Less than a year before the 100th anniversary of the legendary Everest expedition of Mallory and Irvine, the passing of mountaineering historian Audrey Salkeld severed a vital link with the pioneer climbers.

Born in London in 1936, she could still recall visiting a lecture by Frank Smythe, another luminary from the pre–World War II Everest expeditions, as a teen, and “falling in love with the blonde mountaineer.” Later she became acquainted like no other with the files of the Mount Everest Committee at the Royal Geographical Society, the main trove of information about the first attempts on the mountain. She became friends with the last two surviving British members of the 1924 expedition, Noel Odell and Captain John Noel, and preserved many of their recollections in her books and on film.

Audrey’s research became the foundation for Walt Unsworth’s seminal Everest: The Mountaineering History, and she put the everlasting enigma of Mallory and Irvine’s disappearance back into the public eye with her own book, The Mystery of Mallory and Irvine, co-authored with American researcher Tom Holzel. The two were also behind the first organized search for Mallory and Irvine, in 1986, which, although unsuccessful, allowed Audrey to realize her dream of visiting Everest, climbing as high as advanced base camp at 21,000 feet. She had previously gained some rock climbing experience as a member of the informal “Tuesday Climbing Club” in London and remained an avid mountain traveler, later summiting Kilimanjaro.

Her prime motivation as a writer was the human side of mountaineering—why are people drawn to the mountains? What do they experience? How are they shaped by the experience? Her approach, paired with a natural and infectious curiosity, provided Audrey with an inside and outside view of climbers, reflected by the broad scope of subjects in her regular “People” column for Mountain magazine. In addition to writing her own books, including the 1996 winner of the Boardman Tasker Award, A Portrait of Leni Riefenstahl, she edited a highly readable compendium of mountain fiction, translated books by Reinhold Messner and Kurt Diemberger, scripted films for Leo Dickinson, and assisted novelist Jeffrey Archer with his fictional account of Mallory’s life, Paths of Glory.

Audrey’s work on Everest and Mallory also would change my life.

I read The Mystery of Mallory and Irvine as a 16-year-old in late 1987, and I was hooked immediately, irrevocably. Audrey was among the first to answer the many questions that came up in my own Everest research. Her second book, People in High Places, an insightful travelogue of her journeys to Everest and Mustang, became almost a blueprint for my own way to Everest with the 1999 Mallory and Irvine research expedition [during which Mallory’s body was discovered at 26,760 feet on Everest]. In the challenging times before and after that ultimate encounter with Everest history, Audrey remained a calming voice of reason, staying mostly above any controversies and providing comfort, support, and advice.

In the years that followed, my wife, Sandra, and I visited Audrey and her beloved husband, Peter, a couple of times at their beautiful cottage near Penrith, on the edge of England’s Lake District.

I last met her at the Alpine Club in London for the 25th anniversary of the 1988 Kangshung Face climb, and it was comforting to see her so welcomed and respected even among climbers of younger generations. I felt sad when I saw her extensive library going up for sale a few years ago—a sure sign that Audrey’s health was in decline—and I like to think that some of her spirit gets redistributed with her books across the world.

With Audrey’s passing, it feels as if an era in Everest history is about to die out—and with it, perhaps, a certain quality of climbing journalism. In a time when historical amnesia has become widespread, when the need for new “firsts” and records has led to subconscious or even deliberate ignorance of past achievements, someone with an encyclopedic knowledge like hers will be sorely missed. But for me, and I would guess many others, her dedication as a journalist and historian, and above all her kindness, generosity, and integrity as a person, will never be forgotten and will remain an inspiration.

—Jochen Hemmleb