CONQUEST OF EVEREST

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27074, 24 June 1953, Page 9

CONQUEST OF EVEREST

Tensing’s Part In Assault

[By arrangement with “The Times”—Copyright} KATMANDU, June 14.

The Sherpa, Tensing Bhotia, has become the centre of a political controversy as the result of his feat in reaching the top of Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary.

Many organs of biased opinion in both India and Pakistan are now implying that this final victory was Tensing’s alone—that he cut the route, blazed the trail and finally hauled Sir Edmund Hillary up to the summit on a rope.

Nothing could be further from the truth and nobody is less likely to make such extravagant claims than Tensing himself, a man of notable modesty.

Tensing, though a climber of great ability, was not employed by the expedition as a guide, but as a sirdar (head porter). He played little part in the choice of routes or in the preparations for the assault, and though at one stage in the final assault he and Sir Edmund Hillary took it in turns to cut a route, it was the latter who led the rope to the summit.

Tensing is a simple man of great courage and endurance; to credit him with the ability to organise 'an immensely complicated expedition or to control a team of greatly-experi-enced and most highly-intelligent climbers borders on the absurd. But this does not of course in the least detract from his skill as a climber, nor from his superb achievement—the fulfilment of a burning ambition —in reaching the top of Everest. There is also a controversy over Tensing’s nationality—whether he is in fact an Indian or Nepalese. In these controversies, which are engaging many of the newspaperreading public in both countries, the joint nature of the effort of British climbers and Nepalese Sherpas is being lost sight of, as is the generous co-operation given to the expedition by the Indian and Nepalese Governments.

Events on the mountain on May 29 were discussed by Colonel Sir John Hunt at a press conference at the British Embassy in Katmandu this evening. He emphasised to an audience composed chiefly of Indian and Nepalese journalists that Tensing, though a gallant and much-liked member of the expedition, was in no sense a guide to the summit It was Sir Edmund Hillary who throughout the final two and a half hours of the assault cut out steps, picked the route and headed the rope.

Sir John Hunt was 'asked for his opinion on proposals that the name of the mountain should be changed. He replied that he thought the present name a most suitable one and would not like to see it altered. He added: “I w’ould oppose most strongly any suggestion that the mountain should be renamed after any individual member of the expedition.” He said he thought a zoological expedition should be organised to inquire into the existence of the “abominable snowman." He believed, he said, that the “yeti” did exist in some form or another and a serious scientific investigation of it should be made. New Expedition Planned

Sir John Hunt is in excellent form, lean but fit, and is already looking forward to new British ventures in the Himalayas. He is suggesting to the Himalayan committee of the Alpine Club a British expedition , to the unclimbed peak of Kanchenjunga in 1955. Kanchenjunga (28,146 feet) is the world’s third highest mountain. Sir John Hunt and Lady Hunt were both members of the only previous British expedition mounted in 1937 with the object of discovering a route to the north col of the mountain. Technically Kanchenjunga is probably more difficult than Everest, but it is hoped that by 1955 a new British oxygen equipment will be sufficiently developed to give reasonable hopes of success. This is a so-called chemical oxygen set. in which the need for heavy cylinders is obviated. The equipment was being prepared for the British autumn attempt on Everest if the spring attempt had failed, and It is reported that the total weight of the set is no more than 121 b. This new equipment is of the closed circuit system, as was that used by Bourdillon and Evans in their attempt on the summit of Everest, during which they reached the south summit of the mountain —the first men to do so. This notable achievement has perhaps received less attention than it deserves. The assault was of thegreatest importance in the pattern of tne attempt as a whole. Not only did it provide knowledge of the final ridge between the south summit and the summit proper- it also proved that the immensely difficult ground between the South Col and the south summit was in fact climbable. Most Difficult Section Sir Edmund Hillary has said that the climb over this ground was the most difficult part of tne final assault. Sir John Hunt has described the shock with which he first saw it from the South Col; he said: “It looked as if another mountain began at the col.” This was the intensely difficult and unknown route which was followed by Evans and Bourdillon —a brilliant achievement unfairly overshadowed by the supreme triumph of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tensing. Sir John Hunt emphasises that although on their return to the Western cwm the victorious climbers and their support groups may have seemed relatively fresh, in fact all climbers who went higher than the South Col were near the limit of exhaustion. Two days after the ascent. Sir Edmund Hillary himself was extremely tired and found the climb down through the icefall heavy going. Sir John Hunt says of himself and his companions that on the journey back to Namche Bazar down the Khumbu glacier “we were walking —and that is about all.” Sir John Hunt is also anxious for the public to know that though the closed circuit oxygen, as used in the initial assault, was comparatively little tested at the highest altitudes, it had been very thoroughly proved at rather lower heights in the early part of the expedition. Not only was Bourdillon. its principal exponent, a supporter of its advantages, but Evans, his companion in the first assault, was also highly impressed with, its capabilities. And indeed. it carried these two able climbers to a higher point on Everest than had ever been reached before, and to the complete fulfilment of their allotted task.—Copyright.