The Last Leg of the Journey

The Last Leg of the Journey At 29,028 feet (8848 metres) Mount Everest is the highest peak in the world. The first serious attempt to conquer Everest was made by an Englishman, Maurice Wilson, in 1934. But his assault on the mighty mountain ended in failure: what he considered to be the climax of his life turned out to be an anti-climax. A veteran of the First World War, Maurice Wilson was so eager to stand on “the roof of the world” that he forsook his successful family business in pursuit of this aim. He expended all his capital on a secondhand aeroplane in which he made the six thousand mile journey from England to India, finally landing in Purnea, on the Nepalese border. Refused permission to proceed any further in his aircraft, he sold it and continued his journey towards Everest by way of Darjeeling and Tibet. As he approached the last leg of his journey, all he had with him was a small tent, some rice, an automatic camera and a few other minor items. But he kept on climbing until he reached the height of 19,500 feet. April 21, 1934 was to be his 36th birthday. He planned to make the day even more memorable by standing on the summit of Everest on that day. With a few days remaining, he wrote these words in his diary: “Only 13,000 feet more to go. I have the distinct feeling that I’ll reach the summit on April 21.” Soon after writing these confident words, a violent storm overtook him; the savage Himalayan weather conditions prevented him from climbing any further. He was forced to descend to his previous base. He was never to continue his climb. No one knows what happened to him next, but when the Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay was climbing on the mountain one year later, he found Maurice Wilson’s body and next to it his diary. The words that he had written a few days prior to his birthday were the final words he ever wrote. Maurice Wilson wanted to take his own picture on the summit of Everest. The eye of his automatic camera, he hoped, would capture his moment of triumph. But on April 21, there was no Maurice Wilson to rejoice in his own triumph, and no camera to witness it. The saga of Maurice Wilson is, in altered form, the saga of everyone in this world. Everyone considers himself to be ascending towards the peak of good fortune; but in reality he is proceeding towards a destination where only death awaits him.