
Fantastic!

What a treasure.
ms55401

Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
Sep 13, 2013 - 11:55pm PT
Hillary step looks like 5.3

all of the illustrations are evocative of an imagined, stylized, or even real ascent of Everest. pretty cool in my book.
Brandon-

climber
The Granite State.
Sep 14, 2013 - 12:07am PT
Really cool, thanks for sharing.
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
Sep 14, 2013 - 12:10am PT
Quite a TR from Mr. Evans.

"Pumori or Nuptse?" That is the question.

Two peaks, covered in rime.

Two different beautiful faces to climb.

"Which one should be more fun?"

All the Sherpas cried as one,

"Pumori the merrier!"

This is a photo taken from the very same spot as the one shown above, but is sepia toned. No credit available, not dated...

"Miss Tree" is the only thing legible on the back.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
Sep 14, 2013 - 01:14am PT

Looking at the picture of the 'yeti' foot print, it looks like whatever made it had one hell of a bunion on that big toe!
Blakey

Trad climber
Sierra Vista
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 14, 2013 - 01:26am PT
Jan, there are 122 sketches in all, I'll gradually scan them and add them to the thread, along with the photos.

Mouse, your image appears to be a crop from the same photo. The clouds are I think identical.

In the pile is also Tenzing's 'Man of Everest - as told to Ullman. I'll post some of that up too.

Steve
perswig

climber
Sep 14, 2013 - 07:25am PT
Thanks to you and your son for sharing this, Blakey. Remarkable gift to receive!

Dale
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Sep 14, 2013 - 07:44am PT
Really cool!
MisterE

climber
Sep 14, 2013 - 10:00am PT
Wow! What a gift! Thank you for your willingness to scan and share.

Looking forward to more!
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Sep 14, 2013 - 10:27am PT
What a gem that illustrated book is!
Stewart Johnson

climber
lake forest
Sep 14, 2013 - 12:33pm PT
Excellent!
Marlow

Sport climber
OSLO
Sep 14, 2013 - 01:07pm PT
Really cool curiosities!
Messages 1 - 20 of total 24 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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