Michael Phelps Ward

Medical officer and route finder to the 1953 Everest expedition, who became a surgeon in the east end of London and wrote books about high altitude medicine Michael Ward was a surgeon and highaltitude physiologist, but his most notable achievement was being route finder and medical officer in the team that conquered Everest in 1953.He laid the groundwork for an assault on Everest that would set out from Nepal to the south, which had been a closed country since 1949.Previous attempts had entered from Tibet, which was sealed off after the Chinese invaded in 1950.Ward developed the idea for this approach to the world's highest mountain while doing his national service in the Royal Army Medical Corps.He had discovered a potential route after finding photographs taken by the unsuccessful expeditions in the 1930s, a map compiled from them, and aerial photographs of Everest's south face, taken by the Royal Air Force.Although the route went through a field of tall and unstable ice cliffs, Ward thought he could see what looked like a more scaleable way to reach the summit.He also believed that previous attempts on Everest had failed through insufficient understanding of high altitude physiology.He felt that getting the science right was the key to a successful attempt, and events proved him right.He took his ideas to the joint Himalayan committee of the Alpine Club and Royal Geographical Society, and convinced them.Thus the 1951 expedition was launched, under Eric Shipton and with Edmund Hillary on the team.Ward later described the unstable cliffs of the Khumbu icefall as a "glimpse into purgatory."On this expedition they were shown footprints of the supposed abominable snowman, but the sceptical Ward thought that they were probably bear prints.The expedition paved the way for the 1953 ascent, led by Sir John Hunt.Ward was greatly frustrated that his job as medical officer, dealing with little more than the odd sore throat, disallowed him from doing as much climbing as he felt competent to do.He was permitted no further than Camp VII, a high base camp halfway up the Lhotse face, where he prospected the route up the South Col.He took Jane Austen and the Brontës to read.He had doubts about Hunt's self inclusion in the summit team, feeling that he was not

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