On the 60th anniversary of his ascent of a Himalayan peak considered more challenging than Everest, Norman Hardie shares his memories of a golden age in New Zealand climbing. By Tania Seward
In May 1955, Norman Hardie was a member of the first expedition to successfully ascend Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. This was a tremendous feat: while only 262m shorter than Everest, Kangchenjunga, 8685m, is significantly more technical. As far as the New Zealand Alpine Club is concerned, Hardie’s climb was groundbreaking. “It was a very difficult climb,” says general manager Sam Newton, “done in great style, and at the cutting edge of mountaineering at the time.” Yet some 60 years on, Hardie’s mountaineering achievements have been largely overlooked in his home country. A Google search reveals a smattering of newspaper articles over the years, while the Wikipedia link to Norman Hardie is more upfront: “This page does not exist.” Hardie’s first foray into mountaineering, as a university student in 1944, was something of a baptism by fire. The party of six headed into Arthur’s Pass National Park and climbed both Mt Isobel and Mt Rolleston in deteriorating weather without crampons. “It was almost frightening,” he recalls, “but the good side of it was that I did get the thrill of being up high. I was very keen to continue – but in better conditions!” Continue he did, with Hardie and his companions being prolific in the Southern Alps between 1947 and 1949. In that time they made the first ascent of Mt Elliot, put up new routes on Mts Dechen, Strauchon, Hopkins and Silberhorn, traversed the southern and western ridges of Mt Sefton and assisted with the famous Ruth Adams rescue on La Perouse. A move to London in 1951 opened up the Swiss Alps, and when applications for the 1953 British expedition to Mt Everest opened, Hardie applied. While his application was unsuccessful, he was accepted onto the 1954 Himalayan expedition being run by the New Zealand Alpine Club. That expedition ascended 20 peaks over 6000m: an achievement that is highly regarded in mountaineering circles. “The 1950s was the greatest era for New Zealand expedition climbing to the Himalayas,” says Newton. “The 1954 Alpine Club expedition to the Barun Glacier area was very large and very successful, and that rolled into Hardie’s success on Kangchenjunga the following year.” While most of Hardie’s fellow climbers returned home at the conclusion of the Barun expedition, he stayed on to do some further exploration. It was while trekking in the hills near Kathmandu with British climber Sir Charles Evans that a telegram arrived containing Evans’ invitation to lead a renaissance of Kangchenjunga in 1955. Hardie was invited on the spot. Compared to the recently climbed Everest, Kangchenjunga presented a formidable challenge. Various expeditions between 1905 and 1954 had ascertained there may be a viable route on the south west face, but no-one had yet ventured within 1000 vertical metres of the summit. Two expedition members, selected for their rock climbing prowess, had never worn crampons before. The expedition arrived at the base of the Yalung Glacier, accompanied by 330 barefoot Darjeeling porters and 28 Sherpas capable of climbing at altitude. The barefoot porters were quickly paid off and the base camp was established two days walk up the glacier. “The 300 loads had to be ferried the two days walk to base camp by the 28 Sherpas and eight climbers,” recalls Hardie. “I was exempt from the load-carrying and went with George Band to start looking at approaches to the mountain itself.” [caption id="attachment_3935" align="aligncenter" width="434"]
