Hell Is Above Us: The Epic Race to the Top of Fumu, the World's Tallest Mountain, Jonathan Bloom [best ebook reader TXT] 📗

the first designs for Everest in the early 1920’s. With both Poles of the Earth conquered, The United Kingdom wished to conquer “The Third Pole.” But access to Everest was limited. Even though the British lorded over what is now modern-day India, Burma, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, Nepal’s borders were closed. Any British expedition would have to make its way northeast to Tibet from India and then turn almost completely around to approach the mountain from the north.

In 1921 a young George Mallory along with Charles Howard-Bury and a large expedition of fellow Brits and Sherpa made a reconnaissance mission to the area. Mallory, like Hoyt and Junk who followed, had never climbed in the Himalaya when he set his sites for Everest. Thanks to his efforts and the rest of the team of photographers, surveyors, and botanists, the world learned much about the mountain. Most importantly for the world of mountaineering, the expedition found the best routes for reaching the base of the mountain at a point where the summit could be attempted.

The British would try for Everest seven times officially before the war began, including the tragic 1924 expedition in which Mallory and Andrew Irvine were lost near the summit. By the beginning of World War II, no one had reached the top, but many had come painfully close – some within hundreds of feet. Landslides, altitude sickness, sudden storms, and simple exhaustion ultimately took its toll on all comers. Worse still, these brave souls climbing the northern side of Everest had no idea Fumu lurked on the other side, mocking their misguided efforts to reach the top of the world. Even those who gazed upon her from near Everest’s summit – either because of distance or dizziness from altitude, or both - had no idea Fumu was dominant.

By late 1939, England’s Royal Geographic Society was in a damned rut. They were practically drooling to get a man to the top of Everest. The defeats were bad enough, but now the Germans were making their moves on the Himalaya. Hitler was already out of line on the battlefields of Europe. The Brits did not want him getting the best of them in Asia as well. It would be an absolute coup to reach the top of Everest, the tallest mountain in the world (or so it was believed at the time), before the Germans reached the top of Nanga Parbat, known to be the ninth tallest mountain at the time.

But after seven expeditions, the Royal Geographic Society, the Everest Committee, and the entire British government were sick of putting their best and brightest men in harm’s way, especially when a possible war loomed. Money was not an issue at the moment, and they were willing to fund many more campaigns. But no more would they fund the high-altitude deaths of the “old-boy” network. Names like Shipton, Longland, and Wollaston would not be put into harm’s way anymore. A decision was made to only send chimneysweeps, the Irish, and members of the then-dying Liberal Party.

Sir Percy Cox, secretary of the Everest Committee, received a letter from the United States at about this time. It was from Aaron Junk. In it, Junk pleaded with the committee to let him join their next expedition to Everest. He explained that American businesses and government had little interest in funding a climb at the time, and that his own funding was currently tied up in other concerns. Junk used a rather silly argument to persuade the committee to allow an outsider to tag along: “My father was a world-renowned geographer and map-maker. I believe I am well on my way to becoming his worthy successor. In addition, I am an excellent mountaineer. If you have friendships with any American mountaineer, please ask them about my abilities. I am confident they will paint an impressive picture. The United Kingdom would benefit greatly from my participation.”

Cox saw right through the request, but also championed the idea of letting Junk come along. Cox wrote to a friend who was also on the committee about Junk’s request:

“Mister Junk is under the false impression England has no access to American newspapers. I am sure all of us [on the committee] are aware of his volatile relationship with William Hoyt, and I am sure if we contacted Hoyt, we would find he too has designs for an Everest expedition in the near future. Bloody Americans. They have the civility and tact of lowland gorillas. I actually find Hoyt to be the more offensive of the two because he carries himself as if he were a subject of the Queen. He is nothing of the sort. None of our ranks has been beaten bloody outside of a pub and thrown into jail. Nonetheless, no one wants to send good men to the top of Everest right now, so I am comfortable letting Junk join the expedition scheduled for late summer. May God have mercy on my soul.”

Cox lobbied hard, but almost every member to the man was opposed to Junk’s inclusion on the expedition. The Royal Geographic Society took umbrage with an American – any American – taking part in an endeavor so tied up with national identity. What if Junk reached the top first? What if Junk doomed the whole enterprise? Any press-worthy actions by an American climber on a British expedition would be problematic. His success would belittle them, and his failure would bring the government’s judgment into question.

Junk decided to make his case in person. He travelled to London and made a beeline for Cox’s flat. After talking Cox into dinner and after countless late-night bottles of expensive California wine, Junk literally got down on bended knee. All he wanted, he explained, was to continue the work his dearly departed father could never finish. Cox stopped him from embarrassing himself further. He knew William Hoyt was also planning a trip to Everest and that Junk wanted nothing more than to beat Hoyt to the