In May I was privileged to attend areception at the Royal GeographicalSociety to celebrate the 60thAnniversary of the first ascent ofMount Everest. As a non-mountaineer,although see later, why was I invited?

well in 1990 whilst working at FlemingsI persuaded the investment committeeof the Mount Everest Foundation that Iwas competent to manage theirportfolio despite, in the words of theTreasurer, looking far too young to beresponsible. Timing is everything; I re-organised the portfolio during the firstGulf war, buying before the shootingstarted. Over 20 years later, with abreak of a few years following thetakeover of Flemings, I am still ‘inposition’. In partnership with will Reid,Cheviot was appointed in March 2009just in time for the post-credit crunch rally, but without the scars inflicted by 2007/2008.

Being the Mount Everest Foundation’s fund manager has provided a number of fringe benefits. About 15 years ago I washauled up Pigne d’Arolla, complete with crampons, ice axe and, following a night in a climbers hut and a 4am start,reached the summit at dawn. Highly recommended.

Also a Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society without being devoured by insects in a rain forest or frozen in theArctic. The Monday evening lectures are an opportunity to hear from real explorers walking in the footsteps ofLivingstone, Burton and Speke. At a dinner after one of these lectures, I found myself sitting next to a profoundly silentman with skin the colour of old leather and contours that would not have looked out of place on a 3D map of theHimalayas. After several attempts to start a conversation, I found that I was talking to the noted explorer, wilfredThesiger who by then must have been nearly 90. In his younger days he had attended the coronation of Emperor HaileSelassie, featured in books as diverse as Scoop by Evelyn waugh and Eric Newby’s Short walk in the Hindu kush.

The membership of the Investment Committee of the Mount Everest Foundation has changed over the years. Pastmembers included Mike westmacott and George Band who were both on the 1953 expedition. The Honorary Treasurer,Richard Morgan, and my climbing companion in the Alps, has been a constant throughout. Irrespective of theirknowledge about investment, all had a clear understanding of risk and reward. when to take a chance and when to backaway.

with the role also came invitations in 1993 and 2003 to the 40th and 50th Anniversary parties. The Queen and Duke ofEdinburgh attended both because of the coincidence of the first ascent with Coronation Day. I like to think that of allthe events they attend each year, these were more a pleasure than just duty.

The 40th was also at the Royal Geographical Society. Lord Hunt, the leader of the 1953 Expedition, gave the lecture, butmy lasting memory of the evening was at the end when the surviving members of the 1953 Expedition were invited tocome to the front. As a youngster, my seat was right at the back and so I had a perfect view of seven or eight elderlymen scattered around the auditorium stand up, find their way to the aisle, some with walking sticks, and make slowprogress to the stage. There they were, ordinary looking rather frail old men who you would pass in the street without asecond glance but who had done extraordinary things. “If I could see what they had seen with their eyes”. The standingovation from an audience of their peers was the warmest and longest that I can remember.

The 50th was a bigger affair, this time at the Odeon Leicester Square. By then Lord Hunt had died. George Band, Mikewestmacott, George Lowe and Charles wylie were there to tell us how they did it. Sir Edmund Hillary sent a video

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message, not about his efforts 50 years before, but instead his work in Nepal building schools and hospitals. Flemingshad become JP Morgan and sponsored the party afterwards. we pushed our clients to the front so that they could beintroduced to the Queen. I was standing to one side, taking pleasure in seeing that at least six clients were happydespite the pain inflicted by a three-year bear market, when the Duke of Edinburgh turned to me and asked who I was.when he heard an English accent saying the name of an American bank, he immediately asked why I was involved withthat lot. when I explained about the takeover of Flemings, he looked at me with those piercing eyes and said “have theymade a mess of it yet”? Fortunately, he moved on before I could say anything too incriminating.

which brings me to this year’s event which was different again. The last of the climbing members of the 1953 Expeditiondied this year and so the description of the ascent was left to Sir Chris Bonnington who led the successful 1975expedition and climbed the mountain himself in 1995, Doug Scott who was the first Briton to climb the Everest,amazingly over 20 years after Hillary and Tenzing, Rebecca Stephens, first British woman on the summit and StephenVenables, first Briton to climb Everest without oxygen. Tenzing’s son Jamling who reached the summit in 1996 and PeterHillary, 1990 and 2002, also spoke. All shared their memories of the mountain and the members of the original team.

The public perception of Everest has changed in last 20 years. Many now think of it as a tourist destination, littered bydiscarded equipment and the bodies of abandoned amateur climbers. It took until 1979 for 100 climbers to reach thetop. The daily average it seems these days. what came across this time was just how hard it was to climb MountEverest. when the lecture was given by those that had been there in 1953, understatement and modesty, typical of thatgeneration, made it seem less challenging. Those reporting on achievements of others felt no such constraints. Thechallenge of putting two reasonably well rested, properly provisioned climbers in a tent at 27,900ft so that they couldget up before dawn on the 29th May and climb the last 1,000ft should not be underestimated. when Hillary andTenzing faced a 40ft vertical cliff, only 300ft below the summit, they had to decide whether they could climb it and ifthey did, could they get back down. They did and this obstacle is now rather dismissively known as the Hillary Step.

Although none of the climbers are still with us, one person who was there was the final speaker. The Times helped tofinance the expedition and as a result James Morris was the only journalist allowed to accompany the team. In theintervening years, James has become Jan and so the audience was transported back to 1953 by an elderly lady who isnow the only “witness”. She described waiting in Camp 4 at 21,000ft with Lord Hunt and most of the other climbers fornews, whether good or bad. As soon as the summit pair arrived, two priorities took over: how to keep the news secretfrom other journalists and whether the story could reach London in time for Coronation Day on 2nd June. She describedherself as “no mountaineer”, and accompanied by Mike westmacott, the scramble down to Base Camp that eveningsounded particularly scary. The next day runners were sent off with the news, but in a code that might still confuseGCHQ;

“SNOW CONDITION BAD HENCE EXPEDITION ABANDONED ADVANCE BASE ON 29TH AND AWAITINGIMPROVEMENT BEING ALL WELL”.

which meant that Hillary and Tenzing had reached the summit on the 29th. The news made it back to London withoutthe code being broken. The Times had its scoop and the rest is history.

Under the current Chairmanship of Colonel Henry Day, the objective of the Mount Everest Foundation remains tosupport exploration and research within mountain regions and it has now helped over 1,600 expeditions in the last 60years. It has been my privilege to be associated with the Foundation for over 20 years and to have worked with manyremarkable climbers. The ten-year anniversary events not only mark the passage of time, but also emphasise the powerof first-hand, rather than received memories. At this year’s reception, the ‘too young’ fund manager finally made it to thefront of the line and was introduced to the Queen as a benefactor. well, age does have a few advantages.

DAVID MILLER

JULY 2013