"Mount Everest Explorer" John Hunt Hand Signed 3X5 Card COA For Sale

Up for sale "Mount Everest Explorer" John Hunt Hand Signed 3X5 Card. This item is certified authentic by Todd

Mueller Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.

ES-3148 

Brigadier Sir Henry

Cecil John Hunt, Baron Hunt, KG, CBE, DSO (22 June 1910 – 7

November 1998) was a British Army officer who is

best known as the leader of the successful 1953

British Expedition to Mount Everest. Hunt was born

in Simla, British India on 22 June 1910,

the son of Captain Cecil Edwin Hunt of the Indian Army, and a

great-great-nephew of the explorer Sir Richard

Burton. His

father was killed in action during the First World War. Hunt, from the

age of 10, spent much holiday time in the Alps,

learning some of the mountaineering skills he would

later hone while taking part in several expeditions in the Himalayas while serving in India. He made a

guided ascent of Piz Palu at 14. He was educated the Royal

Military College, Sandhurst, where he was awarded the King's Gold

Medal and the Anson Memorial Sword. After Sandhurst, Hunt

was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the King's Royal

Rifle Corps (KRRC)

on 30 January 1930. Among his fellow graduates were Charles Harington and Alan Brown. In

1931, the regiment was posted to India. He was promoted lieutenant in 1933. Despite his

background he seems not to have been entirely comfortable with the prevailing

social climate of the Raj. He preferred rugby to polo,

and having already gained fluency in German and French he 1934 he became the Indian Army, with the local rank of captain, and was seconded to time the Indian

independence movement was gaining ground, and Bengal was particularly affected. Hunt

even worked undercover, gathering

intelligence in Chittagong while dressed in local clothing. He returned to

his regiment in 1935, having been awarded

the Indian

Police Medal. Throughout

this period Hunt continued to climb in the Himalayas. In 1935, with James Waller's group, he

attempted Saltoro Kangri, reaching 24,500 feet

(7,470 m). This exploit led to his election to the Alpine Club and the Royal

Geographical Society. He applied to join the 1936

Everest Expedition, but was turned down when an RAF medical

discovered a minor heart problem. He married Joy Mowbray-Green on 3 September

1936, and she also took part (along with Reggie Cooke), in Hunt's 1937 Himalayan trip which

included reconnaissance of Kangchenjunga, the south-western

summit of Nepal Peak, and only the third ascent of the Zemu Gap, between Kangchenjunga and Simvo. Here they saw tracks that one of the

party's Sherpas told them were those of the Yeti. In

1938 he returned for a further period of secondment in Military

Intelligence, being employed on the staff at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) when he

received the surprise invitation to lead the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition. It

had been expected that Eric Shipton would lead the

expedition, as he had led the (unsuccessful) British

attempt on Cho Oyu the previous year from which the majority of

the climbers were drawn. However, the Joint

Himalayan Committee of the Alpine Club and Royal Geographical

Society that oversaw British attempts on Everest decided that Hunt's military

leadership experience and undoubted climbing credentials would provide the best

hope for success. It was felt to be critical that this expedition should be

successful as the French had permission to mount an expedition in 1954 and the

Swiss in 1955, meaning that the British would not have another opportunity

until 1956 at the earliest. Many members of the expedition felt a strong

loyalty to Shipton, and were unhappy with his replacement. Edmund Hillary was one of those

most opposed to the change, but was soon won round by Hunt's personality and

frank admission that the change had been badly handled. Hunt planned for

three assaults of two climbers each including "a third and last

attempt" if necessary, although after two consecutive assaults a wait

would be necessary to "recover our strength" and to replenish the

camps. Base Camp was established on 12 April 1953.

The next few days were taken up with establishing a route through the Khumbu Icefall, and once opened, teams

of Sherpas moved tons of supplies up the mountain. A succession of advanced

camps were created, slowly forging higher up the mountain. By 21 May, Wilfrid Noyce and Annullu had

reached the psychological milestone of the South Col. Hunt had selected two climbing pairs to

attempt the summit. The first pair (Tom out on 26 May but were forced to turn back after becoming exhausted high on

the mountain. On the same day Hunt himself climbed to 8,350 metres

(27,395 ft) with Da Namgyal Sherpa to leave a cache of equipment on the

Southeast Ridge for the second summit party. On 28 May, the expedition

made its second assault on the summit with the second climbing pair. The summit

was eventually reached at 11:30 am on 29 May 1953 by the New Zealander Edmund Hillary

and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Nepal

(Norgay had previously ascended to a record mark on Everest with a Swiss

expedition of 1952). News of the expedition's success

reached London on the morning of Queen

Elizabeth few days later, they discovered

that Hillary had been made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire and Hunt a Knight Bachelor for their

efforts. He received his knighthood on his return to London in July

1953. Further honours were showered on Hunt and the expedition team:

the Hubbard Medal of the National

Geographic Society, the first time the medal was awarded on a

collective basis, though individual bronze replicas were made for Hunt, Hillary

and Norgay; the Founder's Medal of the Royal

Geographical Society; the Lawrence medal of

the Royal

Central Asian Society; and honorary degrees from Aberdeen, Durham, and London universities.

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