Summit Everest: An Architectural Essay

Summit Everest
An Architectural Essay
Andrew Hum
3rd Year HTS
Seminar Tutor:
Emmanuil Stavrakakis
Preface
“The Further you appear to be from architecture the closer you actually are.”1
It is difficult to imagine a more irrelevant topic to architecture than the topic of
summiting the peak of Mount Everest. The strenuous climb up steep cliffs and the
exposure to harsh winds and the extreme cold, push the limits of the human body.
The same forces may be a driving force to push the extremes of architecture. The
parallels between the two topics may seem very distant and unrelated; it is for that
reason the juxtaposition of the two are ideal for the purpose of testing the
inclination that architecture can be found in anything.
The relationship between words and things is inexact; language is always quite
vague and never quite precise. It is the imprecision of the relationship between
words and meaning that the idea of universality of basic concepts such as use and
beauty can be found to pervade a culture specialization. Examining the
relationship between man, nature, culture and space with an Everest climb as a
backdrop, architectural concepts are inserted into a narrative provoke a discourse
on the topic architecture and mountaineering.
Taking Word and Buildings as an Architectural Guide to climbing Everest. A
metaphorical climb up Everest will be a journey through critical architectural
vocabulary as they can be found to relate to mountaineering. The aim is to discover
the notion that architecture can be found in all things. This does not suggest that
form in Architecture has the same meaning in mountaineer. This is of course not
true. However, this does not suggest that Form, as it is understood to be in
architecture, does not exist in mountaineering, albeit substituted with another
term. It may possibly be that architects and mountaineers are speaking about the
same things but only encrypted with their own language.
1 Emmanuil Stavrakakis, personal conversation, November 1, 2012 Mallory finds Everest
‘It was a perfect early morning as we plodded up the barren slopes above our camp,
rising behind the old rugged fort which is itself a singularly impressive and dramatic
spectacle; we had mounted perhaps a thousand feet when we stayed and turned, and
saw what we came to see…who could doubt its identity? It was a prodigious white fang
excrescent from the jaw of the world… We were satisfied that the highest of mountains
would not disappoint us.’2
This is the account of George Mallory’s first sighting of Mount Everest in 1921.
George Mallory was the first person to attempt to climb Mount Everest from 1921 –
1924. Mallory had an obsession, however, that obsession would eventually lead to
his death. For Mallory this obsession began in 1921 on the British Reconnaissance
Expedition to Everest. On first sight, he describes the shapes of the mountain seen
through a fantastic mist like that of the wildest creations of a dream. ‘The
mountain seen in partial glimpses, the mind pieced together a whole from the
fragments to interpret the dream. Notwithstanding what there is to be understood
of the mountain, the summit of Everest was clear.’3 Mallory would return to Everest
the following year and this time with clear intentions of summiting, but was forced
to retreated when an avalanche swept over the group on the North Col, killing
seven Sherpa. His final attempt will be two year later with climbing partner Sandy
Irvine. They were last seen on the North Col on their way to the Summit of Everest
before they were blanketed by a mist of clouds.4
George Mallory on the Moine Ridge of the Aiguille Verte
2 George Leigh Mallory, Climbing Everest: The Complete Writings of George Leigh Mallory (UK: Gibson Square, 2012), 106 3 Ibid., 108 4 Anthony Geffen, Director, The Wildest Dream, 2010. Everest
Mount Everest is known as the highest point on the surface of the Earth. At
8,848 m above sea level, the top of Everest contains one third the concentration of
oxygen found at sea level, an average annual temperature well below freezing at 17°C and westerly prevailing winds at an average speed of 12.8m/s. In Tibetan and
Sherpa language the mountain is called Chomolungma, meaning Mother of the
Universe or Goddess Mother of the Earth.5 There is an aura of mysticism
surrounding Everest. It has been told through oral tradition the reason for the
migration of the Sherpa people from the Tibetian Highlands to what is today’s
Nepal, was in search of this Mythical Kingdom of Shangri-la or what is known as
Shambhala in Tibetan Buddhism. Shambhala is a hidden mythical kingdom that
has become to be known as a Buddhist Pure Land. More than a physical place its
reality is visionary and spiritual.6
Everest is a rugged giant, it is a great rock mass coated with a thin layer of white
powder. There are, however, gentler slopes in the Northwest arête. Mallory
describes its structures as slight articulated buttresses, like the nave of a vast
cathedral roofed with snow. It reminded him of the long high nave and low square
tower of Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. He remarked about how only at a
considerable distance could one appreciate the great height and the strength of
this building. To appreciate the height of Everest similarly, one requires a distant
view to realise its height and beauty.7
Everest Map 1988
5 Harry Kikstra, Everest: Summit of the World (Dunblane: Rucksack Readers, 2009), 44. 6 Heinz Legar, Climbing Everest with a Mountain on My Back: The Sherpa’s Story (BBC 4), Feb 19 2013 7 George Leigh Mallory, Climbing Everest: The Complete Writings of George Leigh Mallory (UK: Gibson Square, 2012), 116. Panorama of Everest from The Early Expedition
Why Climb Everest
In 1923, with the Explorers Club of New York as the audience, New York Times
Journalist asked Mallory, “Why climb Everest?” Mallory replied, “Because it’s
there.” He went on to explain: “Everest is the highest mountain in the world, and
no man has reached its summit. Its existence is a challenge. The answer is
instinctive, a part, I suppose, of man’s desire to conquer the universe.”8 It seems
difficult to find a suitable justification for everyone to agree on. Mallory was aware
of this and expanded on his response:
“People ask me, 'What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?' and my
answer must at once be, 'It is of no use. 'There is not the slightest prospect of
any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the
human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our
observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise
nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver,
not a gem, nor any coal or iron... If you cannot understand that there is
something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes
out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and
forever upward, then you won't see why we go. What we get from this
adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not
live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to live. That
is what life means and what life is for.”9
The issue of ‘use’ is a problem of the concept of function in everyday life. The
fundamental problem, by definition, is the absence of the idea of pleasure and joy
in its discourse. Because, in the end, all that can be got from Everest is joy and
nothing more. Possibly, pleasure and joy is something that cannot be put into
8 Robert Deis, Subtropic Productions: The Origins of George Mallory’s Famous Mountain Climbing Quote: The north-east arête of Mount Everest
“Because it’s there.” http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2010/03/george-­‐mallory-­‐coins-­‐because-­‐its-­‐
there.html (March 2013) 9 Otis Chandler, Goodreads: Climbing Everest Quotes, http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/10228518-­‐climbing-­‐everest-­‐the-­‐complete-­‐writings-­‐of-­‐
george-­‐mallory (March 2013) words nor is a concept open to analysis. Pleasure is after all an introspective
concepts, however, this does not mean the justification based on pleasure is not a
legitimate one.
Heideggar expresses what Mallory states as the ‘challenge’ with the term
‘character’. ‘Character’ is the notion of the desire to ‘satisfy man’s need to identify
himself with the environment to know how he is in a certain place’.10 Perhaps this
desire is linked to what Adrian Forty posits as the distinction between the ‘world
created by man – ‘culture’ – and the world in which man exists – ‘nature’.11 To
identify himself with the environment, man must remove himself from the world
create by man, in order to realize himself in a certain place. In a culture of specifics
and specialization a common denominator can be derived from the most basic of
questions of why? It is when things are reduced to its most basic that we can find
connections and relations between all things. This is what can be found on
Everest.
The 1924 Everest Expedition.
Sandy Irvine Back row left, George Mallory Back row 2nd left
10 Adrian Forty, Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture (London: Thames & Hudson, 2000), 120. 11 Ibid., 220.
Life and Death
The journey to the summit of Everest is a struggle of life and death created by the
confrontation between the mountain and the climber. The order of Man and the
order of the mountain are independent of each other and through the act of
climbing there is a confrontation that arises between the two. The relationship
between climber and mountain is one of violence, as the human body intrudes
onto the mountain.12 The mountain aims is to dissolve the climber and make it a
part of itself. The climbers aim is to live and in order to do so, he must reach the
summit.
Climbing Everest begins with a 300 km drive from Kathmandu to Everest
basecamp. Along the route there will be elevation gains of 3000 m. The drive
becomes the start of the acclimation process to high altitude living. By spending
nights in the high altitude villages of Zhangmu, Nyalam and New Tingri, there will
be opportunities to do short acclimation hikes and to visit the monasteries of
Shegar Chode and Rongbuk. Where climbers can prey to seek divine blessing for
the expedition.13
Through the high altitude passes and switchbacks, the landscape changes from
lush forests to barren landscapes. On a clear day on the Pang-La Pass from New
Tingris to Everest Base Camp, some of the world’s tallest mountain can be seen in
the horizon, including Everest. Base Camp is only a few kilometers from this point
and is recognizable as an open field filled with tents and yaks in an old moraine
just below the snout of the Rongbuk Glacier.
Everest Base Camp is the first of a series of camps along the route. Each separated
by elevation gains of 600 m and climbing distances of 5-8 hours. The camps are
designed for altitude acclimatization as well as places for sleep and rest. Full
Kathmandu, Nepal
12 Bernard Tschumi, Architecture and Disjunction (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1996), 122 13 Harry Kikstra, Everest: Summit of the World (Dunblane: Rucksack Readers, 2009), 52.
Panoramic view of Himalaya’s from Pang La Pass
Everest Base Camp
acclimatization to high altitude living may take several weeks, but the body
responds immediately by increasing the rate and depth of breathing and in
minutes the heart begins to beat faster. In several days the body starts creating
more red blood cells and expelling excess fluids. These changes respond to the
increase difficulty of the lungs ability to extract oxygen from the atmosphere to
supply the body’s muscles and organs.14
The route to the summit contains various challenges and difficulties. From
unexpected crevasses and avalanches to health issues such as frost bite, snow
blindness, sun burn and to more fetal issues like summit fever and Acute Mountain
Sickness (AMS). Theses are symptoms of the extreme cold and low oxygen levels
related to high altitude conditions. It is a challenge to deal with the surroundings.
With advances in mountaineering equipment it has made life more manageable,
but still it does not mean these issues can be totally avoided.15
Ascending from the North Col to Camp 2 will take you to the upper part of Everest
to what is known as the Death Zone. The Death Zone is usually above 7500m, the
conditions are beyond the ability of the body to acclimatize and the body slowly
decays. It is not suggested to stay at this altitude for more than 3 days. The Death
Zone on Everest is appropriately named, as it is a high altitude cemetery of bodies
preserved by the cold. Most deaths on Everest are not caused by accidents but by
the effects of the conditions in the Death Zone. It is from this point onwards
climbers start using the supplemental oxygen and become fully clothed in their
down jackets, gloves, crampons and other essential gear.
From Camp 2 it is a relatively easy climb to the High Camp and from the High
Camp to the summit the climb is only 12 hours. This climb, however, will be the
longest and toughest climb on Everest. Climbers depart from camp at midnight to
start the journey on a steep snowfield. It is important for climbers to monitor their
14 Ibid., 17. 15 Ibid., 27-­‐30.
oxygen and consider turning around if needed. On the path climbers will
encounter three ridges, which are named First, Second and Third Steps. The
Second Step is the most challenging of the three. It is suspected that it was at this
ridge Mallory and Irvine met their fate. Today there is a ladder over the lower parts
of this ridge, but it is still a challenging climb. The Third Step is much easier and
is relatively flat. The summit of Everest is 3 hours from the Third Step.16
The Second Step
16 Ibid., 68-­‐70. Nature and Beauty
The arduous climb of Everest is a labor of atonement, with the only reassurance of
the fact that the going gets easier as it gets higher. Until, at the very summit of
Everest, the climber can have the sense of what Dante experienced on his climb up
the mountain of Purgatory, where upon reaching the Earthly Paradise he remarks
of the feeling of a “force within his wings growing for the flight”, the terrestrial
paradise is discovered. The summit of Everest is not a true paradise, but possibly a
place of self-purification and devout introspection in front of an unobstructed view
of the world, where the inner self can be even more clearly seen.17 This sensation is
what beauty is.
Beauty is no quality in things themselves; it exists merely in the mind which
contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty. The beauty of
Everest is more a beauty found from the quality of the experience of nature rather
than from the nature as object, this is known as the Sublime. In the Sublime,
beauty has less to do with the scale and proportions of natural objects, but more to
do with the aesthetic sensation induced by the sight of natural objects.18 The
expression of beauty is the sensation stimulated from the sight of the Himalayas
from the top of Everest. The sensation induces feelings of delight to raise the
human spirit. It is at this point where man can more clearly identify himself with
the environment and acknowledge his certain place.
View from the Summit of Everest
17Simon Schama, Landscape & Memory (London: Harper Press, 2004), 421 18 Adrian Forty, Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture (London: Thames & Hudson, 2000), 229. Conclusion
It is not the intensity of feelings that determines a place in the subconscious self,
but it is something else rather. When there are parts in climbing that give us the
feeling of things unfulfilled that fill us with doubt and angst, we move forward
apprehensive of the goal. Discomforts are not accepted as necessary struggles and
the spirit and body seems to betray each other. But, a time comes when all this is
changed and we experience a harmony and a satisfaction. The individual is
submerged, not in the sense that the consciousness is suppressed but is heighted
beyond the singular to become aware of the realization of the self. For Mallory it is
these moments of supreme harmonious experiences that remain always with us
and a part of us. 19
Each expedition contains a beginning and an end and these are fixed. Not all
adventures are the same and this can be said of all things. But, every adventure is
complete; this is because there is a beginning, an end and an in between. On a
journey to Everest, one cannot extract or subtract parts of the adventure and still
have a whole. Each part depends upon all parts and their relation to each other.
The glory of the summit of Everest is not independent of the preceding events of
the journey up or the prospects of the descent down.20
Mount Everest
19 Ibid., 24. 20 George Leigh Mallory, Climbing Everest: The Complete Writings of George Leigh Mallory (UK: Gibson Square, 2012), 22. Epilogue
Through the essay on an Everest climb, many concepts and issues as they relate to
architecture were discussed. A direct comparison was avoided to create an attempt
of using the technique of an allegory to explore the relationships between things.
The use of the mountain can be taken to represent space and looks at the climber
as an intruder on the mountain, just as Tschumi takes the body as an intrusion into
an architectural space. The result is a confrontation in an act of violence of
intensity between individuals and their surrounding spaces. Tschumi’s idea on ‘the
pleasure of architecture’ was used to make sense and to find relationships with
Mallory’s justification of climbing Everest. Mallory stated the justification of
climbing Everest was the fact that it was there and because of its presence it was a
challenge and from the challenge we can get joy.
The summit of Everest was an opportunity to create a dialogue involving the
difficult subject of beauty and of the sublime. Taking the sensation of the act of
summiting Everest to explain beauty as an experience of nature rather tan the
imitation of nature’s order and proportions. Parallels were made between the ideas
of Sublime by Burke and in literature with a description of Dante’s climb up the
mountain of Purgatory. Through this connection, broader philosophical and
spiritual ideas of the inner self and identity were made. The contributions of
Mallory should not be disregarded, as his writings on mountaineering and on
Everest were the starting point for the dialogue between Everest and architecture.
The technique of using allegory allows for very difficult concepts to be
communicated and understood. In accordance to the ideas of the sublime, this
essay was written to be understood as an experience.
Bibliography
Image Sources
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