Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/03/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 07:13 PM 3/8/2007, Mark Rabiner wrote:
>
>Maybe I confuse Ansel with Aleister those A guys.
>Crowley that is.
>British occultist, writer and mystic
>And a very very bad bad boy.
>But could climb anything. And wrote a book on it.
>12 October 1875 ? 1 December 1947;
Aleister Crowley, also known as Magister Therion
("Master Beast") really wasn't that much of a
"bad boy": he was more of a very capable
poseur. I would recommend that you read some of
his books. The real archon of occult studies at
the time, A E Waite, held Crowley in some regard.
Crowley was the Deputy Leader on the first
serious expedition to Goodwin-Austin (now, K2)
conducted before the First War. He traced the
proper route to the top, the one eventually used
by the Italians in 1953 when they summitted.
The history of Goodwin-Austin is almost as
fascinating as is that of Everest. For instance,
the 1938 US expedition used Sherpas, the only
climb on that peak to have ever done so. The
locals (then Indians, now Pakistanis) were Muslim
but were of the same ethnic stock as were the
Sherpas brought along as bearers; they were
interlingual and even shared Hindu names. The
deputy leader of that expedition, and its saving
grace, was to lead the 1952 US expedition and
became the great researcher into high-altitude
edemas as a result of the death of the lead Sherpa on the '38 climb.
Fascinating stuff, all in all. Me? I am so
scared of heights as to be frightened on a
step-ladder. Despite this fear of heights, I was
noted as a contributor on the report of the 1999
expedition on the North Slope of Everest which
found Captain Mallory's corpse. If I ever visit
the North Slope of Everest, it will be by helicopter or dirigible airship!
Marc
msmall@aya.yale.edu
Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!