T H Braham

(1922- 2020)

Memories march on, memories also stay on. This is true in the case of a legend such as Mr Trevor Braham. Luckily, he has left a good record of his memories- three books, several articles in the Himalayan Journal and about two hours of recording of “Oral History”. Going through all these, one can fathom what an extraordinary man he was as a mountaineer and even otherwise.

Braham was born in Calcutta, (now Kolkata) India, on 22nd April, 1922. His father had a flourishing business, which he established at the end of the World War II, and the family had settled in the city. In due course, he was sent to Darjeeling to the St Joseph college, run by Jesuits, which inculcated a strong sense of discipline in him. The school had a powerful telescope and Braham spent much time looking at Kangchenjunga. He returned to England to study further, but was back in India to join his father’s business, reluctantly. One of the reasons he was returned was that he would be closer to the Himalaya.
On his first vacation, he was off to the Singalila ridge to Sandakphu with Sherpa Ajeeba, who later became a famous man. As he stood watching the sunset on Kangchenjunga, with clouds filling the valley his young mind was enchanted. “I knew then that this will be a large part of my life in future”.

Two more trips followed, to Sikkim. In 1945, he trekked to the Green Lake on the Zemu glacier, but bad weather did not allow any views. He returned to North Sikkim the next year, for a longer duration. Starting from Lachen, he trekked to Thangu and the next day stayed at the Himalayan Club Hut, at the foot of Sebu la, which they crossed the next day and stayed at a similar Club hut on the other side of the pass. They climbed the North peak of Chommoyummo.

On his return to Calcutta, Charles Crawford, President of the Himalayan Club, introduced him to the membership of the Club. From 1946 until his death in 2020 he remained a member of the Club – for 74 years. In his later years, he was elected as an Honorary Member. (The Club today is 92 years old)
In 1947, a German expedition wrote to the Club requesting them to depute one member to join their team going to climb in the Gangotri glacier. Braham volunteered and it was a fine opportunity for him. The accident on Kedarnath involving a Sherpa, several climbs and to be in heartland of the Himalaya was an experience. He separated from the team during the latter part of the expedition, and crossed the Kalindi Khal on 14th August 1947. This was the last day of the British Garhwal – the same day at midnight India became independent and it was now Indian Garhwal. Walking down to Badrinath he observed the Independence Day celebrations in these remote villages. He was almost the first trekker of Independent India! Hiring three bhotias from Mana village, he turned into the Bhuidhar valley and crossed the high pass of the same name to reach Malari. This was a fine exploration, as prior to this only Frank Smythe had visited this valley after the ascent of Kamet in 1931 and later in 1937 and christened it as the “Valley of Flowers”. Today, it is one of the most well- known valleys in the Himalaya.

He returned to Sikkim in 1949 and went north through the Dembang valley to “The Plateau”, surrounded by high peaks. All these explorations had been noted in England. Lord Hunt met him in Calcutta and Braham was offered a place on the forthcoming 1953 Everest expedition, not as a member but as a “reserve”. Braham could sense that his father was not keen on sending him to Everest and he politely declined. But during this meeting, John Kempe mentioned about a possible route on Kangchenjunga, unclimbed until then. In 1954, Kempe and Braham spent five weeks on the slopes of Kangchenjunga. Unfortunately, they could not locate a straightforward route, which was left for the party of Charles Evans, who made the first ascent of the peak in 1955.
Braham received a letter from Peter Holmes inviting him to join his expedition to Spiti. He readily agreed and it turned out to be a highly successful trip. They made three new climbs, explored western Spiti and finally climbed Guan Nelda peak (now Chau Chau Kang Nilda). From its summit, they observed that the adjoining peak Shilla, was far lower in height than the 23,000 feet mentioned on the survey maps. He studied that the Survey party had taken two bearings to arrive at this height, not three as required. After their observation, a re-survey lowered the height of Shilla to 20,520 ft.

By 1959, his father had decided to wind up his business in Calcutta and go back to England, as Braham had refused to take over. While the family was shifting, Braham went to the Swiss Alps three times and made eight superb climbs in one season.

By 1959, Braham had enough of business and work, and decided to retire and just enjoy the hills. As he was leaving India for good, he gave up all his positions at the Himalayan Club, which were many. Mainly, he was the Hon. Editor of the Himalayan Journal for few years and he passed on the editorship to the first Indian editor, Dr K. Biswas.

He spent three years in England, but the high ranges of the Sub-continent beckoned him soon. He secured an offer for a job in Pakistan, which was attractive. The firm had 2000 acres of land in fertile Punjab and orchards where fruits and cotton were grown. The firm had a factory to weave cotton. Braham was attracted as this would allow him to explore the northern areas which were relatively unknown then. He bargained and got one month leave each year to go to the hills or visit England. He was in Pakistan from 1961 to 1970 and did excellent explorations, covered in his book. His articles in the Himalayan Journal cover his trips to Diran, 1958, Swat and Indus Kohistan, 1962, Kaghan, 1965 and NW Karakoram, 1970.

On a holiday in 1969, he went to Devon and common friends Mr. and Mrs. D F O Dangar,1 introduced him to his future wife Elizabeth. They promised to keep in contact through letters as Braham left for Pakistan again. They were soon married and Elizabeth came to Pakistan to stay with him. Like any mountaineer would, he took her to Gilgit and they stayed at Astor. As she became pregnant with their first son, Anthony, she left for Devon. But after the birth of their child, Elizabeth did not keep good health. Braham resigned his job and went back to England, and Dangar arranged a place for them to live at Devon. Braham started penning his first book Himalayan Odyssey, which was published in 1974. By then, Braham received an offer to work

1 D.F.O Dangar compiled first 39 Indexes (Vol. I to 39) of the Himalayan Journal.