The Trust was delighted to maintain the 1953 Everest connection when Michael Westmacott agreed and was appointed a trustee at the October 2007 AGM.
Michael, born in 1925, read mathematics at Oxford after service with the Indian Army Engineers at the end of the second world war. He had climbed a lot in the UK and the Alps before going to the Himalaya for the first time on the successful 1953 Everest Expedition. His main job on this expedition was in the Ice-fall – helping to pioneer the route, later keeping it open and finally descending with James Morris to get the news of the ascent to London. (The news arrived at Buckingham Palace the evening before the Queen’s coronation). After Everest, he continued to climb extensively, making first ascents in Peru, the Hindu Kush and northern Alaska. He has been President of the Alpine Club.
Trained as a statistician, Michael worked in agricultural research and then in Shell International until retirement in 1985. He now lives with his wife Sally in the English Lake District. He helped to develop and is responsible for the ‘Himalayan Index’, a database covering over 2500 peaks of 6000m and above, with references to ascents and attempts on them. This is published on the Internet by the Alpine Club Library.
