The Clothing of the Early Mount Everest Mountaineers

[Edward]

Interesting to stumble over this thread again. I've been idly looking at some dedicated gear for doing a bit of hiking again next Summer, with an eye to keeping it all to my own aesthetic as much as possible, having realised that for the most part I can achieve my aims of what I'm after with a lot of repop military ger now. Not much different than the way I did things on my Duke ofc Edinburgh Award trail back in the early 90s, but more stylish than just the milsurplus of the day. I'll be investing in a pair of modern and hopefully not too visually offensive (within budget - Danner make beautiful boots, but £400 for getting covered in muck up some hills or round Epping Forest? Eesh. Not on my salary) boots if we take it up seriously, though.

I love the aesthetic of these old mountaineering campaigns, though I don't ever see myself doing a climb of that magnitude, or anything close to it.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

I have a photo . My father and many other soldiers in a giant fridge . He was a sergeant in the British army in late 1940's to early 1950's. And he told me a story. Whereby his commanding officer told him . You and your men. Are going to do a secret mission. In this massive man made fridge testing clothing for a few months. Didn't tell him why. After it was over . They picked out the best clothing. And it was revealed to him. They were testing the clothing . For Edmund Hillary's expedition up Everest. It was a British army funded expedition and the government was doing everything possible for Edmund Hillary to be the first . Which obviously he went on to be. True story...

Let’s see the photo, please.
B

 

[Doctor Damage]

This is a fascinating topic. In addition to that BBC article, here's a bunch more links etc:

Mountain Heritage Trust website on the Mallory replica clothing
https://www.mountain-heritage.org/blog/mallory-replica-clothing-revisited

PDF article, Testing Mallory's Clothes on Everest by Graham Hoyland, excerpts from a book
https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_2007_files/AJ 2007 243-246 Hoyland Clothing.pdf

PDF article, Mountain Clothing & Rhermoregulation
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1016/j.wem.2011.10.008

PDF article, Detectives on Everest
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1580/1080-6032(2004)015[0068:BR]2.0.CO;2?icid=int.sj-full-text.similar-articles.1

PDF article, review of Ghosts of Everest
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1580/1080-6032(2001)012[0057:BR]2.0.CO;2?icid=int.sj-full-text.similar-articles.1

UK website with general info on weather, clothing, etc
https://furtech.typepad.com/

Graham Hoyland, the dude who tested the replica clothing on Everest:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Hoyland
https://www.grahamhoyland.com/

 

[Doctor Damage]

Here's a 1920 book on mountaineering by Harold Raeburn. You can download a PDF (4MB) and other formats. There is an interesting section on equipment, which includes detailed discussion of clothing & footwear, etc. Worth a look if you're into vintage stuff.

https://archive.org/details/mountaineeringa00raebgoog

 

[Liam_Og]

Trad gear was one of the reasons I was interested in getting a Ventile coat.

https://ventile.co.uk/history-copy/

 

[Doctor Damage]

Here's several articles by experienced climbers on finding Mallory's body and discussion of whether he and Irvine might have made it to the peak or not. Note that the first two articles have photos of Mallory's body, which could be upsetting.

https://www.tranquilkilimanjaro.com/how-george-mallorys-body-was-discovered-on-everest/

https://mounteverest.info/how-our-expedition-found-george-mallorys-body-on-everest/

https://jakenorton.com/what-really-happened-to-george-mallory-andrew-irvine/
https://jakenorton.com/what-really-happened-to-george-mallory-andrew-irvine-part-ii/
https://jakenorton.com/what-really-happened-to-mallory-irvine-part-iii/

 

[Doctor Damage]

More recently Conrad Anker and Leo Houlding almost made it to the summit in exact replicas of Mallory and Irvine's outfits - documentary called The Wildest Dream. He free-climbed the Second Step - quite unbelievable. They concluded that Mallory could indeed have made it to the top.

Someone has posted "The Wildest Dream" documentary on youtube, broken into several parts which autoplay. Link below. They show Anker doing the freeclimb of the Second Step, after team members remove the aluminum ladder. He slips and almost falls on his first try.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Here's a long article on the knitwear worn by Mallory, based on the recovery of his clothing when they found his body. Link below to an online article reader.

https://www.pressreader.com/australia/the-knitter/20240613/282583088141804

 

[Doctor Damage]

Thought I suppose technically not necessarily "early" mountaineers, these photos of Hillary and Norgay's clothing and gear are interesting.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Mallory and Norton in 1922 on Everest, during one of the early attempts prior to Mallory's fatal 1924 attempt. Needless to say, the clothing and equipment in this photo is worlds away from modern gear. Click for larger version.



Frostbitten climber being helped down. Click for larger version.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Here's another photo from the 1922 expedition. Click for larger.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Some clothing/footwear related quotes from the book detailing the 1922 expedition to Everest.

George Mallory, p.186-188

We had risen about 1,200 feet when we stopped to put on the spare warm clothes which we carried against such a contingency as this. For my part, I added a light shetland ‘woolly’ and a thin silk shirt to what I was wearing before under my closely woven cotton coat. As this outer garment, with knickers to match, was practically windproof, and a silk shirt too is a further protection against wind, with these two extra layers I feared no cold we were likely to meet. Morshead, if I remember right, troubled himself no more at this time than to wrap a woollen scarf round his neck, and he and I were ready and impatient to get off before the rest. Norton was sitting a little way below with his rucksack poised on his lap. In gathering up our rope so as to have it free when we should move on I must have communicated to the other rope some small jerk—sufficient, at all events, to upset the balance of Norton’s rucksack. He was unprepared, made a desperate grab, and missed it. Slowly the round, soft thing gathered momentum from its rotation, the first little leaps down from one ledge to another grew to excited and magnificent bounds, and the precious burden vanished from sight. For a little interval, while we still imagined its fearful progress until it should rest for who knows how long on the snow at the head of the Rongbuk Glacier, no one spoke. ‘‘My rucksack gone down the kudh!” Norton exclaimed with simple regret. I made a mental note that my warm pyjama-legs which he had borrowed were inside it, so if I were to blame I had a share in the loss. A number of offers in woollen garments for the night were soon made to Norton; after which we began to explain what each had brought for comfort’s sake, and I wondered whether my companions’ system of selection resembled mine; as I never can resolve in cold blood to leave anything behind, when each article presents itself as just the one I may particularly want, I pack them all into a rucksack and then pull out this and that more or less at random until the load is not greater than I can conveniently carry; even so I almost invariably find that I have more clothing in reserve than I actually use.

Mallory, p.196-197

To the civilised man who gets into bed after the customary routine, tucks himself in, lays his head on the pillow, and presently goes to sleep with no further worry, the dispositions in a climber’s tent may seem to be strangely intricate. In the first place, he has to arrange about his boots. He looks forward to the time when he will have to start next morning, if possible with warm feet and in boots not altogether frozen stiff. He may choose to go to bed in his boots, not altogether approving the practice, and resolving that the habit shall not be allowed to grow upon him. If his feet are already warm when he turns in, it may be that he can do no better; his feet will probably keep warm in the sleeping-bag if he wears his bed-socks over his boots, and he will not have to endure the pains of pulling on and wearing frozen boots in the morning. At this camp I adopted a different plan—to wear moccasins instead of boots during the night and keep them on until the last moment before starting. But if one takes his boots off, where is he to keep them warm? Climbing boots are not good to cuddle, and in any case there will be no room for them with two now inside a double sleeping-bag. My boots were happily accommodated in a rucksack and I put them under my head for a pillow. It is not often that one uses the head for warming things, and no one would suspect one of a hot head; nevertheless my boots were kept warm enough and were scarcely frozen in the morning.

Mallory, p.205-206

I remember one rather longer halt. In spite of all my care I found that one of my feet was painfully cold, and fearing frostbite I took off my boot. Norton rubbed my foot warm. I had been wearing four thick socks, and now put back on this foot only three. As it remained warm for the rest of the day I have no doubt that the boot was previously too tight. Once again I learned the futility of stopping the circulation by wearing one layer of wool too many.

George Finch, p.262-264

It is therefore evident that the climber must be equipped according to the zone in which he finds himself. In the first zone clothing somewhat warmer than that used in the Alps in the summer is practically sufficient. Owing to the marked intensity of the sun’s rays, however, it is advisable to cover the trunk with at least one layer of sunproof material, such as a sunproof shirt with spine pad, while a solar topee and suitable snow-glasses constitute the best form of headgear. Crookes’ glasses of smoke-blue colour proved superior to other varieties; they afford complete protection from glare and do not cause eye-strain and subsequent headache. As sunburn, even very superficial and involving only a small area, is invariably followed by conditions of feverishness which must impair one’s fitness, a veil should be worn over the face and gloves on the hands. Oxygen should be employed from the foot of the North Col slopes onwards, for no useful purpose can be served by tiring oneself through not using it, when, as we have seen elsewhere, full recovery from fatigue is no longer possible at 23,000 feet. The second zone (from 23,000 feet onwards), where a radical change in climatic conditions is manifest, demands more complicated preparation. Wind is seldom absent, and the degree of intensity of the cold is comparable with that met with at the Poles, and indeed probably often exceeds it. Also, owing to the rarefied state of the atmosphere, the cold is felt much more severely than would be the case at sea-level. A far greater volume of air is expelled from the climber’s lungs, and this air, at blood heat and under a low pressure approximating to one-third of an atmosphere, is saturated with moisture drawn from the body via the lungs. The result is a proportionately far greater loss of animal heat. Further, the partial pressure of oxygen contained in a normal atmosphere becomes so low at altitudes over 23,000 feet that, unless the climber has recourse to a supply of oxygen carried by himself, his climbing efficiency is enormously reduced. The climbing equipment of the mountaineer in this second zone of high altitude should therefore include, firstly, a supply of oxygen; secondly, warm and windproof clothing and footgear; thirdly, plenty of food and drink, as the use of oxygen has a most stimulating effect upon the appetite.

Finch, p.267-268

It would be difficult to exaggerate the intensity of the cold encountered at high altitudes on Mount Everest. Several layers—the innermost of which should be of silk, the others wool of moderate weight—form a much better protection against cold than one or two heavy layers. The chief item of clothing, however, should consist of a jumper and trousers made of windproof material. Two of these windproof suits should be worn one above the other, and every precaution taken to reduce the circulation of the air to the smallest possible extent. The hands must be protected in accordance with the same principles, and the head. I used a R.N.A.S. pattern flying helmet and found it most satisfactory. Helmet and snow-glasses should completely cover the head and face, leaving no skin exposed. Boots were a source of trouble to all, but fortunately we had so many different designs which we could test out thoroughly that we are now able to form a very shrewd idea as to which kind is the most suitable. Leather conducts heat too well for reliance to be placed upon it for the preservation of warmth. The uppers of the boots should be of felt, strengthened where necessary to prevent stretching, by leather straps covered by duroprened canvas. Toe and heel caps must be hard and strong, and the former especially should be high, so that the toes are given plenty of room. The sole of the boot should be composed of a layer of thin leather attached to a layer of three-ply wood, hinged in two sections at the instep. A thin layer of felt should form the inside of the sole. The boots should be large enough to accommodate in comfort two pairs of thick socks, or, even better still, two pairs of thin socks and one pair of thick socks. Nails used in the boots should penetrate through the leather into the three-ply wood, but not through the latter.