James Ramsey Ullman (August 21, 1907 – June 20, 1971) was an American writer and

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

. He was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He was not a "high end" climber, but his writing made him an honorary member of that circle. Most of his books were about mountaineering and geography. His works include ''Banner in the Sky'', which was a book based on the true story of the first climbing of the Matterhorn (it was filmed in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

as ''

Third Man on the Mountain ''Third Man on the Mountain'' is a 1959 American family adventure film by Walt Disney Productions, directed by Ken Annakin and starring Michael Rennie, James MacArthur and Janet Munro. Set during the golden age of alpinism, its plot concerns a y ...

''), and '' The White Tower'' (which would star

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age as ...

and

Lloyd Bridges Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. (January 15, 1913 – March 10, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, includi ...

). See ''Americans on Everest'' by James Ramsay Ullman he was short (page 195), published by J. B. Lippincott Company in 1964; Library of Congress Catalogue #64-14475. ''High Conquest'' was the first of nine books for the J.B. Lippincott company coming out in 1941 followed by ''The White Tower,'' ''River of The Sun,'' ''Windom's Way,'' and '' Banner in the Sky'' which was a 1955

Newbery Newbery is a surname. People *Chantelle Newbery (born 1977), Australian Olympic diver *David Newbery (born 1943), British economist *Eduardo Newbery (1878–1908), Argentine odontologist and aerostat pilot *Francis Newbery (disambiguation), sev ...

Honor book. All of these titles became small motion pictures. Ullman was the

ghost writer A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

for

Tenzing Norgay Tenzing Norgay (; ''tendzin norgyé''; perhaps 29 May 1914 – 9 May 1986), born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. He was one of the first two people known to reach the su ...

's 1955 autobiography ''Man of Everest'' (originally published as ''Tiger of the Snows'') and for

John Harlin John Elvis Harlin II (June 30, 1935 – March 22, 1966) was an American mountaineer and US Air Force pilot who was killed while making an ascent of the north face of the Eiger. Biography Harlin graduated from Sequoia High School and Stanfor ...

's biography ''Straight Up.'' He also wrote the short story "Top Man", a story about mountaineers climbing K3, a mountain in India. The story appears in several anthologies. It was originally published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1940. Issue #35. Beyond his mountaineering books, he wrote "Where the Bong Tree Grows," an account of a year he spent travelling through some of the most remote islands of the South Pacific. Ullman also wrote a novel about the poet

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he starte ...

, ''The Day on Fire'' (1958). He joined the 1963 American Mount Everest Expedition 1963 as an official historian. On 1 May 1963

Jim Whittaker James W. Whittaker (born February 10, 1929), also known as Jim Whittaker, is an American mountaineer and mountain guide. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, on May 1, 1963 he became the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest as a ...

was the first American to reach the summit with

Nawang Gombu Nawang Gombu (1 May 1936 – 24 April 2011) was a Sherpa mountaineer who was the first man in the world to have climbed Mount Everest twice. Gombu was born in Minzu, Tibet and later became an Indian citizen, as did many of his relatives inclu ...

(a nephew of

. Because of health problems Ullman had to stay in

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

. His book ''Americans on Everest: The Official Account of the Ascent'' was published in 1964. Ullman died in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

from cancer on July 5, 1971. His papers, which include an archive regarding Temple Fielding, are at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

References

Sources

''Time'' Milestones

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ullman, James Ramsay American mountain climbers 1907 births 1971 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists Newbery Honor winners Novelists from New York (state) Sportspeople from New York (state) Ghostwriters Deaths from cancer in Massachusetts 20th-century American biographers 20th-century American male writers American male biographers