BRITISH EVEREST EXPEDITION

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21797, 1 June 1936, Page 11

BRITISH EVEREST EXPEDITION

NOW ONLY ONE HOLE OF SUCCESS temporary break in monsoon awaited t LONDON, May 29. A copyright message from Mr Hugh Ruttledgc, leader of the British Everest expedition, says that owing to reports that the monsoon is travelling north from India and also a heavy mountain snowfall, camp three has again been evacuated. Snow precludes an attack on the summit for some time. The first assault party was in position on the North Col on May 15, a week earlier than was planned, and, had the snow cleared, Mount Everest might have been climbed under ideal conditions, but through the absence of the normal north-west winds, the monsoon reached the Himalayas in great strength 10 days before it was expected, rendering the slopes of the North Col unsafe. To this cause was due the fatal avalanche of 1922 and the avalanche of 1935 during Mr Shipton’s reconnaissance. The only hope is a temporary break in the moonsoon and the removal of the snow by northwest winds. The North Col will, if necessary, be climbed at night, when the frost binds the slope. “We shan’t abandon the struggle until all possibilities are explored,” says Mr Ruttledge.