Mountain Midsummer by Mike Gill (Hodder & Stoughton, 1969)

A recent re-read showed me that the passage of the years has not dimmed Mountain Midsummer’s status as one of the classic works of New Zealand mountain literature. The initial chapters tell how, as a medical student in Dunedin in the 50s, Gill discovered the joys of transalpine travel in the Darran Mountains where he pioneered many new routes. From there he parlayed his medical and physiology degrees and his climbing skills into a place on Sir Edmund Hillary’s high-altitude acclimatisation experiment, the Makalu expedition, where he was one of the occupants of the famed Silver Hut. 

This was followed by Himalayan Trust aid projects and a period working at Kunde Hospital. Further climbs in the Himalaya, as well as the Alps, Antarctica and more in New Zealand – often as part of the Hillary entourage – are told in a very readable style. A harrowing first ascent of the Ramsay Face of Mt Whitcombe gets a gripping chapter of its own. Gill’s often self-deprecating style transports the reader to both the highs and lows of some interesting mountain journeys. His close-range observations of Hillary (later realised in his 2017 biography) add an interesting strand to the tales. 

An online search revealed several copies for sale, and good club and civic libraries should have it.