Mail by Runner 170: The story of Ed and the Everest Reconnaissance Expedition. Part 1
This Everest Day, Alexander Hillary is exploring the Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition of 1951. This was Ed's first visit to the Everest region, and the precursor to the successful Everest Mount Everest expedition in 1953. This series highlights photographs from Eric Shipton’s book, published with the Royal Geographical Society. They provide a glimpse into what Nepal was like at the time and the mountaineering experience of these climbing pioneers.
This is part one of a three-part look into this expedition.
Part 1 - The long walk in
In 1951, my grandfather Ed Hillary made his first journey to Nepal. He was a 31 year old beekeeper from South Auckland, and had been invited at short notice to join a British reconnaissance expedition led by famed explorer Eric Shipton. I can imagine Ed's excitement at the invitation, as he grew up reading Shipton's books on ambitious alpine challenges. He had no time to waste; Shipton's famously lean team had already departed for the Everest region and Ed was still in India, returning from a New Zealand Alpine Club expedition.
At this time Nepal had only just opened its borders to the outside world. The Rana oligarchy, which had kept the country closed for over a century, had collapsed that same year. Few Western mountaineers had set eyes on the southern approaches to Everest.
There were no roads or airports providing access into the mountains, and certainly no helicopter flights to what is now called Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla. Ed along with fellow climber Earl Riddiford, walked from Jogbani on the Indian border, crossing the flat, humid lowlands of the Terai before rising into the middle hills of the Himalaya. The journey took weeks, and they were accompanied by a large team of porters helping to carry food and equipment, in ever more challenging terrain. Every river crossing was done on foot or by boat, when a dugout canoe could be found.
The rivers were a particular challenge. After even an hour of rain, the streams of these middle hills would swell into furious, impassable torrents. Ed and Riddiford would step in first to find a line through, wading across while the water churned around them. Their Nepali porters watched with a mixture of admiration and alarm. They were particularly impressed by Ed’s size and nerve but rather less convinced they should follow. On more than one occasion, the porters wanted to turn back as the terrain became more challenging, the leeches more plentiful, and the weather colder. Each time, their remarkable Sirdar, Pasang Sherpa, would step in to rally them to continue on.
For Ed, those early weeks were satisfying and exhilarating. He slept outside under the stars and stayed in homes along the trail, eating local food and learning the rhythms of the Himalayas. As they made their way up through the lower Himalaya, the presence of the Great Range became visible in the form of Mera Peak (6,654m), Karyolang (6,511m) and the breathtaking Numbur (6,957m).
Ed, Riddiford, Pasang and Nyima were moving as fast as they could to try and catch Shipton and his team, walking longer days and taking different routes. Eventually, just south of the Solukhumbu border in Dingla, they found them.
At this point, Ed had been concerned for several days over the state of his and Earl’s hygiene; they were unshaven and unshowered. He worried that they would not meet the standards expected by Shipton and his British team. Their first meeting went well, and Shipton wrote this: “two New Zealanders, Earle Riddiford and Edmund Hillary, came surging up the hill brandishing enormous Victorian-style ice-axes. Expecting to see a group of well-dressed Englishmen, they were surprised and perhaps a little disconcerted to find that, if anything, we were scruffier than they were."
From this point on, they ascended up into the Khumbu as a team to begin the reconnaissance.
Tune in next week for part two.
P.S. This Everest Day, we are fundraising to provide new desks and benches to a wonderful school in Solu that is looking quite run down at the moment. Our generous donors have contributed 8 desks so far, of the 35 that the schools needs. If you can help us provide another desk and bench, this would be greatly appreciated. You can learn more about this here.
Mā te wā,
Alexander Hillary