May 17 Conditions

Saturday 27th May 2017

A book review: Norton of Everest by Hugh Norton

E.F. (Teddy) Norton was involved in 2 early Everest expeditions; 1922 and 1924. The latter when Mallory and Irvine went missing high on the north-east ridge and Norton set a record for the highest climb without oxygen.

Norton was a soldier first and foremost and although he enjoyed the mountains and had a chalet in the Alps, his time on Everest, it seems, was 'just another job' as part of his duty. There are some interesting stories from his time in the 1st world war and later as acting Governor in Hong Kong during the 2nd world war.

The main disappointment is that it seems that the sources for this book are mainly from the writings and diaries of Norton rather than from personal experience as the son of Norton. Maybe this was due to Norton's reserved character who rarely showed much emotion as Hugh admits. An interesting read if you're after some background to the man who lead the 1924 Everest expedition.

Monday 1st May 2017

Skye Ridge Traverse

Just back from a great weekend on Skye. Bruce has wanted to do the Skye Ridge for sometime but for many of his visits to Skye with me we've had generally rubbish weather. Finally this weekend it was dry and clear and we were ready for action!
We stashed some bivi gear high on the ridge while doing a climb on Midget Ridge and discovering how much snow there really was from last weeks late winter storm. There was plenty! The wind was constant for all of the traverse with the temperature not getting above 4 degrees on day one and even though we had some sun at the end of day 2 we never had double figures celcius.
Great to finally do this big mountaineering adventure with Bruce. There are some photos from the weekend on my Facebook Page: Skye Ridge Traverse Facebook photo album