To the Editor:
The wilderness medicine community has lost one of its earliest and most enthusiastic exponents with the death of Mike Ward.
Michael Phelps Ward, surgeon and mountaineer, was born on March 26, 1925, in London, UK, and died on October 7, 2005, at his home in West Sussex at the age of 80. He was well known for being a long-time leader in the realm of mountain medicine and high-altitude physiology, though he was perhaps better known for the role he played in the buildup to, and first ascent of, Mt Everest in 1953.
The success of the 1953 first ascent of Mt Everest owed much to Ward, who not only undertook the role of expedition doctor, but also had meticulously researched the possibilities of an ascent from the Nepalese side of the mountain. After many weeks of searching through maps and photographs in the Royal Geographical Society archive, Ward convinced the Joint Himalayan Committee of the Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society that a reconnaissance trip was necessary to identify the most suitable route. Led by the experienced mountaineer and explorer Eric Shipton, the small expedition confirmed Ward's earlier assessments and gave New Zealander Edmund Hillary his first taste of Everest.
After the success of Hillary and Tensing Norgay in 1953, Ward highlighted the role science played in the ascent and, in particular, the work of expedition physiologist Griffith Pugh. During the run-up to Everest, Pugh and Ward completed important work on nutrition, hydration, clothing, and supplemental oxygen at altitude. In a recent paper, Ward wrote, “It would not be overstating the case to say that, but for the work of Griffith Pugh between 1951 and 1952, the first ascent of Everest by Hillary and Tensing would not have been successful.” 1
After Everest, Ward returned to medicine and qualified as a surgeon. Subsequently, his love of mountaineering was combined with his medical work and he became increasingly interested in the physiological effects of high altitude. “At sea level,” he once wrote, “if an athlete fails to produce an Olympic-class performance, he may lose a race or a title; near the summit of Everest he may lose a limb or his life.” 2
In a role that combined mountaineering and research, Ward helped organize the 1960–61 “Silver Hut” high-altitude physiological expedition to the Khumbu region of Nepal. During this period he and several others, including Griffith Pugh, John West, and James Milledge, spent 5 months living and working in a prefab hut at 5800 m. This expedition proved enormously successful for Ward, who not only led the first ascent of Ama Dablam (6812 m) by the classic South West Ridge route, but also managed to help assemble and pedal a bicycle ergometer on the Makalu Col (7400 m). This remains the highest point that a
In 1964, cardiologist Fred Jackson invited Ward to accompany him to the remote Bhutanese-Tibetan border in order to give medical advice to the king of Bhutan. This resulted in a longer visit in 1965, which provided an ideal opportunity to explore much of northern Bhutan and complete a number of clinical research projects. In 1980, Ward returned to the Himalayas to lead a reconnaissance expedition to Mt Kongur, a previously unclimbed 7719-m peak in Sinkiang, which had been well known to Marco Polo and merchants in the silk caravans traveling into China. Ward was joined on the trip by Chris Bonington, leader of the successful conquest of the southwest face of Everest in 1975. Despite maps dating back to 1924, the reconnaissance proved successful. On returning the next year, Bonington, together with Joe Tasker, Alan Rouse, and Peter Boardman, made the first ascent of the mountain's South West Rib.
In 1966, Ward compiled The Mountaineer's Companion, 3 a fascinating anthology of distinguished climbing literature, which was followed by his autobiography, In This Short Span 4 and then Mountain Medicine: A Clinical Study of Cold and High Altitude, 5 one of the first texts in the field of wilderness medicine. This proved to be the forerunner of High Altitude Medicine and Physiology, cowritten with Silver Hut colleagues, James Milledge, and John West. With a fourth edition soon to be published—and with former Wilderness Medical Society president Robert B. Schoene now a coauthor with Milledge and West—this is considered by many to be the standard text in the field. In 2003, Ward completed the authoritative historical work, Everest: A Thousand Years of Exploration 6 and shortly before his death had been working on a manuscript focusing on the role the Pundits had played for the Survey of India during the era of the “Great Game,” over a century ago.
In 1983, Ward was appointed commander of the British Empire and was awarded the Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for medical research, exploration, and mountaineering in the Himalayas.
As a fervent supporter of the UK's National Health Service, Ward eschewed private practice, preferring to dedicate his professional career to working and teaching in hospitals in the East End of London. However, it is clear that mountains and their people were never far away from his life. In his autobiography he concludes, “The summit attained is a simple physical achievement but the mind and spirit reap their own harvest, formless and immeasurable. This is what we carry over into our everyday lives.” 4