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Letter from George to Ruth Mallory, ’One march from Phari'

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My dearest Ruth,

I stupidly didn’t write from Phari – not realising that I should probably have no chance of sending a letter back on the way to Kampa. But it happens there may be a chance tomorrow so I will write a few lines in bed tonight. It isn’t easy to write because the site of my tent dips slightly towards the head of my bed & no amount of propping seems quite to overcome the difficulty. If I had my bed the other way round my head would be at the mouth of the tent & this would create a difficulty about light; besides it is snowing slightly & may snow more & though I don’t mind having my feet snowed upon for the sake of fresh air I am unwilling to have my head snowed upon during the night. As it is my tent is a wonderfully comfortable spot. The little table made for me by our friend in Maid’s Causeway is at my bedside & on it my reading lamp; I expect I shan’t always be able to have oil for this, but so long as I can I shall burn it. Did I tell you about the Whymper tents? We each have one to himself they have two poles /\ at each end a much more convenient plan than the other with single poles, a ground sheet is sewn into the sides so that draught & dust are practically excluded if one pitches in the right direction; and a great blessing, the tent has plenty of pockets; moreover it is by no means small – 7 ft square or very near it. The men’s tent also is a great improvement on last year’s; there is ample headroom & the men servants can pass round without hitting one on the head with the dishes the tables are wooden (3 ply wood varnished) & it is supposed that messes will be wiped off without difficulty; and they fit conveniently round the poles, the lamps which burn paraffin vapour (assisted by some clockwork arrangement inside) are also good & an enormous improvement or the dim hurricane lamps used last time. In short a certain amount of care & forethought (chiefly Norton’s) has made us much more comfortable with me spending a great deal of money.

I must tell you dearest one how wonderfully fit I have been here last days, much better at this stage I’m sure than either in ’21 or ’22. I feel full of energy & strength & walk up hill here already almost as in the Alps; I sleep long & well; my digestion is good & in short I haven’t a trouble physically, unless one may count my ankle of which I’m often conscious but the leg seems perfectly strong & I’m sure it won’t let me down.

The General’s trouble has been an irregular pulse & he & Hingston are both nervous about the effects of these altitudes on his heart – consequently he is not coming with us to Kampa Dzong (last year’s route but in 6 days instead of 4) but by another way which will allow him to camp lower. It is difficult to know how much to make of this trouble (don’t mention it) I think it is 10 to 1 he will be all right.
I can’t write much more in this position & my arms are getting cold. I was going to tell you something about our plans but I will leave that until next letter. Tibet is much warmer this year though this afternoon was pretty cold.

Much love to all & many kisses to you dearest one.

Ever your loving
George

Letter to Ruth Mallory, from 'Kalimpong’.

Brief Summary
Split into 2 groups. Plan to beat height record without using oxygen. Training by Finch on use of oxygen. 40 men selected which wasn't enough. Travelled by train up the Teesta Valley. Finch and Crawford left behind to wait for delayed oxygen cylinders. Description of flowers.

Detailed Summary
They had split into two parties with himself in the first group and travelled to Phari following the previous year’s march. General Bruce had wanted to travel all together with 300 animals. Describes Bruce and the management of the advance party moving stores, fixing camps, and he expected to share his opinion about the condition of the snow when the time came. During the expedition they planned that a party of three would try to beat the height record without using oxygen. They had been provisionally selected - Morshead, Norton, and young Bruce.

Finch was insisting on oxygen training and had declared that a man should have a fortnight’s training with the apparatus and that unless he had it he wouldn’t be responsible for anyone’s safety when using it. Thinks two days would be ample training. If this rule held good the three he named were excluded from the possibility of getting to the top with oxygen, because there wouldn’t be a fortnight to spare for training them. He didn’t expect the plan would work out exactly according to intention as he thought General Bruce wouldn’t be rigid on the matter.

There were only 40 porters in the party which was quite inadequate. They were good men selected from 150 Nepalese and among them were 14 who had climbed with him the previous year. He reckoned they would have to make about four journeys to the North Col and two journeys up from there to 25,000 ft which he thought was asking too much. Bruce had been short on time and couldn’t gather more men worth taking or equip them. He planned to save them as much as possible on the journey and possibly gather a few Tibetans.

He was enjoying the venture hugely as it wa the jolliest of parties and everything was well arranged. General Bruce, Wakefield, Strutt, Noel and himself were going down to Siliguri while, ‘young Bruce’ had gone ahead to look after the luggage. He had returned after dinning in the station to find their beds already set up and arranged with mosquito nets which he thought was the proper way to travel, although the net wasn’t very effective and he was bitten and had to use iodine and prophylactic quinine. He hoped to escape fever.

They had travelled up the Teesta Valley to railhead with General Bruce putting his head out of the window most of the time, brimming over with joy and waving his handkerchief at passers-by, and Noel had used his cinema apparatus [film camera]. He describes the heat, and of arranging stores before going up to Teesta Bridge. From there the General walked up about 4,000 ft.

They came round by train to save 300 rupees but the rest preferred to start early that morning motoring out from Darjeeling about 8 miles and then walking. His companions from there would be Bruce, Norton, Longstaff, and Noel. Finch remained behind at Darjeeling with Crawford to bring the oxygen. They would probably be about 10 days behind them which he felt was rather hard luck for them. That night he was sharing a room with Longstaff and he thought they would get on together very nicely.

He would describe his time in Darjeeling, but it would be largely of idleness. He had been walking with Wakefield, Norton, and Somervell but the mountains were not at their best. Describes specific flowers and their glorious colours, but thinks they were not as loveable as English blossoms. Everything seemed to be in waiting for the first rain showers. He did not expect to see as many flowers in Sikkim until they came to the rhododendron zone.

He had ordered Curtis to give her a book which should be useful in identifying wild flowers and thought perhaps she could collect some flowers with Clare.

Letter to Ruth Mallory, from Chevremont Darjeeling.

Brief Summary
Journey across India from Bombay to Calcutta and the Darjeeling. Norton in hospital. Plans to travel onward. Finch and Crawford to stay behind and wait for delayed oxygen cylinders. Looking forward to seeing flowers in Sikkim.

Detailed Summary
Journey across India passed well enough. Describes the heat, dust, dry plains, and that about half the trees were green, either a sombre green or the brightest imaginable sort. There was much that was worth seeing but they were glad to get to Calcutta.

Their baggage weighed 2 ¼ tons plus a lot of personnel in the train and they paid over 600 rupees to Calcutta and 150 more for handling at Bombay. They were met in Calcutta by the A + N Stores agent who did everything for them. The stores and railway fares cost about £200 from Bombay to Darjeeling.

Norton was in hospital in Calcutta with bad piles after riding but it was not necessary to operate. Norton planned to go with them to join Strutt but he hoped that Norton would be persuaded to join them later.

They next travelled in a rail motor which was a much cleaner ride than the train. They got to near Darjeeling quicker than expected and met Bruce coming up the road in a car who made great cheer at seeing them. The country looked very different now to how he had left it being much browner due to the weather being particularly dry which he thought was a good thing for them.

Immense quantities of stores were on their way to or already at Phari. It was possible to save a march to Kalimpong, which was the second stage on the journey the year before, as they were going by a special train, a journey of 5 to 6 hrs to Kalimpong which they could do quite easily in a day.

After Kalimpong they planned to split into two parties. He would be in the first party going to Phari. Then an advance party of about 8 of them (himself, G. Bruce, Strutt, Longstaff, Wakefield, and Noel) would go onwards taking a limited amount of stores with them while the rest would follow gradually behind. Finch was staying with Crawford to bring the oxygen when it arrived [the cylinders hadn't yet reached Calcutta].

He was looking forward to seeing the earlier flowers in Sikkim [he was here about a month earlier in the year then he was in 1921] and details magnolias in full bloom. He compares the expedition leaders Howard-Bury (1921) and the current leader General Bruce and says he read the proofs of Howard-Bury’s chapters coming up from Calcutta which were worse than he had expected. Morshead would also be joining the expedition which he was very glad about [Mallory and Morshead were the only two returning from the 1921 Everest Reconnaissance Expedition].

Realises Ruth may be in Wales and sends his best wishes to the party.

Letter to Ruth Mallory, from ‘Rongbuk Base Camp’.

He could hear General Bruce dictating his report on their progress in a loud voice while Morris took it down on a typewriter.

They had failed to establish the basecamp at the required point and were now at his old 2nd base camp just below the foot of the glacier. It was a very good place but three more camps would be necessary between there and the North Col whereas they had hoped to manage with two. However with the aid of some Tibetans and a few yaks they hoped to get what they wanted up to the East Rongbuk Stream during the next few days and to use this dump as a sleeping place for journeys up but not for journeys down. He thought that on the whole it was a satisfactory result and there would be great advantages in bringing back everyone for rest at this place rather than higher up.

He had been writing his diary notes for the last few days and would send them to her in the next mail. The differences in the frozen county now from his remembrances of it were 'most striking' and everyone was duly impressed by Everest. The weather was unsettled but he expected many perfect days before the monsoon set in. They would be warm in this camp and not too cold higher up. Everyone was well and cheerful.

He had to go and arrange stores to go up.

Letter from George Mallory to Ruth from Yatung

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My dearest Ruth,

It seems I ought to get off a letter to you tomorrow morning in order to be certain of catching the mail. I don’t know that I have a very great deal to tell you. The great thing is that I have had your second letter & those from Clare & Berry. Dearest one I think it wonderful of you to settle down & be cheerful & enterprising and sociable. It must be difficult I know to start in with Cambridge life by yourself. You evidently managed to let Frances see something of life & she must have enjoyed herself; she kindly wrote me a note by this mail too. I am glad also to hear that Mr Blunt has not deserted as I rather feared he had done. It was good of him really to stay away when he felt that he couldn’t do much in the garden. I am sorry you have had such a cold March. I expect you will be very glad to enjoy some spring weather away from Cambridge.

All goes well with me. The march from Sedongchen to Gnathong [Gnatong] was glorious, Kanchenjunga & his neighbour appearing magnificently; I haven’t seen any distant mountain view before from this part & we counted ourselves very lucky. Gnathong [Gnatong] (12,500 ft) was not so cold this time, though the veranda was bunged up with snow, & from their [there] we made two easy stages here, stopping the night in a little rest house an hour down this side of Jelap La. Norton & I walked up to the pass (14,500 ft) together & were pleased to think that we felt fitter than last year. I certainly am feeling very fit now. I sleep long & well & can walk as fast as anyone.

We have had a few good signs of Spring – on the Sikkim side a most lovely little primula flourishing from 9,000 to 11,000 ft, with the habit of our English primrose only somewhat smaller & neater, and of a delicious crimson colour; and Rhododendron Falconeri, a big bright red fellow was flowering freely a bit lower. On this side we have another primula, denticulata, paler in colour & of the polyanthus type, very freely scattered over the meadows; & we have our old friend Daphne, I know not what species. The conifers too in this valley are all showing green.

It has been a wonderfully pleasant journey so far, with bright sun & pleasant conditions altogether. And it has been a very jolly company. We found the first contingent here no less happy than ourselves. The General (entrenous) has not been quite well & has stayed here today while Norton takes on the first party. The slack day here has been very pleasant. I have had a long ramble with Irvine.

I shall wish you Good Night & send this off brief as it is. Remember me to all my friends – but I forget you won’t be seeing them at present. I wonder where this letter will find you. It should reach you near about the 1st of May. Perhaps you have forgotten the significance of that date - will you think of me very specially on May 1 & may it be as good a day as it was in 1914.
Please thank Clare & Berry very much for their letters which I much enjoyed; & I liked the cards with flower pictures. It will be sometime yet before John can write me letters!

Now farewell dearest love. I waive you many kisses & see you smiling & happy & resolved so to be even during the month of May.

Ever your loving George.

I address this to Westbrook as I should like it to find you there & if you are with them will you please give my love to father Hugh & Marjorie; & in case you meet them remember me to Allen & Scott & the Fletchers. I shall be writing to Evelyn I hope. I am sorry for what you say about Alan, but a very young man’s view is generally exaggerated. I wish myself that A. would look tidier; I don’t know that it matters about his working provided he uses his mind somehow as he clearly does. My love to him when you see him.

Letter to Ruth Mallory, from ‘Kampa Dzong’

Brief Summary
Had planned shortcut but went further south by mistake. Very cold and tired. Warm start next day but then a bitter wind. All felt affects of marching at altitude. Next camp was 3-4 miles from Ta Tsang, warmer night. Warmer next day, bathed in a stream. Country was beautiful. Been reading Balzac’s Le Cure de Tours. Hair cut very short. Describes what he was wearing.

Detailed Summary
Too much repetition of experiences. Real difference was that it was earlier in the season than the previous year. Planned to take a short cut involving four marches instead of six with 100 animals, while 20 yaks and donkeys took the longer journey but this depended on the grazing available. Morshead had gone to fix the gaming ground. About 5 miles from Phari they diverged from last year’s course and mistakenly went further south. It was bitterly cold but they following the transport to some place the mule-men knew of. Halted in the afternoon with many of the men demoralised. Just about got the tents up to provide some shelter for those who had been knocked out by cold and fatigue. Some sort of a meal was produced before they turned in. He went to look at the animals standing in untidy rows with the snow lying on their backs. The mule-men were squatting round in a circle behind some sort of shelter cheerful and contented. A little later he heard the jangling of animals bells and saw through the tent door some bullocks which had started late, following a figure in his Tibetan garment hitched up round the waist and red Tibetan boots.

They had a cheerful start. He preferred riding mules over ponies. He was the only one to have secured a mule at Phari and they had mostly been ridden by the men servants and Gurkha orderlies. He had brought a saddle and bridle and his beast was shared among four of them, though it was too cold to ride unless he was nearly exhausted. On the second march, they halted at a pass for a mild tiffin. The sun was warm and they were out of the wind. Coming onto another desolate plane the wind caught them. It was a more trying march than any of last year’s although they did very well under the circumstances. Norton organised a hot meal and he had shared an 80 lb tent with Strutt and Morshead. The march had been too long for this stage in proceedings. May not feel the altitude when they were doing nothing but they had all felt it on the march of 22 miles between 16,000 and 17,000 ft. The effect on him was stupidity and his head was invaded by a slight headache and a dull torpor.

The camp was in an attractive spot 3 or 4 miles from Ta Tsang [town] where they had camped the previous year. They had to rest so had a whole day of idleness. The night was warmer. The temperature had been down to zero the night before.

The next 20 miles did not seem too long and Kampa Dzong seemed to have a milder climate but the west wind had been strong and quite cold. The yaks were expected to arrive and then they would be off again following the old stages.

His letter was not a very cheerful account. They had a warm day and he enjoyed bathing before breakfast in the little stream. The country was often beautiful, more beautiful than last year. Believed there was more moisture in the atmosphere and more colour in the landscape. The view from the dzong [fort] above the camp of the two arms of the plain stretched away to the snow mountains [the Gyanka Range - Everest beyond was not visible]. Made him feel that Tibet after all was somehow friendly.

Had been reading Balzac’s Le Cure de Tours. Morshead’s servant, who accompanied him again this year cut his hair with clippers so he had very little left.

Had been writing the letter in the mess tent for the sake of a high chair and a table for his ink pot. Describes the clothes he was wearing - silk and wool underclothes, a flannel shirt, a sleeved waistcoat, my lambskin coat, a Burberry coat overall – below plus fours and two pairs of stockings under sheepskin boots. He was just sufficiently warm except in the fingertips which touch the paper.

Postscript: He was still very fit in spite of fresh cold at Phari.

Letter to Ruth Mallory from 'Gnatong’

He had been stupefied by a cold and the repetition of last’s year’s march was not as exciting as the new sensation of seeing Sikkim. The landscape was disappointing and not at its best as no rain had yet fallen, the sense of bursting growth was absent. The previous day should have been the day of rhododendrons but only a few of the lower ones were out and the magnolias were disappointing as there were only white ones. However it was an enjoyable journey and everyone was cheerful and happy, particularly General Bruce. It was exhilarating to feel the high clean air again and to sleep above 12,000 ft and except for some cold and cough lingering he felt fit enough. Longstaff wasn’t fit yesterday and had a bad headache.

He kept company with Noel, who was filming and taking photographs and who was very pleased with a film of him bathing.

The air was quite clear as they were above the valley haze. He planned to start early the next day and get up a peak and see what should be an amazing view of the Sikkim mountains, Kangchenjunga.

He thinks of her and home and wishes they could meet once a month so he could hear her tell him about everything.

Letter to Marjorie Turner [his sister-in-law], from Kharta

Thanks her for her jolly letter which she had written on 17 May and which he had received on 27 June. He was in lovely countryside walking with the General and Geoffrey Bruce and Norton when he received it. The last ten days had been a pleasure trip with collecting as an excuse. It had been a good time but the rain had spoilt the best plans. He describes the countryside and flowers including a white primula he had found which he hoped they could bring back and name after him.

Replies to the contents of her letter. He was looking forward to getting back to England at the end of August. He planned to go to Westbrook to eat fruit. Doesn't think he would collect much more on his way back but that day he had got a fine Tibetan fox-skin for Ruth although she would probably say she couldn't wear it. Hoped he would find waiting for him in Darjeeling some small square Tibetan mats for chairs.