In 1934, after fifty years of trying, mountaineers finally gained access to the Nanda Devi Sanctuary in the Garhwal Himalaya.
Two years later an expedition led by H.W. Tilman reached the summit of Nanda Devi. At over 25,000 feet, it was the highest mountain to be climbed until 1950.
The Ascent of Nanda Devi, Tilman's account of the climb, has been widely hailed as a classic. Keenly observed, well informed and at times hilariously funny, it is as close to a 'conventional' mountaineering account as Tilman could manage. Beginning with the history of the mountain ('there was none') and the expedition's arrival in India, Tilman recounts the build-up and approach to the climb.
Writing in his characteristic dry style, he tells how Sherpas are hired, provisions are gathered (including 'a mouth-blistering sauce containing 100 per cent chillies') and the climbers head into the hills, towards Nanda Devi. Superbly parodied in The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman, The Ascent of Nanda Devi was among the earliest accounts of a climbing expedition to be published. Much imitated but rarely matched, it remains one of the best.
Table of Contents:
Foreword - John Porter; Foreword to the First Edition - T.G. Longstaff; Author's Preface; I Mythological and Geographical; II Historical; III Preliminaries; IV A Telegram to the Temple; V The Rishi Gorge and Back Again; VI 'Scrapping and Bagging'; VII The Foothills; VIII The Rishi Once More; IX To the Foot of the Gorge; X The Gorge; XI The Sanctuary; XII The Base Camp; XIII A First Footing; XIV On the Mountain; XV Alarms and Excursions; XVI The Top; XVII A New Pass; XVIII The Bhotias of Martoli; XIX Last Days.
About the Author :
Harold William ‘Bill’ Tilman (1898-1977) was among the greatest adventurers of his time, a pioneering mountaineer and sailor who held exploration above all else. Born in Cheshire and sent to boarding school at eleven, Bill Tilman joined the army at seventeen and was twice awarded the Military Cross for bravery during WWI.
After the war Tilman left for Africa, establishing himself as coffee grower. Alongside episodes of big game hunting and gold mining, Tilman met Eric Shipton and began their famed mountaineering partnership, traversing Mount Kenya and climbing Kilimanjaro.
Turning to the Himalaya, Tilman went on two Mount Everest expeditions, reaching 27,000 without oxygen in 1938. In 1936 he made the first ascent of Nanda Devi – the highest mountain climbed until 1950. He was the first European to climb in the remote Assam Himalaya, he delved into Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor and he explored extensively in Nepal, all the while developing a mountaineering style characterised by its simplicity and emphasis on exploration.
It was perhaps logical then that Tilman would eventually buy the pilot cutter Mischief– not with the intention of retiring from travelling, but to access remote mountains. For twenty-two years Tilman sailed Mischief and her successors to Patagonia, where he crossed the vast ice cap, to Baffin Island to make the first ascent of Mount Raleigh, and into the Arctic Circle. He made trips to Greenland, Spitzbergen and the South Shetlands, and, although not all of his voyages were successful, they were a prime example of what could be done in a small and old boat.
Tilman was a man with a huge number of stories to tell – and there remains no writer quite like him in the mountaineering, travel or sailing worlds.
