Maverick Mountaineer

 

 

Maverick Mountaineer

by

Robert Wainwright

 

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

My review

Interesting story of a very competent planner of mountain climbs and highly skilled.  Also an extremely good chemist
 
I did enjoy reading this and was quite interested in how advanced George Finch was as far as mountaineering equipment.  He made himself down clothing whilst all other climbers were in traditional woollen clothes and jackets.   He also used lots of layering with clothing to achieve levels of warmth.  Finch was a pioneer and advocate of using oxygen for Himalayan peaks much to the consternation of most others and had to fight hard to convince them.
 
A chunk of the book deals with the Everest expeditions of 1921  and 1922 and the rivalry with Mallory.  Because of the nasty nature of the English alpine club establishment George Finch was not asked to go on the ill fated 1924 expedition.  He was barred from the 1921 one and it was only because he was the best mountaineer living in England, although Australian by birth; a factor that also the stuffy establishment resented.

 

Book Publicity

The first full-length biography of George Ingle Finch - maverick Australian mountaineer, scientist, concert pianist and father of actor Peter Finch.

George Ingle Finch, mountaineer, soldier, scientist, rebellious spirit, boy from the bush, was in his day one of the most famous men in the world. In 1922 he stood at the highest point on Everest, a feat not bettered for 30 years. He invented the predecessor to the puffer jacket and pioneered the use of oxygen in climbing. A World War I hero whose skills also helped save London from burning to the ground during the Blitz of World War II, he was a renowned scientist who was personally chosen by Nehru, the first Indian prime minister, to help lead his nation into the modern world.

With a private life torn by war and misguided by social norms, a reputation as an outsider among the British alpine climbing establishment, and some rough and ready 'colonial' habits, Finch was a brilliantly colourful character - so why has he vanished from the pages of history? In this first full-length biography, Robert Wainwright surveys the man who is now best known as the father of Academy award-winning actor Peter Finch - but who was so much more.