Coronation Everest

By Jan Morris

Book Overview

Famed travel writer Morris pens a unique, first-hand account of the 1953 Edmund Hillary expedition that first conquered Mount Everest. As James Morris, the author packed along with the climbers,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 185283501X
• ISBN13: 9781852835019
• Release Date: April 1993
• Publisher: BOXTREE LTD
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Top of the world, Ma!

You have to hand it to the Brits: there were elements of almost mystical grace about the way they lost, or shall we say misplaced, their Empire. On dune and headland sank indeed the fire. But in its fading glow there were elements of decency and heroism, including Britain's lonely fight against Nazi Germany, survivors in the South Atlantic in 1982 singing "look on the bright side of life", and here, the conquest of Everest by a bunch of amateurs and jolly Sherpas, the latter being drunk most of the time on Strange Brew indeed. Chronicled by a bloke who later became a lass who carried the message to Garcia with Tom Brownian pluck, who played up, played up, and played the game so that a chit of a girl could add a jewel to her crown, in a land no longer British. Having stumbled around mountains myself courtesy of the patient tutelage of Outward Bound, another British invention, I can relate to a non-mountaineer slogging up into the thin cold air. And rather than sentimentalising mountain vistas when they are seen up close and personal, Morris makes it clear that these places are alternately glorious, unearthly in their beauty, and demon-haunted, and terrible in their menace. The worst aspect of mountaineering for the tyro is, as Morris shows, the descent when everything has been done, but instead of basking in your accomplishment, you have to slog down, and gravity becomes your mortal enemy, driving weary bones into each other and mocking a descent that turns into another fall of man: From what height thou see'est, into what pit fall'n Sentimentalists in the American wilderness wonder at the bad temper of pioneers who name such picture postcard views, Devil's Leap, Hell's Rockyard, Lucifer's Barstool and Jornado del Muerte. They need only walk the walk on the talking rocks that mock you in the sun, or on Morris' ice falls turning into vile mush to realize that we have to earn our ticket to the Sublime. Morris describes in this re-issued book, published long ago right after the great events, a gone world. Today, on Everest, every prospect pleases (well, many do) but only man is vile, and can pass people dying in the Yuppie way. That wouldn't have occured to the men he describes. The solution to the transmission problems alone is worth the price of the book: like the book The Victorian Internet, this book shows that before the Internet, the urge to connect time and space was real and people were willing to do what was necessary to get the message to Garcia. It is nobler to think that the Empire ended at "Coronation Everest", the decent bits, anyway. The Empire of time-serving colonial pukka sahibs and their impossible wives ended at Suez. The Empire of ideals, of Bertrand Russell, of hymn singing when the ship went down, of genuinely decent people doing their best, that ended on top of the world the week before the Coronation.

First rate

Although the outcome is known, there is much to be gained from reading this book.Apart from the specific history of the climb which 'conquered' Everest (a much-used but dubious claim about one of the great feats of human endeavour, and one not used by those involved), I was particularly interested in several aspects:* The description of the expedition took place, the mechanics of it from someone outside the actual expedition;* The non-mountaineer's view of mountain-climbing and experiences in the Khumbu ice-fall and Western Cwm especially. This was the experience many an armchair-Everesteer would wish for themselves, I am sure;* The journalist's view of the people involved - all the other accounts I have read have been written from the point of view of being 'insiders' in the ecpedition - Hunt, Hillary, Tenzing, for example* The mechanics of how Morris set up 'exclusive' media coverage from the mountain! It is amazing to think that it was a mere 50 years ago that messages were taking 8 days to reach London, when nowadays we hear live radio broadcasts of people dying in snowstorms, have immediate Internet access to expedition journals etc. Thoroughly recommended for anyone with any interest at all in the subject.

Travel Journalism at its Best

This slim volume details the trip of London Times journalist Jan Morris with the 1953 British Everest Expedition. It provides interesting and unique first-hand accounts of Hillary, Tenzing, and other expedition personnel, as well as beautifully written descriptions of the landscape and persons encountered on the expedition. It is written in the style of its day - English "Public School" in tone - and reflects a love and command of the English language all too lacking in today's expedition accounts. The account flows easily and draws the reader along with the expedition. Despite knowing the outcome, the reader is kept interested by the tone and language, and by the behind-the-scenes looks at how this mammoth effort came together, and its ultimate effect on those on the mountain and those back home in England. For example, as the book opens on the eve of Elizabeth II's Coronation, we see Field Marshal Montgomery reading the Time's account of Hillary and Tenzing's triumph as he waits in robes to process in the Coronation parade. Small asides such as this give the book its unique flavor, and make it an interesting and invaluable addition to the armchair (or actual) mountaineer's collection

AN OLDIE BUT A GOODIE...

This is a wonderfully written book of the events surrounding the historic Everest expedition of 1953 which saw Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summit Mount Everest. It was written by special correspondent for The London Times, James Morris, who accompanied the expedition and first broke the news to the world of the successful summit. The news fortuitously reached England on the eve of Queen Elizabeth's the II coronation of June 2, 1953, and was the cause for much nationalistic pride. Hence, the name of the book. The book is reflective of the time in which it was written and evokes a feeling of an era long gone. Therein lies its charm. Nostalgia buffs will love it, as will those readers looking to consume anything about Everest. It will not disappoint, though the book is not about the climb to the summit in the strictest sense. The book chronicles in great detail the author's journey to Everest, as well as his personal experiences and observations while at Everest, waiting to break the story of the end result of the historic climb to the summit. It also chronicles the cloak and dagger methodology which he employed in order maintain exclusivity for The London Times. It should be noted in the interest of clarity and to avoid confusion, that times do indeed change. The author, James Morris, underwent a gender change subsequent to the original 1958 publication of this book. When the book was released again, however, the publisher did so under the name which the author had since adopted, Jan Morris. James or Jan, the author is a hell of a writer, and the book is well worth reading.