Earl Denman

Earl L. Denman was born on 11 December 1914 in Tod Inlet on Vancouver Island[1] but grew up in England.[2] He was a Canadian mountaineer who attempted to climb Mount Everest in 1947.[1] By 1947 he was working as an engineer in Southern Rhodesia.[3]

His illegal[4] attempt was very different from the large-scale efforts by British mountaineers around the same time. He had little experience, having only climbed the smaller Virunga mountains in East Africa before this expedition. He did not have much money, equipment, or fuel, and entered Tibet without permission. Two Sherpas (one of whom was Tenzing Norgay,[5] later to make the first ascent of Everest) joined his attempt. Norgay later said that he knew Denman had little chance of succeeding, but that he agreed to join Denman because "the pull of Everest was stronger for me than any force on earth."[1] After a trekking across Tibet,[2] Denman and the two Sherpas started their ascent on April 9, 1947.[6] They reached about 22,000 ft (6,700 m) of the roughly 29,000 ft (8,800 m) mountain before a storm compelled them to abort the attempt and turn back.[1][2][7][8][9]

Denman tried to return to Everest in 1948,[3] but couldn't leave India.[4] In 1954 his autobiography Alone to Everest of his Everest attempt was published.[10][11][12] Later he fought Apartheid in South Africa,[2] where he was living in the 1960s[3] before he was thrown out of the country.[2]

In 1982 he was living in New Zealand.[2] On 9 December 1994 Earl Lionel Denman died in New Zealand; he was born on 11 December 1914.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Gellner, John (April 3, 1971). "Is man equal to Everest". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. pp. The Globe Magazine 12–14. ProQuest 1241697524.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Emrick, Larry (March 11, 1986). "11-member team off to conquer Everest walks path trodden by Canadian pioneers". The Citizen. Ottawa. p. A4. ISSN 0839-3214. ProQuest 238927446.
  3. ^ a b c Gellner, John (January 4, 1964). "Madcap assault on Everest by Canadian engineer". Maclean's. Toronto: 18, 32. Archived from the original on May 22, 2021. Retrieved May 25, 2021. ...when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first men to stand on the summit of Mount Everest, the celebrated Sherpa guide was wearing a woolen balaclava helmet given to him six years earlier by an amateur Canadian mountain climber named Earl Denman. "So at last," Tenzing recounted later, "a little part of Denman reached his goal."
  4. ^ a b Little, James (March 2021). "The Pull of Everest". Canadian Geographic. Vol. 141, no. 2. Ottawa. pp. 52–55, 58–64, 66, 68. ISSN 0706-2168. ProQuest 2527608722. Retrieved May 24, 2021. ...B.C.-born Earl Denman made history with one of the most audacious attempts ever to climb the mountain.
  5. ^ "Obituary of Sherpa Tenzing, heroic conquest of Everest". The Times. London. May 10, 1986. Gale A117882008.
  6. ^ "Vancouver Island-Born Man Climbs Near Everest's Top". Times Colonist. Victoria, British Columbia. Reuter. June 11, 1947. p. 1. Retrieved May 24, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Gellner, John (October 6, 1962). "Man conquers the Himalaya". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. pp. The Globe Magazine 9–11, 14. ProQuest 1284944041.
  8. ^ "6 Canadians to try ascent of Everest". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. March 17, 1981. p. 10. ISSN 0319-0714. ProQuest 1143121515.
  9. ^ "Canadian Face the Ultimate Challenge". Sport Canada. Vol. XVIII, no. 11. Montreal: Travel Times. Autumn 1981. ProQuest 1399144808.
  10. ^ "Books - Authors". The New York Times. Vol. CIV, no. 35305. September 22, 1954. p. 27. ProQuest 113066465.
  11. ^ "The Mountain That Drew Men Onward". The New York Times. Vol. CIV, no. 35379. December 5, 1954. p. The New York Times Book Review 44. ProQuest 112960043.
  12. ^ "Earl Denman's Alone to Everest". Manchester Guardian. June 25, 1954. p. 6. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  13. ^ Registrar_General

Sources

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  • Alone to Everest, by Earl Denman, Collins, 1954, pp. 256
  • Everest, by Walt Unsworth
  • Tiger of the Snows/Man of Everest, by Tenzing Norgay and James Ramsey Ullman
  • Into Thin Air, beginning of Chapter 7, by Jon Krakauer
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