Throughout my childhood years more names became recognisable: Shackleton, Hilary, Scott . The words that I associated with them were snow and expedition. I was not sure which person did what.
In my late 20s, I picked up a very old copy of the story that describes the adventures of the first men to climb a mountain more than 8,000 metres, high: Annapurna. The name literally translates as "full of food" and in Hindi the meaning is taken as "goddess of the harvest".
Annapurna is 35km in length, made up of six peaks over 7,200m and at 8,091m is the 10th highest mountain in the world. On June 3. 1950 a French expedition made the first ascent. Maurice Herzgog and Louis Lachenal were the lucky two who made the summit push at the right moment in the right conditions.
One of the episodes that remains clear in my memory is the arduous
feat of the Sherpa who carried an injured climber down vertical snow faces.
Even after the summit bid was achieved, the return trip across land to the nearest railway station was marked by unimaginable difficulties. A car was carried many miles until a suitable road was reached.
Despite feeling their relief at being on a train, you are then presented with the harsh and gruesome image of them cutting the frost bite from their hands and feet to prevent gangrene.
The writing is plain but the reality is plainer so you find yourself engrossed in their story and, because it is a retelling of actual events, your emotional reaction may at times make you uneasy. Part of you wants a tragedy and a different part wants a successful outcome in the face of adversity.
As with all stories, true or fantasy, you either empathise with a character or you create a character that will allow you to be part of their tale, entwined with their emotions. I often wonder what these men were like, I imagine that they could not settle or commit to another person.
In the late 1950's Eric Shipton's marriage to his wife, Diana failed. His life is mapped out in history by climbing achievements, honours and posts held. Perhaps it was his mother's perpetual five years of travelling that instilled the adventurer's spirit in him.
At the age of 15 he visited the Pyrenees with his family, an encounter that spurred him on to walk on different hills; the following summer he travelled in Norway with a school friend. Only a year later he began climbing seriously. In 1928 he went to Kenya as a coffee grower, allowing easy access to peaks in Mount Kenya including Nelion. In 1931 Shipton stood with other climbers on the summit of Kamet, 7,816 metres, the highest peak conquered at that time.
Shipton went on to join several expeditions that trail-blazed possible routes that would allow future generations to conquer Mount Everest including the famous traverse of the Khumbu Glacier. He to put his experience of liaising in far off lands to use when his war time assignment was in Persia as a liaison officer.
Shipton remains an iconic figure of first ascents and travels to wild places around the world.