EDITORIAL

Soli S. Mehta

Fifty years have passed since the Himalayan Club was founded —time for a review, setting new directions, introspection and a look into the future. This issue has all of it in fair measure.

If a history of the Club had to be written, John Martyn would be the obvious choice, and so it is. The fluency in extraction of facts and relating them in a readable form is a facility available to few,, and we were lucky to have John willing to go through fifty years of the Club's committee minutes and peruse all the Himalayan Journals and Newsletters and come up with a contribution that can be considered as being the centrepiece of this issue.

A personalised review from Trevor Braham was equally necessary and it helps greatly to keep us on our tracks and advises us on our future course of action.

We have reprinted some articles from the previous issues of the Himalayan Journal—this is more than a trip down memory lane—it represents the best in exploration and mountain travel and from which the young readers of today can gain strength of purpose for their own adventures; where commercialism and 'free trips' seem to be more important than packing a rucksack and getting on with it on one's own !

The contributions have taken some time in coming—hence the delay. But it is befitting that the Golden Jubilee issue introduces the Hon. Asst. Editors Messrs Harish Kapadia and R. E. Hawkins.

Their help has already been invaluable but now, on the eve of my departure to Nigeria, they become quite indispensable, the help from Ad Carter (editor American Alpine Journal) and the editors of Mountain and Off-Belay is acknowledged with many thanks, as is the constant stream of information from Anders. Bolinder, Dr A. Diemberger, Jose Paytubi, Mike Cheney, Jerzy Wala and Andrezj Kus. To all my contributors my best wishes—may your tribe increase.

Soli S. Mehta

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