Keeper Of The Mountains Read Free

in one way, but you can’t get out the other way.” He is convinced she thinks that what others are doing is much more interesting than anything about her. He thought – but didn’t dare ask – that she agreed to do the interview about Don Whillans because she and Whillans had had a romantic fling.
    British climber Doug Scott agrees there may be something in the Whillans romance theory. He remembers an interview with Elizabeth, Whillans, Hamish MacInnes and himself in the early 1970s in which she singled Whillans out and, Scott believes, was enamoured of him. Whillans thought so, too. After she left, he commented to the others, “I think she likes me … I think I’ll follow this up.…” Scott doesn’t know what happened, and he can’t help but chuckle at the incongruous image of the two of them together – the “buxom” Miss Hawley, and Whillans, who was 5 feet 2 inches and somewhat round at belly height. Another story has Elizabeth arriving in Kathmandu in the early 1960s with a man who was a climber and a scientist. Probably the most persistent rumour about love affairs with climbers is one that almost every Himalayan climber believes – that Elizabeth and Sir Edmund had a long-standing romantic relationship. Doug Scott sums it up: “Of course, Ed’s the one!” Elizabeth has been an ardent Hillary defender throughout her years in Kathmandu, and there is a story that she physically stood up for him at the Tiger Tops lodge when something disparaging was said about him. Observers claim she took a swing at the heckler with her fists. Elizabeth vehemently denies the incident.
    Romantic theories aside, Scott is sure that most mountaineers and countless others are interested in Elizabeth’s knowledge and opinions on the inside dealings of mountaineering in Nepal. Ed Viesturs agrees.Every climber he knows who has met and worked with her wants to know the story – and opinions – of Elizabeth Hawley. After all, she has interviewed climbers and reported on expeditions to Nepal for more than 40 years. She has seen and heard some amazing stories, yet her seasonal mountaineering reports have stuck to the facts, without overt opinion. What did she really think?
    After interviewing dozens of climbers and friends, and reading thousands of her letters lent to me by Elizabeth’s nephew, it was time to go to Kathmandu and meet her in person. I was warned “there’s a side of her that’s very robotic.” Several people advised me to have a drink with her first to “take the edge off.” Anything from whisky to wine would do.
    I was further advised to do my homework. “You need to know the big events … the epochal events” because “if you don’t know your stuff, she will arch her eyebrows.” I was told that when I asked a question, a typical response would be for her to turn the question around and make me feel ridiculous for posing such a silly question. I was repeatedly instructed to “never, ever, call her anything but Miss Hawley.” Friends cautioned me to be emotionally prepared for a belligerent, antagonistic, rude woman. I was urged to be patient, to work with her, to not go on the offensive. Many advised me to bring whisky.
    But there was positive reinforcement as well. Lady Hillary urged, “Just be yourself.” Elizabeth had called the Hillarys about this project, and, despite being reticent in the beginning, was now said to be somewhat “chuffed” about the idea. Elizabeth was flattered, but still couldn’t understand why I’d want to do it and wondered aloud who on earth would want to read it. Sir Edmund encouraged me by saying that it was high time her story was told, and he was confident she would cooperate.
    Climbers regaled me with stories about how, upon their arrival in Kathmandu, they would no sooner be checking into