Imperial Ascent: Mountaineering, Masculinity and Empire

189 Pages·2003·1.905 MB·English

by  Peter L. Bayers

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Imperial Ascent

Imperial Ascent
MOUNTAINEERING, MASCULINITY, AND EMPIRE
Peter L. Bayers
U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S O F C O L O R A D O
© 2003 by the University Press of Colorado
Published by the University Press of Colorado
5589 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 206C
Boulder, Colorado 80303
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
The University Press of Colorado is a proud member of
the Association of American University Presses.
The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by
Adams State College, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Mesa State College,
Metropolitan State College of Denver, University of Colorado, University of Northern
Colorado, and Western State College of Colorado.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI
Z39.48-1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bayers, Peter L., 1966–
Imperial ascent : mountaineering, masculinity, and empire / Peter L. Bayers.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87081-716-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Mountaineering—Psychological aspects. 2. Masculinity. 3. Men—Identity. I. Title.
GV200.19.P78 B39 2003
796.52'2'019—dc21
2003000591
Design by Daniel Pratt
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Tracy

Contents
List of Illustrations / ix
Acknowledgments / xi
Introduction: Mountaineering and the
Imagining of Imperial Masculinity / 1
1: Frederick Cook, To the Top of the Continent (1908),
the Alaskan “Wilderness,” and the Regeneration
of Progressive-Era Masculinity / 17
2: Belmore Browne’s The Conquest of Mount McKinley (1913),
Alaska Natives, and White Masculine Anxieties
on the Alaskan Frontier / 39
3: Save Whom From Destruction? Alaska Natives,
Frontier Mythology, and the Regeneration of the White Conscience
in Hudson Stuck’s The Ascent of Denali (1914) / 59
4: Resurrecting Heroes: Sir Francis Younghusband’s
The Epic of Mount Everest (1926) and Post–Great War Britain / 75
5: Sir John Hunt’s The Ascent of Everest (1953) and
Nostalgia for the British Empire / 99
6: No Longer Sahibs: Tenzing Norgay and the 1953
British Expedition to Mount Everest / 115
7: Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air (1997),
Postmodern Adventurous Masculinity, and Imperialism / 127
Notes / 143
Works Cited / 157
Index / 167
vii

Illustrations
1.1 Frederick Cook / 20
2.1 Belmore Browne (1912) / 41
2.2 Frederick Cook’s “fake peak” / 42
2.3 Belmore Browne’s “fake peak” / 43
3.1 Hudson Stuck / 61
4.1 Sir Francis Younghusband / 78
4.2 George Mallory and Andrew Irvine / 96
5.1 John Hunt / 102
5.2 The South Col, Everest in background / 105
6.1 Tenzing Norgay / 117
ix