Dorothea Malcom | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 17, 1931 |
| Died | 1973 |
| Occupation | Mountaineer / Author |
Dorothea Ann Malcom (born September 17, 1931)(missing February, 1973) was an American mountaineer, explorer, and author from Oklahoma "whose astonishing feats of climbing and tragic death remain one of climbing's greatest mysteries."[1] She was the first climber to ascend eight of the fourteen "eight-thousanders" (peaks over 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) above sea level). She disappeared from a base camp before her third attempt to climb K2 in the winter of 1973. She was also the author of numerous climbing/adventure stories.
Early Life edit
Born in Commerce, OK, USA, her first love was baseball. In order to circumvent the boys-only league, she pretended to be a boy using the alias Malcom Dorr. Such a ruse could never have been successful in her hometown of Commerce, so her father enrolled her on the team in Cardin, the town to the north. Looking back on the success of their deception, her father, Les Malcom, said, "You'd be surprised how far short hair, a dirty face, and a snapping curveball will go to convincing folks."[2] Malcom Dorr's only recorded performance came in the fall of 1945 in the league championship game against Commerce, when "he" threw ten shutout innings, allowing just one hit, a single hit by fourteen-year-old Mickey Mantle.[3] In the bottom on the tenth, Malcom singled to right to bring in the game's only run.
Early Climbs edit
Dorothea left home the following spring. Malcom, who never gave interviews, except for the controversial "Morgan Interview", never seems to have discussed her reasons for leaving. None of the several extant interviews with her family give any plausible explanation.[4] Malcom resurfaced again in Switzerland in 1953 in the company of Günther Dyhrenfurth's son Hans. It is not clear if her romance with Hans was the catalyst for her climbing, or if she met him through Alpine pursuits. In either event, it was with him that she scaled her first peaks in the Alps. In 1955, using aliases and apparently speaking fluent Russian, they both served as expedition leaders for the mass assent of Mount Elbrus, which was sponsored by the U.S.S.R. to mark the 400th anniversary of the incorporation of Kabardino-Balkaria.[5]
Engagement to Hans Dyrenfurth edit
Malcom may have been engaged to Dyrenfurth before their ascent of Elbrus, but it was not until their return to Geneva in the fall of 1955 that any announcement was made.[6]. By early November, Hans was complaining of crippling headaches. The diagnosis was a brain edema. Despite three surgeries, Hans died on November 17th.[7]
Malcom in Asia edit
Through the influence of her never-to-be father-in-law, Malcom was connected with Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss who were in the final stages of planning their attempt to be the first to climb Mount Lhotse. This was following on the failed attempt the year before that was led by Hans's brother Norman. Malcom acted as the third climber on the Luchsinger/Reiss expedition, holding down the final camp while Luchsinger and Reiss summitted on the afternoon of May 18th, 1956.[8] Malcom would summit the mountain herself the following year, before returning to Geneva in the summer of 1957.
Climbing the Eight-Thousanders edit
| Year | Peak (height in metres) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Lhotse (8,516) | Malcom was the third person to summit the mountain. Tamara Lunger , the youngest woman to make the climb, placed a plaque in her honor on the summit in 2010 |
| 1958 | Kangchenjunga (8,586) | Malcom and her four person team used Aleister Crowley's 1905 route, the same that had been used by Joe Brown and George Band three years earlier. The main feature of this trek is the "Great Shelf", a large sloping plateau at around 7,500 metres (24,600 ft), covered by a hanging glacier. |
| 1961 | Hidden Peak (Gasherbrum I) (8,080) | Malcom had made several climbs with Pete Schoening from 1959-1960. Her expedition followed his route and finished the ascent on June 14th. |
| 1962 | Nanga Parbat (8,125) | Following Toni Kinshofer's route , Malcom climbed a buttress on the left side of the Diamir Face. The eight person team split up following Mark Jaston's development of severe frost-bite. Malcom summited with Robert Carson, and Fred Daskly. |
| 1964 | Cho Oyu (8201) | Malcom was part of the controversial third ascent of the mountain. Her German expedition could offer no proof of reaching the summit. Two mountaineers died of exhaustion in camp 4 at 7,600m (24,935 ft).[9] |
| 1970 | Annapurna (8,091) | Malcom joined the British Army expedition led by Henry Day. |
| 1971 | Manaslu (8,163) | Malcom joined the second ever expedition to the summit. The team was led by Kazuharu Kohara and Yuko Motoki. Malcom was the only woman and only westerner on the 11-man Japanese team. They reached the summit via the north-west spur. |
| 1972 | Broad Peak (8,051), | Malcom and Daskly were the first to descend from the summit on skis. |
Writing edit
It was following her successful ascent in the spring of 1957, that Malcom was first asked to publish an account of her travels. Her categorical refusal to discuss or describe her climbs surprised and dismayed several editors, but it was at Norman Dyrenfurth's suggestion that she offered to write the fictional accounts of climbs that were to be her livelihood for the rest of her life.[10] Though few editors were interested in her fiction, she found a supporter in Jordan Carmichael who had just launched a new magazine for boys, Travels & Expeditions. Carmichael bought her first story, published in serial over five issues, sight unseen. Carmichael later recalled. "At the time, I just assumed that if I published her fiction, that she'd soon relent, and I'd have her writing out her accounts in no time. After issue #9 [the first with Malcom as a contributor] sold out, I never gave it another thought."[11]
Malcom ultimately contributed her stories to more than 30 magazines from 1957-1971. These magazines spanned five languages, with all translations being done by the author herself. She kept up a close relationship with Carmichael, whose magazine's title was shortened to Expeditions, after it changed to a weekly format to capitalize on its success. He visited her in Switzerland several times, and he hosted fundraisers for her treks when she came to New York.[12] It was in the pages of Expeditions that Malcom introduced some of her most popular characters to American audiences. First was Kris "Komet" Metterlink, a young Swedish climber traveling with his father in Nepal. Soon came Kate Patchett, a circus performer turned climber, and then the Todd Brothers, whose adventures involved just a single climb and eerily presaged the Nanga Parbat-Expedition of 1970 and the tragedy of Günther Messner.
Disappearance edit
Malcom was preparing for her third attempt on K2 on the 16th February of 1973, when she disappeared from base camp on the North, Chinese side of the mountain. Her partner, Ernst Jungerfeld, discovered her missing at 8:30 a.m., but did not initiate a search until 2 p.m.. Because of the lapse, there were no tracks to follow. After four hours, Jungerfeld called off the search because of darkness. The next day brought a heavy storm that kept him in camp. He was snowbound until the 20th, at which point he hiked down the mountain to try to obtain help to continue the search. No trace was ever found. A survey of her tent revealed that she had taken a fully-packed bag and nearly all of her provisions. Jordan Carmichael charted a helicopter for eight days to search more than 800 square miles of terrain, again without success.
The Morgan Interview edit
The only extant interview with Malcom was conducted by Francis Morgan on July 15th and 16th of 1972. It has been mired in controversy since its publication in 1973. Several friends of Malcom questioned its authenticity immediately. Jordan Carmichael sued Morgan for libel in response to the publication of the original interview and to an op-ed published in The New York Times. The tapes of the interview were subpoenaed, and when played in a sealed court room, seem to have corroborated the transcript that Morgan had published. However, there were several sections of the tape that had been erased, and dubbed over with a looped recording of Edith Piaf's Non, je ne regrette rien. Morgan freely admitted to having doctored the tapes, and he refused to divulge their contents. He was found in contempt of court, and the case was dismissed.
Missing Sections edit
The missing minutes, a total of 23:15, have been the object of widespread speculation. In all there seem to be three primary theories about the Morgan Interview:
Fraud edit
This was the case put forward by Carmichael and ultimately rejected by the court. If all of the tapes are fraudulent, then there can be nothing of interest in the deleted segments. Carmichael's attorneys argued that the deletions were a red herring designed to distract from the falsity of the tapes as a whole.
Norman Dyrenfurth edit
If the tapes are authentic, it has been suggested, the missing sections may have contained information about Malcom's alleged relationship with Norman. Such a relationship has never been established, although a letter addressed to him was found among her possessions at the base camp after her disappearance. It was delivered to him unopened, and its contents are not known.[13]
Fred Daskly edit
It has been argued that the missing sections most likely pertained to Malcom's frequent climbing partner Fred Daskly. The two apparently had a huge argument after their ascent of Broad Peak in 1972. Daskly died in an avalanche just three months after Malcom's disapperance, and it is possible that Morgan deleted the sections out of respect for the memory of his two close friends.[14]
References edit
- ^ Radkey, Velin and Watson, Samantha 1979.Mountaineering: Myth and Mystery Lunberg Press, p. 63.
- ^ Delins, Richard (1989). Girls will be Boys: Passing in America Simon & Schuster, p. 122.
- ^ Leavy, Jane (2010). THE LAST BOY: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, p. 16.
- ^ Gagne, Thomas (1992). Eight Down: Malcom and the Winter of 1973, Alpine Press, pp. 82-83.
- ^ Orell, Simon (2001). Disguising the White and Blue: Americans in the USSR, 1940-1989, University of California Press, pp. 234-38.
- ^ "Hans Dyrenfurth Wird Heiraten". Neue Zürcher Zeitung. October 15th 1955.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Cantor, Sheldon (1993). The Dyrenfurths, An Alpine Dynasty, Vintage, pp. 254-260
- ^ "Als Erster auf dem Lhotse", obituary in Neue Zürcher Zeitung (13 August 2010). Retrieved 14 August 2010
- ^ Everest News.com. "Cho Oyu History". Retrieved 2008-04-12.
- ^ Gagne, 1992, p. 154
- ^ Brifton, Alice (2003). Lad Mags Then and Now, Harper Collins, p. 178
- ^ Gagne, 1992, p. 98
- ^ Cantor (1993). pp. 254-260
- ^ McFadden, Margaret (1988). Journalism in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, University of Florida Press, pp. 125-126