Memories of Fred: Fred the mountaineer

For Fred, being abandoned by his guide at a steep point on the Copland Pass was a formative experience:

“… I did what he said and I got down all right. Mountain climbing got into my blood then and it was important to me for the next thirty years. It puts things into perspective – risks and skills, life and death, gives you the measure of problems and people,” said Fred.

Fred’s regular mountain treks left a permanent mark: “You come back from those things and a lot of problems shrink down to unimportant trivia, simply because you know what it’s like to be facing death and being in physical extremes.”

It seems significant that Nepal – one of the world’s most mountainous countries – became a key focus of Fred’s work. In 1985, the opportunity to trek Everest prompted him to take a job supervising blindness prevention work there. Since the first fateful trip, Nepal has gained a leading blindness prevention program and intraocular lens factory. It is also home to the world renowned cataract surgeon, Dr Sanduk Ruit; Fred’s long time friend and colleague.

(Taken from Fred Hollows: The Autobiography with Peter Corris. Kerr Publishing, p35 and Seeing is Believing. By Simon Balderstone and Michael Amendolia. McGregor Publishers, p49)

New Zealand mountain climber and Everest pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary had a close association with Fred and Gabi Hollows and The Foundation. This began with a chance encounter:

“As I approached the foot of the gully running several hundred feet up to the hut I was met by a young man who came bounding down to meet me and offered to carry my load up to the hut…

“I handed my pack over and saw his legs buckle slightly at the knees. Although I didn’t know it at the time, he was Fred Hollows who became a famous eye specialist, helping the blind in many third world countries – obviously he started his helpful attitude early in life.”

Sir Edmund, recalling a trekking expedition in his memoir View from the Summit.