ASIAN ALPINE E-NEWS
Issue No 63. March 2020

C0NTENTS
14 8000m Peaks collection
The Himalayan News 6, March 2020

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TiansuPage 2 ~ 9

Himalayan

Page 10 ~ 26

14 8000-meter peaks photographed by Tiansu
Photo Captions

1. Mount Everest (8848 m) sunset 2009.01.16 Filmed at Tibet Rongbu temple
2. K2 (8611 m) Far View 2018.07.20 Filmed at Concordia
3. Kangchenjunga (8586 m) Sunset 2018.10.25 Filmed at Kangchenjunga BC
4. Lhotse (8516 m) Sunset 2019.10.22 Filmed at Makalu Advance Base Camp
5. Makalu (8475 m) Sunset 2019.10.23 Filmed at Makalu Advance Base Camp
6. Cho Oyu (8201 m) Sunset 2017.09.20 Filmed at Tibet Cho Oyo Advance BaseCamp
7. Dhaulagiri I (8167 m) Sunrise 2019.11.07 Filmed at Poon hill
8. Manaslu (8163 m) Sunrise 2018.01.20 Filmed at Tibet Jilong Town
9. Nanga Parbat (8125 m) Sunrise 2018.08.01 Filmed at Fairy Meadows
10. Annapurna I (8091 m) Sunrise 2017.11.04
Filmed at Annapurna Base Camp
11. Gasherbrum I (8068 m) Sunset 2018.07.14 Filmed at Trango Base Camp12. Broad Peak (8051 m) Starry sky 2018.07.20 Filmed at Broad Peak Base Camp
13. Gasherbrum II (8035 m) Starry sky 2018.07.24 Filmed at Gasherbrum BaseCamp
14. Shisha Pangma (8027 m) Sunset 2019.05.26 Filmed at Tibet Shisha Pangma
Advance Base Camp

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The Himalayan NewsThe Himalayan News
March 2020

The Himalayan

A Newsletter of The Himalayan

Jim Wilson and Peter Hillary in Kolkata for the Ed Hillary centenary celebrations

MARCH 2020 NO 6

ED HILLARY – CLOSER
MOMENTS

Jim Wilson

INSPIRING HIGHERASPIRATIONSPriyadarshi Gupta

BOUQUETS AND
BRICKBATS

Feedback from our
Readers

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March 2020

Dear Readers,

We welcome you to the sixth issue of The Himalayan News.
2019 was the birth centenary year of Sir Edmund Hillary. The Himalayan along with The Telegraphhosted Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund and Jim Wilson, a long time friend of Sir Ed, in Kolkata. The
350 plus audience listened spellbound to the presentations and videos by both these two erudite
speakers.
In this our sixth issue, Jim Wilson, who was part of Ed Hillary’s team and worked with him for many
years, pens a personal tribute to him including some interesting insights into the projects which
Hillary and the Himalayan Trust carried out.
We include here a photo feature, 'Inspiring Higher Aspirations', on the evening spent by Peter Hillary
and Jim Wilson in Kolkata on 12th November 2019.
On another note, this winter has been unusually harsh in the mountains with repeated snow storms
and plummeting temperatures well below normal.
Popular trekking routes have been iced over and a few days ago we heard that avalanches had swept
away some Korean trekkers and their Nepali guides on the way to Annapurna Base Camp, a popular
trekking destination which they were unfortunately attempting in winter.
Global climate change is affecting all of us and the Himalayas are bearing major brunt of this.
Forest fires, a naturally occurring phenomenon during the dry seasons, has devastated the rain
forests in the Amazon and caused unprecedented loss of flora and fauna in Australia this season.
Sadly, this year most of that in the Amazon are believed to have been started by farmers and loggers
clearing land for crops or grazing cattle. May good sense prevail before it is too late.
As we go to press the enormity of the corona virus pandemic is sweeping across the entire planet.
One does not know how long this will last. The climbing of Everest and other major peaks in Nepal
and Tibet has been closed by the respective governments. In the peak spring season trekking
companies, guides, porters, hotels, lodges will all be out of business.
And finally we have some sad news to share. Mr. Meher H Mehta FRGS and former Vice President of
The Himalayan Club passed away in a Kolkata hospital on February 27th 2020. Mr. Mehta was aninspiration for all of us at The Himalayan and his presence,, advice and guiding force will be sorely
missed.

Sujoy Das
Rupamanjari Biswas
Editors

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ED HILLARY- CLOSER MOMENTS
Jim Wilson

I was a schoolboy in 1953 when Tenzing
Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached thesummit of Sagarmartha /Chomolungma/Everest. I was already an aspiringmountaineer and Ed instantly became myhero. Little did I know then that ten years
later he and I would meet and become closefriends, and that later again, through Ed, I
would also meet Tenzing.
The first ascent of Sagarmartha was atremendous feat, and Ed and Tenzing richly
deserved the fame that followed. But theirmost deserved fame is due to what each did
after that, Tenzing with the Mountaineering
Institute of India, at Darjeeling, and Ed withhis aid programmes in Nepal. Tenzing’s work I
admired only from a distance, but I wasfortunate enough to be involved with Ed in his

Nepal work for 45 years, from 1963 till his
death in 2008.
Ed’s aid programme began almost
accidently. In 1960-61 he led a large
expedition to the Sagarmartha/ Makalu regionof Nepal, conducting high altitude
acclimatisation research, hunting for theelusive yeti, and narrowly failing on an
attempt to climb Makalu without
supplementary oxygen. About midway
through this expedition Ed was sitting round acampfire with some of his Sherpa friends, in a
moraine valley above the Tolambau glacier.
Warm with gratitude for the help Sherpas had
given him and so many other western
mountaineers, he said to one of his friends:“Tell us Urkien, if there were one thing we
could do for your village, what should it be?”“We would like our children to go to school,

3The Himalayan NewsThe Himalayan

March 2020sahib. Of all the things that you have, learningis the one we most desire for our children”
replied Urkien. [Sir Edmund Hillary,
Schoolhouse in the Clouds, Doubleday, New
York, 1964, pp. 1 and 2.]
Not an easy request to respond to you
might well think. Ed didn’t think so. He
persuaded the American sponsors of that
expedition to donate extra funds, hepersuaded a Kolkata aluminium company todonate a prefabricated building, he had thisflown to a high temporary strip the expedition
had established under Ama Dablam and thencarried to Khumjung village, and he andothers stayed on after the expedition ended
and erected the building on a prime site at theentrance to the village. Of course a schoolneeds more than a building, but he sorted
that also, locating and hiring from Darjeeling abrilliant Sherpa headmaster, Tem Dorje, whoin turn hired other Sherpa and Nepali
teachers. By the middle of 1961 Khumjung
school was full of children from Khumjung andNamche Bazaar and Thami bursting witheagerness to learn.
For Ed, this school was initially a one-off
gesture of gratitude. But, back home in New
Zealand, he started receiving petitions fromsurrounding villages. One read: “Respected
Burra Sahib Sir Edmund Hillary. We the local
people, the Sherpas of Thami, Khumbu, cameto know that your honour, helping us in all
respects, is going to open some more schools
in Khumbu. So we Thami people arerequesting your honour to open a school at
Thami just like Kumjung. Though our children
have eyes but still they cannot see.”[Schoolhouse in the Clouds, p. 3.]
Many might have thought: “I’ve done
enough already.” Not Ed. He thought rather:“Why shouldn’t I?” And so in 1963 he led thefirst of 45 years of aid expeditions, eventuallybuilding and staffing and maintaining about
30 schools, and aiding in various ways morethan 30 others. He established 2 hospitals andmany outlying medical clinics, and two
airstrips to service them. He installed watersupplies, built bridges, was involved increating the Sagarmartha National Park ... thelist goes on and on.
And it was not just that he aided, butalso how he aided, that is so admirable. Unlike
some western aid programmes, he never
dreamed of telling his Sherpa friends what hethought they needed. He always responded totheir requests, or asked them what theywanted. And he always worked with them,rather than for them, discussing with thevillagers what voluntary unskilled labour they
could provide, and paying the skilledstonemasons and carpenters out of funds heraised by endless speaking tours, and fromfunds raised by trusts in the USA, Canada,
Britain and Germany, and by his own
Himalayan Trust in New Zealand. Later, in
keeping with his desire to work always withhis Sherpa friends, he set up a Sherpa
Advisory Committee in Kathmandu, to which,after a name change to Himalayan Trust
Nepal, he handed over all the administrationof the projects in Nepal. All these trusts
continue to raise funds for Ed’s programmes,
channelling the funds through the Himalayan
Trust Nepal which is mainly run by former
pupils of Ed’s schools.

Difficult loads for Sherpani porters to carry overmountain tracks for fourteen days.

Ed’s working with rather than for the
local communities extended to how theschools and hospitals were built. The walls
and the joinery were of traditional Sherpa
style – thick unmortared rock walls, andtimber floors, doors and window frames.
Glass was added to the windows to provide
light during adverse weather (wooden
shutters were then used in Sherpa homes). All

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March 2020of this, therefore, was easy for local trades
people not only to build but also to maintainwithout costly visits by western trades people.
But traditional Sherpa roofing was rock ortimber shingles, the rock heavy, the timbersubject to rot. In Sherpa houses, chimney-lessin the 1960’s, and occupied throughout theyear, the timber shingles were well preservedby smoky tar from cooking and heating fires,
though the effects on Sherpa lungs and eyes
were not so beneficial. But the schools wereclosed for the winter, and had no cooking
fires; wooden shingles would not have lasted
long. So Ed introduced New Zealand styleroofing, lighter rafters and purlins covered bycorrugated aluminium or steel sheets
interspersed with clear corrugated plastic or
fibreglass sheets. These latter, along with theglass windows, made the classrooms muchlighter than the cosy but dim Sherpa houses,
and made them suitable for educational
purposes. It was a brilliant marrying of Sherpa
and New Zealand building methods.

Ed had an enquiring mind about thehuman condition and our place in theuniverse, but was not conventionally religious.
Nonetheless, he admired and participated in
the Tibetan Buddhist religious ceremonies of
the Sherpas, and always had the school andhospital buildings, when completed, opened
and blessed by lamas, preferably the
Rimpoche (reincarnate Head Lama) ofThyangboche Gompa (monastery). He also
responded to requests for roofing and otherrepairs from gompas and nunneries. Amongst
many other such projects, at the Rimpoche’srequest he installed a better water supply for,and built a school at, Thyangboche.
Already, in the 1960/61, Ed’s expedition
had made a significant improvement toSherpa health. As in New Zealand prior to theintroduction of iodised salt, goitre, andchildren still-born or born mentally retarded
and/or deaf, were major problems in the
Khumbu. This was due to a lack of iodine inmountain streams and rivers. Iodised salt was
not an option there then, but a New Zealandmedical specialist with the expedition had
slow-release iodine injections brought in andadministered. When, from 1966 onwards,
Khunde hospital was in operation, these
injections became routine and goitre andcretinism became things of the past. A
personal story gives dramatic illustration of
this. Ang Douli, wife of Ed’s sirdar and closefriend Mingma Tsering, had, prior to 1961,
had thirteen pregnancies, from which only
two children survived, one of whom was very
severely mentally retarded while the other
Temba, was very bright but profoundly deaf.
After having iodine injections Ang Douli had
two further pregnancies both of which
resulted in very bright and healthy sons.
The hospitals, Khunde in 1966, andPhaphlu, lower down in the Solu region, in the
mid-1970’s, were again in response torequests. For both, Ed felt an airstrip toservice them, and from which to fly criticalpatients to Kathmandu, would be desirable.

The Sherpa substitute for bulldozers levelling the
Lukla airstrip.

Another tall order? Not for Ed. In mypresentation at the November 12th function, I
mentioned how Ann and I in 1964 were on
Ed’s behalf seeking a site for an airstrip as
close to Khunde as altitude permitted. We
were led by Lukla villagers to a site by theirvillage. The site was long enough, but quite
steeply sloping and divided into small
horizontal fields with 6- to 10-foot rock walls
between. Later that year Ed and Mingma,
with a big team of Sherpas and Sherpanis,made short work of removing the rock walls
and shifting tons of soil to make an evenslope, all by muscle power alone. Ed had the5The Himalayan NewsThe Himalayan

March 2020

strip ploughed, then held a Sherpa party on it,with rhythmic foot-stomping dancing, whichfurther smoothed and firmed the surface, andin came the first winged aircraft for a perfectlanding. This strip continues to service Khunde
hospital, and has also become one of thebusiest in Nepal by providing a way fortourists to reach base camp on Sagarmartha
without a two-week trek. It has alsotransformed the previously tiny village ofLukla into a tourist town - for better or forworse? – so the villagers had great foresight,
and amazing knowledge of what fixed-wing
aircraft need for landing and take-off at that
altitude.
Phaphlu is a less sloping strip just below
the hospital, but still a challenging one. And
for Ed, building this hospital proved tragic.
The whole Hillary family – Ed, his wife Louise,and his children Peter, Sarah and Belinda –were living in Kathmandu for all of 1975 while
the hospital and airstrip were being created.
Louise had always a great fear of flying, to theextent that she preferred to fly separatelyfrom Ed so that, in the event of an accident,
their children would not lose both parents.
She wanted to walk in to Phaphlu to join Ed
there, but reluctantly agreed to Ed’ssuggestion that she and Belinda fly in. Due tothe pilot failing to remove a restraint on awing flap during his pre-flight checks theplane was uncontrollable and crashedimmediately after take-off, killing all three on
board.
Ed was devastated, both at the loss
and because he felt directly responsible
because he had persuaded Louise to fly in. It
took many years before the old happy Ed fully
returned to us, and they were dark years
indeed. Some years later his recovery was
greatly helped by his second wife, June,
herself widowed when her husband, Peter
Mulgrew, was killed in a dreadful plane crashin Antarctica. June and Peter had been closefriends of Ed and Louise, Peter having been
one of the team who drove tractors to theSouth Pole with Ed.
Ed carried on. With such a man nothingelse was conceivable. The hospital wascompleted. As with the earlier Khunde
hospital it was initially staffed by foreign
volunteer doctors from New Zealand andCanada. But as soon as Sherpa doctors
became available, often former pupils of Ed’s
schools who had gone on to study medicine,they took over. Sherpa and other Nepali
doctors and staff continue to run the two
hospitals, and their numerous outlying
medical clinics, to this day.

Ed, Graeme Dingle and the author enjoying a brief
respite from battling rapids in Ganga’s gorges.

Ed’s initial fame, which made possible raisingfunds for all these projects, was due to him
being above all an adventurer. He made aname for himself with daring climbs in the
New Zealand alps, then joined with threeother New Zealand mountaineers on an
expedition to the Garhwal Himal in India,
during which Mukut Parbat, about 23,000 ft.,
was climbed. This in turn led to him and Earle
Riddiford being invited to join Eric Shipton’sreconnaissance of the Nepalese approach to
Sagarmartha, Nepal having just opened its
borders to foreign mountaineers. Then Ed andGeorge Lowe were invited on the 1953 British
Everest expedition, with the result that we all
know. Thereafter Ed led a large number ofmajor adventures, including driving tractors to
the South Pole in support of Fuch’s Trans
Antarctic Expedition, a New Zealand Alpine
Club expedition to the Himal, the above
mentioned 1960/61 high altitude research
expedition, and, of course, the Indo-New
Zealand expedition which travelled in jetboats up Mother Ganga from Ganga Sagar to
Nand Prayag, near Badrinath.

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But it was a very endearing
characteristic of Ed that for him an adventure
didn’t have to be major or heroic. He
delighted just as much in smaller less notableadventures. Keen to share his love ofadventure and of the outdoors with his fellow
New Zealanders, he led a group of close andadventurous friends in a New Zealand TV
series titled “The Adventure World of Sir
Edmund Hillary”. We sailed to and climbed
some striking sea pillars at the tip of an island
offshore from his home city of Auckland, we
drove jet boats up two challenging South
Island rivers, and we canoed and rafted down
another wild South Island river then made afirst ascent of a 3,000 foot rock wall on a highsouthern mountain. The film bug captivatedhim, and we also made a film of climbing apeak and rafting down a river in Fiji, andanother travelling through India, by a varietyof transport including camels and ox-carts,
from Cape Comorin to the Kulu valley. Thiswas during the time when he was the New
Zealand High Commissioner to India.

The waterfall in the Alakananda which our boats
couldn’t leap up

But adventures didn’t even have to be thisbig, or be filmed. Any little challenge could be
responded to with delight. The families of twoof Ed’s closest friends, Mike Gill and I, were
camped with Ed’s family by a beach on theisland offshore from Auckland. Two miles
away another much smaller island reared
boldly out of the open sea. We had with us atrusty inflatable rubber dinghy, acquired fromthe American firm Sears Roebuck, to which Ed
was camping and adventure advisor, and usedon previous adventures and films. One

morning Ed was looking at this island with abright gleam in his eye. As I joined him on the
shore he said: ‘Why don’t we try to sail to Arid
Island and back in the dinghy?” “Well for astart it doesn’t have a mast or sail” Isuggested mildly, “or a rudder”. “But we can
rig an oar as a mast, a tent fly as a sail, andthe other oar as a rudder” he responded,
undaunted as ever. And so we did. We sailed
to the island downwind on a gentle breeze,
then, fortune favouring the brave as usual; wescored a wind shift to sail downwind backagain. Had the wind remained as it was ourability to tack the dinghy upwind would havebeen severely limited, but we could haverowed back. Ever after Ed and I would
reminisce laughingly about our “great”
adventure, and jokingly wonder why it nevermade front page news!
I have written a lot about what projects
and adventures Ed led, but nothing yet
specific about his style of leadership. His style
was in wonderful contrast to my image of‘stiff upper lip’ British leaders such as Fuchs
and Scott of the Antarctic. They tended tokeep themselves aloof from their ‘underlings’
lest it weaken their command and lessen theirdignity; and tended to make important
decisions on their own then order the others
to carry them out. Whereas Ed was what I
think of as a ‘kiwi’ leader. [A kiwi is a curious
flightless bird unique to New Zealand. It has
become our national symbol, and we fondly
refer to ourselves as ‘Kiwis’] We Kiwis are an
independent, even a ‘bloody-minded’, lot, andwe don’t take kindly to being ordered around,nor have much truck with some people
thinking themselves superior to others. So
Kiwi leaders are much more one of the crew,
discussing plans and asking people to do
things rather than deciding on their own andordering others. Ed was a perfect example ofthis. He would discuss plans with us, wewould decide together, then we would
happily carry out our part in a plan we hadcontributed to. In all my expeditions with Ed,
over 45 years, I remember only one time
when Ed ordered us to do something, andthat time was fully justified. In 1963 we

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youngsters were let loose for an attempt on
Taweche, a fierce peak towering above thevillage of Pangboche where we were building
a school. Ed and some older and moreconstruction savvy members of the expedition
remained below to continue working on theschool. The weather was not favourable toeither enterprise, brief fine mornings giving
way to grey mist and drizzle and rain andsnow. Our progress on the mountain was
painstakingly slow, as was progress on theschool. Each evening we would radio ourprogress, usually very little, to Ed. After abouta week, one evening we radio-ed as usual, andreceived a reply from Ed which we claimed
not to understand, though it would be moretruthful to say we didn’t want to understandit. Mike Gill grabbed the microphone andimprovised wildly: “Understand you to say
continue the assault.” Ed’s reply was soemphatic it seemed to bypass the radio andboom straight into our ears: “Negative,
negative, come down to Pangboche
immediately to assist with the building.” Wecame down to Pangboche, immediately, andduring a week of continuing bad weather,during which we could have made little if any
progress on Taweche, we were able to speed
up progress on the building before returningin better weather to the mountain.
Another amazing thing about Ed’s
leadership was his organizational ability.
Before all the expeditions I was involved wewould all receive several sheets of lined
foolscap paper covered in Ed’s distinctive
handwriting. For each day of the three month
expedition what we would be doing on thatday was carefully noted. If we hadn’t alreadyknown Ed well we might have thought: “Oh
dear, he sounds like an inflexible martinet.”
But we did know Ed well, and we knew that if
circumstances in the field required a changeof plan, Ed’s meticulous plan would beabandoned in a flash and a new plan
produced in consultation with us. (We had
been well-consulted already during thedrawing up of the original plan). It became astandard joke with us: “Which plan are we on

today Ed?” we would ask. “Plan 47b” Ed
would reply, laughing.
Laughing – apart from the dark period
after Louise’s and Belinda’s deaths, mydominant impression of Ed is of him laughing,which of course made him a very enjoyable
friend indeed, one who could lift his friends
out of momentary low moods by theinspiration of his infectious laughing spirit. He
loved a good laugh, even if it was at his own
expense.
Which brings me finally to Ed Hillary as afriend. I can imagine none better. Once you
had earned his trust and affection – which
was easy if you worked hard and got on wellwith everyone and loved a good laugh – hewas loyal and supportive even if you mademistakes. I mentioned in my talk that nine
years before the Ocean to Sky expedition I
had sunk half his fleet early on a jet boat
expedition in Nepal. Not a word of
recrimination – he knew I had done my best indifficult and dangerous circumstances, andthat was enough for him even though my best
has been a complete disaster! And of course
he drew up plan 47b and we completed theadventure with the one remaining boat. Nine
years later on Ocean to Sky, with the best jetboat driver in the world, Jon Hamilton, at thewheel of the lead boat, and his very
experienced son Mike in charge of the second
boat, whom did he choose to drive the third?
– the still very inexperienced me! At least it
made for good footage for the film. Jon andMike made it all look easy, whereas I
managed to make it look difficult anddangerous indeed!
And it wasn’t just that he was a loyal
friend. It was also that he was always such
good fun to be with, always dreaming up new
adventures, always laughing, always inspiring
us to new levels of daring and competence,
while at the same time always judging risks
soberly and tackling them carefully. It is nowonder that we all love him dearly, and would
leap at any opportunity to join him on a newadventure, or simply to sit round a campfire
with him enjoying each other’s company, andlaughing at ourselves.

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INSPIRING HIGHER ASPIRATIONSPriyadarshi Gupta

Commemoration of the Birth Centenary of Sir Edmund Hillary in Kolkata, on the 12 thNovember 2019
(A joint program between THE TELEGRAPH and THE HIMALAYAN)‘On this lonely planet of freeze-dried food, computer generated fabrics and commercialised mountainclimbing, it is almost impossible to imagine the earth-shaking impact that Hillary and Tensing’s
achievement had in 1953. For many it represented the last of the earth’s greatest challenges. It
placed Hillary in the lineage of great terrestrial explorers such as Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus,
Lewis and Clark, Stanley and Livingston, Perry and Scott and Amundsen, Sir Richard Burton, Ernest
Shackleton, Charles Lindbergh – explorers driven to find, step, see, go and endure, where no person
had gone before.’- Paul Stanley Ward

Keynote Speakers - Peter Hillary and Dr James Wilson'In Edmund Hillary’s footsteps...''His legacy, Everest 1953, the Ocean to Sky jet boat expedition up the Ganges’&

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March 2020

Our relationships with Ed Hillary as father and friend'th

On the 12 of November 2019, all roads led to the Kalakunj Auditorium in Kolkata for the much
awaited commemoration of one of the most renowned personalities of the twenty first century – Sir
Edmund Hillary. A full house and widely covered by THE TELEGRAPH and ANANDABAZAR PATRIKA as
well as the TV channel ABP ANANDA, it was a most enjoyable as well as inspiring program and the
speakers kept the audience spell bound as they reminisced through the life of Sir Edmund Hillary(1919–2008). It is not surprising that he had been honoured with the Knight of the Order of the
Garter, Companion of the Order of New Zealand, Knight Commander of the Order of the British
Empire.

Jim Wilson delivering his presentation and an image from ‘’Ocean to Sky”
His adventurous feats and mountaineering achievements was followed by remarkable philanthropy
activities (that are also continued today by the Himalayan Trust in Nepal), for the then impoverished
Sherpa community of Nepal - this legacy was narrated by his mountaineer son Peter Hillary and closefriend Dr James Wilson, rather lucidly and animatedly – with the backdrop of rare and old images
and video clippings from the past.

A packed auditorium at the presentation

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Veteran mountaineer Bhanu Banerjee speaks to Peter Hillary and Jim Wilson

Jim Wilson being felicitated by The Himalayan team11

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AVM (Retd) Apurba Bhattacharyya introduces the evening

Debraj Dutta and other members of The Himalayan felicitate Peter Hillary

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TIME PASSAGES - MEHER H MEHTA
Priyadarshi Gupta

Some members of The Himalayan team at Mr. Meher H Mehta’s residence

It is not often that one comes across a personality whose motivational skills would magnetise young
mountain lovers and climbers to dream of achieving Himalayan excellence. He would
stimulate the intellectual yearning of the erudite mountain lover, as well as kindle the fertile mind of
the incorrigibly romantic young mountaineer.
It was way back in 2004 that I had first met Mr. Meher H Mehta, FRGS (affectionately referred to as
MHM by us). I had just returned from a family trek in Sikkim, and was introduced to him by Dr
Rupamanjari Biswas. He radiated great aspirations and seemed to be someone who was in theprocess of turning a moribund Kolkata section of mountain club into an active and dynamic
happening place.
I had joined the club out of curiosity and stayed on as its member for many years, learning manythings from MHM in the process. MHM could attract the young and old, with his articulate speeches
and phenomenal organisational ability. He would burn the mid night oil communicating globally withrenowned mountaineers and environmentalists whilst chalking out programs of International
standards. Even the Kolkata Newspapers began covering these programs and seminars.
I realised that this tall and straight talking person, one who had worked his way up in the banking
industry to the top echelon of ANZ GRINZLAYS Bank (with several years being overseas) in his

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professional career till his retirement, was someone of immense personal integrity and charisma.
Most admired him for these traits as they set him apart from most. He could appear to becondescending at times towards many, but his intention was always for the development of the
movement he had started. He was also one not to cower down when his ideas of freedom of selfexpression was not looked down upon kindly by many detractors. It caused heart burn in many but
he would remain unrelenting due to his unflinching self-beliefs.
MHM was an astute visionary who found ways and means of building his enterprise with infectious
support from the likes of the late Russi Mody, late Aditya Kashyap and the late Guenther Wehrman (past Consul General of Germany in Kolkata). He attracted many more who sought to support him
without any expectations in return.
On the mountain front, he found acumen and support in the planning and execution of 7000m peak
expeditions in the form of AVM (Retd) Apurba Kumar Bhattacharyya. With the induction of late
Pradeep Sahoo (an engineer and dreamy eyed mountaineer) into the management of the local
section, he was able to kindle interest in attempting difficult peaks in the Himalaya and the
Karakoram, since Pradeep was able to support his fund raising activity. He propagated the ideals of
thinking differently and thinking high - of thought and action.
Great climbs were achieved in the bargain - especially on Saser Kangri IV in the Karakoram, Nilkanth
peak in the Garhwal, Jongsong peak in the Sikkim Himalaya, amongst so many others. The crown inthe jewel was the first ascent of Mt Plateau (7287m) in the Indian Karakoram by his band of intrepid
climbers.
MHM was concerned by environmental degradation and climate change effects on the Himalaya. He
pushed us to organize many a seminar on the climate change to bring awareness amongst thepeople. MHM loved to read and write. He maintained a phenomenal collection of books on the
Himalaya or of Himalayan adventure. I had the good fortune of helping him edit several publications
on different mountain peaks. He always had an incredible eye for perfection and detail. Thesepublications were well received in the fraternity.
MHM has now moved on and become a part of the twinkling stars that adorn and glitter in the night
sky! Yet his inspiration that led to the formation of THE HIMALAYAN in 2017 by a handful of us close
to him, would seek to continue the meaningful work initiated by him, for the times to come...Avision that encompasses ventures outdoors and indoors, along with the incorporation of a balanced
and incisive dissemination platform for the reporting of Himalayan Activity– Of Climbing, Science,
Literature and the yonder.
And, if I ever have the good fortune of seeking a shooting star flash by in the nocturnal sky, I would
silently wish - Abou Ben Adhem! (May your tribe increase)
For such humans are not born every day!

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The Himalayan NewsThe Himalayan

March 2020

The last letter received from Mr. Meher H Mehta on the occasion of The Himalayan event“In Edmund Hillary’s Footsteps”.

16The Himalayan NewsThe Himalayan

March 2020

BOUQUETS AND BRICKBATS
AVM (retd)Apurba K. Bhattacharya
Bhanu Banerjee's piece on " OF CHIVAS SCOTCH,SCHOOLS & HOSPITALS IN SOLUKHUMBU"
was most illuminating & interesting. Look forward to hearing more from him on 20 Jul 2019.
Keep it up Raja & Editorial group of TH.
Bill Aitken
Most appropriate to read of Sir Ed's auction of the bottle Chivas whisky for Sherpa welfare.
A neighbour presented me a bottle of the genuine stuff recently for my 85th birthday andas I have a prostate condition I take a snifter before lunch. The Chivas Regal blend is abeautifully balanced experience that enlarges being and heightens inner vision. In an age
that swears by the seaweed cum iodine flavour of Single Malt Islay it is fitting this
distillation of the essence of Highland rivers and mountains should have found its way into
Everest history. The ultimate tribute to Chivas is that it enjoys premium popularity in the
Punjab despite both its bottle and contents being a million miles away from Keith in
Scotland.
It made interesting reading. Some of the photos are superb and a delight for the mountain
lovers. My sincere appreciations to the Editorial team. They have done a marvelous
job. Thanks once again and Best Wishes for future endeavours.
Tom Nakamura
Many thanks for sending the Himalayan news letter No.5. I have delivered it to some 300
Japanese readers. All good wishes,
Subhankar Paul
Thank you for the publication of a nice issue of the newsletter. It's a very good reading withmultiple excellent articles by eminent writers.
Just a small typing error caught my eyes. On the top of the title page of Bhanu Banerjee 's
article the publication issue was shown as June 2017 instead of 2019, as shown in all otherpages.
Debolin Sen
Thank you! Enjoyed reading it. Does it mean henceforth I should expect a newsletter every
month?

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