RECOLLECTIONS OF A FORMER EDITOR

TREVOR BRAHAM

KENNETH MASON'S IMMEDIATE successor as editor of the Himalayan Journal found it hard to match the high standards that Mason had set with the first twelve volumes edited by him between 1928-1940. The work had fitted him so perfectly. He was after all one of the founders of the Himalayan Club, he had spent an active career in the Survey of India, and his extensive knowledge of the Himalayan regions helped, in the words of his successor, to 'stimulate and co-ordinate' his work.

Despite his appointment as Professor of Geography at Oxford in 1932, Kenneth Mason continued for the next eight years to produce on annual Journal, each one bearing the stamp of his knowledge nnd authority. When Vol. XII appeared in 1940 after the commencement of World War II it was not fully realised that six years would lapse before the appearance of the next volume, under a new editor.

Wilfrid Noyce, starting an interrupted university course at Cambridge in 1946 after release from the army, nobly took over as editor of what he called a 'coming to life' volume (XIII), putting into it all llu- enthusiasm that he felt for the Himalaya after the several small expeditions he had been able to make during war service in India.

It was left, however, to Lt. Col. H.W. Tobin, a founder member Of the dub, who succeeded Noyce in 1947, to bring the Himalayan Journal back to the attention of the international mountaineering community. After service in the Indian army he lived for a few years In Dnrjeding where as Honorary Local Secretary of the Club he established a register of Sherpa porters and was able to provide assistance to all the earliest expeditions over the recruitment of porters and Sirdars, forming close friendships with most of the leading Himalayan climbers nl tin' day. Returning to England, he worked as Hon. Secretary of lite Hoy.il Central Asian Society and was elected to the Joint Himalayan Committee (precursor of the Mount Everest Foundation). With wide contacts throughout the Himalayan world he built up a storehouse of information that served him ideally during the ten years of his editorship. Yet the introduction that he wrote in 1947 for Vol. XIV was gloomy and filled with foreboding. Referring to himself as the 'officiafing^ editor, he expressed the view that 'this volume is almost certain to be a final issue'. How wrong he was. He went on to edit the next five volumes (Vols. XV to XIX, 1949 to 1956) until his death in 1957. The early 1950s were difficult years for the Himalayan Club. A large number of old members could not be traced and a new generation of Himalayan climbers and travellers barely knew of the Club's existence. A move had to be made of the Club's base from Delhi to Calcutta. Lower availability of funds brought into doubt the Club's ability to finance an annual Journal. There was doubt also about whether the Journal should be published in India or England. It was by the resolution of these and other problems and by the publication of 6 volumes in the 10 years between 1947 to 1956 that membership began to expand, and the Club gradually grew in strength and regained international recognition — which, with the publication of this 50th Volume, is now as high as it has ever been during the halcyon years prior to 1940.

A glimpse into the Himalayan atmosphere of those days is given by Tobin's comment prefacing Vol. XVI. 'The year 1950 was a record year for mountaineering in High Asia... no less than four major expeditions...' About then, three important events had occurred. Nepal had opened its doors to foreign mountaineers. The first 8000 m mountains was ascended, and Everest's southern approaches were visited for the first time. It was at that time still possible to relate the attitudes of the day to those of the Himalayan pioneers. Mutual help, team spirit, limiting the acceptance of risk, preserving a margin of safety: these were the guiding principles to which the success of a climb was subordinated. Between 1953 and 1955 the world's three highest mountains were climbed, and by 1960 all the 8000 m peaks were ascended (except Shishapangma which owing to its Tibetan situation was climbed by a Chinese party in 1964). The period has sometimes been called the Himalayan 'Golden Age', when teams from France, Britain, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Japan and the United States were all able to claim first ascents of 8000 m mountains mostly by large and costly national expeditions. The chauvinistic race for the 8000 m peaks nevertheless inspired a new and much wider interest in Himalayan climbing and exploration, and marked the end of this early phase. The field was wide open. Achievements on the highest mountains provided a powerful stimulus to everyone possessing the initiative and the will to set about planning their own ventures.

Signs were already evident of a changing trend, with the appearance of smaller teams aiming for more modest objectives and seeking to lirt-ak new ground. Such as the Scottish party in Garhwal in 1950, Imir New Zealanders (including Ed Hillary and George Lowe) in Garhwal In 1951, Snelson and De Graaff in Kullu in 1952, John Tyson's Oxford team to Garhwal in 1952, the Cambridge team to Rakaposhi in 1954, the first ladies party to Nepal in 1955 (the second followed one year later to Kullu), to mention but a few. These ventures were nil organised by small groups of friends unaided by national or commercial biirking.

When Lt. Col. H.W. Tobin died in January 1957, the fate of Vol. XX of the Journal which he had partly prepared, seemed to hang In the balance. Vol. XIX after an interval of 24 years was once rtc(<iin published in India. This had meant close coordination between Tobin in England and Bill Risoe in India acting as Assistant Editor, H Itisk involving the sending back and forth of bulky scripts, printers proofs, and correspondence. The Baptist Mission Press in Calcutta Ii.id achieved a good standard of production with that volume, and il seemed sensible, taking into account the lower cost, to continue In publish the Journal in India. This factor combined with the difficulty nl finding a successor for Tobin in England seemed to point to 11 »• suitability of finding one resident in India. I think that I must have been wished into the job. I was at the time the Club's Hon. Secretary, and was beginning to find the work, with the steady expansion of 1 Himalayan activity, demanding an important part of my time. Whilst I was aware that the editorship would demand rather more, I do mil think that I was immediately aware just how much more. Often, working through week-ends and late into> the night after a full working (Iny, did I recall Kenneth Mason's comments 'My experience is that It Is only the 40-hour-week wallahs who are "too busy" for the ex lil Job. The really busy men always find time for one more spot ill work, as I learnt when I started this Journal 10 years ago.'

I soon began to learn that an editor's task, like so much else, is interdependent. I required, and readily obtained, help from many •inines. I needed to communicate widely, to penetrate closed doors, In cultivate connections, to cajole, to enthuse, to acquire a historical perspective, and to adopt a strict code of accuracy. Volumes XX •mil XXI were produced with valuable liaison from England provided hi .i hy George Band and later by John Jackson. After overcoming llie Initial delay in resuming publication, I set myself a rigorous timetable In order to ensure the annual appearance of each volume, because I Ml that the Journal was an important symbol of the Club's existence and coherence.

Great events were occurring in the late 1950s. In 1956 apart from 3 first ascents of 8000 m peaks, the Swiss became the first party to climb two 8000 m peaks during the same expedition, one being a first ascent. For the first time, an ascent was achieved by a technically difficult route semi-alpine style when the Muztagh Tower was climbed by small teams from Britain and France operating from two different sides of the mountain. This was an important break-through, and led to a fresh evaluation of future possibilities. The lovely Nepalese peak Machhapuchhare received its first and only attempt when Wilfrid Noyce and David Cox stopped short about 50 metres below the summit. The year 1956 saw the departure from India of Jill Henderson who, as the Club's local secretary in Darjeeling for over four years, had gained the respect and affection of the Sherpa community, a relationship matched only once before by Joan Townend in the 1930s.

Two notable achievements in 1957 and 1958 demonstrated how fundamentally the approach to Himalayan climbing was beginning to change. Hermann Buhl's four-man Austrian team in making the first ascent of Broad Peak became the first to climb an 8000 m mountain in alpine style and without oxygen. Buhl died shortly after in a fall during an unroped descent of Chogolisa. A very strong team of Italian climbers led by Riccardo Cassin made the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV by a route that was undoubtedly the most difficult technically that had ever been climbed until then on a high peak. Oxygen was not used. The two who reached the summit were Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri. On their return, after a dangerous 272 day descent through a storm, one of their colleagues remarked, 'Only Walter, the remarkable Bonatti, seemed to have suffered no ill-effects. He was in full and undisputed possession of his faculties. He could smile. His movements were easy. He might have just got in from some tricky little climb beyond the rest-hut.' During the same period Gasherbrum I was climbed by a small American team; leaving Dhaulagiri and Shishapangma the only two undimbed 8000-ers. In the summer of 1958 it was considered quite exceptional that the head of the Baltoro glacier should be populated by three separate expeditions, when apart from Italians and Americans, a Japanese group made the first ascent of Chogolisa. Other notable first ascents were of Rakaposhi and Haramosh.

It was certainly an interesting time for an editor. Keeping pace with current activities, and functioning as a clearing house for information handling enquiries from club members and others, some of whom contributed in no small measure to future achievements, were engrossing occupations. In the Himalayan world of those days, enthusiasm appeared to be insatiable and the scope seemed unlimited. It is not surprising that I can recall little of the toil. Burning the midnight oil seemed a small price to pay for the privilege of following Himalayan events from a central position, of participating in them in a small way, and of forming many close friendships which have endured through tilt' years.

1. Prof. Kenneth Mason

2. C.W.F. Noyce

My departure from India in 1959 left the Club with the problem ol luiving to find a new editor. But, like many problems that the Club has had to face, it was not too long before this was successfully resolved. The Journal has retained its specialization in the Himalaya. Fifty volumes have been produced by seven editors in 66 years, __ not a bad record: probably surpassing the performance of equivalent publications worldwide devoted to exploration and mountaineering.

" SUMMARY "

Recollections about past editors of the Himalayan Journal and its production from 1928 to 1959.

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