Trip to Mürren

17th December 1923

Peter Lunn and Sandy

In order to understand just how formidable Sandy's preparation for Everest was, it should be noted that, before his selection for the team, he did not know how to ski. He had used skis for the first time when in Spitsbergen, but mostly as a mode of transport. In Spitsbergen, however, while discussing the Everest opportunity with Odell, Sandy had also asked him a series of contacts and suggestions. Odell helped him, and he recommended that he contact Arnold Lunn. Lunn had founded the Oxford University Mountaineering Club in 1909, and invented the slalom skiing race in 1922. His father, Sir Henry Lunn, had been a travel agent and the first to popularise winter sports in the Bernese Oberland.

Sandy wrote to him and asked Lunn several questions about winter snow conditions and told him that he was anxious to learn to ski in the shortest possible time in order to prepare himself for Everest by studying snow and ice in the high Alps. Lunn replied that he would be delighted to teach him and invited him to Mürren, in Switzerland, for three weeks over Christmas and New Year. And so he went. Sandy quickly revealed his attitude, earning the nickname of 'Human Avalanche'. While his method of testing and falling could be met with skepticism, he did learn impressively quickly: after only two weeks, he entered the Strang-Watkins Challenge Cup for slalom running, and won.