Prelude to Everest

Description

Published by Luath Press, Edinburgh, 2011, 1st Edition, D/w (3 cm tear, repaired), Nr. Fine.   Alexander Mitchell Kellas (1868-1921) was a British chemist, explorer and mountaineer, known for his studies of high-altitude physiology.  Following much time spent in the Scottish Highlands and later in Switzerland, Kellas started visiting the Himalayas.  His most successful expeditions were carried out in the Sikkim Himalaya but he also visited Nanga Parbat and Kamet (the latter an early attempt with Henry Morshead where they reached a height of 7,200 metres in 1920), before being selected for the First British Everest Expedition in 1921.  However, he died of a heart attack on the approach to Everest through Tibet and is commemorated alongside Mallory and Irvine on the memorial at the Rongbuk Glacier.  “A compulsive and fascinating account of one of the great pioneers of Himalayan climbing.” Doug Scott, from the Foreword.