Edmund
Hillary A Biography, by Michael Gill, is the story of the man who
took a photograph that electrified the world: his companion, Tenzing
Norgay, ice axe and flags held aloft, on the summit of Everest.
Unheard of for the first third of his life, Hillary was thrust from
obscurity in distant New Zealand to front page news on the day of the
Coronation. His name transcended the narrow world of climbing and
mountaineering, and, like Yuri Gagarin eight years later, everyone
knew who he was.
In
the pantheon of action heroes for boys growing up in the 1950s, none
ranked higher than Hillary, seemingly the embodiment of the
expression 'larger than life.' And what a life his was. Over its span
the author describes a string of remarkable metamorphoses: from
unsure boy, the smallest in his class, to physically assertive young
man, and force to be reckoned with on the rugby field; from
conscientious objector, to wartime service with the Royal New Zealand
Air Force; from abandoned university career, to honorary doctorates;
from loose cannon on the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, to
New Zealand's High Commissioner in Delhi, and Garter Knight.
But
what lay behind the received narrative of the self-effacing bee
farmer from Auckland, and how did he wear the mantle of New Zealand's
favourite son for over 50 years? Having known his subject personally,
the author is well qualified to tell us. His primary sources include
the Hillary archive in the Auckland museum, personal contact with
many of the Everest team, and access to private letters. In an
outstanding book of over 500 pages there is scope for width and
depth, both of which he develops to advantage, writing with an
engaging style, light on jargon for the general reader.
Ed and Harry Ayres on
the summit of Aoraki-Mt Cook, 1947. © Hillary Museum Collection
Gill
lays out Hillary's ancestral line from 19th Century New
Zealand to his birth soon after the end of the First World War. The
subject is neatly placed in his time, as when describing his own
young country as 'makeshift', and, on a 1950 visit to London, himself
as 'British first and a New Zealander second'. A brief aside tells us
of the young man's awareness of bygone attitudes to the indigenous
Antipodean people, still an uncomfortable subject today.
From
the front cover Hillary's face, bearded and unsmiling, looks hard
into the camera lens. We read of the restless son of an austere
father, finding his metier in the snows of the Southern Alps; later
going on his first expedition, to the Garwhal Himalaya, in 1951. On
Mukut Parbat he experiences the rigours of climbing a big mountain,
dropping nine kilos in body weight, and learning a hard lesson...
'that the race is not just to the strong, but to those who have the
courage and tenacity to see it through to the end.'
Gill
is particularly good on Hillary's interactions with family members,
friends, and contemporaries: the relationship with his father; his
ever dependable brother Rex; his long friendship with George Lowe;
his respect for John Hunt and mentor Harry Ayres, and many more.
Neither is Gill's objectivity compromised by friendship with his
subject: whilst Hillary was generous in praise of his climbing
companions in published writings, diary extracts show that in private
he could be sharply critical, even of his closest friends. His
winning affability served him well, but was not always enough. On the
Garwhal trip, Gill contrasts the waggish humour of Hillary and Lowe
with the more cerebral Earle Riddiford, who...'with his cool
intellect just wasn't Ed's sort of person.' We learn that Hillary
could be sensitive to criticism, and, in Gill's words, 'preferred his
own version of his life,' admonishing an unauthorised biographer with
“I write my own books!” Public appearances brought contact with
the political class, for whom he showed scant regard; there were
clashes with two Prime Ministers, Keith Holyoake and Robert Muldoon.
This spikier side shows in the account of the 1958 Commonwealth
Trans-Antarctic Expedition, when, disregarding team orders, he made a
500 mile dash for the Pole, upstaging the British party approaching
from the Weddell Sea. It went down badly in the British press, and
his own Antarctic Committee in New Zealand disapproved.
Ed with companion
(probably Jack McBurney) and two unknown young women outside a
corrugated iron hut. © Hillary Museum Collection
Following the
tragic end of the 1924 attempt, the 1930s expeditions fared no
better. Still the view held that given the right conditions, an
ascent without oxygen was achievable. After the hiatus of the Second
World War, geopolitics intervened. With the opening of access from
Nepal, success in 1953 became imperative after the Swiss got close in
1952, and the French were booked for 1954; 'merde!' the author
observes, further comment clearly unnecessary. The 1951 Everest
reconnaissance, led by Shipton, showed Hillary's credentials. In
London, a more single minded leader was appointed for the next
attempt, and now was the time for oxygen to be fully embraced.
Digressing occasionally, Gill imagines a parallel universe where
events diverge from the version we know: what if Finch had gone back
to Everest with Mallory in 1924? What if Hillary had not been the
youngest in his school class? The conclusions are invariably thought
provoking and point to how history might have been written very
differently.
Having
climbed Everest, how does one follow that? There would be no further
Himalayan trips for some years; instead, marriage, and a young
family. The hitherto male dominated story is leavened by extracts
from personal letters from the time of Hillary's courtship of his
wife Louise, showing his reliance on her for emotional support, and
later for active help with his work in Nepal. There was international
travel, and authorship too; High Adventure, his account of the
1953 success was published to critical acclaim in1955. From a bizarre
early 60s expedition to find the yeti came the seeds of development
work among the Sherpa people. Schools, hospitals, and airstrips
followed, and a close association with the Khumbu area for the rest
of his life.
Aoraki-Mt Cook. The
prominent rock ridge between sun and shadow is the South Ridge which
was first climbed by Ayres, Hillary, Sullivan and Adams in 1948. It
leads to Low Peak. The summit ridge continues to Middle and then High
Peak. © Colin Monteath/Hedgehog House
The
latter years are passed over briskly. Gill suggests that a later
biographer might write more fully of this time, yet I felt an
opportunity was missed. At the close of the narrative the author
quotes the Everest tribute by Jan Morris, referring to '...the last
earthly adventure before humanity's explorers went off into space.'
In this context, it would have been entertaining to read of the 1985
meeting of Hillary and Neil Armstrong. One can imagine a conversation
on memorable one-liners.
For
the climber, the book will be essential reading, but there is much
here too in the more general appeal of a life well spent, in making
the utmost of one's talents, and in man's pursuit of goals at the
limit of human endeavour. A minor criticism concerns two useful maps,
one of New Zealand and one of Antarctica, among the appendices, which
could have been placed to better effect in the appropriate chapters.
Mike Bailey: 2019
Edmund
Hillary A Biography, by Michael Gill. Published 2019 by Vertebrate
Publishing £24.00
ISBN
9781911342960
