SUPPORTING LIFE ON EVEREST

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21715, 24 February 1936, Page 4

SUPPORTING LIFE ON EVEREST

EQUIPMENT OF 1936 EXPEDITION SELECTION OP FOOt) FOR HIGH ALTITUDES (HtOlf OtJB OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, January 26. Mr Hugh Ruttledge, leader of the 1936 expedition which will attempt to reach the 29,140 ft summit .of Mount Everest, is taking the greatest care with the all-important preliminary work of equipping and provisioning his party. The suitability of the foodstuffs for maintaining human energy at very high altitudes is of great importance. Mr Ruttledge's task is complicated because he must depend largely on canned'foods. In the rarefied air of heights above 20,000 feet the appetite flags and needs tempting, especially as the menu must necessarily lack variety. The diet for the members of the expedition therefore has to be studied, so that the strength can. be maintained without straining digestions. Mr Eric Shipton, a member of the expedition, who has had great mountaineering experience, and is assisting Mr Ruttledge in the preparatory work, discussed this problem. "Before we started on our Everest attempt in 1933, a well-known authority worked out for Us a suitable ration " said Mr Shipton. "He told us how much protein and how many calories would be necessary to retain normal health and energy; but it was found in practice that one could rarely eat half the prescribed amount. In fact, we found that;to. try to consume all that we, should was simply to make ourselves sick. "Another peculiarity of :'. life at high altitudes is an increasing desire for sweets. Barley sugar is very popular," said Mr Shipton, "and has the advantage of containing glucose, which is not only nourishing, but is easily assimilated by the body. Consequently barley sugar and many kinds of boiled sweets are a necessary part of the expedition commissariat."

Necessary Vitamins The necessary vitamins are obtained in different ways. For "A", and "D," halibut oil is taken. "B" comes from yeast pills, and "C," most important for its anti-scorbutic qualities, will be provided by a special highly concentrated lemon juice, five gallons of whiqh is being taken out by the expedition. As a change from canned foods* the party will have meat, rice, lentils, butter beans, and dried vegetables, which will be prepared in high pressure cookers. "By using these cookers," Mr Shipton said, "we hope to minimise at any rate one of the great difficulties with which we shall be faced on the slopes of Everest, where it is very hard to get sufficient pressure. Owing to the height, water boils when it is at only tepid heat." Eggs will be another useful feature of the diet, and thanks to the generous offer of an English firm, the party will take with them 3500 eggs kfept fresh by a new process y . The canned food is being vfinert ] as much as possible to stimulate! %6 palate. In this category there will be tongue, ham, and brisket, and luxuries will include caviare and pfit6 de fois gras. The Sherpa porters who accompany the expedition will have their native food. They like pemmican; but their principal diet is a roasted: flour they call satu, which they carrx in sacks. For drink they have a special Tibetan tea which is compressed into brick-like shape, from which pieces are broken off as required. They flavour it with salt and the rancid native butter.

"At high altitudes I prefer their tea to our own," said Mr Shipton. "These people have a theory that their tea is very nourishing, and prevents them from tiring easily.".

Equipment On equipment Mr Shipton has decided views. "The basis of all expedition equipment," he said, "whether in the Arctic, or the Himalayas, at high altitudes or low, is simplicity. This is most important,, and when arranging equipment it is necessary to guard against gadgets. Gadgets have a trick of going wrong at critiI cal times, and then you may get i Badly let down." The sleeping bags this expedition will use are an improvement on those taken in 1933. They have a double eiderdown lining, and the quilting has been arranged so that the eiderdown is evenly distributed for experience has shown that formerly those parts of the body near to the stitching became very cold in the severe Everest climate. Stronger tents, with fewer "gadgets" than those of the first expedition, have been chosen this time. Mr Ruttledge expects to have with him for the difficult and arduous climbing beyond the North Col (23,000 ft) some of the famous Sherpa porters known as "tigers," who accompanied him on his last attempt. '■ •