Used food packet from 1953 Everest expedition set to sell for £20,000

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The package contained cocoa, orangeade powder and a banana bar to fortify the brave adventurers as they made history to climb the world’s highest mountain 69 years ago. It bears an official Everest Expedition label and is signed by Colonel John Hunt – the British Army officer who led the successful attempt.

Fellow mountaineers Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary – who were the first to reach the summit – have also signed the packet which is inscribed with ‘Everest ‘53’.

The memento was treasured by Tom Stobart, a British cameraman, filmmaker and author, who passed it onto his son Patrick before his death in 1980.

Tom was the official cameraman on the expedition and was able to capture footage to create The Conquest of Everest, a film of the event which earned him an OBE.

The expedition was the ninth attempt to climb Everest and news of its success reached London in time to be released on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on June 2.

It took a 15-strong team seven weeks to reach the top of the Himalayan mountain, which stands at 29,035 feet (8,849m) above sea level.

Now items amassed by Tom over a lifetime of adventure – including a pickaxe he used during the Tibetan Hunt for the Abominable Snowman in 1954 -are up for sale.

The archive, which includes cameras, scientific instruments and ephemera, could fetch £10,000- £20,000 when they go under the hammer at Hansons London on October 29.

Patrick, 77, a company director from Nottingham, has treasured the collection for decades but has decided to part with it to ensure the archive is saved for posterity.

Patrick, who at 16 travelled by road to Tehran, Iran, with his father to film Adventure On and worked as a wildlife biologist in Africa, said: “I hope the collection may go to a museum.

“I am extremely proud of my father and my grandfather Ralph Stobart. He was also a mountaineer.

“There is a microscope in the collection coming up for auction used by all three of us.

“The framed food packet, which I displayed on the wall in my home, is particularly interesting.

“It was made of a lightweight foil to make it easy to carry and preserve food during the seven-week expedition.

“I also like a canvas painting of the Wheel of Life which was donated to my father in 1953 by a Tibetan Buddhist monastery on the slopes of Everest.

“He carried it with him throughout the expedition.”

Other mementoes include tickets and an official programme for the first screening of The Conquest of Everest, attended by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. .

An original letter of invitation to meet members of the Everest Expedition at London Airport, dated June 30, 1953, is also in the archive.

Black and white photos of Tom and numerous newspaper cuttings recording the Everest expedition and ‘Yeti Hunt’ are also included.

Camera equipment being sold includes a Paillard Bolex H-16 Reflex 16mm cine camera, possibly used by Tom during the hunt for the Abominable Snowman.

A Paillard Bolex Swiss-made speed-control motor and an Adam’s Minex, London, De Luxe Model plate camera are also among the collection.

Scientific Instruments include 19th century microscopes and cabinets packed with specimen slides of leaf scales, pollen grains, fungal spores, insect antennae, marine biology, sections of butterfly wings and feathers – some from Australia and Peru.

Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, said: “This is an incredible collection which reminds us of a significant moment in history.

“After years of dreaming about it, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Tenzing Norgay reached the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, on May 29, 1953.

“They were the first people to ever reach the summit. Tom captured the emotion of the moment on film.

“In fact, he captured some of the most famous expeditions and achievements in human history.

“During his career, he followed a team of scientists exploring Antarctica in 1949, as well as the Tibetan hunt for the Abominable Snowman in 1954.

“It’s an honour to offer this important historical archive at auction. We hope it will attract museum interest.”

Tom was born in Darlington, County Durham, and educated at St Bees School near Whitehaven, Cumberland.

He attended Sheffield University and Cambridge University where he studied zoology.

He made Army instructional films in India during the Second World War, went on a 1946 expedition to the Himalayas, and on an expedition to North Queensland.

He also made the official film of the 1949-50 Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition.

During the 1953 Everest challenge, John Hunt recalled that Tom had a ‘seemingly endless repertoire of adventure stories’.

Tom was also a talented cook and his books include Cook’s Encyclopaedia and Herbs, Spices and Flavourings.

Sadly, he was left partially disabled after being shot twice in the legs during a filming trip to Ethiopia around 1956. He died suddenly in 1980 aged 66.

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