Everest - The First Ascent: How a Champion of Science Helped to Conquer the Mountain by Harriet Tuckey Read Free Book Online Page A

diplomats succeeded in ensuring that other countries were refused as well, guaranteeing that when permission was forthcoming, it was granted only to the Everest Committee.
    This approach worked well until, in the mid-1930s, the Club Alpin Français was inspired to circumvent the British by asking the Chinese to pass along their Everest application to Tibet. The Chinese did so, and Tibet immediately granted permission.
    Horrified, the British now resorted to a third line of defense made possible by the fact that all expeditions had to start in India and trek through Sikkim to reach Tibet. Carefully disguising the true reasons, the government of India refused the French team access to “facilities in India,” and made sure they didn’t obtain a permit to cross Sikkim.
    Recognizing the British power of veto not just over Everest, but throughout the Himalayas, foreign teams understood they must tread carefully. Protests were muted, and applications were often dropped without fuss when Britain’s displeasure became evident. Other countries became quite bitter: German climber Paul Bauer, who received permission to attempt Kanchenjunga in 1929, told the Daily Telegraph that he “originally hoped to attack Mount Everest,” but his plan had been “thwarted by the jealousy of the English,” who “flatly refused permission.” 22
    Now, in mid-October 1951, after half a century of such politicking, the Swiss had seized their opportunity with Nepal, while, as they put it, “the British were asleep.”
    The British were particularly upset that the Swiss had not told them of their plans earlier on. The Swiss had received verbal permission in May 1951. Shipton only learned about it when he got back to Kathmandu after the reconnaissance. The ambassador telegraphed London: “Shipton thinks it can hardly be possible that the Swiss climbing people . . . would be planning an expedition without any word to our people, and with the idea of trying the route he has been testing.” 23
    The Swiss were perhaps taking their revenge on Shipton, who had refused to allow top Swiss climber René Dittert to go with him on the reconnaissance, but then invited New Zealanders Hillary and Riddiford to join him. The Swiss reticence about their expedition was ominously reminiscent of Roald Amundsen’s failure to tell Captain Scott that he intended to race him to the South Pole, even when Scott had visited him shortly before setting out. Scott made his plans and began his journey in June 1910, innocently unaware that he had competition, only to lose the race to Amundsen and perish with the rest of his team on the way home. RGS members comforted themselves by denigrating Amundsen as a cheat.
    On December 11, 1951, Eric Shipton appeared in front of the Himalayan Committee and dropped the double bombshell: Everest could be climbed from the south, and the Swiss rather than the British had permission to attempt it by the new route in the following year. Adding insult to injury, a message from Ambassador Summerhayes put forward a most unwelcome suggestion: “It would seem a good solution if next year’s expedition could be a combined one.” 24 Hearing this for the first time, the committee could hardly believe it. Ten days later reality dawned, and Basil Goodfellow grudgingly went to Switzerland to discuss the possibility of joining in with the Swiss.
    There proved to be several difficulties with a joint venture, but negotiations broke down over the issue of who would lead the expedition, with the British insisting that Shipton be appointed leader of any joint enterprise, and the Swiss advocating a joint leadership. But Basil Goodfellow privately admitted the other important reason to his Foreign Office contact (a certain Mr. R. H. Scott). Scott noted: “Mr. Goodfellow told me for my confidential information that another factor in the British decision was that the Alpine Club were not quite ready for a full-scale permission this year.” 25
    The Foreign