J. O. M. Roberts

Lieutenant Colonel James Owen Merion Roberts MVO MBE MC (1916–1997) was one of the greatest Himalayan mountaineer-explorers of the twentieth century; a highly decorated British Army officer who achieved his greatest renown as "the father of trekking" in Nepal. His exploratory activities are comparable to those of Eric Shipton and Bill Tilman.

Born in England, Roberts spent his early life in India, where his father was a headmaster. After attending Sandhurst, he was commissioned onto the Unattached List for the Indian Army in August 1936 as a 19-year-old subaltern to satisfy his ardent craving for mountaineering. After a probationary year attached to a British Army regiment in India, he was posted to the 1st battalion, 1st (King George V's Own) Gurkha Rifles in November 1937.

His first major expedition was in 1938 to Masherbrum, 7890 metres, in the Karakorams: the weather was bad, the attempt was unsuccessful and J.B. Harrison and R.A. Hodgkin got severely frostbitten. Roberts himself suffered at high altitude and suffered mild frostbite.

He tried to join the post-monsoon 1939 Everest expedition led by Bill Tilman, but the attempt was called off. That year, he recorded the first of his many first ascents, that of Guan Nelda, 6303 metres (now called Chau Chau Kang Nilda) in the Spiti Himalaya. The ascent was remarkable for something which became a Roberts hallmark: he climbed without any other "sahib" for company, accompanied only by his Gurkhas. In this he was the true successor of the legendary Dr. A. M. Kellas who had climbed in the same fashion in Sikkim before 1914.

He was selected for the abortive 1940 Everest expedition.

The second major first ascent by Roberts was the 1941 climb of the ca. 21,148-foot peak he named White Sail (also known as Dharmsura) in the Tos Glacier of Kullu Himalaya.

After serving with the 1st battalion, 1st Gurkhas in North Africa, he returned to India and joined the 153 (Gurkha) Indian Para Battalion. He was dropped into North Burma on 3 July 1942 at the head of a small force to survey the Myitkyina area and then march 150 miles North to Fort Hertz. Roberts's party reached Fort Hertz in early August and discovered it was still in British hands. On 13 August, a party led by Capt. G.E.C. Newlands of 153 Para dropped in on Fort Hertz with engineering supplies and the hitherto-unusable airfield at Fort Hertz was made operational by 20 August. Roberts and his men were extracted around that date. For this operation he was awarded the Military Cross.

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