UKH

I was watching the amazing film about the first ascent of the Towers of Paine

And I was impressed by the claim that the expedition supplies included 700 cans of Guinness.

Do we have any historical or recent expeditions that can claim to exceed this boast?

youtube.com/watch?v=UBSKm6YTgMI&

Dunno, but I've just acquired this year's Wisden. It includes the obit of the great Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Rod Marsh who "was partial to a beer" and had to be helped from the plane on a luggage trolley when he arrived for the 1975 Ashes tour, having got through 51 cans of lager en route.

I'd look to the early attempted ascents if mont blanc. Can't list what some aristos took off hand (well their porters did) cases of champagne, whole legs of lamb, the list went on

This springs to mind...

youtube.com/watch?v=jxXbpHeIrUc&

By volume or alcohol content? I know Glenfiddich sponsored Harry Markle's Walking With The Wounded expedition to Everest. And pretty sure Macallan or some other whisky company gave several cases to one of the 1970s Scottington type expeditions.

Records are made to be broken...

https://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/david-boon-downs-52-cans-of-beer-on...

The Franklin Expedition to the NW passage had an estimated:

• 2,684 gallons of overproof rum
• 200 gallons of port and brandy for medicinal purposes
• Unknown additional wine and other spirits as in Officers personal kit lists

The daily rum intake is apparently the equivalent of four 50 ml doubles of Lamb's a day and about four times the current UK recommended weekly intake.

I suppose that explains why they disappeared. 

I assume the died of the DTs after running out.

Lassitude can be a danger at altitude.  

T.

Wasn't Whillans on that trip?

Andy Holden ran 100 miles and drank 100 pints in a week.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Holden_(athlete)

Yes, the 700 cans of Guinness and the whisky was for him, unfortunately they didn't record the provisions for the rest of the party so we'll never know the true extent of the drinks they brought

It is worth bearing in mind that in those days, cans of lager on planes were considerably smaller than the cans we would find in shops, so Marsh's 51 cans probably equates to about 25 or so normal' sized cans. Still a prodigious feat.  

My parents used to live in Bramhope, outside Leeds, near the hotel where the Australians were staying for the Headingley Test. From memory, I suspect it was the same year as your Marsh story. One evening during the Test, my father decided to walk down to the hotel to see which cricket stars he could see in the bar. When he arrived, there were none to be seen. On enquiring at the bar, he was told they had all gone elsewhere, having drunk the bar dry the previous evening. 

Good piece, well found. I knew about David Boon's effort but not all the detail. Odd that the piece suggests he was looking to beat the Marsh/Walters 44 effort rather than Marsh's later 51 - the latter would make more sense given the timeline and the numbers. Good players, Marsh and Boon - and Doug Walters was a heck of a player when he was in the mood.

Going back to on-hill drinks, I know of someone who had an accident on the way down from a Munro completion (his own, from memory) where drink had been imbibed, and I've always been wary of this myself. 25 years ago this week I was at the joint-1500th Marilyn do for the late Rowland and Ann Bowker (Rowland in particular could knock it back) on quite a rough west-coast thing, and I felt distinctly woozy on the way down to the col for the next hill.

PS - I recently walked home 6.5 miles from Dunblane to Stirling after a chess club pub session during which I had all of 3.5 pints of Greene King. That appears to be my limit these days - I felt pretty blurry (but pleasantly so) for the first three miles before making better progress in the second half. I did however need to stop for a sit down (outside another pub, funnily enough) in Bridge of Allan en route.

Perhaps a little more champagne?