Mt Everest — Kangshung Face, Sunrise, March 1988 - Joseph Blackburn©1988-2022
1921 Mallory Reconnaissance - "Great Eastern" Kanshung Face of Mt Everest
In 1921 George Mallory, searching for a possible route on the mountain, entered the Kangshung Valley and camped adjacent the glacier beneath the Kangshung Face of Mount Everest. George Leigh Mallory that day gazed upon the East Face, then later in the evening made an entry into his diary; “We had already… taken the time to observe the great Eastern Face of Mount Everest, and more particularly the lower edge of the hanging glacier; it required but little further gazing to be convinced-to know that almost everywhere the rocks below must be exposed to ice falling from this glacier; that if, elsewhere, it might be possible to climb up, the performance would be too arduous, would take too much time and would lead to no convenient platform; that, in short, other men, less wise, would attempt this way if they would, but, emphatically, it was not for us.”
EVEREST'88 Kanshung Face Expedition - 35th Anniversary - Foreword Written By Lord John Hunt
Ed Webster's SNOW In The Kingdom-My Storm Years On Everest was released in 2000, 12 years in the making, and today is one of the most prized mountaineering books in print. Lord John Hunt, Patron Honorary Expedition Leader of EVEREST'88 wrote the Foreword, his words tell it all in his short passage.
"For a mountaineer whose active life is long since over, one of my delights is to be kept in touch with the aspirations and achievements of younger generations of climbers who continue to reach for the limits of skill and daring on mountains. For myself, I have long discovered, as I hope they will, that there is a great deal more to be enjoyed in the mountain environment that climbing them by the hard ways.
Of the many expeditions whose members have paid me the compliment of making me their Patron, the 1988 International Everest Expedition is one of the most remarkable. As was the case with the Matterhorn in 1865, the sensation created by the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 has been followed by numerous climbs on that mountain which have not been deemed worth of a mention by the news media. But there have been a few exceptions; on of these was the epic achievement in 1988 on Everest's East (or Kangshung) Face by Ed Webster with his three companions. They attempted a route of unknown difficulty, which they had reviewed in a photograph taken from some distance. They were a team of four men with no reserves; they used no oxygen; they did not have the support of Sherpa's; they employed a bare minimum of technical equipment; they were exposed to the dangers of bad weather and variable snow conditions. This band of heroes went to the very limits of human endeavour.
The question remains: was it worthwhile? Only they themselves can answer this at the personal level. More generally, I believe that it was. I am full of admiration for the outstanding achievement of their team in pushing through a new route of exceptional difficulty on this much-climbed mountain. In the future, Everest may become as commonplace a climb as the ascent of the Matterhorn by its Hornili Ridge. But these men have shown the world the high value of courage, determination and comradeship in adversity — of challenging the near-impossible. The world stands in need of such examples.
I am honoured to have known them." John Hunt, Aston, Henley-On-Tames, England April 2, 1998
"For a mountaineer whose active life is long since over, one of my delights is to be kept in touch with the aspirations and achievements of younger generations of climbers who continue to reach for the limits of skill and daring on mountains. For myself, I have long discovered, as I hope they will, that there is a great deal more to be enjoyed in the mountain environment that climbing them by the hard ways.
Of the many expeditions whose members have paid me the compliment of making me their Patron, the 1988 International Everest Expedition is one of the most remarkable. As was the case with the Matterhorn in 1865, the sensation created by the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 has been followed by numerous climbs on that mountain which have not been deemed worth of a mention by the news media. But there have been a few exceptions; on of these was the epic achievement in 1988 on Everest's East (or Kangshung) Face by Ed Webster with his three companions. They attempted a route of unknown difficulty, which they had reviewed in a photograph taken from some distance. They were a team of four men with no reserves; they used no oxygen; they did not have the support of Sherpa's; they employed a bare minimum of technical equipment; they were exposed to the dangers of bad weather and variable snow conditions. This band of heroes went to the very limits of human endeavour.
The question remains: was it worthwhile? Only they themselves can answer this at the personal level. More generally, I believe that it was. I am full of admiration for the outstanding achievement of their team in pushing through a new route of exceptional difficulty on this much-climbed mountain. In the future, Everest may become as commonplace a climb as the ascent of the Matterhorn by its Hornili Ridge. But these men have shown the world the high value of courage, determination and comradeship in adversity — of challenging the near-impossible. The world stands in need of such examples.
I am honoured to have known them." John Hunt, Aston, Henley-On-Tames, England April 2, 1998
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Any Usage Must Have Prior Written Permission Of The Photographer
Contact: Please fill in the contact form on 2nd page of website and include your comments for a reply.