Daren
In 1977 Hillary led an expedition that he had been planning for a long time. It has been one that he was able to include his wife on, as it was not mountaineering (until the end), but a jet boating expedition up the Ganges River in India. Sadly, two years before this expedition came to fruition, Hillary's wife Louise and daughter Belinda had been killed in a small plane crash in Nepal. Hillary saw this expedition as completing a plan, but also to spend time with son Peter (23 at the time).
The boats for the expedition were specially modified Hamilton Jet boats - the Hamilton Jet being a New Zealand design which uses propulsion of the water from an intake below the boat and forced out the back which uniquely leaves the bottom of the boat free of obstruction, and therefore able to operate in very shallow water. Accompanying Hillary and his were Jon Hamilton, son of the inventor of the jet, and his son Michael.
Also joining the cast of many were Hillary's friends and contemporaries (many of who are authors of their own books) - climbers Dr Mike Gill, Graeme Dingle, Jim Wilson & Murray Jones. As the Ocean to Sky expedition was a joint Indian and New Zealand effort (mostly because of money contributed) they were joined by Joginder Singh and Mohan Kohli, and by Sherpa's Mingma Tsering and Pemma. To capture the events on film (the making of a film was part of the deal) Mike Dillon and Waka Attewell were joined by India cameramen Prem Vaidya and BG Dewari. Max Pearl joined as the official doctor on the journey.
Three jetboats were used to transport this extensive crew, although for a large part they were assisted by the army with trucks as for much of the time the river conditions necessitated practically empty boats. The boats were named Kiwi, Air India and Ganga.
The Journey begins with some zipping around the Sundarbans - a wetlands mangrove forest at the mouth of the Ganga - where despite the rarity, they see and film not one but two tigers! For much of the journey upriver they are swamped by many thousands of people lining the river to catch a glimpse of the famous mountaineer. The press were rampant, and Hillary spent much of his time signing autographs and being available to the people. The other members not so much, although because Jim Wilson had a massive beard he was thought to be a foreign sadhu and was given plenty of attention as the primary driver of one of the boats.
The jet boat trip is described in detail, each major rapid get a sketch. Mixed in with this are the interactions with the people, and the significant assistance rendered by the sponsors and people in general. There is lots of information about the river, the lives of Indians on the river side as well as aspects of the history of the areas they pass through.
I would describe the writing as thorough, well researched and well put together in Hillary's typical style which is not overtly overwritten or embellished in any way, and is perhaps a bit 'workman like' in its polish.
As the boats inevitably reach a point where they cannot continue. They had travelled 1500 miles, every foot on the water, in all three boats. The press gave them, quite unfairly, a hard time about abandoning their expedition or failing, but of course they never expected to reach the top of a mountain in the jet boats!
The goal always to was to get as far as they could and then make an ascent on a mountain in the Himalaya near the source. And so as the team split up - the boats and the Hamilton's returning to Delhi (by truck); Max Pearl heading to Hillary's hospital in Nepal; the Indian contingent (although they continued to have a local liaison officer to assist) returned to undertake another expedition. The rest (except Murray and Peter who had a few weeks earlier gone on ahead to investigate the climbing options) continued on foot to Badrinath, a climb from 3,000 up to 10,000 feet over sixty miles.
The mountaineering however was of more modest success - originally targeting Narayan Parbat, this was quickly deemed very difficult, and beyond the capacity of the team. The nearby Nar Parbat was then identified as a more achievable goal. The short version is they pushed hard, carried heavy loads and did not take time to acclimatise. Hillary was particularly badly effected and required assistance to descend urgently, suffering from pulmonary or cerebral oedema (Mike Gill never really determined which), and practically unconscious. He ended up being lifted by helicopter away to hospital to recover.
After Hillary was safely removed, others in the team, Peter Hillary included carried on to complete the climb, and in eh few days this took, Sir Ed was well enough to rejoin them at Badrinath, concluding the expedition.
4 stars.
In 1977 Hillary led an expedition that he had been planning for a long time. It has been one that he was able to include his wife on, as it was not mountaineering (until the end), but a jet boating expedition up the Ganges River in India. Sadly, two years before this expedition came to fruition, Hillary's wife Louise and daughter Belinda had been killed in a small plane crash in Nepal. Hillary saw this expedition as completing a plan, but also to spend time with son Peter (23 at the time).
The boats for the expedition were specially modified Hamilton Jet boats - the Hamilton Jet being a New Zealand design which uses propulsion of the water from an intake below the boat and forced out the back which uniquely leaves the bottom of the boat free of obstruction, and therefore able to operate in very shallow water. Accompanying Hillary and his were Jon Hamilton, son of the inventor of the jet, and his son Michael.
Also joining the cast of many were Hillary's friends and contemporaries (many of who are authors of their own books) - climbers Dr Mike Gill, Graeme Dingle, Jim Wilson & Murray Jones. As the Ocean to Sky expedition was a joint Indian and New Zealand effort (mostly because of money contributed) they were joined by Joginder Singh and Mohan Kohli, and by Sherpa's Mingma Tsering and Pemma. To capture the events on film (the making of a film was part of the deal) Mike Dillon and Waka Attewell were joined by India cameramen Prem Vaidya and BG Dewari. Max Pearl joined as the official doctor on the journey.
Three jetboats were used to transport this extensive crew, although for a large part they were assisted by the army with trucks as for much of the time the river conditions necessitated practically empty boats. The boats were named Kiwi, Air India and Ganga.
The Journey begins with some zipping around the Sundarbans - a wetlands mangrove forest at the mouth of the Ganga - where despite the rarity, they see and film not one but two tigers! For much of the journey upriver they are swamped by many thousands of people lining the river to catch a glimpse of the famous mountaineer. The press were rampant, and Hillary spent much of his time signing autographs and being available to the people. The other members not so much, although because Jim Wilson had a massive beard he was thought to be a foreign sadhu and was given plenty of attention as the primary driver of one of the boats.
The jet boat trip is described in detail, each major rapid get a sketch. Mixed in with this are the interactions with the people, and the significant assistance rendered by the sponsors and people in general. There is lots of information about the river, the lives of Indians on the river side as well as aspects of the history of the areas they pass through.
I would describe the writing as thorough, well researched and well put together in Hillary's typical style which is not overtly overwritten or embellished in any way, and is perhaps a bit 'workman like' in its polish.
As the boats inevitably reach a point where they cannot continue. They had travelled 1500 miles, every foot on the water, in all three boats. The press gave them, quite unfairly, a hard time about abandoning their expedition or failing, but of course they never expected to reach the top of a mountain in the jet boats!
The goal always to was to get as far as they could and then make an ascent on a mountain in the Himalaya near the source. And so as the team split up - the boats and the Hamilton's returning to Delhi (by truck); Max Pearl heading to Hillary's hospital in Nepal; the Indian contingent (although they continued to have a local liaison officer to assist) returned to undertake another expedition. The rest (except Murray and Peter who had a few weeks earlier gone on ahead to investigate the climbing options) continued on foot to Badrinath, a climb from 3,000 up to 10,000 feet over sixty miles.
The mountaineering however was of more modest success - originally targeting Narayan Parbat, this was quickly deemed very difficult, and beyond the capacity of the team. The nearby Nar Parbat was then identified as a more achievable goal. The short version is they pushed hard, carried heavy loads and did not take time to acclimatise. Hillary was particularly badly effected and required assistance to descend urgently, suffering from pulmonary or cerebral oedema (Mike Gill never really determined which), and practically unconscious. He ended up being lifted by helicopter away to hospital to recover.
After Hillary was safely removed, others in the team, Peter Hillary included carried on to complete the climb, and in eh few days this took, Sir Ed was well enough to rejoin them at Badrinath, concluding the expedition.
4 stars.