Collingwood expedition

The Collingwood expedition is the Everest team with which Alleluia Cone took part in a successful ascent. The novel gives little information about the team’s organization or other members; instead, it makes the expedition visible through Cone’s place in its achievement and the press image built around her.

The Everest Ascent

The expedition is described as triumphant, and Cone is identified as having gone up Everest with it. Her account situates the climb at extreme altitude: the sun at eight thousand metres left her skin remarkably pale, while the glare narrowed her eyes. These details connect the team’s success to the demanding conditions of the mountain without supplying a fuller account of its route, leadership, or membership.

The Press Image

Newspapers presented the expedition through a playful fairy-tale comparison, dubbing its members Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Cone was cast as Snow White, but the image did not match the delicate, rosy-cheeked figure the name might suggest: her lips were pale, her hair ice-blonde, and her eyes narrowed against the snowglare. The nickname thus made her a conspicuous public emblem of the climb while turning the expedition’s achievement into a readily recognizable story.

The Climb in Retrospect

In a later classroom appearance, Cone spoke about ghost stories told by mountaineers after they descend from the peaks, acknowledging that climbers often leave such accounts out of their published narratives. She recounted seeing Maurice Wilson, the would-be solo Everest climber who died on the mountain, during an Everest climb after passing through the ice-fall. The episode is presented as Cone’s recollection, not as an official account of the expedition; it shows how the mountain’s history and its climbers’ stories continue beyond the team’s public triumph.