Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine by Julie Summers

Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine by Julie Summers

Author:Julie Summers [Summers, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mountains, Mount (China and Nepal), Description and Travel, Nature, Adventurers & Explorers, Andrew, Mountaineering, Mountaineers, Great Britain, Ecosystems & Habitats, General, Biography & Autobiography, Irvine, Everest
ISBN: 9780956479518
Publisher: Iffley Press
Published: 2011-12-01T05:00:00+00:00


A selection of bills from Sandy’s collection showing equipment he purchased for the expedition

When I read the reference to camp equipment I really began to get a feeling for how extraordinarily tough these men were. ‘Camp bed is not strictly necessary; it is a comfort up to Phari and in the Kama valley in wet weather. A camp chair is a comfort in tent and for dining (the alternative being a ration box).’ I find it a little difficult to conceive of sitting on a ration box for five months and I was glad to see that Sandy bought himself a camp chair. ‘An X pattern bath and basin is sound; a bath between two is probably sufficient. A camp table is a luxury; a private folding candle a necessity’ the list went on.

Under ‘Miscellaneous’ they were advised to take out a dinner jacket, to be worn with a soft shirt as opposed to a stiff collar, a big umbrella, also available in Darjeeling at a competitive price, and one packet of Dr Parke Davis’s germicidal soap. Presumably not all to be used simultaneously.

The expedition supplied the tobacco duty free to the team members and asked them to let Norton know which was their preferred brand. Sandy, who seemed very much to enjoy his pipe and was frequently photographed with it, appears to have foregone smoking for this trip: he makes no reference to it in his diary and letters, nor are there any photographs of him smoking. Finch had argued in 1922 that he and Geoffrey Bruce had derived benefits from smoking at altitude.

Sandy’s final bill for his equipment, minus the tool kit, primus burners and spare parts for the oxygen kit which he paid out of his own pocket, was about £75 (or £2250 today). He was finally reimbursed for his equipment plus the additional kit he had ordered on behalf of the expedition to the tune of £86 1s 1d in May 1924 which, he told Willie Irvine cheerfully, should help to reduce his overdraft.

With a sigh of relief Sandy returned to Birkenhead to spend the final month before leaving England with his family, although he made three further trips to London at Unna’s request to finalize details about the oxygen equipment and stoves. He had collected from Oxford the oxygen apparatus and set to work on it in his workshop at Park Road South. Still having heard nothing from Siebe Gorman he pressed on with his modifications, the realization dawning on him that he was in all probability going to have to effect some fairly major alterations as soon as he met up with the apparatus in its final form in India. He was also occupied with putting together the tool kit and ensuring that the primus stoves and burners that Unna had asked him to take responsibility for were up to standard. Unna had a great deal of faith in Sandy’s mechanical capabilities and had given him a free hand in ordering the tools he thought might be required.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.