The Mountainside at Evening
Photography: Matt Hind
The mountaineer George Mallory was a teacher at Charterhouse School where Robert Graves (the novelist and poet) was one of his pupils. Considering the social structure of Edwardian Britain the fact that two giant figures of the 20th century shared a public school classroom is hardly unusual. What is uncanny is (the schoolboy) Graves’ prophetic elegy to Mallory thirteen years before his demise during a summit attempt on Everest with fellow climber Sandy Irvine.
Mallory’s fully clothed body was finally discovered on the mountain in 1999 giving us insight into his preparation for the ascent. Tweed, silk and cotton were used in layers beneath a cotton gabardine shooting style jacket with underarm action-gussets for full movement. In 2006 Everest veteran Graham Hoyland spent two days on the upper slopes of Everest wearing replicas of the Mallory clothing and found it to be light and comfortable and judged it sufficient for the Edwardian climber’s survival.
Inspired by this practical story and the romance of Graves’ 1911 poem The Mountain at Evening, Men’s File sent photographer Matt Hind to the heart of the Tirol, on the boarder of Germany and Austria, to meet two accomplished alpine climbers for a tweed-clad attempt on the Karwendel mountain in Mittenwald. Well known to the two climbers, Bernd Schair and Iver B. Morrison, these dangerous slopes presented a more than sufficient challenge with high winds, snow drifts and a temperature of minus eight centigrade – during May.
Seeking shelter in a mountain hut, Hind grabs shots seldom seen within the realm of style or fashion as the climbers retreat from the weather and emerge through the twilight and driving snow at over 2000m. After the climb the trio explore the surrounding countryside of Bavaria and visit the small towns that have changed little since the British pioneered modern mountaineering in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Clothing by Nigel Cabourn, Old Town, North Sea Clothing and Trickers.
www.northseaclothing.co.uk
www.old-town.co.uk
www.trickers.com
www.cabourn.com
