Last weekend a sneaky article appeared in The Times under the headline Everest pioneers smoked their way up to the summit. The article went on to describe how climbers from the golden age of Himalayan mountaineering used to smoke like chimneys.
The 1953 British Everest team took 15,000 cigarettes with them; George Finch observed how puffing on a fag helped to calm his breathing in a tent at 7,800m in 1922; Joe Brown smoked 5 cigarettes at high camp the evening before making the first ascent of K...
Published on May 27, 2020 08:37