NORMAN HARDIE - 28/12/1924 - 30/10/2017 - NEW ZEALAND MOUNTAINEER & ENGINEER

NORMAN HARDIE - OBITUARY by Colin Monteath

I first met Christchurch mountaineer Norman Hardie in May 1983 outside my favourite old bookshop in New Regent Street. At the time I was Field Operations Officer for the New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme so I introduced myself and asked Norman if he fancied a 5-month stint as leader of Scott Base. I knew that Norman had been to Antarctica before as a survival instructor in the early 1960s and, in 1967, as a surveyor with Sir Edmund Hillary’s New Zealand expedition that went on to make the first ascent of the elegant Mt Herschel in North Victoria Land.

I felt sure that Norman's mana as an internationally-recognised mountaineer and his reputation as a skilled, no-nonsense civil engineer would be the perfect skill-set to take charge of not only the Scott Base staff but to solve the complex logistic puzzle that is New Zealand's summer science programme. Sure enough, a few weeks later, Norman sat beside me to start his indoctrination into how some 300 people would meld together into a cohesive team. A friendship started here at my desk and carried on during that summer at Scott Base has endured and deepened over the years.

Norman David Hardie was born in Timaru on 28th December 1924, one of three sons and five daughters of George and Mabel Hardie. He was educated at Timaru Boys’ High School then at The University of Otago and The University of Canterbury, graduating with BE in Civil Engineering. His first job, in 1948, was with the Ministry of works at Lake Pukaki. In 1950 he moved to the Wellington Hydro office. By 1951 Norman was in London and for the next four years he worked for a consulting engineering company on structural and water scheme designs. While there, in 1951, Norman married University of Canterbury friend Enid Hurst, daughter of Colonel H.C Hurst.

After his first expedition to Nepal in 1954 Norman returned to Christchurch to work for EGS Powell as a consulting engineer. From 1958 to1963 Norman was a partner in Stock & Hardie consulting engineers, then Hardie & Anderson, structural engineering consultants (1963-83). Norman was a site engineer for Baigent’s timber mill (1984-85) before retiring to work as a private consultant working from homes in Halswell and Cashmere.

Norman was the Chairman of the Canterbury Branch of the Institution of Engineers (1969-71) and a Director of Farrier Waimak Ltd., (1971-84) Norman was made a Distinguished Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers.

Norman Hardie ( centre)...with Geoff Harrow ( left) & Bill Beaven...members of the 1954 NZAC 'East of Everest' Himalayan expedition.

Norman’s mountain life started during the late 1930s as a government deer culler mainly in the Canterbury high country, work he continued during his years at university. On one hunting venture, after cycling from Timaru to Bealey, he shot four deer in the Waimakariri river basin. Tired out, he broke into Cora Lyn farmhouse to sleep the night, leaving a note about his actions upon leaving in the morning. Twenty four years later, he and Enid bought that house, owning it for 22 happy years.

During his final university years Norman’s interest in hunting led him to join the Canterbury University Tramping Club and this soon fostered a desire to take up mountaineering. Climbs at the head of the Rakaia followed in 1946, as did ventures into the Landsborough river catchment, a region that held a life-long fascination where he completed numerous new routes on peaks such as Mts Dechen, Strachan, Fettes and Elliot. During Norman’s time at university he fostered enduring friendships with climbers Jim McFarlane, Bill Beaven, Bill Packard and Earle Riddiford who all went on to join the New Zealand Alpine Club. As fresh graduates bound for employment at the end of the 1947 summer, Bill Beaven, Earle, Jim and Norman completed the first ascent of the still-rarely climbed South ridge of Sefton, approaching it from Fyfe Pass, the Landsborough and Harper’s Rock.

Based at Pukaki in 1948 as an engineer Norman was awakened one night by Bill Beaven to tell him he was needed to help rescue Ruth Adams who lay badly injured close to the summit of La Perouse. Adams had fallen during a climb with Ed Hillary and guides Mick Sullivan and Harry Ayres. Ruth's subsequent lower down the West Ridge of La Perouse and epic stretcher-carry down the Cook River to Fox has entered New Zealand mountain folklore, with Norman’s role being written up in his autobiography On my Own Two Feet (2006). Norman told me in recent years that he felt the rescue became a pivotal point in New Zealand mountaineering whereby amateur climbers like Ed Hillary who had always climbed with a guide saw what other amateur climbers were capable of; in turn, the amateurs learning much from the professionals. The bushmen who cut the track up the Cook river taught much also. Norman and his mates realised that the time was right for them to tackle bigger objectives, with luck overseas. As one, their dreams turned to climbing in the Himalaya.

Photo left: Ed Cotter and Norm Hardie. These two great NZ mountaineers died a few weeks apart,

Engineering work and marriage in London followed, interspersed with climbs in the European Alps. While in England he befriended famous English climbers Eric Shipton, Bill Tilman, Charles Evans and John Hunt. Lacking Himalayan expedition experience, his application to join John Hunt’s 1953 Everest team was turned down. However, as a mountaineer based in London, he was asked by John Hunt to volunteer his time and expertise to co-facilitate the ground work for the 1953 Everest expedition that was sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society.

Norman finally got his break to climb in the Nepal Himalaya by sailing out to Bombay to join the 1954 New Zealand Alpine Club Barun valley expedition led by Ed Hillary. Some 20 new climbs were completed in what is now the Makalu-Barun National Park, including the 7000 metre plum Baruntse. I always envied Norman’s first ascent of Pethangtse, an elegant outlier of Lhotse that straddles the Nepal-Tibet border. He used the summit as a survey station as part of his expedition mapping programme. Charles Evans was invited on this highly mobile Kiwi trip, in part as repayment for New Zealanders being invited on British expeditions starting with Dan Bryant in 1935.

Norman’s friendship with Charles Evans deepened and this led to him being asked to be deputy leader of the 1955 British expedition to Kangchenjunga, the world’s third highest mountain. Norman helped to refine the oxygen equipment for this venture that was ostensibly a reconnaissance though it quickly turned into a full-blown assault on the summit. Joe Brown and George Band reached the summit first with Norman and Tony Streather summiting the following day; all four climbers avoided treading on the actual summit in deference to local beliefs. I always liked Norman’s tale from base camp of Evans asking him to take two of the climbers who eventually summited aside to teach them how to use crampons.

Norm Hardie (left) talking to Bob McKerrow at the the talk Norm gave to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his ascent of Kanchenjunga.

After the Kangchenjunga climb Norman and some Sherpas set out to walk all the way to the Khumbu where he met Enid. This journey forms the basis of Norman’s first book In Highest Nepal (1957) that was later translated into German and Japanese. Following Norman’s participation in Ed Hillary’s 1960-61 Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering (Silver hut) Expedition that wintered under Ama Dablam, the Khumbu became central to Norman’s life for several decades. In 1963 he developed and constructed an improved water supply from a spring above Khumjung village. He played a key role in the functioning of the Himalayan Trust, remaining on its board from 1966-88. During this period Norman and Enid made 14 visits to Nepal for school building, national park work and re-afforestation programmes. In 1986, sponsored by the New Zealand Government, Norman went to the Khumbu to report on the state of their forests and to make recommendations for their future care, which eventuated in the establishment of the Sagarmatha National Park.

Norman served for 21 years on various New Zealand Alpine Club committees and was NZAC President from 1973-75. He also served on the Arthur’s Pass National Park Board from 1967-79 and on the Craigieburn Forest Park Committee 1980-87, being Chairman for two years. He was a member of the Christchurch Civic Trust Board 1988-92 and The College House Board 1971-97. In 1992, Norman was awarded the Queen’s Service Order for services to mountaineering and conservation. He was an Honorary Life Member of The Alpine Club (UK) and The Himalayan Club and Life Member of the New Zealand Antarctic Society and the New Zealand Alpine Club.

Norman retained a deep interest in engineering and mountaineering throughout his life, attending and giving lectures and offering advice to younger climbers who found their way to his door. He helped innumerable authors get Nepalese facts straight as well as offering editorial advice to draft manuscripts and journal articles. Many of New Zealand’s top climbers owe a debt of gratitude to Norman’s mentoring and instruction during their formative years.

While living in a semi-rural property in Halswell, Norman and his ‘ Last of the summer wine’ enthusiasts bottled their own wine. It’s time to raise a glass to Norman Hardie, one of New Zealand’s outstanding mountaineers.

Memorial Service - College House - University Of Canterbury -100 Waimari Road - Friday 10th November....2pm Ice Axe Avenue led by Andrew and David Turton. All are invited to join in.

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Norman David Hardie: Born; 28 December 1924 - Died 30 October 2017
Norman is survived by his wife Enid and daughters Sarah Jane Hardie and Ruth Wells and grandchildren Henry, Tamar and Roslyn Wells and David Turton.

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Who is planning to climb Everest in 2016?

Nearly one year after the devastating earthquake and avalanche, the country is all set to host the world climbers in the spring season while the authorities and stakeholders have struggled hard to revive the country’s tourism sector which was worst hit by the multiple disasters.

Mount Everest. The high peak is in the top right-hand corner. Photo: Bob McKerrow

“Till date, 10 expeditions comprising 71 mountaineers have applied to the Department of Tourism seeking permits to attempt to climb Mt Everest as diversified mountaineers are expected to arrive in the country in the next couple of weeks,” DoT’s official Gyanendra Kumar Shrestha told THT.

As the government decided to extend the climbing permits of all 2015 spring expeditions by two years, 33 of them are reusing their old permits on Mt Everest. “The decision will certainly attract more climbers in the next couple of weeks,” Shrestha said.

Except Mt Everest, 31 climbers from seven teams have applied for permits as they plan to climb a few other peaks, including Mt Lhotse, Mt Nuptse and Mt Dhaulagiri. DoT has already issued two permits for Mt Annapurna and Mt Saribung.

The Lho La pass and the west ridge of Everest: Photo: Bob McKerrow

A five-member team of French climbers led by Girard Bertrand Arnaud will also be filming on Mt Nuptse in Khumbu region to produce a movie called ‘L’ Acsension’, according to Icefall Adventure.

“I’ll return in March-end to once again attempt Mt Lhotse, the world’s 4th highest in support of Nepal, Alzheimer’s Advocacy and Project 8,000,” Alan Arnette, climber cum adventure blogger informed.

According to Maj Ritesh Goel, a team of Indian Army will also be in Kathmandu by the end of this month to use the renewed climbing permits on Mt Everest and Mt Lhotse.

American climber Robert Kay wrote that he would be leaving again for Kathmandu next week for his third attempt on Everest. “All the training at the gym is finished, the gear is sorted out and now I am just trying to find a little time to pack my duffel bags.”

DoT’s record shows that International Mountain Guides through Beyul Adventure will be running three Everest expeditions with 36 climbers this season.

“DoT also expects that more expeditions will seek climbing permits in the coming days,” a high-level official said, hinting that individual climbers who abandoned their attempts in 2015 following the devastating earthquake would be given a chance to use their individual permit by even changing the expedition operating agency this season.

At least 44 local trekking companies ran 103 expeditions with 801 climbers on different mountains in the last spring but April earthquake forced all to abandon climbing activities.

Meanwhile, icefall doctors who have already begun work to repair the climbing route on Mount Everest, however, feared that the route would be more dangerous than in the last two seasons, according to Ang Dorjee Sherpa, chairperson of Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee.

“Icefall doctors have evaluated the increasing level of danger across the treacherous section of the icefall,” chair of the SPCC quoted the trained ice doctors as saying.

As in the past seasons, Global Rescue will have its operations personnel in place ready to support the climbing community, Ann Shannon, GR’s Public Relations Manager, said.

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                       The summit of Mount DEverest: Photo: Bob McKerrow

Slovaks choose difficult route

KATHMANDU: Two climbers from Slovakia have decided to attempt to climb Mt Everest from the south-west face, which was used by South Korean climber Young Seok Park seven years ago.

“After 2009, Vladimír Štrba and Zoltán Pál from Slovakia are going to make the summit attempt using the dangerous south-west route this spring,” Ganesh Thakuri of Utmost Adventure Trekking said.

Most of the climbers often use south east face, the normal route, starting from Camp 2.

“South west face is not a normal route and the risky path has also been rarely used by Everest climbers,” DoT’s official Gyanendra Kumar Shrestha said.

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Thanks to The Himalayan Times for permission to run excerpts of their article.

Another stint in Nepal - The Himalaya

I first visited Nepal in 1975 when I worked for the International Red Cross, supporting the Nepal Red Cross conducting a national disaster preparedness programme.

Some months after the massive earthquake struck Nepal on April 25 2015, I returned to Nepal to work again. Here are some of the photos I have taken.

                                                     Mt. Everest taken from Kala Pattar

                                                                          Ama Dablam

                                            Another view of Mt. Everest and the west ridge.

                                                     On the Lumding La with Sherpa Neema.

                                            From Pokhara looking up to the Himalaya

                                         With two Sherpas from Kumjung, Domalay and Neema

                                             A young Tibetan girl in  Namche Bazaar

                                                     Ama Dablam on the walk in from Lukla

                                                                          Pumori

                                                                         Pumori

                                                                    Langtang peak

                                      Houses hign in the Himalaya damaged by earthquake

                                    Carrying earthquake supplies to the higher Langtang region

                                                                              Ama Dablam

                                                                             Kwandge

                                                                Carpet making

                                                               A Sherpa village

Ama Dablam - A fascination with a mountain for over 40 years

     Ama Dablam

I find the naming of mountains fascinating and in the Himalaya many mountains are seen as a Goddess, God or protector. Forty years ago when I first started trekking and climbing in the Nepal Himalaya, the peak Ama Dablam started a life-long fascination for me. While Sagarmatha, Chomolungma or Mount Everest is the Goddess Mother of the Universe, Ama Dablam appears protected by Sagarmatha, but has her own beauty and meaning. I think it is so fitting that the name fits in so comfortably with the current Yama Panchak festival in Nepal
The main peak of Ama Dablam is 6,812 metres (22,349 ft), the lower western peak is 6,170 metres (20,243 ft). Ama Dablam means "Mother's necklace"; the long ridges on each side like the arms of a mother (ama) protecting her child, and the hanging glacier thought of as the dablam, the traditional double-pendant containing pictures of the gods, worn by Sherpa women. Other writers extrapolate the meaning to "charm box, and is a special pendant worn by elder Sherpa women that holds precious items.”

More meaning is added to the ‘mana’ of the peak as it was first climbed by two New Zealanders I know, Mike Gill and Wally Romanes, along with Mike Ward and Barry Bishop on 13 March 1961 They were well-acclimatised to altitude, having wintered over at 5800 metres near the base of the peak as part of the Silver Hut Scientific Expedition of 1960-61, led by Sir Edmund Hillary. I know Mike and Wally personally and you couldn’t find two such humble people.
In all religions mountains are revered and one of my favourite quotes is: “I lift mine eyes unto the hills whence cometh my strength…

My Sherpa friend Neema from Kunde, on the3 Lumding La with Ama Dablam in the distant background. Photo: Bob McKerrow

Ama Dablam stands proud and can be seen from so many villages in the upper Khumbu. Photo: Bob McKerrow

Up in the clouds, Ama Dablam makes a brief appearance. Photo: Bob McKerrow

The keeper of the mountains of Nepal.

This recent article on Liz Hawley reminded me of the first time I met her in Kathmandu in 1975. I don’t think she was that impressed by me or the 1975 NZ Jannu expedition. Jim Strang records in the 1976 NZAJ (p14) “Crawford writing off two push-bikes at Bob McKerrow’s place in Kathmandu.”  I invited Liz Hawley to this farewell party to the NZ Jannu expedition I hosted.  I had a small two storey house in Kathmandu in 1975 and Lynn Crawford got this bright idea that it would be fun to cycle down the stairs. Next morning I had to face the owner of the hire company and pay for the two mangled bikes and three other badly damaged ones.  For the records, members of that expedition were:Limbo Thompson, Geoff Wayatt, Jim Strang, Pete Farrell, GraemE Dingle, Lynn Crawford, Bryan Pooley, Brian Fearnley, Noel Sissions, Ian Jowett, Roger Foley, Don Cowie. 

Here is an excellent article written by Billi Bierling, 

CHRONICLING HIGH-PEAK HISTORY WITH ELIZABETH HAWLEY

“Isn’t Miss Hawley coming?” a disappointed Hiro Takeuchi asked me when I was debriefing him about his expedition. The Japanese climber had just come back from a successful expedition to his 14th and final 8,000-meter peak and had become the first Japanese to complete this impressive feat. It was difficult to tell the 42-year-old mountaineer, who had known Miss Hawley for over 20 years and had been “examined” by her several times, that she was busy. She and her driver, Suban, were on their way to meet another expedition and, as usual, they were stuck in the mad Kathmandu traffic in her 50-year-old baby-blue Volkswagen Beetle.

Elizabeth Hawley, who lives in a modest flat in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, has archived expeditions to so-called expedition peaks in Nepal for 50 years, and it’s difficult to escape her grilling interview technique. “It sometimes happens that we miss an expedition, but most of the time we find them—even if it is years later,” Hawley says. In order to keep up with the rising number of expeditions—this year there were more than 50 on Mount Everest alone—she has three assistants, who help her scan the streets of Kathmandu for mountaineers. 

Most climbers deem it important to get into Miss Hawley’s records, as she’s considered the last instance for them to get recognition from the mountaineering world. Hawley, however, doesn’t quite see it this way. “I am not a judge. I am a historian and all I do is collect data. And that’s what I would like you to do,” she said to me when I started working for her in 2004. Even though the 89-year-old has never climbed a mountain herself, she is very tough with her questions and has made some mountaineers sweat and wrack their brains to remember the right dates. “Come on, get your act together. You must know when you slept the first night at Camp 1,” I once heard her bark at a climber at the Yak & Yeti Hotel in Kathmandu. 

Hawley was born in Chicago. She studied politics, English and zoology. She never followed a career in any of these subjects, but became a journalist. Her first job was with Fortune magazine in New York, where she worked as a researcher. Not content to sit behind a desk day in and day out, she jumped when her employer gave her the chance to travel, enabling her to discover the world. However, wanting to spend more time in the countries she visited, the young journalist quickly got fed up with the short trips. In 1956, she quit her job and embarked on a journey around the world, which eventually took her to her future home, the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal. 

She arrived in Nepal during a time when the kingdom opened up towards the West, a movement that absolutely fascinated Elizabeth Hawley. In order to properly follow this process, she decided to immigrate to Nepal in 1960. At first, she worked as a correspondent for Time Magazine, and later moved to Reuters. In 1963, when the first US expedition to Mount Everest arrived in Nepal, the young journalist was commissioned to report about it. Hawley followed this expedition closely and found her work with the mountaineers so fascinating that she decided to interview the second expedition. And the third. And fourth. Her initial interest became her vocation, eventually developing into the worldwide reference for mountaineering. 

Something she just “slipped into,” the job is something she speaks of as if she were still thinking of changing her career. “This job literally just happened to me, and I am not really progressing, which I have to change,” she says.

However, changing her career would be difficult now that she has become the Keeper of the Mountains. With more than 340 mountains on her list, she has interviewed countless expeditions for the past 50 years,  the collected data handwritten on paper, some of which has yellowed in her office’s huge drawers over the years. “I will have to stop at one point, as I am running out of space,” she observes, pulling out a file reeking of mothballs. 

Despite never having worn a pair of crampons or used an ice axe, Hawley knows each mountain’s routes like the back of her hand. “I want to sleep in a bed, eat at a table and be driven around in my beetle,” she says, regarding her lack of enthusiasm to climb a mountain, and she does not understand why people like me are attracted to high peaks. “What, you are going climbing again?” she yelled at me when I told her about another expedition in spring. “I need you in Kathmandu and not on top of some stupid mountain.” Even though a certain interest in mountaineering is necessary, Miss Hawley doesn’t like her team to be away from Kathmandu. Preferably they should be available to her 24/7, as finding and interviewing the hundreds of people going to various expedition peaks has become a huge task each season. But despite turning 90 this year, Hawley still managed to see about 40 expeditions this spring.

With an ever-increasing number of punters wanting to climb Mount Everest and other 8,000-meter peaks, it’s very unlikely that Miss Hawley’s system of meeting all the teams personally and writing the information down on paper will be sustainable. Her data has already been available on a CD-ROM, known as The Himalayan Database since 2004, and getting the information electronically will probably be the future. However, as long as Miss Hawley is the boss, we will happily continue to do it her way. And even though getting the information electronically will mean a lot less work for the team in Kathmandu, we will certainly miss meeting up with the usual suspects every season.

The Hillary Step on Mt. Everest

 SIXTY years ago this week, as Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay approached the summit of the world’s highest mountain, they were stopped by a 40-foot wall of rock and ice. It was, Hillary later wrote, “a formidable looking problem ...We realized that at this altitude it might well spell the difference between success and failure.”

Employing the skills he had learned in the New Zealand Alps, Hillary jammed his feet, hands and shoulders into a thin crack between a ridge of ice and the rock and, as he put it, “levered myself” up the wall. Then he brought Tenzing up on a tight rope, and together they climbed the final 300 feet to become the first humans to stand on the summit of Mount Everest.

Today, that 40-foot wall is called the Hillary Step. Each May, large numbers of climbers line up to attempt it, causing a lengthy — and dangerous — backup. But this past week, it was reported that the Expedition Operators Association, a Nepali organization that manages teams climbing Everest, has proposed a solution to this final obstacle on the standard route to the top: putting a permanent ladder on the Hillary Step.

Between 1987 and 2009, I went on 11 expeditions to Mount Everest, reaching the top seven times. I’ve climbed both up and down the Hillary Step six times. I think the ladder is a bad idea. It won’t solve the real problem, which is overcrowding on the most famous route in mountaineering. At its best, installing a permanent ladder to surmount the Hillary Step would be like slapping a Band-Aid on an artery that’s hemorrhaging.

Because guided commercial expeditions on Everest have become so popular, scores or even hundreds of clients go for the top on the same day. Each May, the weather forecast pinpoints the optimal dates for a summit thrust. Most of the teams seize that precious window, as a kind of “group think” takes hold. That is what causes the overcrowding. And now that fixed ropes are strung by Sherpas up every foot of the South Col route, from base camp at 17,000 feet to the summit at 29,035 feet, a perilous traffic jam inevitably forms on the final ridge. Because of their dependence on the fixed ropes, clients can move no faster than the slowest person in the queue. It’s become routine to have to wait two or three hours to tackle the Hillary Step.

Even if a ladder is bolted to the rock on the Hillary Step, it won’t alleviate the bottleneck that inevitably develops there on summit day. Climbers will still clip their ascenders (mechanical devices that grip ropes) to the fixed lines that parallel and safeguard the ladder, and because there’s no alternative to that narrow passage, the two-to-three hour wait will still impose its treacherous delay. For that matter, wearing goggles, down suits and oxygen masks, mountaineers can hardly see their own feet, so climbing down the ladder promises to be every bit as difficult as rappelling the Step on a fixed line.

It’s the traffic jam that causes all the trouble. Climbers run out of bottled oxygen and collapse, or they push upward long after a sensible turnaround deadline and end up descending in the dark, or they succumb to hypothermia and frostbite simply because they’re forced to stand in place for hours, waiting their turn. My fear is that if the ladder is installed, even more climbers will throng to Everest, convinced that a metal contraption has solved all the problems of the South Col route.

A ladder isn’t the answer. Nor can the government of Nepal be expected to regulate how many climbers are on Everest, let alone how many go for the summit on a given day. It will be up to the climbers themselves to coordinate their schedules to avoid overcrowding. This is going to be very hard to do. Personal ambition, a herd mentality and summit fever all too easily overwhelm good judgment.

Aside from these practical concerns, there’s an aesthetic issue at stake. The Hillary Step is a crucial part of the majestic challenge Everest still poses. Just when you think you’ve got the summit in the bag, the mountain throws one last roadblock across your path. It’s the final test you pass to earn the summit.

When I first climbed the Hillary Step in 1991, there was only a short section of tattered rope in place. Unwilling to trust it, I climbed the 40-foot wall without using the rope. Thus I surmounted the Step the same way Hillary had, and it was deeply gratifying to solve its technical difficulties with no aids other than the ice ax in my hand and the crampons on my boots.

The glory of mountain climbing lies in the fact that success is never guaranteed. In recent years, Everest has been degraded by its sheer popularity. Let’s not degrade it further. Let’s leave the Hillary Step as close as we can to what Hillary and Tenzing confronted at 11 a.m. on May 29, 1953.

Thanks to Ed Viesturs for permission to post his brilliant article here.

Ed Viesturs is the only American to have climbed the 14 highest peaks in the world, all without supplemental oxygen. He is co-author, with David Roberts, of the forthcoming book “The Mountain: My Time on Everest.”

Master of the Mountains

His Shadow (Shadow of the Teacher) 1932. Tempera on canvas. 74,5 x 117,5.
The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia

As soon as you walk into our apartment, you will see three paintings of Nicholas Roerich. He was widely known as 'A Master of the Mountains,' for many deserved reason. Barely known to mountaineers and modern painters, Nicholas Roerich was an extraordinary personality, a unique individual, having an immense thirst for knowledge, and a deep appreciation of beauty in all forms. A trained painter and lawyer, also archaeologist, ethnographer, geographer, poet, historian, philosopher, scientist, traveler, fighter for peace, defender of cultural values of all nations, Roerich throughout his life, devoted himself to the ideal of the common good of mankind. He was also a man of the mountains.

As soon as you walk into our apartment, you will see three paintings of Nicholas Roerich,  A Master of the Mountains. Photo: Bob McKerrow

The title 'A Master of the Mountains' comes from countless things he did including his amazing Central Asia Expedition through  Sikkim, Kashmir, Ladakh, China (Sintzian), Russia, Siberia, Altai, Mongolia and Tibet.
Climbing over a 20,000 foot pass in Sikkim came naturally to Roerich as he was totally at home in the mountains, and accepted by mountain tribes who were seeing Europeans for the first time. Many things attracted me to Roerich, but what stood out was that he saw the good in Red Cross and decided to form another Pact, not an organisation, called  'The banner of peace."

Signing of the Roerich’s Pact, 1935 ( Franklin D. Roosevelt in the centre, and Roerich on his right.

The Banner of Peace

In the following year, on a trip back to New York, Roerich proposed a treaty for the protection of cultural treasures during times of both war and peace. Using the Red Cross as an example, he drafted a Pact suggesting that a flag, called the Banner of Peace, be flown over all places under its protection. The design of the Banner shows three spheres surrounded by a circle, in magenta color on a white background. Of the many interpretations of this symbol, the most usual are perhaps those of Religion, Art and Science as aspects of culture, which is the surrounding circle; or of past, present and future achievements of humanity guarded within the circle of Eternity

The Roerich Pact was first agreed to by twenty-one nations of the Americas and signed as a treaty in the White House with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on April 15, 1935. It was later signed by other countries as well. This treaty is still in force.

Great Spirit of the Himalayas. 1934


 Roerich believed the challenges of the mountains helped one to find courage and develop strength of spirit. And, in spite of obstacles, wherever they went, the Roerichs' faith in the essential goodness of life and the spirituality of man was reinforced.

Roerich's Banner of the East series of nineteen paintings depicting the world's religious teachers, Mohammed, Jesus, Moses, Confucius and Buddha, and the Indian and Christian saints and sages was a testimonial to the unity of religious striving and the common roots of man's faith.

At the end of their major expedition in 1928, the family settled in the Kullu Valley at an elevation of 6,500 feet in the Himalyan foothills. There they established their home and the headquarters of the Urusvati Himalayan Research Institute, which was organized to study the results of their expedition, and of those explorations that were yet to come. The Institute's activities included botanical and ethnological-linguistic studies, and the exploration of archeological sites. I viisted Naggar in the Kullu Valley and saw his home, his old car still in the garage and inspected the house with utmost reverence and admiration.

The Roerich house in Naggar, Kullu valley, India.

.The pursuit of refinement and beauty was sacred for Roerich. He believed that, although earthly temples and artifacts may perish, the thought that brings them into existence does not die but is part of an eternal stream of consciousness - people's aspirations nourished by their directed will and by the energy of thought. Finally, he believed that peace on Earth is a prerequisite to planetary survival and the continuing process of spiritual evolution, and he exhorted those who would help achieve that peace to unite in the common language of Beauty and Knowledge.

Based on the philosophy of Nicholas Roerich, the mission of The Center for Peace Through Culture, is to promote a psychology of peace that focuses on the identification of belief systems that separate people, and to help transform these belief systems into attitudes of inclusion and acceptance.

Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi Nicholas Roerich, M. Yunus. (Roerich’s estate, Kullu)

But who was this mysterious mountain man ?

Nicholas was born on October 9, 1874, in St. Petersburg, Russia, to the family of a notary, Konstantin F. Roerich.

Nicholas spent his childhood in a house on the bank of the river Neva and at the suburban estate of his father, which was called Izvara. Everything interested the inquisitive boy: complex designs of the ship masts, a small boat ploughing the flat surface of the river, the words of an ancient song of the times about Tsar Peter the Great (which his grandmother would sing to the children).

                                                               Path to Shambhala 1933


The interests of the boy were quite diverse. He learned to read very early and was fond of literature, poetry and theater. The boy also painted.Nicholas had many projects during his life which he hoped would help to raise the consciousness of humanity.
 Nicholas and Helena Roerich are two of these Russian superheroes. The Roerichs offered an inspiring path for spiritual growth and life similar to what in America is called "global awakening" — a philosophy that encompasses all peoples and faiths. They saw that different religions simply looked at the same Truth in different ways — but that this different way-of-looking was the cause of all war.

It is said that the Roerichs were eminently likable; that they attracted others through their appearance, manners, simplicity, and generosity. Certainly, they were great artists, creating wonderful paintings and writings. They also were known as philosophers, speakers, teachers, scientists, patrons of the arts, public figures, and cultural workers. But it was probably their greatness of Soul, an ineffable Quality that radiated from their every word and gesture, that caused them to be taken so closely to the Russian heart.

In the final analysis, they were conveying, in a beautiful and captivating form — through art, writing, Eastern practices, and even socio-political projects — the thoughts and leadership of the Ascended Masters

                                          Himalayas 1933

Roerich’s outlook of the world was unique, based upon the knowledge of the fundamental laws of existence. He was convinced that by increasing the level of masses’ spiritual culture, one could transform life on earth and defeat ignorance, vulgarity, exploitation and wars. In his own words “Where there is culture, there is peace”. Being convinced of the transforming power of culture, Nicholas Roerich devoted himself not only to artistic, but also to educational activities.

Roerich’s lifetime work comprises around 7000 paintings and sketches, which can be found in famous museums and private collections all around the world. His early works bear strong influences of his Russian heritage. Based on Russian themes and legends, the panoramic Russian landscapes, history and folk art, he travelled extensively, first in Russia, later in Europe and America, before realizing his long cherished dream to come to India.

                                                              Kanchenjunga 1936

Central nAsia Expeditions

He and his family arrived in India, which attracted the attention of N. Roerich not only as a painter, but as a scientist interested in a number of problems related to ancient peoples’ world migrations, and search for a common source of Slavic and Indian cultures. From here a path of the expedition in hard-to-reach areas of Central Asia was began. Later N. Roerich written: “Besides artistic tasks of our expedition we have intended to clarify a situation with relics of the past of Central Asia, to observe modern state of religion, customs, and to register the traces of great migration of peoples. This last task was always close to me”. The expedition’s extremely difficult itinerary ran through Sikkim, Kashmir, Ladakh, China (Sintzian), Russia (including Moscow), Siberia, Altai, Mongolia, Tibet, unstudied areas of Trans Himalayas. The expedition was continued from 1924 to 1928. Having realized Przewalski and Kozlov’s dream, Nicholas Roerich’s expedition became a triumph of Russian studies in Central Asia. In terms of its itinerary uniqueness and collected materials, it can justly claim for a special place among major expeditions of the 20th century.

                                                       Tibet Himalayas 1933


Archeological and ethnographical investigations in unexplored Asian areas were conducted. For the first time, dozens of new mountain peaks and passes were marked on maps, rarest manuscripts were found, richest linguistic materials and folkloric works were collected, descriptions of local customs were made. Also during the expedition the books “Heart of Asia” and “Altai-Himalayas” were written, about five hundred paintings were created, on which the artist portrayed a beauty panorama of the expedition itinerary, a famous painting series “Himalayas” was began, the series “Maytreya”, “Sikkim’s Path”, “His country" “The Teaches of the East” et al.

The Russian painter’s world recognition is confirmed by the fact that more than a hundred institutes, academies, scientific corporations, cultural institutions in the whole world have chosen him their honorary and full member. In India itself, famous Indian philosophers, scientists, writers, public figures were personally acquainted with Nicholas Roerich.


In India Roerich continued to work at “Himalayas” series which includes more than two thousands paintings. Mountain world was a source of inexhaustible inspiration for the painter. Art critics noted a new direction in Roerich’s creativity and called him “Master of mountains”. In India N. Roerich created the following series: “Shambala”, “Chingis-Khan”, “Kuluta”, “Kullu”, “Saint mountains”, “Tibet”, Ashrams” etc. Artist’s exhibitions were held in many Indian cities and attracted many people.

Roerich always remained a patriot and a Russian citizen only holding one passport – Russian. He never gave up the thought of coming back to his motherland. Right after the end of the war, the artist applied for a visa to enter the Soviet Union. But on December 13, 1947, he died, without knowing that he was denied the visa.[citation needed]

In Kullu valley, at the place of the funeral fire, a big rectangular stone was installed on which the following inscription was carved: “Here, on December 15, 1947, the body of Maharishi Nicholas Roerich – a great Russian friend of India – was committed to fire.

Investiture of Banner of Peace which was on board of cosmic station 'Mir' to the Speaker of Indian Parliament Sri Somnath Chatterdgi on the occasion of S. N. Roerich 100th anniversary. From left to right: Hero of Russian Federation S. Zalyotin, V. Afanasiev, Sri Somnath Chatterdgi, Yu. M. Vorontsov Yu, President of ICR
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It has been such a joy and an honour to write about this amazing man and one wonders why is not well known outside of India and Russia. I have only touched on his life and if you are interested in seeing his stunning paintings, go to: http://photo.ecoglobus.com/roerichen.htm

Special thanks to the Nicholas Roerich Museum  which I visited in 2004 and they gave me so much assistance in researching his life, and and to Wikipedia for permission to use some photos and text.