SATRA shows off Everest boot
30/04/2013
SATRA worked with local footwear manufacturers in and around Northampton to make boots that would be light enough and comfortable enough for the 16-strong party wear below and above the snow-line and the organisation is justifiably proud of the fact that, for the first time ever on an Everest expedition, none of the mountaineers suffered from frost-bite during the climb.
Known as the 1953 British Expedition, the climbers who were the first in history to reach the summit were Nepalese guide Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary.
During the first days of May 1953, expedition leader, Colonel John Hunt, and two companions completed an important reconnaissance of the Lhotse Face on the mountain on May 2, which allowed them to plan a steady progression of camps, higher and higher up, eventually permitting Sherpa Tenzing and Sir Edmund Hillary to reach the summit on May 29.
It is one of Sir John Hunt’s boots that SATRA keeps at its laboratory in Kettering.
The boot looks bulky by today’s standards but is surprisingly light to lift. SATRA’s head of research, Tom Bayes, told a group of journalists attending a presentation at the laboratory on OutDry water-resistance technology and a new SATRA water-resistance test that the manufacturers of the 1953 boot had used only natural materials, including a leather toe-puff and leather insole board. The climbers attached canvas overshoe material for walking through snow and took it off above the snow-line to allow the boots to breathe better, Mr Bayes explained.
Share this story:
