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

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

. He was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. 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 Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

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 ...

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

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006), known as Glenn Ford, was a Canadian-born American actor. He was most prominent during Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-office draws of th ...

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 ...

). In his late 20's, after a discouraging lack of success as a theatrical producer, in New York, he undertook a journey from Lima to the Atlantic. He wrote about that journey in his book ''The Other Side of the Mountain: An Escape to the Amazon'', which is entertaining and informative on several levels. ''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,'' a 1955 Newbery Honor book. All of these titles became small motion pictures. Ullman was the

ghost writer A ghostwriter is a person hired to write literature, literary or journalism, journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and pol ...

for

Tenzing Norgay Tenzing Norgay (; ''tendzin norgyé''; May 1914 – 9 May 1986), born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepalese-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. On 29 May 1953, he and Edmund Hillary were the first confirmed to ...

'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 alpinist and US Air Force pilot who was killed while making an ascent of the north face of the Eiger at age 30. Biography Harlin graduated from Sequoia High School and S ...

'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 s ...

, ''The Day on Fire'' (1958). He joined the

1963 American Mount Everest expedition On the 1963 American Mount Everest expedition, Jim Whittaker and Sherpa Nawang Gombu reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 1, 1963, using the conventional route via the South Col. This was the first time the summit had been reached b ...

as an official historian. On May 1, 1963

Jim Whittaker James W. Whittaker (born February 10, 1929), also known as Jim Whittaker, is an American climber 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 ...

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 incl ...

, a nephew of

. Because of health problems, Ullman had to stay in

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

. His book ''Americans on Everest: The Official Account of the Ascent'' was published by J. B. Lippincott Company in 1964 (Library of Congress Catalogue #64-14475). Ullman died in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

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 Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Works

* ''Mad Shelley'', (1930) * ''Is Nothing Sacred? ith Arnold L Schueur, Jr', (1934) * ''The Other Side Of The Mountain: An Escape To The Amazon'', (1938) * ''High Conquest: The Story Of Mountaineering'', (1941) * ''The White Tower'', (1945) * ''Kingdom Of Adventure'', (1947) * ''River Of The Sun'', (1951) * ''Windom's Way'', (1952) * ''Sands Of Karakorum'', (1953) * ''Island Of The Blue Macaws, And Sixteen Other Stories'', (1953) * ''The Age Of Mountaineering'', (1954) * ''Banner In The Sky'', (1954) * ''Tiger Of The Snows (also titled: Man Of Everest) (also titled: Tenzing) with

'', (1955) * ''The Day On Fire'', (1958) * ''Down The Colorado With Major Powell'', (1960) * ''Fia Fia: A Novel Of The South Pacific'', (1962) * ''Where The Bong Tree Grows:...Journey In The South Pacific'', (1963) * ''Americans On Everest: The Official Account Of The Ascent'', (1964) * ''Caribbean Here & Now'' with Al Dinhofer, (1968) * ''Straight Up: The Life And Death Of John Harlin'', (1968) * ''And Not To Yield'', (1970) * ''Island Below The Wind'', (1975) Source:

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