Frank Smythe
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Francis Sydney Smythe, also known as Frank Smythe (1900-1949),born in Maidstone, Kent, England, UK. Was a British mountaineer, author,[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] photographer and botanist in the early years of high altitude mountaineering.
Trained as an electrical engineer in Zurich (Switzeland), however he wasn't cut out for this as a career. Smythe also had a short period with the RAF until he was invalided out with a weak heart. What did motivate Smythe was mountaineering, photography, collecting plants, gardening, writing his seventeen books and later a profitable lecture tour.
It has been stated that the man had a tendency for irascibility, that some of his mountaineering contempraries said "decreased with altitude"[16] . Whatever the cause Smythe's focused approach is well documented, not only through his own writings, but by his contemporaries and later works.
Smythe was asked and gave, at least two, lectures to the Royal Geographical Society, his first being in 1931 titled "Explorations in Garhwal around Kamet", his second in 1947 titled "An Expedition to the Lloyd George Mountains, North-East British Columbia".
A prodigeous writer on numerous expeditions and produced many popular books, however his book "The Kangchenjunga Adventure" launched Smythe as a legitimate and respected author.[17]
In Delhi he was taken ill with food poisoning, then a succession of malaria attacks took their toll and he died on June 27th 1949 in London two weeks before his 49th birthday.
[edit] Highlights
- 1927 and 1928 Smythe made the first ascent of the Brenva Face of Mont Blanc.
- 1930 Smythe was a member of the international team (Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Greate Britain), to attempt Kangchenjunga. Under the leadership of Professor Dyrenfurth.
- 1931 Smythe was the leader of the first successful expedition to climb Kamet (7,756 m) in 1931, at the time it was the highest peak yet climbed. During the Kamet expedition Smythe and Holdswordth discovered what is now called the Valley of Flowers[3] in the Himalaya, now in the state of Uttarakhand, India.
- 1933 Smythe was a member of the Everest expedition lead by Hugh Ruttledge.[18]
- 1936 Smythe was again a member of Hugh Ruttledge's 2nd Everest Expedition.
- 1938 Smythe was a member of Eric Shipton and Bill Tilman's[19] expedition to Everest.
[edit] Citations
- ^ Smythe, F. S.. An Alpine Journey. London, Victor Gollancz,.
- ^ F. S. Smythe (1930). The Kangchenjunga Adventure. Victor Gollancz Ltd.
- ^ a b F. S. Smythe (1949). The Valley of Flowers. W.W. Norton.
- ^ F. S. Smythe. Frank Smythe: The Six Alpine/Himalayan Climbing Books. ISBN13 9780898867404.
- ^ Smythe, F. S. (1945). The Spirit of the Hills. London, Hodder & Stoughton.
- ^ Smythe, Frank S. (1950). Climbs in the Canadian Rockies. London, Hodder and Stoughton.
- ^ Smythe, Frank S. (1948). Rocky Mountains. London, Adam and Charles Black.
- ^ F. S. Smythe (1938). Peaks and Valleys. London, Adam and Charles Black.
- ^ F. S. Smythe (1936). Over Tyrolean Hills. Hodder and Stoughton.
- ^ F. S. Smythe (1946). Snow on the Hills. Hodder and Stoughton.
- ^ F. S. Smythe (1937). The Mountain Scene. London, Adam and Charles Black.
- ^ F. S. Smythe (1949). Mountains in Colour. London, Max Parish.
- ^ F. S. Smythe (1929). Climbs and Ski Runs: Mountaineering and Ski-ing in the Alps, Great Britain and Corsica. William Blackwood.
- ^ F. S. Smythe (1937). Camp Six: An account of the 1933 Mount Everest expedition. Hodder and Stoughton.
- ^ F. S. Smythe (1932). Kamet Conquerod. Victor Gollancz.
- ^ George Band (2003). Everest: The Official History. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
- ^ Harry Calvert (1985). Smythe's Mountains: F. S. Smythe and his Climbs. Gollancz.
- ^ Hugh Ruttledge (1933). Everest 1933. Hodder and Stoughton.
- ^ H. W. Tilman (1938). Mount Everest 1938. Pilgrims Publishing.
[edit] References
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