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The 1963 American Mount Everest expedition reached the summit of Mount Everest using the conventional route via the South Col. However, two team members, Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld, were the first to take a route traversing the mountain by ascending the West Ridge and moving onto the North Face up to the summit, and then by descending via the South Col. The leader of the expedition was Norman Dyhrenfurth who had been the photographer on the 1952 Swiss Mount Everest expedition.

Climbing on Everest prior to 1963
After the 1921 British reconnaissance, attempts to climb Everest had been from Tibet because Nepal was closed to foreign climbers. Then, in 1950, Tibet's borders were closed when it was occupied by the People's Republic of China and by that time no expedition had been able to reach the summit. Partly on account of the political situation in Tibet, Nepal started allowing climbers entry in 1950 although it closed its frontiers again in 1966. After the reconnaissance expedition of 1951, the Swiss attempts of 1952 nearly reached the summit via the Khumbu Icefall, Western Cwm, Geneva Spur, South Col and Southeast ridge. In 1953 the British reached the summit for the first time following the Swiss route except where they directly ascended the Lhotse glacier, so avoiding the Geneva Spur. The Swiss again reached the summit in 1956 and Indian expeditions in 1960 and 1962 reached close to the South Summit via the South Col before being forced back. From the north in 1960 China reached the summit using a route over the North Col.

American involvement
John F. Kennedy's election as president of the United States brought in a marked change of rhetoric from that of the aging, conservative Eisenhour administration. America was to seek a "New Frontier" and in the Cold War would "pay any price, bear any burden ... to assure ... the success of liberty". The Green Berets and the Peace Corps extended their influence into Nepal, described in a recruitment advertisement as "The Land of Yeti and Everest".

Norman Dyhrenfurth thought this political situation might provide a good opportunity for progressing a long held ambition. Dyhrenfurth had emigrated from Switzerland to the United States in 1937, shortly before World War II, and he was, like his father Gunther Dyhrenfurth, an amateur mountaineer. From the time in 1952 when he had been the official photographer on the Swiss Mount Everest expedition he had held an ambition to lead his own expedition up the mountain. Based on the experience of previous Everest expeditions, he would need to raise several hundred thousand dollars, an amount previously unachievable in the United States. Bolstered by the Chinese claim to have left a bust of Mao Zedong on the summit during their 1960 expedition, he took a clearly political approach claiming that a successful ascent would help towards "winning new friends in many places". He wrote seeking a meeting with Kennedy and took the reply from Jerome Wiesner merely offering Kennedy's "best wishes" as being the president's strong endorsement for an expedition in 1963.

Dyrhenfurth's seemingly extravagent appeal for $186,000 (equivalent to $ million in prices) appalled the American mountaineering establishment and Charles Houston who had led the 1938 American K2 expedition claimed such a large expedition violated the true spirit of mountain climbing. However, the resulting controversy in the press, together with Kennedy's earlier rhetoric, helped the cause with major support coming from the National Geographic Society which provided $114,000 ($ million in prices) but only if there was a scientific component to the venture. Dyrhenfurth had anticipated this and arranged scientific work that would only involve the climbing of the mountain and that nearly all the scientists would be mountaineers. The eventual cost was $400,000 ($ million in prices).

Preparations
To emphasize the expedition's scientific credentials, Dyhrenfurth selected an academic team – five had doctorates, eight held master's degrees and only two were non-graduates. The team's deputy was Will Siri, a physiologist, who coordinated the scientific program. He had been on (and led) several oversees expeditions, including to Nepal. James Ramsey Ullman was to write the accounts of the expedition but he did not get far beyond Kathmandu because of illness. Jimmy Roberts was the highly experienced transport officer who lived in Nepal. Among the other sixteen team members were Barry Bishop, Tom Hornbein, Lute Jerstad, Willi Unsoeld and Jim Whittaker.

The expedition left Kathmandu on February 20. There were 37 Sherpas and 909 port63ers carrying 65 lb loads – in all 29 tons (29 ST) of equipment and supplies. In trying to help in fund raising, Dyrhenfurth had suggested they might attempt the "Grand Slam" of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse but when this was discussed in detail during the walk-in the mountaineers were unenthusiastic. He had also considered Everest by its West Ridge after an ascent via the South Col but the idea then developed that the greater achievement (which would also be safer) would be to  Everest by its West Ridge. Hornbein strongly favored making this the main target and to abandon a climb by the conventional South Col route. In the end it was agreed to send a four-man team up via the South Col and to separately, and secondarily, reconnoitre the West Ridge which would at least provide photographs of the Tibetan side of the mountain. If the reconnaissance was successful a traverse of Everest could be attempted. They would also attempt Lhotse.

Start of climb
On March 21 the party reached Base Camp at 17800 ft and over the next two days they started setting a route up the Khumbu Icefall. Meanwhile, some of the West Ridge enthusiasts climbed to get a better view of the Ridge and it gave a very daunting impression with its 5000 ft of steep rock scarcely covered with any snow. However, this also made it a more alluring challenge. On March 23 an ice cliff collapsed without warning. Breitenbach was lost without trace under tons of ice. The climbers considered giving up the expedition, or the West Ridge aspect, but they decided to carry on so reaching the Western Cwm on March 29 where on March 30 Camp I was established at 20200 ft Camp II was established at 21350 ft on April 2 and this was to become advanced base camp at the point from which the two ascent routes would diverge.

By April 11 Hornbein, Unsoeld and Bishop had reached the West Shoulder at the start of their climb up the West Ridge. They could see over the northern approaches to Everest from Tibet and to the North Col, 1000 ft below them and across a vast amphitheatre of glaciers. Tghe ridge route ahead of them seemed very difficult but they discovered there was a crack (later to be called the Hornbein Couloir} running diagonally to their left up Everest's North Face. This might lead them up from where they might regain the Ridge nearer the summit.