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.