Those adventurous souls who seek to stand at the top of the world are, occasionally, confronted by the irony of spindrift.
Composed of fine snow, whipped into flurries by jet-stream winds, it might provide evidence of nature’s raw power, yet it can also spoil a spectacular view.
That notion of perspective having been blurred, obscured or overlooked has inspired a book that aims to highlight the 1951 New Zealand Himalayan Expedition, a chapter in our history that directly led to Sir Ed Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay scaling Mt Everest two years later.
Four men — Edmund Hillary, George Lowe, Earle Riddiford and Ed Cotter — took part in the First New Zealand Himalayan Expedition.
Two members of that party — Hillary and Lowe— recorded their achievements in autobiographies and authorised biographies.
However, Riddiford and Cotter never wrote their own stories. Thus the crowning achievement of the 1951 expedition — the pair’s ascent (with Pasang Dawa Lama) of Mukut Parbat, a previously unclimbed 7242m peak in the Himalayas — has been relatively overlooked in the annals of New Zealand mountaineering achievements.
Christchurch-based freelance journalist Lyn McKinnon, author of Only Two For Everest, emphasises it was Riddiford and Cotter’s feats on Mukut Parbat that prompted an invitation for two New Zealanders to join the British Everest Reconnaissance, which ultimately resulted in Sir Ed reaching the summit of Mt Everest (8850m) in May 1953.
In short, the events of 1951 shaped mountaineering history.
In New Zealand, the Mukut Parbat story hit the headlines briefly.
Very soon, however, the efforts of Riddiford and Cotter on Mukut Parbat were eclipsed by the Everest Reconnaissance and the milestone of the Everest conquest.
In the process, Hillary became a poster boy for colonial Britain. As the world marvelled, New Zealand was quick to adopt a legend that showcased Kiwi courage to the world.
"The result was iconic status for Hillary that blotted out any other mountaineering triumph before or after,’’ McKinnon says.
"It was fantastic that Hillary made the summit of Everest and I grew up in that era ... But no matter how brilliantly other climbers perform, or how skilled they become, it is Sir Edmund Hillary’s name that continues to resonate.
"My attempt in the book is not to criticise Sir Ed. As Guy Cotter [Ed’s son] said, ‘who can argue with the most iconic climber of our time?’ He put New Zealand on the map. And over his lifetime, his achievements far surpassed his youthful ambitions of scaling the highest mountains."
McKinnon says Only Two For Everest is an attempt to restore balance to the history of New Zealanders in the Himalayas.
What rankles, she says, is the range of books and newspaper articles that have created the impression Lowe and Hillary reached the summit of Mukut Parbat.
The March 2013 obituary for George Lowe in The Times states that Lowe and Hillary were "part of the first New Zealand expedition to the Himalayas, including a first ascent of Mukut Parbat in Garhwal, India"; a Guardian obituary on Lowe offers a similar scenario: "Grand plans of reaching Everest proved overambitious, but their reduced group of four managed instead a perfectly respectable first ascent of Mukut Parbat in India’s Garhwal region."
"In fact, Earle Riddiford, as the organiser and driving force behind the [1951] Garhwal Expedition, was primarily responsible.
"He was not given credit for his influence, which is a pity. This may have been through jealousies or personality clashes ..."
In the foreword to Only Two For Everest, Dunedin author Philip Temple notes McKinnon’s book will be seen as controversial by many, "but that is often the case when the record is finally put straight".
Temple recalls a 1967 interview he conducted with Sir Ed at his Remuera home as he was researching a book on the exploits of New Zealand climbers in the great mountain ranges of the world: "Hillary told me he could only spare an hour and there were some things he was not going to talk about because he was writing a book himself ... What he did not say heightened my interest in what had actually happened during Hillary’s first Himalayan expeditions, in 1951 and 1952, and which had led to his ascent of Everest in 1953.
"What were the achievements of other New Zealand climbers involved that had led to his success, but which had become buried beneath the avalanche of publicity and honours heaped upon him?" Temple asks.
McKinnon says she knew very little about New Zealand mountaineering history, except that Sir Edmund Hillary had conquered the world’s highest peak, before she embarked on Only Two For Everest.
Certainly, she harboured no long-held ambition to write a book on the subject.
But four years ago, the aunt of Guy McKinnon, who in 2010 became the first person to make solo ascents of all 34 of New Zealand’s 3000m-plus mountains, agreed to write up the memoirs of a friend of a friend, Ed Cotter.
Once the retired freelance journalist began digging, she found a fascinating tale.
The Canterbury earthquake of February 22, 2011, played a hand, too: the Sumner home of Cotter was badly damaged, friends and family rallying to save a few of his effects before the building was subsequently "red-zoned".
Among the items were Cotter’s diaries of the 1951 Himalayan expedition.
Having unearthed them from storage, the only surviving member of that adventure delivered them to McKinnon, who was transported to a golden age of mountaineering, "when so many unexplored ranges offered an irresistible palette of glistening, untouched summits".
Cotter’s diaries corroborated the experiences of Riddiford, who had written a series of letters to his mother.
Together, the pair’s words threw fresh light on the 1951 expedition.
"I was also intrigued, as others have been, by a compelling tale of human nature and how it defines and divides us," McKinnon explains.
As the climbers prepared to leave India following the 1951 expedition, the mood in the Kiwi camp was cheerful.
But that would not last long after they reached Ranikhet in late August.
Eric Shipton, leader of the British Everest expedition at the time (and into 1953, until he was demoted in favour of John Hunt) had been informed a few days earlier of a cable from NZAC president Harry Stevenson, suggesting the New Zealanders’ achievement on Mukut Parbat would qualify one or more of their fit, acclimatised party for inclusion in the British Reconnaissance team.
Shipton had already turned down several applicants with strong qualifications, on the grounds he wanted to keep his party small.
About to send a negative reply, he recalled a 1935 Himalayan expedition involving another Kiwi, Dan Bryant, and changed his mind.
Thus Stevenson received welcome news by cable informing him that Shipton had agreed two members of the New Zealand contingent could join the British party.
THIS invitation for two New Zealand men to join the British Reconnaissance was to shape international climbing history, but it was to end the New Zealand expedition in the worst possible way, McKinnon writes.
"All four desperately wanted to go, and a bitter dispute raged throughout the night. It was an agonising impasse, and over six decades there have been varying accounts of how it was resolved. The invitation lit a flame of personal ambition in four climbers, each of whom had a claim for inclusion in the British party.
"Riddiford had organised the expedition and achieved Mukut Parbat with a display of incredible tenacity; he also had access to funds (recently sent by his cousin Dan Riddiford). He may have struggled physically as a result of a dramatic loss of weight due to severe dysentery, but he had shown superhuman mental powers.
"Cotter had also succeeded on Mukut Parbat, climbing on doggedly where Hillary and Lowe had given up: he was young, highly talented, physically resilient and had acclimatised well. But Cotter could not afford it, whereas Hillary could find the money easily enough.
"Lowe was just as broke as Cotter, probably in lesser physical condition than Hillary but better than Riddiford, and was driven by the conviction that he had a moral right to be considered."
Cotter had suggested they all turn up to meet Shipton, McKinnon notes, "but the other three embarked on a marathon of sustained altercation — an argument that has tainted the success of this expedition ever since".
Disillusioned, Cotter decided to go to bed, leaving the others to battle through the small hours. Such was the nature of the argument, Cotter chose to return to the mountains of the South Island.
Ultimately, Hillary and Riddiford emerged the victors, going on to join Shipton’s 1951 British Everest Reconnaissance Expedition.
Lowe was later invited by Shipton to join Hillary and Riddiford on the 1952 British expedition, notable for its failed attempt on Cho Oyu which, at 8188m, is the sixth-highest mountain in the world.
(Lowe was also a key member of the successful 1953 assault on Everest.)
Riddiford, suffering from a back injury and increasingly disillusioned by Shipton’s disorganisation and erratic leadership on Cho Oyu, decided to return to New Zealand.
He applied to join the 1953 British Everest team, but was declined by Shipton’s replacement, Hunt.
"Riddiford was always highly purposeful, highly ambitious — whatever the sphere. His philosophy was to plan, organise, execute and then succeed, in whatever he did," McKinnon says.
"His original plan, in 1950, was for Everest itself. There were many sceptics. But with his dream team, it would have still been possible, had permission been granted. (At the time, both Tibet and Nepal were closed to climbers, and India was the only option left.) That he summitted Mukut Parbat when Hillary didn’t was no accident.
"I wanted to shed light on two climbers who have not become household names. It was Cotter and Riddiford whose success ensured that New Zealanders, experienced on the ice, would be included in the 1953 Everest party.
"It would be fair to say the lack of recognition was a form of grief for those two men. Others might say my book is just sour grapes, but I came to this from left-field, with no agenda ...
"I’m sure there will be repercussions, but I don’t mind that. I can understand it. I think readers need to make up their own minds."
The book
Only Two For Everest: how a first ascent by Riddiford and Cotter shaped climbing history is published by Otago University Press ($49.95).
