Abstract
Ian R. Mitchell and George W. Rodway, Prelude to Everest: Alexander Kellas, Himalayan Mountaineer. Edinburgh: Luath Press Limited, 2011. 285 pages. $35.
This is a most welcome book. Readers of High Altitude Medicine & Biology may recall that Alexander Mitchell Kellas (1868–1921) has figured in our journal on several occasions. In particular, his groundbreaking manuscript “A Consideration of the Possibility of Ascending Mt. Everest” was first published here (High Alt Med Biol 2:427–461, 2001) after lying dormant in the archives of the Royal Geographical Society and Alpine Club in London for some 80 years. Apart from Kellas's remarkable contributions to the physiology of extreme altitude, he was outstanding in several other respects. He was an exceptional mountaineer; at the time of his death in 1921, he had spent more time above 20,000 ft (6096 m) than any other man alive, he had climbed more summits above that altitude than anyone else, and indeed had ascended the highest peak climbed to that date. Furthermore, Kellas was a great explorer, logistician, and planner, and one of the first mountaineers to recognize the value of Sherpas. In spite of these extraordinary accomplishments, there has never been a full-length biography of Kellas, and this book succeeds admirably.
The two authors are well qualified for their undertaking. Ian Mitchell has published several books on mountaineering and hill walking, but more important, he has the great advantage of coming from Aberdeen where Kellas was born, and he has an intimate knowledge of the Scottish hills where Kellas did his early hill walking. He has been able to document a wealth of new information about Kellas's family and upbringing. George Rodway will be known to many readers of our journal. He is an accomplished high altitude physiologist, mountaineer, and historian.
The book is handsomely produced. There are excellent illustrations, many of them from the Kellas archive in the Royal Geographical Society which has something of a reputation for making it difficult to use the material. In addition, there are 16 pages of color plates of high quality, including a fine photograph of Kellas's birthplace in Aberdeen, the house that the family moved to when Kellas's father was well to do, and the house in St. Mark's Square near Regent's Park in London where Kellas rented a room for several years. The book also contains several maps, two of them from Kellas's time and several sketch maps which, though simple, are informative.
The book is carefully researched with many extracts from the RGS archive and also books written by Kellas's friends. There are some amusing tidbits. On page 132, we read that Kellas at one stage considered a light helmet such as that used by divers that would allow the air pressure to be increased by a small pump to counter the low barometric pressure. On page 35, the menu of the Cairngorm Club celebration in 1890 reminds us why the Scots are so hardy. The kit (clothing) list on page 173 is evidence that few mountaineers were as spartan in their needs as Kellas.
I have always had an immense admiration for Kellas who remarkably dropped off the radar screen, at least among English-speaking people, from the 1950s to the 1980s. For many years I hoped to visit his grave in Gamba, Tibet, but unfortunately this is so near the border with Sikkim that the area is closed to foreigners. Perhaps one of our Chinese friends will be able to visit it some day and see if the memorial to this great man can still be identified.