Michael Ward

Michael Phelps Ward, CBE (26 March 1925 – 7 October 2005) was an English mountaineer and surgeon. Amongst his other accomplishments, he was the expedition doctor during the history-making first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 led by John Hunt, when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit. He argued the conquest of the mountain was as much a victory for science since the scientists finally figured out how to cope with the physiological effects of extreme high altitude such as oxygen lack, dehydration, and cold injury. His discoveries a few years earlier in the Royal Geographical Society archives of the Milne-Hinks map and unofficial RAF photos of the Everest area helped find a viable route the summit thus making the ascent possible.

He had instigated and participated on the earlier 1951 British Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition which pioneered the route used by the 1953 expedition. He was asked by Eric Shipton to go on the 1952 British Cho Oyu Expedition, but declined in favour of completing his national military service and medical studies, particularly his upcoming surgery examination.

He was a pioneer in high altitude medicine and physiology, which he researched with Griffith Pugh during the ground-breaking 1960-61 Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition, also known as the 1960-61 Silver Hut Expedition. He used this opportunity to lead the first ascent of the iconic Ama Dablam, notably during winter, a climb considered years ahead of its time.

He was Vice President of the Alpine Club 1968-69, Chairman of the Mount Everest Foundation 1978–80 (acting 1977), President of the Cambridge Alpine Club 1986–95, and Master of The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London 1993–94.

Ward lived most of his life in London, where he worked for various hospitals. A prolific writer, he published around one hundred articles for mountaineering and medical journals, as well as four books.

Books published 1966. The Mountaineer’s Companion (editor). London: Eyre & Spottiswoode.

1972. In This Short Span. London: Victor Gollancz.

1975. Mountain Medicine: A Clinical Study of Cold and High Altitude. London: Crosby Lockwood Staples. (Republished in 1989 as High Altitude Medicine and Physiology with James Milledge and John West. London: Chapman and Hall Medical. )

2003. Everest: A Thousand Years of Exploration. Glasgow: Ernest Press.