Wilfrid Noyce: 1917-1962

Wilfrid Noyce was born in India and educated at Charterhouse. He went to King's College, Cambridge with a classical scholarship, and whilst there discovered a passion for rock-climbing. During World War II he rose to Captain in the Intelligence Corps, before returning to Charterhouse as a member of staff, following in the footsteps of the great George Mallory. In the years that followed he established himself as one of the greatest British rock-climbers, writing guidebooks and completing climbs with great speed and regularity.

A scholar and poet as well as a mountaineer, Noyce published several books and articles on mountaineering, including Mountains and Men (1947) and Scholar Mountaineers (1950). His role in the successful ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 is fully documented in his book South Col (1954), regarded as a classic on the subject. Around this time he published a book of poetry, Michael Angelo (1953), as well as the novel The Gods Are Angry (1957) and a study of why people seek adventure and excitement, called The Springs of Adventure (1958). His other books include the mountaineering accounts Climbing the Fish’s Tail (1958) and To the Unknown Mountain (1962), and They Survived (1962), his study of the will to survive. He co-wrote and edited the ground-breaking ‘mountain biography’ Snowdon (1957), and translated Gaston Rébuffat’s Starlight and Storm from the French. In 1962 he set out on a British-Soviet climb in the Pamirs, but died as the result of an accident following the successful ascent of Mount Garmo.

Recent books:

South Col (Birlinn: 2003)