1962 British-Soviet Pamirs Expedition Cover

Postal cover from joint British-Soviet Expedition to the Pamirs containing blue R/S 1962 British Expedition to the Pamirs. This cover appears to be postally used and is addressed to Mrs. W. Noyce, presumably the wife of Wilfrid Noyce. Red cancel across both stamps, date faded. Also contains black cancel across left stamp.

Wilfred Noyce, member of the 1953 Mount Everest Expedition, was the first (along with Sherpa Annullu) to reach the South Col of Everest. Many attribute Noyce’s opening of the South Col as a vital contribution to the success of the 1953 Everest Expedition. Hillary wrote that Noyce was the only one left with the strength to go for the summit after Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, but never got the chance due to poor weather.

Noyce was part of a joint Russian-British in 1962 that was planned as a 65-day expedition, with 12 English and Scottish climbers and six Russians. Expedition members included John Hunt, Joe Brown, Robin Smith, Wilfred Noyce, Malcolm Slesser and others. Malcolm Slesser details the expedition in his book Red Peak (Coward-McCann 1964).

The British-Soviet Pamirs Expedition was for several reasons an historic one: it was the first expedition to be composed of both British and Russian mountaineers; the Pamirs Range, was entirely new ground to Western mountaineers. The goal of the expedition was Pik Kommunizma, 24,590 feet, Russia's highest mountain.

Noyce died in an accident together with the 23-year-old Scot Robin Smith after a successful ascent of Mount Garmo (6,595 m), during a preparatory conditioning climb. On the descent, either Smith or Noyce slipped on a layer of soft snow over ice, pulling the other, and they both fell 4,000 feet.

I haven't been able to find any other examples of covers or correspondence from this expedition, so cannot comment on rarity. In my opinion, this cover represents a unique item as it either represents correspondence from Noyce to his wife prior to his death, or possibly contained notification from other expedition members to Mrs. Noyce notifying her of his death. Either way, it makes a nice piece for my collection.

1970 Messner Nanga Parbat Postcard

Postcard for “Sigi-Löw-Gedächtnis-Expedition” with blue R/S for “German Rupal-Expedition to Nanga Parbat Gilgit – Astor – W. Pakistan” Leader Karl Helligkoffer. Summited on 27 June 1970 by Reinhold and Günther Messner. PC signed, including Sherpa thumbprint. G (Singer and Gould).

This was Reinhold Messner’s first expedition to the Himalaya. His brother Günter Messner was to be his summit partner as he attempted the first of his 8000 meter peaks. The Messner bothers reached the summit via a direct route on the huge, difficult Rupal Face; this was the third ascent of the mountain. Their descent was epic: they were unable to descend their ascent route, and instead made the first traverse of the mountain, going down the Diamir Face. Unfortunately Günther was killed in an avalanche on the Diamir.

After he returned to base camp, Reinhold was accused of abandoning his brother before reaching the summit, as it was widely believed that Günther was not as strong a climber as his brother and Reinhold’s obsessive ambition was already well known. When Reinhold reported that his brother was suffering from altitude sickness prior to the summit, many accused Reinhold of abandoning his brother for the sake of making the first ascent of the Rupal Face. Reinhold stuck to his story that his brother had summited and had been lost on the other side of the mountain. Günther’s body wasn’t found for over 30 years, leaving many to openly criticize Reinhold for abandoning his brother. This criticism haunted Messner for many years. In 2005, Günther’s body was finally discovered on the Diamir Face, collaborating Reinhold’s story and ending 35 years of controversy.tunately Günther was killed in an avalanche on the Diamir.

Expedition members include Peter Scholtz, Hans Saler, Karl M. Herrligkoffer, Peter Volger, Reinhold Messner, Max von Kienlin, Alice von Hobe, Gerhard Baur, Gert Mändel, Michl Anderl, Werner Haim, Günter Kroh, Felix Kuen, Wolf Bitterling, Elmar Raab, Dr. Hermann Kühn, Jürgen Winkler, and Günther Messner.

This postcard holds special interest to me as it contains signatures from both Reinhold and Günther Messner. The PC cancel is dated barely a month prior to Gunther's death.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog about all ephemera related to mountaineering. The idea of this blog originated during my ongoing search to find information on my ever growing collection of mountaineering postcards, stamps, correspondence, and other semi-related materials pertaining to intersting mountaineering and climbing expeditions.

This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive source for all information, but will start with the pieces I have collected, including what little I know about them.

I hope that this blog will provide a location where others interested in collecting mountaineering ephemera or philately can find a little of the information they are looking for.