Keeper Of The Mountains (35 page)

Tomaž Humar fairly exploded with affection for her: “She's the one for me … she is the most important person, maybe even more than Hillary … she knows everything about anyone in the mountains.” In his rapid-fire, non-native English, he expounded: “She has rich stories … she has the opportunity to meet the most remarkable people in the history of alpinism … I think nobody on the planet has the same chance like she has.” If Tomaž had a chance at another life, he said, he would want to spend it as she has – to be present with all the mountaineering legends. “She is like a Nepal ritual for me – one cup of tea is enough for my soul.”

Humar showed his regard by getting in touch with Elizabeth shortly after he experienced a crippling accident at home in Slovenia, where he fell off his floor joists into a trench, breaking several bones and crushing his heel. From his hospital bed, he arranged for a friend to call her on her birthday, November 9, to wish her a happy day and let her know about his accident. This act of kindness touched Elizabeth, although she downplayed it in her typical fashion: “Now of course this is charming for me, but why he bothers I just don't understand.… Maybe he runs out of people to talk to, so he calls up Kathmandu. Nice guy, I like him!”

Despite her obvious independent streak, many people wondered about her life alone in Nepal. Was she lonely, or simply alone? Was she strong, or vulnerable? Frances Klatzel once asked her why she chose to stay in Kathmandu. Elizabeth replied that it was because
she learned something every day. It was the answer of a true journalist. Frances thought she was someone who was content and happy with her own company. Elizabeth agreed, insisting she enjoyed her own company immensely and was certainly never lonely. But a good friend, Mal Clarbrough, remembered stopping by her apartment one Christmas to find her quietly weeping at the dining room table, alone. It broke his heart to see her that way.

British author Ed Douglas saw Elizabeth as a sad personality – someone quite alone in the world. He remembered a visit when she answered the door demanding, “What do you want? Everybody wants something from me.” When he told her he had just come by for a visit, she seemed surprised and delighted to share a cup of tea with him. He believed she safeguarded her privacy in a hard shell – a protective covering for something vulnerable inside.

Mary Lowe, wife of Everester George Lowe, didn't regard Elizabeth as lonely, but rather as a “lone” person. She thought that many people probably thought of her as a romantic personality, someone living a romantic life in a romantic place filled with romantic people. Mary didn't think Elizabeth would actually count many of these romantic personalities as her friends. In fact, even though she had known Elizabeth for 20 years and regarded her as a friend, Mary remained guarded: “How she regards us is a different matter. She receives us with warmth, if it is convenient to her. Otherwise, we have to wait.” Messner emphatically counts her as a friend and as a friend of his family, saying, “She is a really good woman.”

Many people considered Elizabeth Hawley to be their friend, yet she didn't reciprocate, stating categorically that, apart from two or three climbers with whom she is close, the rest were acquaintances. Could this be true? Could all those people be mistaken? Breashears, Humar, Buhler and Lowe: was it just wishful thinking on their parts? Was Mary Lowe correct in thinking that any kind of relationship must be on Elizabeth's terms? Or was Ed Douglas's speculation closer to the truth – that by opening up to friendship she might expose a soft underbelly?

Heather Macdonald felt reasonably close to Elizabeth when they worked together, but she admitted there was a wall she could not penetrate. However, as Heather grew closer to her, working together day in and day out, she stopped seeing Elizabeth as a “famous Himalayan
reporter” and began to relate to her as a friend, someone who could be complimented on her earrings or who would commiserate over computer frustrations: “Her computer would drive her nuts!” Heather thought Elizabeth was selective about who she let in, and she was also convinced that her heart had been broken at some point, perhaps by Jimmy Roberts or Edmund Hillary, and that she subsequently “closed down emotionally.”

Elizabeth admitted she did have strong feelings for Hillary: “Ed is one of my oldest friends and I am one of his greatest admirers. I guess it's mutual!” But she took care to provide historical context, noting that they had worked together since the mid-1960s, dispensing funds for hospitals, bridges, schools and so on for the people of the Solukhumbu. They had been through a lot together: “Good times, such as the recent 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest celebrations … and tragic times, such as when I flew by helicopter to tell him that his wife and daughter had been killed in a plane crash. Sir Edmund Hillary is the finest person I ever met.”

He was effusive about her, too: “I think Liz is a special person … always exceptional. We relied on her. She is a remarkable woman. I have a great respect for Liz and I'm very fond of her.”

Yes, but what of the famous rumoured affair? Elizabeth laughed at the question: “I'm sorry to disabuse anybody – and I'm telling the truth – but we didn't.” She knew the rumour had been out there for years and thought it stemmed from the fact that Hillary had often been a guest in her apartment and her companion at so many parties. But she insisted: “Believe me, we didn't.” After his first wife was killed, Elizabeth admitted, there was a brief period when she speculated about what his next move would be. Nonetheless, she confessed, “I'm not the marrying type and I couldn't have fulfilled the role of diplomat's wife as beautifully as June has.”

As Elizabeth looked back at her alleged – and real – love life, the only men she would admit to having considered settling down with were Micky Weatherall and Mamoun El Amin. The rest of the rumours – Jimmy Roberts, Eric Shipton, General Mrigendra, Andrzej Zawada, Don Whillans – “It's a resounding no! There's nobody else except the ones that I confessed to.” But who can tell? With Elizabeth Hawley there is always more to the story.

With 30-some years of educating herself and apprenticing as a
world traveller and curious observer, Elizabeth had prepared herself well for the adventure that awaited her in Nepal. When she flew into Nepal for the presentation of the nation's first constitution and its first election, she was purposeful about it. She wasn't going there just to take a look, but to experience an important moment in world history. What she saw was something special; she saw that she could create a life for herself in Nepal that would be unique. She could avoid a life of sameness and obscurity in New York. In fact, she became someone special and important – and needed.

During more than 40 years in Kathmandu, Elizabeth created that unique life. Beginning with her interest in politics, she evolved into a major player in a new kind of travel industry. Her insatiable curiosity brought her into the world of mountaineering, where she became an expert. And through her highly placed contacts and hard work, she greatly influenced the work of the Himalayan Trust. By leaving New York, she became part of a circle that included royalty, prime ministers and explorers. She learned about, and became an important personality in, a global mountaineering community, despite her reluctance to acknowledge its existence. In Nepal she could afford a life of comfort, with a personal staff to attend to all her basic needs. She could entertain lavishly. As Heather Macdonald said, “I couldn't even dream her life.” All of this took courage; she went to a place in the world at a time when it wasn't easy for a single woman to make her way. She went with no steady job and no contacts. Like many of the mountaineers she admires, she was a pioneer.

Elizabeth plans to stay in Kathmandu. There are people there who care for her. The next generation is there to support her. There is respect and reverence for the elderly in Nepal and Elizabeth is now one of those people.

She won't leave Nepal, because she has a purpose there; she has work to do and she's making a difference. This is what keeps her alive. Her nephew suggests there are many ways of evaluating a life – some people make money and some people make a difference. Elizabeth has made a difference. He added, “I would put her on my list of heroes, and it's a very short list.”

Always pragmatic, Elizabeth conceded she would leave if the Maoist regime became too difficult or in the extreme event of the city being destroyed by a natural catastrophe, but she added, “What would I do?
As long as my health lets me stay on, I want to stay. I want to live independently. I am useless in someone else's house. I can't cook. I suppose I could set the table and I do know how to make drinks. I'd just be in the way.” Then, looking at me with dark, steady eyes, she stated, “The jobs I do couldn't be done anywhere else – it's Nepal.”

And in that statement I suddenly understood the depth of her love for her adopted country and for the life's work she has created – and for which she will always be remembered.

I
t was on a sultry July day in 2010 that Elizabeth Hawley was found in her Kathmandu home, lying on the floor and in great pain. Although amnesia erased the fall from her memory, it appeared she had slipped, fracturing her right hip. An ambulance whisked her to the
CIWEC
clinic, where her hip was successfully repaired. For two weeks she remained at the clinic while the medical personnel monitored her closely.

At the age of 86 Elizabeth had just experienced the first serious injury of her life. The woman who had routinely worked 12-hour days for the past 50 years appeared to have been struck down. Emails sped around the world among her friends and relatives: Elizabeth has fallen. Elizabeth is seriously ill. Elizabeth will not work again.

One year later, Richard Salisbury, her co-author of the Himalayan Database, sent out a message that she was returning to work on her mountaineering records but was confined to her home. Instead of her normal practice of visiting expeditions at their hotels, some expedition leaders were now coming to see her, while others were interviewed over the phone or by her helpers.

A couple of months later Elizabeth was able to meet expeditions in Dilli Bazaar. And with the help of a special cane to move around, she was about to resume hotel visits, as long as there weren't too many steps. She admitted that steps were an effort, but added, “My orthopaedic surgeon says I'm tough. I say I'm just doing my job. Basically my health is fine.” Salisbury closed his email with the comment, “It appears that her recovery is progressing remarkably well.” And so it was. As she celebrated her 88th birthday in November of 2011, the indomitable Miss Hawley was back at it, although at a slower pace.

During the months that passed between her accident and her return to work, many in the mountaineering community continued the debate that had begun years earlier, about the value of her work, the importance of a succession plan and the future of mountaineering record-keeping.

Eberhard Jurgalski, founder and author of
www.8000ers.com
, a website devoted to recording a vast amount of information on the high mountains of Asia, including mountaineering activity, was
seriously concerned about the future of her work. “For so many years Miss Hawley has been collecting and sorting all the facts about attempts and ascents on mountains in Nepal and on its borders! I know many mountaineers admire her for all this passionate work.” He worried that the same accuracy would be lost in the years to come if a qualified and devoted replacement could not be found for Elizabeth. “Let's hope that the life's work of this great woman will be continued in the future in her spirit,” he urged.

But others were not so generous. Some in the climbing community did not see a need to find a successor for Elizabeth and in fact didn't see value in her work at all. Although no one wanted to be quoted, some found serious gaps in her record-keeping. In particular, they felt that her refusal to record ascents made without permission from the Government of Nepal was an indefensible stance, from the standpoint of both journalist and historian. They felt she was out of touch with the entire concept of alpine-style climbing in the Himalaya when she insisted that adventure climbers fill out the same forms as someone doing a commercial or guided climb of Ama Dablam. Describing camps, predetermined bivouac sites, planned descent routes, even planned
ascent
routes, held little value for a climber heading off on a true adventure climb. All of these details were unknown at the outset, and Elizabeth seemed unable to grasp this aspect of climbing. Some climbers felt she was still too focused on the giants, Everest in particular. “I don't think she will be replaced,” was a common comment.

Yet, when asked about alpine-style climbing and the future of the sport, Elizabeth's attitude revealed something different. “There are climbers of 6000ers and 7000ers who are doing interesting things, despite the fact that they don't get all the publicity that they would receive from climbing Kangchenjunga, Everest or K2,” she said. “Those who go to these ‘lesser mountains' have to be prepared to attempt something for the love of it, and perhaps for the respect of their fellow mountaineers rather than for the world, and definitely not to attract rich sponsorship.” She rattled off the climbers who she felt were advancing the standards of Himalayan climbing, those worth watching: Denis Urubko from Kazakhstan, the American David Gottlieb, Nick Bullock from the
UK
and Swiss mountaineer Üeli Steck. But of the really impressive climbing achievements of her career, she cited just a few, with the first
traverse of Annapurna
I
's summit ridge by Jean-Christophe Lafaille and Alberto Iñurrategi in the spring of 2002 as the very best.

Reinhold Messner weighed in with his opinion about the value of her work and the future without her: “Elizabeth Hawley is unique. I don't think anyone else could succeed her.” But he had more to say about climbing in Nepal. “Time is changing. Climbing is becoming a sport: indoor climbing, skyrunning, ski racing on 8000 m and more. Let it happen – without Liz and me!”