The Valley of Flowers: An outstanding Himalayan climbing season

by Frank Smythe

In his delightful Valley of Flowers, mountaineer Frank Smythe takes you on a botanical expedition to the Garhwal Himalaya. Alongside the author, scale the steep craggy mountains and bathe in crystal clear pools; breathe in the scented foothills of the Himalaya and their carpets of peonies, roses, rhododendrons and gentian. Experience ‘the keen, biting air of the heights and the soft, scented air of the valleys’. Climber and adventurer Smythe journeys through the Himalaya’s Byundar Pass, climbs the Mana Peak, descends into the Byundar Valley, and comes terrifyingly close to an encounter with The Abominable Snowman. The Valley of Flowers is a pleasurable escape for any climber, walker, mountain lover or gardener, or indeed anyone who needs reminding of the beauty and serenity of the natural world.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Nature, Travelogue, Mountaineering, Adventure, India

297 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2015

About the author

Francis Sydney Smythe, better known as Frank Smythe or F.S. Smythe, was an English mountaineer, author, photographer and botanist. He is best remembered for his mountaineering in the Alps as well as in the Himalayas, where he identified a region that he named the "Valley of Flowers", now a protected park. His ascents include two new routes on the Brenva Face of Mont Blanc, Kamet, and attempts on Kangchenjunga and Mount Everest in the 1930s.[2] It was said that he had a tendency for irascibility, something some of his mountaineering contemporaries said "decreased with altitude".[3] Smythe was educated in Switzerland after an initial period at Berkhamsted School, trained as an electrical engineer and worked for brief periods with the Royal Air Force and Kodak before devoting himself to writing and public lecturing. Smythe enjoyed mountaineering, photography, collecting plants, and gardening; he toured as a lecturer; and he wrote a total of twenty seven books.[4] Smythe's focused approach is well documented, not only through his own writings, but by his contemporaries and later works.

Among his many public lectures, Smythe gave at least several to the Royal Geographical Society, his first being in 1931 titled "Explorations in Garhwal around Kamet", his second in 1947 titled "An Expedition to the Lloyd George Mountains, North-East British Columbia".

Smythe was a prodigious writer and produced many popular books. However his book "The Kangchenjunga Adventure" launched Smythe as a legitimate and respected author.[5]

During the Second World War he served in the Canadian Rockies as a mountaineer training officer for the Lovat Scouts. He went on to write two books about climbing in the Rockies, Rocky Mountains (1948) and Climbs in the Canadian Rockies (1951). Mount Smythe (10,650 ft) was named in his honour.

In 1949, in Delhi, he was taken ill with food poisoning; then a succession of malaria attacks took their toll. He died on 27 June 1949, two weeks before his 49th birthday.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_S...]

Reviews

[Dr. Kshitija · Rating 5 out of 5]

"But of all my memories, distinct or vague, one memory stands pre-eminent: the silence. I have remarked before this silence of the high mountains. How many who read this have experienced silence? I do not mean the silence of the British countryside or even of the northern hills or moorlands, for though we may strain our ears and hear nothing there is always life not far distant. I mean the silence of dead places where not even a plant grows or a bird dwells. That day there was no wind, not the lightest breathing of the atmosphere, and I knew a silence such as I have never known before. I felt that to shout or talk would would be profane and terrible, that this silence would shatter in dreadful ruin about me, for it was not the silence of man or earth but of space and eternity. I strained my ears and heard- nothing. Yet even as I strained, I was conscious of something greater than silence, a Power, the presence of an absolute and immutable Force so that I seemed on the very boundary of things knowable and things unknowable. And because I have felt this more than once before on the high mountains I know that death is not to be feared, for this Force is a part of Heaven and part of us; how else should we be aware of it? From it we have evolved; into it we quietly and peacefully return."

-Smythe's thoughts on summiting Mana Peak (23860 feet)

[Pratishtha]

" What a man gains in cleverness he may lose in spiritual perception; "

[Leilana · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Nature is honest, there is no meanness in her composition, she has no time for fools, there is no place in her code for weaklings and degenerates. Out of her strength we gather our own strength. And it is good to be strong, to be able to endure, not as a brute beast, but as a thinking man imbued with the spirit of a great ideal."

[Aparna Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Balm to the soul of every travelogue loving reader, this is particularly a delight for anyone who loves the mountains, as I do.

Best read in small doses, to completely enjoy the descriptions of nature (mountain, snow, rain, stars, sky, flowers) in the now famous Valley of Flowers.

If I had one quibble, it is with the gently patronising colonial baggage that Smythe cannot rid himself of, caricaturing as he does the local people, painting them with the broad brush of ‘noble savages’, even when kindly meant.

Besides that, it is a thoroughly enjoyable read and learning a little bit about commonly used mountaineering terms helps you picture it even better.

[Santanu Dutta · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first description of the his accidental finding of the valley of flowers located deep in the Himalayas amidst a blizzard is really a novel reading experience. The author has traveled to the place afterwards for a couple of times for mountaineering in the nearby mountains including the Mana and Neelkantha Peaks.
Although most mountaineering efforts resulted in failures if we consider climbing a peak as success, the book is a live account of the vast scenario of the region, the flora, the fauna.
A very good read in travelogues.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me home to the hills, to the times we have faced the lashes of the rain and wondered when will it all end. Many parts of the book will be connect deep with mountaineers and that’s why it was a big suggestion to all my mountaineering friends.
I would also suggest that one should not read it as a book on The Valley of flowers, its a book on the adventures of a Mountaineer more than about the valley. You will be a bit disappointed if you purchased this book just for the description of the valley. Else it's a marvellous read.

[Himalayan Hikers · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A truly enchanting read! 'The Valley of Flowers' beautifully transports you into the heart of the Himalayas, where every bloom has a story and every trail feels sacred. As someone who has personally done the Valley of Flowers trek with Himalayan Hikers, I found this book deeply relatable and inspiring. It captures not just the natural beauty but the spiritual silence that surrounds those misty meadows. A must-read for nature lovers, trekkers, and dreamers alike!"

https://www.himalayanhikers.in/valley...

[Neeraj Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it during my travel from Delhi to Kathgodam and then further when camping at Sari Village near Chopta/Kedarnath. It's mostly about Frank Sydney Smith's time spent in the Garhwal himalaya and his subsequent successful and failed summit attempts of other mountain peaks in the Nanda Devi National park.. post his successful ascent of the Kamet in 1931, discovering the Bhyunder Valley of flower !
Overall an easy read, with technical details when scaling the peaks, part of which I didn't like.. overall a decent read

[Vishnu Menon malayattil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is set in that period when European interest in himalayan mountaineering gained the status of an international competition. In 1931 a British expedition claimed Mt Kamet, and was returning back to base, when serendipity struck and they stumbled upon what is presently known as the valley of flowers. The valley of flowers is ensconced between Bhyunder village and the Alakananda valley and sits in pretty view of many major Garhwal peaks. Holdsworth, a botanist, who was part of that group of six Britishers wrote in his book 'Kamet Conquered' that it is up to someone to go back up there and bring specimens of all those beautiful flowers. Frank Sydney Smythe, another member of that group took that task upon himself and revisited the valley in 1938 - after a failed Everest expedition the year (or so) before. This book is about Smythe's sojourn collecting and documenting the flowers of this paradise on Earth.

The book is rife with the logic of imperialism, a certain civilizational vantage is conferred to the West and the men of the East are often looked down upon. This is the only negative I felt of this book, but given that Smythe was a product of his time, and history has acknowledged the incongruency of such a misplaced philosophy, let me brush this point aside. Otherwise, the narration of the book is at perfect pace, the English - old and alluring and the facts detailed. Smythe climbs from Ranikhet ever uphill till he finds a suitable camping spot deep in the valley, along with four Tibetan porters - Wangdi, Nurbu, Pasang and Tewang. Other helping hands get hired here and there for shorter durations but these men are present throughout. At the camp, Smythe immediately sets about collecting flowers, seeds, documenting information, prospecting the landscape, making detailed journal entries and so on. It is obvious that he has researched and read all the then available literature about the mountains themselves and the flowers that could be encountered. As summer deepens, a second motive becomes clearer - climbing the peaks of upper Garhwal; soon Peter , Smythe's companion from previous expeditions join. They attempt several peaks, their success rates and the weather and snows they encounter, I will leave for the next reader to freshly imbibe - though I will go ahead and name their target peaks - Nilkanta, Rataban, Dunagiri, Mana peak, and Nilgiri Parbhat.

Summer and spring pass quickly and the reader finds himself in the last couple of pages where Smythe extolls a thorough tribute to mountain climbing. I do not think anyone can do better justice of a one line book review than Ruskin Bond - "All those who love mountains, flowers, mountain streams, and monsoon mists, will love this book".

Must read for anyone who has enjoyed Himalayan slopes and snows, and for those who aspire to. The armchair traveller would gain too, from a weekend read of this exquisite Himalayan travelogue.