Everest - The First Ascent: How a Champion of Science Helped to Conquer the Mountain by Harriet Tuckey Page A
Authors: Harriet Tuckey
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wrote: “We were in serious danger today of over-reaching the porters and having to spend the night without our sleeping bags.” A couple of days later he observed: “Porters getting increasingly slow. Probably cumulative fatigue. First day 3000ft up, 4000ft down and about 8 miles at 10,000ft was too much for them.” 24
Shipton and his climbers were heirs to a British tradition that viewed low-altitude porters as beasts of burden, carrying the maximum load for the minimum price. Their welfare was not a matter of great concern. 25 There was greater respect for the Sherpas, but they too were viewed by many as inferior beings. In the eyes of John Hunt, the soon-to-be-appointed leader of the 1953 Everest expedition, the Sherpa was “a faithful follower, who brings [the European climber] his tea in the morning, lays out his sleeping bags at night, helps to carry his personal belongings, and generally spoils his sahib.” He added: “This Hindu word [sahib], denoting superior status, was used between us on the expedition, to distinguish between members of the party and their Sherpas.” 26
When Pugh made his recommendations for the 1953 expedition he argued that the Sherpas should be given the same quality of clothing and equipment as the climbers, and should also be provided with the same high-altitude oxygen sets. He warned of the adverse effect upon morale of their being allocated inferior equipment. 27
On April 15, after just over two weeks of trekking, Shipton’s team arrived at the gorge of the Dudh Khosi River. The scenery had become “increasingly wild and rugged, the river a roaring milky green torrent, the heads of the valleys dominated by snow peaks.” 28
The next day they made the steep climb up to Namche Bazar. The constant roar of the river grew fainter as they arrived at the Sherpa capital, a cluster of some sixty stone houses with wooden roofs, built in semicircular rows up the hillside. The Swiss had left for Everest only the day before, and their fears about competition with the British for porters and food had been well founded. Many of the local Sherpas had waited for Shipton rather than joining the less-well-known Swiss team. Furthermore, the Swiss couldn’t get eggs, whereas Shipton’s team had two eggs a day each throughout the trek.
Prudent about hygiene, the Swiss had chosen to camp “in tents outside the village” rather than sleep in Sherpa houses and expose themselves to the lice, fleas, smoky atmosphere, and endemic local infections. Shipton’s climbers moved insouciantly into a Sherpa house. Before long the DDT powder Pugh had bought in Delhi was in great demand. Soon he noticed with amusement that they had moved out:
The potato patch outside the house now has four tents pitched on it. Climbers unable to tolerate lice and fleas any longer. Many have upper respiratory infections . . . factors probably responsible are mica dust raised by wind, smoke in Sherpa dwellings, and close contact with Sherpas among whom running noses, purulent sputum are prevalent, and who spit indiscriminately. 29
Pugh later met two scientists from the Swiss expedition who told him that they had consistently avoided staying in native houses and suffered from none of the throat infections that plagued the British team.
It was in Namche Bazar, at 11,286 feet, that Pugh first began to notice the impact of the altitude—headaches, fatigue, irritability. Gathering blood samples suddenly seemed exhausting to him. The climbers who had previously been quite equable were tetchy with him. “Whereas until now I have not heard a harsh word spoken,” he complained, “after arrival here [have] heard outbursts of irritability from R[ay] C[olledge], C[am] S[ecord], G[reg], self included.” 30 The words self included referred to an “outburst of irritability” on Pugh’s part for which he would pay a heavy price. His mistake was to criticize the wife of the most popular climber in the team apart from Shipton—Tom
Shipton and his climbers were heirs to a British tradition that viewed low-altitude porters as beasts of burden, carrying the maximum load for the minimum price. Their welfare was not a matter of great concern. 25 There was greater respect for the Sherpas, but they too were viewed by many as inferior beings. In the eyes of John Hunt, the soon-to-be-appointed leader of the 1953 Everest expedition, the Sherpa was “a faithful follower, who brings [the European climber] his tea in the morning, lays out his sleeping bags at night, helps to carry his personal belongings, and generally spoils his sahib.” He added: “This Hindu word [sahib], denoting superior status, was used between us on the expedition, to distinguish between members of the party and their Sherpas.” 26
When Pugh made his recommendations for the 1953 expedition he argued that the Sherpas should be given the same quality of clothing and equipment as the climbers, and should also be provided with the same high-altitude oxygen sets. He warned of the adverse effect upon morale of their being allocated inferior equipment. 27
On April 15, after just over two weeks of trekking, Shipton’s team arrived at the gorge of the Dudh Khosi River. The scenery had become “increasingly wild and rugged, the river a roaring milky green torrent, the heads of the valleys dominated by snow peaks.” 28
The next day they made the steep climb up to Namche Bazar. The constant roar of the river grew fainter as they arrived at the Sherpa capital, a cluster of some sixty stone houses with wooden roofs, built in semicircular rows up the hillside. The Swiss had left for Everest only the day before, and their fears about competition with the British for porters and food had been well founded. Many of the local Sherpas had waited for Shipton rather than joining the less-well-known Swiss team. Furthermore, the Swiss couldn’t get eggs, whereas Shipton’s team had two eggs a day each throughout the trek.
Prudent about hygiene, the Swiss had chosen to camp “in tents outside the village” rather than sleep in Sherpa houses and expose themselves to the lice, fleas, smoky atmosphere, and endemic local infections. Shipton’s climbers moved insouciantly into a Sherpa house. Before long the DDT powder Pugh had bought in Delhi was in great demand. Soon he noticed with amusement that they had moved out:
The potato patch outside the house now has four tents pitched on it. Climbers unable to tolerate lice and fleas any longer. Many have upper respiratory infections . . . factors probably responsible are mica dust raised by wind, smoke in Sherpa dwellings, and close contact with Sherpas among whom running noses, purulent sputum are prevalent, and who spit indiscriminately. 29
Pugh later met two scientists from the Swiss expedition who told him that they had consistently avoided staying in native houses and suffered from none of the throat infections that plagued the British team.
It was in Namche Bazar, at 11,286 feet, that Pugh first began to notice the impact of the altitude—headaches, fatigue, irritability. Gathering blood samples suddenly seemed exhausting to him. The climbers who had previously been quite equable were tetchy with him. “Whereas until now I have not heard a harsh word spoken,” he complained, “after arrival here [have] heard outbursts of irritability from R[ay] C[olledge], C[am] S[ecord], G[reg], self included.” 30 The words self included referred to an “outburst of irritability” on Pugh’s part for which he would pay a heavy price. His mistake was to criticize the wife of the most popular climber in the team apart from Shipton—Tom
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