BRITISH ATTEMPT ON EVEREST

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27038, 13 May 1953, Page 10

BRITISH ATTEMPT ON EVEREST

Preliminary Training Completed

USE OF OXYGEN “ENCOURAGING”

[From COLONEL JOHN HUNT, by arrangement with “The Times" —Copyright! KHUMBU GLACIER, May 4. In our planning in London we had •stimated that it would be necessary to have completed our training by mid-April, in order that we might move to the foot of Everest and start shifting our stores into the cwm during the latter part of this month. This stage has now been reached, and it is satisfactory to record that the objectives which we set ourselves for the preliminary period of training have been attained. Despite a few temporary set-backs, all members of 1 the climbing party are uniformly fit and have acclimatised successfully to I the altitudes attainable at this time of i year; we had, in any case, decided that this height—about 20,000 -feet— I would be appropriate to our eventual < oxygen policy on the mountain. Our experiments with oxygen dur- , ing this period have been more en- ; couraging, for all potential users on ' Everest have used it with success and have gained confidence in its value. ; During this second period of acclimatisation our open-circuit apparatus has ; been worn continuously for more than ■ five hours without discomfort by some members of the party. Further tests 1 of the closed'-circuit apparatus have been so far successful that I have decided to carry these experiments a stage further on Everest itself. If this experiment should prove itself at high altitude, the economy in logistics and time of an attempt on the summit with such apparatus would be very great Of particular interest in connexion with our oxygen training has been the initiation to its use of a carefully chosen party of Sherpas. Here again this elementary training —for further practice will be necessary —has proved a success. I watched these men climbing with oxygen under the instruction of Evans, Wylie, and Tensing; their performance was impressive. All of them expressed themselves as enthusiastic about its effects. . one comment being that it made going ' uphill equivalent to going downhill. For myself perhaps the most pleasing of all the benefits derived from the acclimatisation period as a whole nccn the way in which we have 1 settled down as a team. Ours is in fact a very happy party. It has long Been my conviction that success in this great venture will depend on this factor of teamwork as much as. if not more than, any other. We are all persuaded that there is little significance attached to the final effort or to those who may undertake it; each of us has a full and equal part to play. Activities of Parties Following are brief accounts of the activities of each party during the second acclimatisation period. They are given, in their own words, by Evans. Noyce, and myself. gs a&jss.* °*-I* l ®, open-circuit oxygen Dura’e our first night at fei? g^h<was x a _. heavy MoWlaii. and on- the next day we stayed rili a < l al ?A P ' i -„ t t a \ Ing .K ad^ ntage of the dela y to initiate the Sherpas into the use oi oxygen. .2? ft® ™ orning we taught them to “PP aratl A and we found ° le to earn toe main powts about it at once. We then put it on them and sent them off, two and two. to climb a nearby hill. ’’Their enreat there was some danger of the experiment turn2!3?\® rae ® 4or clock, so that thl ° arn J he ?l hat tbe y would get the most out of their oxygen by v- their norm al. climbing allowance for Si?* of this new toy, it is certain that they derived substantial benefit4.rOnJ. “J use. even at 16,000 ft. he ? d ‘L f valley, about «ght rales beyond Dingboche, is a cirque. whose run is everywhere . *9,oooft In the centre, as the Island Peak, and on April 11 we jnoved up to camp at its foot To regen it we had to cross some very ground at the junction of the glaciers which flow on either side of but °P C £ th^ re we found a g r as3 \ hollow by a small lake S™. plenty of juniper fuel to hand. Next day we took tents up the south riage of the mountain, building plat- ° n a step scree . 13 six of “ went to the ‘°F; Gregory Wylie, and Ang Temba I One r °h e ' Tensing - Da Nangyal and The final’part of the climb was .up The lowest and °£,diis we were able to le ft. on the! SISL S’* where snow rtragto thestera ice slopes. NeverthesJ.e P s had to be cut and it when Tensing, who had done Se i” h har “ work ’ st ®PPed on to O’ l £>”■£ 14 , we started back for Thye ngboche. where Major J. O. M. Roberts was to meet us on April 16. He has now arrived, bringing our **e° n d consignment of oxygen cylind- ®*, s ; 2 s ® on .Everest itself. ** nrt the, next few days will be occupied f maux stores to the foot . s party: Hillary. Lowe. Band boche on April 9 and camped at Phalonf Karpo. A snowfall during the night made the next three days’ Si" One site 00 ♦ f tZ-JEjta levelled platforms for a Ju* L c ?^ 1 > ies l Y r^ e P^ id o®:' aaa naa 10 sle ep out unpro- . tectea. - ■ . 131 Ban 2 W “t- ? her P as for wrap u. rney found the lower reach . c® the icefall more complicated than they had expected, and sent back the » •chfeving most of the wy Camp H It had been a On April 14, while Band improved the lower part of the route, Hillary found a variation brought them out more earfly to the platform of Camp H This route is also easier and safer than one tried still further to the right the next day. At the time of ending this report, and of reaching the top of the icefall \ tomorrow. In general it may be said that con- 1 ditiot.s on the icefall appear at present to be more difficult than either in 1 1951 or m 1952. Nor is the present 1 base camp site altogether satisfactory. 1 Nearly all members of the party, in- i eluding the Sherpas, have been suffer- J tag from minor complaints. My party, 1 consisting of Bourdillon, Noyce, and i ourwioctor, Michael Ward, was primarily concerned with carrying out < further tests of both the open and closed-circuit oxygen equipment We .® . ca W beside the left bank 1 of tije Imja glacier, across the pastur- ! age« of Chukkung, and beneath the tawunng northern precipices of ' Amadablam (22,300 ft In the course of * thr ? e da y s ’ sta y. We climbed a . very strikmg rock peak of 19.500 ft, : which dominates Chukkung. dwarfed though it is by its elose neighbour ' Amadablam. It is known locally as Umbu Gyabjen. The closed-circuit apparatus was used for a part of this , , gave some training in ice- . about 19,000 ft Noyce and Ward, operating on this same terrain, carried out system, climbing with it throughout yr<ra the Imja valley, we crossed eysr to the Khumbu on April 13 and / faMf a route from Chukkung by Wch, later in the year, yak herds / i-'.

are moved from one pasturage to another. From the pasa dividing these valleys, Bourdillon, Noyce and Ward climbed a 20,000 ft summit, known locally as Pokalde. This journey has brought us to this site on the right bank of the Khumbu glacier, known to the Swiss as Lake Camp and used by them as their base during their premonsoon attempt on Everest. We are one short march from the foot of the icefalL