Tilman and Wigram’s first ascent of ‘Gardefui’, now known as Lhakpa Ri

July 15, 2026 History bill tilman, edmund wigram, eric shipton, everest, first ascents, history of mountaineering, lhakpa ri, maurice wilson, mountain literature, tibet 3 Comments

I’ve recently finished reading Mount Everest the Reconnaissance 1935 by Tony Astill. The book was interesting to me because it described the first ascent of 7,045m Lhakpa Ri by Bill Tilman and Edmund Wigram, a peak that I climbed myself in 2007.

Everest’s magic miracle highway

January 8, 2014 History aconcagua, everest, expedition logistics, glaciers, history of mountaineering, john noel, maurice wilson, reinhold messner, tibet 8 Comments

When the 1922 expedition team set out, they already knew their approach to Everest lay up a side valley known as the East Rongbuk, but they knew little of the terrain they would find there. When they arrived they discovered a tumbling mass of jagged ice towers the size of buildings, but there was also a miraculous way through.

A menagerie of mad mountaineers

July 11, 2012 History aleister crowley, aviation, everest, george mallory, himalayas, history of mountaineering, k2, kangchenjunga, karakoram, maurice wilson 6 Comments

Some people will probably say the title of this post is tautological, but all things are relative. On Everest this year there was an elderly Italian climber who, justified or not, had a reputation for being a bit of a