![]() His scant mountaineering preparation consists of a few training rambles in the lowly British hills, and he packs neither crampons nor an ice axe. Abandoned by the state and feeling purposeless in peacetime like many of his peers, Wilson is inspired by newspaper reports of Everest expeditions and sets his sights on scaling the world's highest peak, alone, aiming for both the summit and spiritual rebirth. A post-war round-the-world trip to New Zealand, Africa and the US results in marriages, separations and a string of broken hearts in his wake, leaving him 'topsy-turvy'. ![]() ![]() A salvo of machine gun fire injures Wilson, but his war wounds are likely to be more than just skin-deep. Those with a basic grasp of Everest's history will know that Wilson didn't succeed, but his gutsy attempt and its intriguing backstory - long relegated to the footnotes of Everest's annals - are ascending to prominence thanks to award-winning author and The New Yorker writer Ed Caesar and his latest book The Moth and The Mountain: A True Story of Love, War and Everest.Ī World War I Captain and recipient of the Military Cross 'owing to his pluck' and devotion to duty in 1918, Wilson's desire to climb Everest is 'forged in private trauma', Caesar writes. ![]() ![]() Maurice Wilson and his de Havilland Gipsy Moth aircraft. ![]()
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