Everest - The First Ascent: How a Champion of Science Helped to Conquer the Mountain by Harriet Tuckey Page B
Authors: Harriet Tuckey
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Bourdillon.
Having worked with his father on the closed-circuit oxygen sets, Tom Bourdillon was one of the few climbers genuinely interested in Pugh’s research. At the same time he was a terrific climber who commanded universal respect and affection from his fellow climbers. He was probably the only man on the expedition who had the charisma and motivation to persuade the skeptical men to cooperate with Pugh.
Bourdillon was newly married. The previous year, he had gone on Shipton’s reconnaissance shortly after his wedding. This year his wife, Jennifer, had decided to come with him to Nepal. 31 They had trekked from Kathmandu, catching up with Shipton’s team just before Namche Bazar. Jennifer was intending to travel around Nepal while her husband was on the mountain. Even so, the climbers were not keen to have a woman in the vicinity of their expedition, and Pugh apparently shared their disapproval. When he found that the tent he had brought along specifically for his experiments was taken without his permission and given to Bourdillon and his wife, he lost his temper. Already irritable from the altitude, all the frustrations of the march channeled themselves into his treatment of this young woman. 32 He retrieved his tent after only one night, but not before telling Jennifer bluntly that she was a fool. She should never have come to Nepal, and would get ill and become a burden to the expedition.
Sensitive and considerate, Jennifer Bourdillon was already acutely aware that she must avoid causing any disruption to the expedition. She found Pugh’s harsh words hurtful. At age twenty-three, and totally inexperienced, she was intending to travel alone with a Sherpa to parts of Nepal never before visited by Europeans, with no expedition doctor to look after her if she fell ill. In the event, her trip passed without mishap, although she did catch typhus while trekking back to Kathmandu with her husband afterward, and was lucky to survive. Nonetheless, Pugh’s blunt behavior offended Bourdillon, and risked depriving Pugh of his only effective ally on the expedition.
7
Miserable Failure
The Cho Oyu team stayed in Namche Bazar for two days before continuing their upward journey, but Pugh, who was exhausted and finding it difficult to keep accurate records, decided to wait until he was better acclimatized before going any higher. He remained at Namche Bazar for another four days, setting up his gas analyzer for the first time and practicing some of the exercise tests he was intending to use.
Physiology apart, he spent most of his time observing the local people. 1 Da Tenzing, the Sherpa who was to accompany him on the final part of the trek, took him to the top of the 1,000-foot ridge above Namche where there was a view of Everest. Pugh had great difficulty keeping up with him. Despite the warm weather the Sherpa was wearing the arctic clothing that had been issued to him by Shipton—one of the perks, Pugh thought, that drew Sherpas to European expeditions.
Tenzing invited Pugh to his home in the nearby village of Khumjung. Pugh watched, fascinated, as the Sherpa’s wife prepared tea for him “after careful cleaning of the best china with a precious cake of soap.” The tea was proffered with salt and some “very hard, dry fruits.” Afterward, Tenzing took him to the Buddhist temple which had four magnificent brightly painted Buddhas. The walls inside had rows of pigeonholes containing packets of paper which Pugh thought must be prayers.
Pugh left Namche Bazar on April 24 with Da Tenzing, the Sherpa’s fourteen-year-old son Mingma, and four porters. Passing “lovely dwarf irises” and red, pink, and mauve rhododendrons in full flower, they walked up the valley of the Bothe Khosi river toward the 19,050-foot Nangpa La ( La meaning “pass”), an important trading route between Nepal and Tibet, near Cho Oyu. In three days they reached Lunak, the small settlement at 17,500 feet below the Nangpa La, where Shipton
Having worked with his father on the closed-circuit oxygen sets, Tom Bourdillon was one of the few climbers genuinely interested in Pugh’s research. At the same time he was a terrific climber who commanded universal respect and affection from his fellow climbers. He was probably the only man on the expedition who had the charisma and motivation to persuade the skeptical men to cooperate with Pugh.
Bourdillon was newly married. The previous year, he had gone on Shipton’s reconnaissance shortly after his wedding. This year his wife, Jennifer, had decided to come with him to Nepal. 31 They had trekked from Kathmandu, catching up with Shipton’s team just before Namche Bazar. Jennifer was intending to travel around Nepal while her husband was on the mountain. Even so, the climbers were not keen to have a woman in the vicinity of their expedition, and Pugh apparently shared their disapproval. When he found that the tent he had brought along specifically for his experiments was taken without his permission and given to Bourdillon and his wife, he lost his temper. Already irritable from the altitude, all the frustrations of the march channeled themselves into his treatment of this young woman. 32 He retrieved his tent after only one night, but not before telling Jennifer bluntly that she was a fool. She should never have come to Nepal, and would get ill and become a burden to the expedition.
Sensitive and considerate, Jennifer Bourdillon was already acutely aware that she must avoid causing any disruption to the expedition. She found Pugh’s harsh words hurtful. At age twenty-three, and totally inexperienced, she was intending to travel alone with a Sherpa to parts of Nepal never before visited by Europeans, with no expedition doctor to look after her if she fell ill. In the event, her trip passed without mishap, although she did catch typhus while trekking back to Kathmandu with her husband afterward, and was lucky to survive. Nonetheless, Pugh’s blunt behavior offended Bourdillon, and risked depriving Pugh of his only effective ally on the expedition.
7
Miserable Failure
The Cho Oyu team stayed in Namche Bazar for two days before continuing their upward journey, but Pugh, who was exhausted and finding it difficult to keep accurate records, decided to wait until he was better acclimatized before going any higher. He remained at Namche Bazar for another four days, setting up his gas analyzer for the first time and practicing some of the exercise tests he was intending to use.
Physiology apart, he spent most of his time observing the local people. 1 Da Tenzing, the Sherpa who was to accompany him on the final part of the trek, took him to the top of the 1,000-foot ridge above Namche where there was a view of Everest. Pugh had great difficulty keeping up with him. Despite the warm weather the Sherpa was wearing the arctic clothing that had been issued to him by Shipton—one of the perks, Pugh thought, that drew Sherpas to European expeditions.
Tenzing invited Pugh to his home in the nearby village of Khumjung. Pugh watched, fascinated, as the Sherpa’s wife prepared tea for him “after careful cleaning of the best china with a precious cake of soap.” The tea was proffered with salt and some “very hard, dry fruits.” Afterward, Tenzing took him to the Buddhist temple which had four magnificent brightly painted Buddhas. The walls inside had rows of pigeonholes containing packets of paper which Pugh thought must be prayers.
Pugh left Namche Bazar on April 24 with Da Tenzing, the Sherpa’s fourteen-year-old son Mingma, and four porters. Passing “lovely dwarf irises” and red, pink, and mauve rhododendrons in full flower, they walked up the valley of the Bothe Khosi river toward the 19,050-foot Nangpa La ( La meaning “pass”), an important trading route between Nepal and Tibet, near Cho Oyu. In three days they reached Lunak, the small settlement at 17,500 feet below the Nangpa La, where Shipton
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