This month’s choice is very conventional – a contemporary essay on the 1953 Everest expedition by Basil Goodfellow, club president 1950/51. Click on this LINK to read it. He was involved first hand as joint Hon Sec of the Himalyan Committee so had an insight into the planning of the expedition and a 30 year perspective on the previous attempts on the mountain. Interestingly he acknowledges the contribution of oxygen and hydration, something that seemed to be lost over the years in the more popular accounts, until Harriet Tuckey wrote a biography of her father, Griffith Pugh, the physiologist on the expedition. Well worth a read, some details in this link.
I was tempted to choose Vin Dillon’s article of an attempt on the Dent d’Herens, a very creative piece of writing, maybe next year we can include his follow-up from the 1955 journal ‘The Return Fixture’.
If you follow this LINK you can find the other articles in the journal:
Geoff Piggot on climbing in the Mont Blanc area;
J.A. Stewart caving in Cyprus;
David Thomas on being benighted, and;
Failure and success on the Skye Ridge.
Here are some photos from the journal.
