Just when you think that everything that could be said about Mallory and Everest along comes Wade Davis who has produced a truly extraordinary book. Into the Silence won the Samuel Johnson prize for Non Fiction in 2012 and it certainly deserved to do so!

Davis has not simply written a book about Everest expeditions, he has asked the question why did people behave as they did? The expeditions came about in the wake of a truly dreadful World War. How did the war experience effect the expeditions and can they help explain the attitudes these mountaineers had to risk?

Into the Silence begins by juxtaposing two events. Firstly, we have Mallory and Irvine setting off on the morning of they fateful climb, the expedition planners looking on with perhaps a sense of inevitability; time was running out in the  race to get up to the summit before the Monsoon arrived. At more or less the same time, group was gathered at the top of Great Gable in the Lake District to remember the climbers and members of the Alpine Club who had died dying the great war.

British mountaineering had been decimated during the war and had lost many talented climbers. Those — like Mallory — who survived had witnessed extraordinary suffering and carnage. And, as we now now, many of the strategic planners and commanders never really appreciated the realities of the scale of loss that their tactics led to. During the early stages of the book Davis takes us through — in some detail — the war experience of those who were to become the key actors  on Everest through the three expeditions of 1921, 1922 and 1924. This first section is a pretty comprehensive and still shocking description of that war. We also see how the key strategists saw the war, with commanders like General Haig adopting a policy of not visiting the front because it effected his health _ it as Haig who famously asked whether it could really be true that so many men had been lost during the war.

It is clear that this British approach to the war, and the split of experiences, was replicated in the expedition planning. In simple terms (mine) those planing the expedition int he Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society had little experience of the horrors of war and of danger. Theirs was a world of honour and endeavour based almost on chivalry.

Davis takes his time to set the scene properly; then he moves on the expeditions themselves. 

In 1921 a survey mission left for the Himalaya under the command of Charles Howard Bury but although only a reconnaissance mission Mallory (first amongst then natural climbers) always hoped for a crack at the top. Mallory himself was a comfortably off if not wealthy school teacher, unhappy with his job and work. Even though Mallory’s experiences of the War were horrific we can see some of Britain’s history reflected rather unhelpfully in his views. Arguably, one of the heroes of this expedition was the Canadian climber and surveyor Oliver Wheeler. Wheeler was not only strong climber but someone skilled in the new Canadian skill of map mapping from photographs, which involved the carrying of less equipment. During the 1921 expedition Wheeler and his small team of Sherpas spent longer at high altitude than other members of the expedition. It was Wheeler who observed the rout that would be the key to finding a route to the top of the mountain. Mallory was dismissive of Wheeler’s work even failing to acknowledge its significance in official reports. As he wrote to his wife Ruth, he simply didn’t rate Canadians!

The expedition in 1922 aimed to get to the summit. Those such as Mallory who signed on again effectively had less than half a year with family and friends before going out again. Wheeler was not to go on this mission although the nature of his survey work ventrally found him to be head of the Indian Survey.

This time the expedition was led by Charles Bruce who in a sense had to learn about Tibet and the Himalaya from scratch. Davis gives an enthralling account of the expedition’s search for the missing route to the top. In 1921 the ageing mountaineer Alexander Kellas (who was a veteran of climbing who may have been there at all if younger men had lived) first raised the notion of using oxygen to support climbs although sadly Kellas dies on the 1921 expedition. In 1922 the Oxygen theme was taken up by George Finch, one of the outstanding Alpinists of his day. Like Wheeler Finch was never really accepted by the establishment indeed he had been blocked from taking part in 1921 inn the grounds of a rather dubious medical — it was clear he was not really wanted. Finch’s achievements in the Alps in 1921 made it more or less certain that he would be part of the expedition in 22. However, this scepticism of him and his character is evident and like Wheeler before him his talents were not properly appreciated — Mallory was initially dismissive of both Oxygen and Finch himself, although he did become very appreciative of Finch’s talents on the mountain.

Davis also gives a fascinating account of the business foundation of the expeditions. The expeditions had to generate cash not only to finance the next outing but to some extent to finance the lives of climbers such as Mallory who were not independently wealthy men. The ’21 expedition had made a fair surplus but the ’22 expedition had been nowhere near as lucrative. Mallory, for example, was despatched on a lecture tour of the USA and Canada that failed to break even. It was hoped that there would be an expedition in ’23 but in reality it was impossible.

Mallory himself nearly missed the fateful expedition of ’24. He was feeling the strain of being away from his young family so much. He found a job with the Workers Education Association which was more to his liking to teaching at public schools. Mallory prevaricated as to wether he would actually sign up for 1924 and there is some evidence that he hoped his boss would not give him permission to go. However, establishment intervention saw the WEA giving Mallory 6 months leave at half pay. there was no chance that he would not go.

In 1924 Bruce again headed the expedition although he his health was so ropey that his position was quickly taken by Edward Norton. The whole focus opt this expedition was a rush to the mountain and yet there were still few young and skilled mountaineers on the team. Irvine was young an inexperienced yet he made his way up the rankings on the basis of his strength and ingenuity — it was Irvine who took on the mantle of maintaining and operating the Oxygen. 

Davis gives fascinating, full and frank accounts of each expedition. This is a book that despite its size gets read through pretty quickly. Once the book moves into expedition territory the excitement of the expeditions really grabs you. Yet all the time the reader is conscious of the World War background to not only the expeditions but to the individual characters involved.

An epilogue sketches over the next set of expeditions which could only follow after the end of the second World War. The first man to the top was, of course, a New Zealander, Edward Hillary, something that would have been un-imaginable in the 1920s. Davis also follows the search to discover whether Mallory and Irvine actually reached the top of the mountain.

This is a magnificent book a far greater achievement than most books that look at mountain expeditions. For Davis the War experiences shaped the expeditions and the characters of those who were members of them. Talking of Mallory, Davis reflects at the end of his book:

He would have walked on, even to his end, because for him, as for all his generation, death was but a :”frail barrier” that men crossed, “smiling and gallant every day.” They had seen so much of death that life mattered less than the moments of being alive.

Top class writing. Recommended. Go buy it!

Some of my favourite memories of TGO Challenges have involved meeting Challengers of a certain age who were not only taking part in their first crossing but who were backpacking and wild camping for the first time.

I remember on my first TGO Challenge meeting a couple during the one of the last, flat, days towards the East coast. Their youngest child had now gone off to University and one of the couple was a teacher who had taken early retirement and was now able to venture out beyond the restraints of school holidays. They’d had an absolute bawl, had loved moving from one landscape into another and had been entranced by wild camping. We spent much of our time talking about where they might explore next. Our discussions focused on France where they could combine their love of French food, bars and cafés with some stunning backpacking. It felt good to share in their overwhelming joy and excitement.

Look around the web and you’d be forgiven for thinking that backpacking is a young person’s game but, as the Challenge proves, this is certainly not the case. Freed from the ties of families many walkers over the age of 50 are up for a new challenge; Jorgen Johansson has recognised this and has come up with exceptionally useful book for those planning to strike out for the first time.

This is the second of Jorgen’s ebooks on backpacking, the first was Smarter Backing which I reviewed here.

‘Backpacking Over 50′ follows the minimalist formula of its predecessor. There are no photographs here or complicated tables and graphics, jet pure text. Somehow this really works. Jorgen has a nice and economical writing style and he manages to cram a lot of information into a tight space; the book never feels an ordeal to plough through. The information is presented I short Chapters or  ’Steps’.

It is safe to say that as you get older you tend to plan a little more than when you were younger — you certainly worry about new things more.  Jorgen deals with many of the subjects that you would expect to see here but he specifically addresses issues of age.

Early sections are addressed to those who may not have done anything like this before. Short chapters deal with judging your fitness in order to consider how to plan your trip, how to judge terrain and distance and so on. Distance is always something that new backpackers struggle with. How far should I walk during a day and for how many hours should I walk? How can I gauge what impact will hills make on my progress? I’ve certainly found with this blog I get a lot of emails about how to build up fitness before a walk and Jorgen deals with these issues very well.

After dealing with issues that will be specifically welcomed by older backpackers Jorgen moves on to look at issues that need to be considered by any backpacker. As you might expect with any backpacker who’s work is featured here Jorgen is big on lightening loads. I have younger Challenge comrades who pour scorn on the lightweight fraternity and I usually respond to them by retiring, “Just wait and see what you think about that in another 15 years”. As the joints become a little less nimble and as the weight begins to creep on the lightening of backpacking loads becomes, I think, a bit of a no brainer. Also considered the usual issues of pitching a tent or tarp, identifying a good pitch, filtering water, first aid and keeping yourself healthy as you walk.

Even in these general sections Jorgen’s approach is tailored for those of the age group — his section on food being a good case in point. I think (as you get older) the way you consume food on the trail changes as you get older. I’ve realised I now need to eat more regularly and more substantively. Jorgen lays out menus for the day including stopping breaks. He clearly believes in three square meals a day as you walk with lots of time for stops and snacks in between. I would agree with this although I would add the concept that Mick and Gayle describe as ‘second breakfast’. Making space for a second breakfast of the day an hour and a half or so into a day’s walk makes a lot of sense when backpacking.

I think this is an exceptionally useful book for anyone over the age of 50 looking to backpack for the first time. The sparse approach to production keeps costs down and this title will only set you back £4 or less on Amazon. At that price this is great value for money

Backpacking isn’t just for the young! It’s never too young to throw yourself into the wild back country and revel in the natural landscape, flora and fauna.

I can find no better way of ending this review than by using Jorgen”s own words about the joys of backpacking.

To sum it up: I am backpacking simply because nothing else makes me feel better.

Wow, that is quite a statement, but for me it happens to be true. Let me explain. It is not that I do not enjoy my loving family, good food, sex or other things that I wish for myself and all people. And I might not enjoy hiking and backpacking as much if I was doing it all the time. I do not know, and I probably never will.

What I am saying is that backpacking is a pastime that makes me feel extremely well when I am doing it, and it gives me something to look forward to when I am not doing it. Combined with the big and small activities with which we fill our lives in between pastimes I feel that I live a full and fulfilling life. Considering that I am also fortunate to live in a relatively peaceful society with my basic material needs met; what more can anyone ask?