[rollei_list] Re: A TLR Rolleiflex in the Everest
- From: Marc James Small <marcsmall@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:10:14 -0400
At 02:58 PM 10/26/2009, CarlosMFreaza wrote:
>Yes Marc, that is interesting info really, anyway my main point is
>that now I have no doubt there was a Rolleiflex TLR camera and it was
>used by the official photographer during the Everest 1953 expedition.-
>
Carlos
Gregory discusses his use of the TLR at the South
Col in THE ASCENT OF EVEREST (1954). It's hardly
a late-breaking newsflash, having been public
knowledge for almost sixty years. And I do not
recall anyone claiming that he did not have a TLR
with him or take it high. Bear in mind that this
was his personal camera: the official cameras
used by the Expedition were Contax II's donated
by Time-Life, which had recently requipped with IIa's.
You might be interested in studying the work of
Frank Smythe, who took field cameras up to Camp
VI (26,400 feet) on the North Face in '33 and
'36. It has been suggested that Smythe had a
Leica with him but this is not recorded in his
own papers and he never mentioned in his
voluminous writings. He died in 1949 at a young age.
The Executive Secretary of the Everest Committee
for decades was a very self-willed man who
destroyed almost all of the records for the
Prewar North Face expeditions. He seems to have
done so purely to protect his own
reputation. Both the RGS and the Alpine Club
demanded he stay at the Everest Committee as they
wanted no part of him in their own
organizations. He was a completely negative
force in arranging and administering these early
expeditions. But, in any event, the records are
essentially missing and only a few public documents are there now.
Marc
msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!
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