Trevor Braham

Trevor Hyam Braham (born Hyam Trevor Braham, 22 April 1922 – 2 March 2020) was a British Himalayan explorer and mountaineer, mostly active during the mid-20th century.

Braham was born in Calcutta, British India. He spent much of his boyhood in India, during the fading years of the British Raj, alternating between Calcutta and Darjeeling, where, in the mid 1930s, he attended St. Joseph’s College as a boarder for four years.

His college days in Darjeeling, with a view of the Sikkim hills and Kangchenjunga and its satellite peaks in the distance, exerted a strong influence upon him, as he recounts in his writings : ‘The view [from Observatory Hill] never failed to arouse a mixture of excitement and desire: from Nepal in the west across Tibet and Bhutan in the east, 200 miles of snow- covered ranges, filled the horizon with Kangchenjunga as the centrepiece.’

By chance, in April 1942 and just turned 20, Braham joined a short trip making up a party of four from Darjeeling to the Singalila range. He later recalled he knew he had discovered something permanent and he would have to return.^[1]

He joined the

Trevor Braham's halycon years (1950–1972), corresponded with the "Himalayan Golden Age"[2] when an international frenzy developed to achieve the first ascent of the world's highest peaks. He organized and took part in 15 Himalayan expeditions, including in 1954 a reconnaissance of the South West face of 8,586-metre Kangchenjunga,^[3]

The Kangchenjunga reconnaissance, led by John Kempe, included J. W. Tucker, S. R. Jackson, G. C. Lewis, Braham and medical officer, Dr. D. S. Mathews. They explored the upper Yalung glacier with the intention to discover a practicable route to the great ice-shelf that runs across the south-west face of Kangchenjunga.^[4]

This reconnaissance led to the route used by the successful 1955 expedition, when George Band and Joe Brown made the first ascent.^[5]

Together with Peter Holmes, a young Cambridge University geologist, who went on to become the Chairman of Shell, he made the second ascent of 6,303-metre Chau Chau Kang Nilda, from the barren plateau of Spiti, in 1955. Rinzing, a 20 year old Ladakhi, ‘a natural leader’ was edged to the front for the final steps to the summit. ^[6] He published an account of this expedition in the Alpine Journal.^[7]

In 1958 Braham joined a small group, E. G. C. (Ted) Warr, the leader, Dr. Chris Hoyte, Walter Sharpley, and Dennis Kemp to attempt Minapin peak (now called Diran).^[8] In his book Himalayan Odyssey Braham describes the trials and tribulations of bureaucracy, uncomfortable travel, dangerous roads, even more dangerous vehicles and drivers, spectacular flights, recalcitrant porters, the oasis charm of Hunza and "the magnificent peaks on both sides of the valley now traversed by the Karakoram Highway as it climbs to the Khunjerab pass on the Chinese border".^[9]

Tragically, later in the expedition, after Braham had left early due to work constraints, two members were killed. However, the route being followed pointed the way to eventual success, by an Austrian party in 1968, which came after three more failed attempts in the intervening years. In 1996 an ice axe was found high on Minapin by Japanese climbers. The story of its identification and eventual re-uniting with the daughter of Warr, one of the climbers lost in 1958, has been recounted by Shigeharu Inouje, an account which also included notes by Braham on the 1958 expedition.^[10]

Braham's numerous travels and explorations in little-known and isolated Himalayan regions included 3 visits to mountains in the tribal areas on Pakistan's

Trevor Braham has authored three books: Himalayan Odyssey (Allen & Unwin, 1974), When The Alps Cast Their Spell (Neil Wilson, 2004), Himalayan Playground (Neil Wilson, 2008). His second book won the Boardman-Tasker prize,^[11] awarded annually to the leading mountain book of the year.

Braham third’s book, Himalayan Playground: Adventures on the Roof of the World, 1942-72, appeared in 2008. According to reviews: "In this engaging book Trevor Braham reminds all those who flock to the honeypots of the Khumbu that there is a world of fascination beyond, recounting his post-WW2 journeys in Gharwal, Sikkim, Karakoram, and the North-West Frontier spanning their period 1947 to 1972. (...) The narrative switches pleasingly between human, geographical and cultural themes. (...) Braham gives us a glimpse of their culture in a less frenetic and happier time. These recollections are highly enjoyable, and the reader will regret only their brevity."(Himalayan Playground)

This last book also evokes the perspective of a man comparing the mountaineering ethics of 2008 to those of the 1940-1970 period. ‘Having crossed the Rubicon of my eighth decade, I find myself out of harmony with some aspects of the evolution of mountaineering. Boundary lines, re-drawn about three decades ago, are now devoid of limits as to what is feasible and admissible technically, ethically, and physically. Clearly, advancing age has distanced me from practices now considered to be perfectly acceptable. Also, alas, diminishing capacity has begun to deprive me of the pleasures of wandering freely across cherished mountain regions. I have no doubt that a direct relationship exists between the two.’(The Effects of Change on Mountaineering Ethics)

He has lectured to the Alpine and Himalayan Clubs, and to schools and societies in England, India and Switzerland. At celebrations held in India by the Himalayan Club in 2008 to mark the 80th anniversary of its founding there, Braham was invited to be the principal speaker on the club's history. The transcript of the address he delivered in Mumbai on 16 February 2008 is published on the Himalayan Club's website: The Early Years

Braham continued to have an active life until the age of 95, when diminishing physical abilities required him to live in a nursing home in Gimel, above Lake Leman.

Braham died on 2 March 2020, a few weeks shy of his 98th birthday. At his memorial service, constrained by Covid-19 restrictions, tributes were read from the Himalayan Club, representatives of the Alpine Club and of the British Residents' Association of Switzerland.^[12] Himalayan Club - In memoriam

Climbing associates

Peter Boardman, who died on Mount Everest in 1982, was a personal friend of Trevor Braham. Erhard Loretan, who died in April 2011, a leading Swiss climber, and the 3rd person to have ascended the 14 highest summits of the world, requested Trevor Braham to translate into English his book, Himalayan Reflections, which was published in Switzerland in 1998. Albert Eggler was leader of the Swiss attempt in 1952 to climb Mount Everest. On this death in 1998, his obituary, which appeared in the Independent of London, was written by Trevor Braham at the request of members of his family.

Bibliography

• Himalayan Odyssey, Allen & Unwin, 1974
• When the Alps Cast Their Spell, Neil Wilson Publishing, 2004
• Himalayan Playground, Neil Wilson Publishing, 2008

References