Scotch College

In the Footsteps of Mallory

Old Boys on Mount Everest

It seems like an age since we walked from Buller to Feathertop with Scotch in the Alps. Or later in Tasmania when we did the Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair Overland Track.

SCALPS was in its infancy and it was the late 1960s. Scotch had got me involved in scouting and I had never since lost the desire to enjoy the call of the hills. After doing an Alpine Guides' snow and ice climbing course around 1970 I had been mountaineering, on and off, for over thirty years.

After many seasons in New Zealand and climbing trips in most continents of the world, two things troubled me: firstly I was shortlisted some years ago to manage a Station for the Australian Antarctic Division - but failed the medical; the other was being selected for the Australian Bicentennial Everest team in 1988 - and turning the chance down due to work pressures as a freelance mining engineer.

Then, on 26 May 1994, a climbing partner of mine summited Everest (8,848m), becoming the ninth Australian to reach the top, only to lose his life on descent, succumbing to a cerebral oedema at the base of the Second Step on the famous Mallory route, on the Chinese Tibetan side of the peak. He was fifty-three years of age.

So it was that I arrived at the Rongbuk Base Camp on 9 April with a commercial expedition of experienced climbers, three sherpas and three cooks. Six weeks later, after what can only be described as a perilous siege in an uncompromising and unrelentingly hostile environment, two of our lads 'topped out', one without oxygen, on 19 May 2001. It was tough, demanding, gruelling and cold - but the bad memories are fast subsiding.

Back in Perth, getting back into regular rugby again (after losing twenty kilos on the hill), I can only reflect on what was a great experience. We climbed Everest! It occurred to me that many people fail to live out their dreams, preferring the safer route in the quieter paths of life. It doesn't have to be that way. Younger ex-collegians and those still at school - take note - reach out and grasp the sky!

John Dunlop ('67) (brother of Zeke) ('65), father of John ('88) and Andy ('89), son of Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop) was a scout leader at school and is now a well known Australian mountaineer. John Jnr runs Australian High Access Services, based in Melbourne.