KEEPER OF THE MOUNTAINS
THE ELIZABETH HAWLEY STORY
Bernadette McDonald
Foreword by Sir Edmund Hillary
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Chapter 1 Enigma
Chapter 2 Encyclopedic Mind
Chapter 3 Educating Miss Hawley
Chapter 4 The Fortune Years
Chapter 5 Halfway to Asia
Chapter 6 Nepal Beckons
Chapter 7 A New Life
Chapter 8 Learning the Ropes
Chapter 9 A Friend for Life
Chapter 10 A Break with the Past
Chapter 11 Great Achievements
Chapter 12 The Horse Race
Chapter 13 Many Claims, Many Ambitions
Chapter 14 Living Archive
Chapter 15 Chronicler or Historian?
Chapter 16 Changing Objectives
Chapter 17 Queen of Everest
Chapter 18 It’s Nepal
Epilogue
Photos
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to the people who assisted me in this writing adventure. To Helen Cherullo of The Mountaineers Books, I offer thanks for inviting me to do this project and for her ongoing support and encouragement; and to Don Gorman of Rocky Mountain Books, thank you for this new paperback edition with its lovely new title. In the beginning, I would not have been able to accept Helen’s invitation if The Banff Centre had not granted me a six-month leave, during which time I researched and wrote parts of the manuscript – thank you to Banff Centre President Mary Hofstetter for allowing me that flexibility. Thanks also go to the Mountain Culture dream team for their unwavering support.
Richard Salisbury provided me with important cooperation and insights, even in the midst of his own Elizabeth Hawley project. Paula Rondina helped me with valuable research. Woody MacPhail ensured that the audiotapes I recorded in Kathmandu were of the highest quality and Yvonne Dixon kindly lent me her recording equipment. Fran Hunziker gave me the use of her backyard cabin in Cape Town, South Africa, as well as German shepherds Max and Murphy to protect me. Catherine Destivelle provided a writing space with the most inspiring view in Provence. At the beginning of the project, Charlie Houston wrote a letter to Elizabeth Hawley promising her that I wasn’t an ogre, and Sir Edmund and Lady Hillary assured me (and Elizabeth) that this was a good idea. Broughton Coburn lent me books and was always interested and encouraging. Meg and Michael Leonard entrusted me with a priceless box of letters and photographs that opened the door to Elizabeth’s early life. Maria Coffey lent me her interview tape from a previous book project and was supportive, as was Lisa Choegyal, who sent many helpful emails and images. Thank you to Ang Rita for delivering faxes to Elizabeth when I couldn’t get through to her directly. Special gratitude also goes to the people who generously read through early versions of the manuscript and advised me – Geoff Powter, John Porter and Leslie Taylor – and to Anne Ryall for her meticulous fact checking. Also, a huge thank you goes out to Bob A. Schelfhout Aubertijn for his marathon fact-checking effort on this new edition of the book.
Additionally, I want to thank all those who wracked their memories for Liz Hawley stories to share. Although not all are mentioned in this book, their interviews helped inform the effort. Sincere thanks to: Sir Edmund Hillary, Lady Hillary, Sir Chris Bonington, Reinhold Messner, George Band, Tomaž Humar, Ed Viesturs, Jean-Christophe Lafaille, Doug Scott, David Breashears, Audrey Salkeld, Tom Hornbein, Tashi Tenzing, Charles Houston, Robin Houston, Arlene Blum, Kurt Diemberger, Rebecca Stephens, Voytek Kurtyka, Greg Child, John Porter, Silvo Karo, Marija and Andrej Štremfelj, Junko Tabei, Conrad Anker, Frances Klatzel, Ken Wilson, Carlos Buhler, Christian Beckwith, Geoff Powter, Bernard Newman, John Roskelley, Richard Salisbury, Harish Kapadia, Reudi Eisland, Tamotsu Ohnishi, Erhard Loretan, Stephen Venables, Ed Webster, Catherine Destivelle, Dave Hahn, Eric Simonson, Lisa Choegyal, Leo Dickinson, David Schlim, Ed Douglas, Bill Crouse, Broughton Coburn, Mary Lowe, George Lowe, Russell Brice, Lindsay Griffin, Heather Macdonald, Sharon Wood, Michael Brown, Meg Leonard, Michael Leonard, Alex Lwow, Elaine King, Lee Kneerim, Will Kneerim, Eleanor Schwartz, Bernadette Vasseux, Kunda Dixit, Ang Rita, Lydia Bradey, Jean-Michel Asselin, Dr. Bekha Bahadur Thapa, Gopal Sharma and Bahadur Garung.
Those who generously provided photographs include Heather Macdonald, Meg and Michael Leonard, Elizabeth Hawley, Lisa Choegyal, Colin Monteath, Alex Lwow, Ed Webster, Tomaž Humar and Jimmy Chin.
Elizabeth’s life in Nepal is fundamentally tied to the mountaineering achievements of the past 40 years, and so the efforts of countless climbers play a major role in her story. Many climbs and climbers of great significance are not included, however, because the selection of stories for this book was driven by a connection to Elizabeth, rather than their place in mountaineering history. I sincerely thank all the climbers whose stories have so enriched this book.
My deep appreciation goes to Christine Hosler of The Mountaineers Books for her patience as she guided me through the process; to my editor, Helen Whybrow, for the enlightening – and surprisingly enjoyable – experience of working on this manuscript; and to Brenda Pittsley for her meticulous copy editing. Thank you to Sir Edmund for writing the foreword with such enthusiasm, as well as to my husband, Alan, for tolerating and encouraging me as I lived, ate and breathed Elizabeth Hawley stories for 18 months.
Finally, thank you to Elizabeth Hawley, for putting aside her skepticism about the project and for cooperating with me in such a wholehearted and enthusiastic manner. She opened her home and her files to me, gave me access to her personal papers, offered me glimpses of her wonderful sense of humour and dug deep into her memory bank to provide me with more stories and images than I ever dreamed of. It was a rare privilege to work with her.
FOREWORD
I have known Elizabeth Hawley for 45 years or more. When she settled in Kathmandu she quickly became a member of that unique group of people who added colour and vitality to a city that had only recently moved into the new age – people like Inger and Boris Lissanevitch, Desmond Doig, Father Moran, Barbara Adams, Jimmy Roberts and, maybe to a lesser degree, myself.
In her early days, she was a researcher in New York, but she soon found that dull. She started travelling around the world and revelled in new experiences and adventures. She was a brave woman, never afraid to meet challenges or to travel in areas of uncertainty and possible danger.
Finally, Nepal became her home; she enjoyed the people, the culture and the intense political changes. She knew everyone she considered worth knowing, and when she became a Reuters correspondent she dispatched dramatic stories of the remarkable happenings that were so frequent in Kathmandu and on the Himalayan peaks. Her old-model Volkswagen was recognized by everyone, and if anything of consequence was going on, then Elizabeth and her VW would be there, too.
Elizabeth was never a climber, but she interviewed every Himalayan expedition passing through Kathmandu and, on their return, reported on their adventures and their successes or failures. No one has a wider knowledge of Himalayan mountaineering than Elizabeth. She is respected and admired by all the famous climbers.
She played an important role in the establishment of Col. Jimmy Roberts’s Mountain Travel trekking agency. She is a formidable lady and does not suffer fools easily, but she is kind and generous to those she admires.
When I established the Himalayan Trust and started building schools and hospitals for the people in the mountains, Elizabeth Hawley became a godsend to us. She was our executive officer and supervised our programs and finances with remarkable common sense and wisdom. Our Sherpa staff admired
and respected her, as we did, and they worked together as a most effective team.
So Elizabeth continued to work energetically on all her projects, be it reporting on Himalayan climbing, guiding the Himalayan Trust programs, or serving as honorary consul for New Zealand in Nepal. She is a woman of efficiency and courage who does everything well. She is widely respected around the world and has, in consequence, received many important decorations and awards.
I am particularly pleased that her unique and eventful life has finally been documented, as she has lived through interesting times, in fascinating places, with some remarkable people.
May she long remain her very special, formidable self.
Ed Hillary
2005
CHAPTER 1
Enigma
I came to Nepal. I never planned to stay. I just never left.
— Elizabeth Hawley
I was well aware of Elizabeth Hawley’s formidable reputation as the “grande dame” of the Himalaya and foremost authority on climbing in Nepal. She has been described as the single most reliable source of statistics on Himalayan climbing and “a one-woman Nepal Himalayan mountaineering institution.” So when The Mountaineers Books asked me if I would be interested in writing her biography, I was intrigued, sensing there must be a remarkable personality behind that reputation. I had previously corresponded with Elizabeth on various mountain matters through my work with the Banff Mountain Festivals, but our contact had been cursory at best. What was her story? How – and why – did this woman from Middle America create such a unique role for herself as the doyenne of the world’s highest mountains? Despite prolific mountaineering reports and published articles written by her over the course of 40 years, almost nothing had been written about her. This surprised me, until I started talking to people who know her.
With discouraging unanimity, her acquaintances warned me that Elizabeth is an unequivocally private woman and, despite her having led a fascinating life in Nepal and elsewhere, they doubted she would reveal much of interest to me. All had asked her about her past, and her typical response was to hand over a one-page bio that revealed the basic facts: date of birth: 1923; citizenship: American; occupations: journalist, honorary consul, Himalayan chronicler. New Zealand guide Russell Brice has known her for 30 years, but even he could offer no insight into her personal life.
It was apparently hard work getting to know Elizabeth Hawley. American climber Carlos Buhler met her for the first time on an expedition in Nepal in 1979, when he was in his early 20s. He was focused on the climbing at hand and the logistics that had to be sorted out before leaving Kathmandu, so when she called him for an interview he was not enthused. “She was nosy and I didn’t know her from Adam, and I thought, ‘Wow! Goodness gracious, who is this gal?’” Looking back, he estimates it took at least five trips to Asia to begin to know her and appreciate what she was doing – “Sort of like your mother’s antiques,” he says. “I feel lucky that I went back and saw through that initial period of consternation and confusion about who she was.” But even after dozens of meetings with Elizabeth, Buhler doesn’t think he ever “cracked her.” She is just as abrupt with him now as she was in 1979. Only his reaction has changed: “I’m not offended by it – I love her for all of those reasons. While at the beginning, I just didn’t have enough life experience to know where to put this type of person.”
Eleanor Schwartz, a good friend and colleague from Elizabeth’s 20s, implored me to do more than list her accomplishments. “Try to capture her personality,” she urged. Even though it might be difficult, “Elizabeth is worth the effort.”
Heather Macdonald, Elizabeth’s assistant in Nepal for a time, once approached her about writing a biography. Elizabeth responded that it would be a waste of paper. Heather knew there were great stories tucked away in this woman’s memory, but she was not successful in drawing them out. When she asked Elizabeth why she stayed in Nepal, her answer was vague: “I came to Nepal. I never planned to stay. I just never left.” Despite her reluctance to talk about herself, Elizabeth always leaves an impression – of mystery.
She has been a woman in a world of men – athletic, focused, devoted, egocentric, powerful men. Most of these men seem to be either in awe of her or terrified. At least one has thought of using her as a thinly veiled character in a novel. He describes this character as the ultimate schoolmarm type from the 1930s or ’40s, with an aura of fear and terror radiating around her. Others are more prosaic: “She’s just Liz. She’s blustery and opinionated and outspoken and eccentric and, to many people, rude.” Some have learned to “keep their mouths shut” and stay out of her line of fire.
Sir Edmund Hillary describes her as “a bit of a terror. If you get on the wrong side of Liz, it can be a bit difficult, but if you befriend her, you have a good friend and one for life.” He wonders if perhaps the only people who are not afraid of her are himself and his wife. One author muses, “It’s always fun to speculate what Liz is doing when she’s not terrorizing people.” British author Ed Douglas agrees that people are afraid of her, but he thinks she is a “sexy old gal.”
American climber Conrad Anker describes her as a diminutive, fragile, wickedly witty person exuding confidence and a no-nonsense authority. She is known far and wide as Miss Hawley. He has seen her on a regular basis for 14 years, but on his last visit in 2002, he said, “She was definitely getting older and frailer. She’s still beautiful and athletic, although a bit stooped.” And he smiles as he observes, “She likes climbers, especially guys!” He admits he has always been curious about her private life – particularly the rumours of affairs with famous climbers.
In fact, many people are prone to speculating about the kind of fabulous private life Elizabeth might have had – mysterious men, maybe a broken heart in New York, royal family connections and so on. Himalayan climber and writer Greg Child is one of these. After post-expedition interviews with her, he and other climbers have discussed her in private, imagining and speculating. “What’s she doing? Who has she been with? What’s she hiding from?” There have been a lot of theories, especially about potential lovers, among them Col. Jimmy Roberts, Eric Shipton and Sir Edmund Hillary.
American climber and physician Charles Houston was convinced that Elizabeth was not the marrying type. She was too independent. There are many stories about how and why she came to Kathmandu, including one in which a boyfriend leaves her, another where she stays in Kathmandu when she runs out of money while travelling. Italian alpinist Reinhold Messner agrees that she is a completely independent woman, free and modern – and has been since the 1960s. He believes she knew exactly what she wanted and she went out and got it. But if this is true, she is also a woman of contradictions. He has seen her prudishness first-hand and cites an incident when she was talking with a climber who told her about having children with his girlfriend, whom he hoped to marry at some point in the future. She scolded him that it should be the other way around: marry first and then have children.
British filmmaker Leo Dickinson interviewed Elizabeth in 1990 when he was in Nepal to fly over Everest in a balloon, as well as to work on a film about British climber Don Whillans. Dickinson remembers her as “inscrutable” and “buxom,” and found her difficult to interview. Others who knew her during the same period described her as short and stocky, a busy woman who didn’t bother much with her appearance. Others said she was tall, slender, well groomed and elegant. One climber remembers her as standing 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 90 pounds – at least that’s the impression she made. Could they all be talking about the same person?
According to Dickinson, Elizabeth sticks to facts and figures like an encyclopedia. He felt a barrier descend when he attempted a more personal line of questioning, comparing the experience to a medieval moat: “you can go in one way, but you can’t get out the other way.” He is convinced she thinks that what others are doing is much more interesting than anything about her. He thought – but didn’t dare ask – that she agreed t
o do the interview about Don Whillans because she and Whillans had had a romantic fling.
British climber Doug Scott agrees there may be something in the Whillans romance theory. He remembers an interview with Elizabeth, Whillans, Hamish MacInnes and himself in the early 1970s in which she singled Whillans out and, Scott believes, was enamoured of him. Whillans thought so, too. After she left, he commented to the others, “I think she likes me … I think I’ll follow this up.…” Scott doesn’t know what happened, and he can’t help but chuckle at the incongruous image of the two of them together – the “buxom” Miss Hawley, and Whillans, who was 5 feet 2 inches and somewhat round at belly height. Another story has Elizabeth arriving in Kathmandu in the early 1960s with a man who was a climber and a scientist. Probably the most persistent rumour about love affairs with climbers is one that almost every Himalayan climber believes – that Elizabeth and Sir Edmund had a long-standing romantic relationship. Doug Scott sums it up: “Of course, Ed’s the one!” Elizabeth has been an ardent Hillary defender throughout her years in Kathmandu, and there is a story that she physically stood up for him at the Tiger Tops lodge when something disparaging was said about him. Observers claim she took a swing at the heckler with her fists. Elizabeth vehemently denies the incident.
Romantic theories aside, Scott is sure that most mountaineers and countless others are interested in Elizabeth’s knowledge and opinions on the inside dealings of mountaineering in Nepal. Ed Viesturs agrees. Every climber he knows who has met and worked with her wants to know the story – and opinions – of Elizabeth Hawley. After all, she has interviewed climbers and reported on expeditions to Nepal for more than 40 years. She has seen and heard some amazing stories, yet her seasonal mountaineering reports have stuck to the facts, without overt opinion. What did she really think?
After interviewing dozens of climbers and friends, and reading thousands of her letters lent to me by Elizabeth’s nephew, it was time to go to Kathmandu and meet her in person. I was warned “there’s a side of her that’s very robotic.” Several people advised me to have a drink with her first to “take the edge off.” Anything from whisky to wine would do.
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