First on Everest: The Life of Howard Somervell

‘Hoyland writes with rare authority, empathy and insight, delivering a vital and beautifully told biography long overdue.’ - Sir Chris Bonington, renowned British mountaineer

‘Hoyland eloquently charts [Somervell’s] rise, through science, art, and religion, to become a mountaineer of the highest repute.’ - Brian Hall, Boardman Tasker Prize judge and author of High Risk: Climbing to Extinction

The pioneers who attempted the first climbs of Mount Everest in 1922 and 1924 knew nothing about the mountain other than its height. They had to learn the hard way about the lack of oxygen, the jet-stream winds, the illnesses of altitude, and the vital importance of the Sherpas. They fought cerebral oedema, frostbite, hypothermia, and raging thirst in the cold, thin air. They had to find a route, avoid avalanches, and work out what to do when confronted by an insurmountable rock climb at extreme altitude. Many of them died.

Howard Somervell was Mallory’s closest friend on the mountain during those groundbreaking first ascents. An exceptionally gifted man, his life takes us far beyond the mountain: he had a double first from Cambridge, was a talented artist and an accomplished musician. He served as a surgeon at the Battle of the Somme during the First World War and was one of the foremost alpinists of the day when he was invited to join the 1922 expedition. After Everest, he was awarded an Olympic gold medal for Alpinism in 1924. But in India, he will be remembered as a surgeon who dedicated the remainder of his life to healing the sick.

Those early climbers showed the way. Somervell took part in the first attempt to climb the mountain, and his oxygen-free height record in 1924 stood for over 50 years.