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SAYRE
EXPEDITION CELEBRATES 40th REUNION
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The
40th reunion of the 1962 Sayre expedition to the North
Face of Mt. Everest was celebrated September 16, 2001
at the Tisbury Senior Center, Martha's Vineyard,
Massachusetts. Over 100 friends, relatives, and well
wishes viewed slides and watched the expedition movie.
The four climbers signed commemorative T-shirts and
autographed personal copies of the expedition book, Four
Against Everest (used copies available through
Amazon.com).
The expedition consisted of Woodrow Wilson Sayre, now
82, a retired philosophy professor and the grandson of
president Woodrow Wilson; Norman Hansen, 78, a Boston
lawyer, Hans Peter Duttle, 63, a Swiss school teacher
and climbing instructor; and Roger Hart, 61, a
geologist from Seal Rock, Oregon.
Back row, Roger Hart, Norman Hansen, Hans Peter Duttle
Front row, Woodrow Wilson Sayre
Financed privately by Sayre for $12,411.59, the
expedition followed a 20 mile route pioneered by New
Zealanders, Sir Edmund Hillary and George Lowe. The
four climbers without porters or bottled oxygen
ascended the Ngo-Jumbo icefall to the Nup La at 19,
400 feet, relayed 120 pounds of supplies each down the
West Rongbuk Glacier, and ascended the East Rongbuk
Glacier on the north side of Mt. Everest. They reached
the north col at 23,000 feet on May 29, 1962, and,
after an accident and a night's bivouac in the open,
Sayre attained an approximate altitude of 25,500 feet
on the north face before more accidents another open
bivouac, and the threat of bad weather turned them
back toward base camp in Nepal. Less than ten
climbers, all who had help from porters and bottled
oxygen, had summited Everest prior to the Sayre
expedition which was the thirteenth expedition overall
to approach the mountain. Miraculously they all
returned home to their careers and, perhaps even more
miraculously, are all still active in them.
Considered a maverick expedition by some climbers
especially those associated with the American
expedition the following year, an article in Life
magazine( March 13, 1963) and the book Four Against
Everest where popular with the general public and
inspired many non climbers to take up the sport.
At the reunion, Randy McNeely, a member of the
American Alpine Club, noted that many Everest
historians attribute the safe return of the Sayre
expedition to incredible luck with the weather but
pointed out that apparently some people, i.e. the
members of the Sayre expedition, create their own
luck.
Commemorative unsigned T-shirts illustrated with a
picture of the climbers from Four Against Everest (see
photos below) are available by contacting everestnews2004@adelphia.net
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Roger
Hart |
Woody
Sayre, good luck and good climbing!
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