Peak purchase! Rusty tin of beef from first successful ascent of Mount Everest bought for £500 by oldest Brit to scale it
A rusty tin of beef dripping from the first successful ascent of Mount Everest has been bought for £500 by the oldest Brit to scale it.
The can of Colonial Beef Dripping was taken on the 1953 expedition when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the top of the world’s highest peak.
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The 70-year-old tin came with a letter detailing that it belonged to Mike Westmacott, a British mountaineer who was also a member of the expedition.
It was bought at auction yesterday (18 Mar) by Graham Keene.
In 2022, he became the oldest Briton to summit Everest aged 68.
Keene, of Exeter, Devon, said the tin had personal meaning to him, as reported by Whats The Jam.
He said: “I do presentations and talks about the Himalayas.
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“I know £500 is a lot of money for a tin of dripping but it will be a fine historic prop for me.
“The tin is a bit rusty, so I don’t think there’s any danger the contents will be eaten.”
Westmacott and his team of sherpas assisted in keeping the camps on the mountain well supplied.
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He had a successful mountaineering career in his own right, being elected president of The Climbers Club between 1978 and 1980.
Brian Goodison-Blanks, of auctioneers Bearnes Hampton Auctioneers, Exeter added: “To actually think they had to carry several pallets of these cans up and down to various base camps at different stages to keep them supplied.
“I think if you’re at the top of Mount Everest, one thing you’re not going to celebrate is beef dripping. You’d rather champagne but it was the sort of thing that was practical and useful for them.
“It’s an interesting thing to have survived 70 years.”
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