Dr Arthur Wakefield on Mount Everest in 1922: "this has not been by any manner of means a picnic".
In 1922 Dr Arthur Wakefield, a general practitioner from Cumbria, reached the North Col of Mt Everest at 23,000 feet as a member of the first British team to attempt the summit. As well as being a climber, he provided medical care to his comrades, who included George Leigh Mallory and George Finch. Yet, in their accounts of the expedition, several climbers portrayed him as a nervous old man and a "complete passenger". However, his letters home and a small daily diary suggest he was a wise and caring physician. His motivation for joining this expedition at the age of 46 was somewhat different from that of his companions.
Bayne
Ronald
R
McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. ronald.bayne@sympatico.ca
D000532:Altitude Sickness / Q000266:history; D004739:England; D005194:Family Practice / Q000266:history; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009051:Mountaineering / Q000266:history*; D009390:Nepal