RETURN FROM HIMALAYAS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27498, 4 November 1954, Page 12

RETURN FROM HIMALAYAS

N.Z. Member Of Two

Expeditions

CLIMBING WITH OXFORD UNIVERSITY PARTY A New Zealander who had the unusual experience of taking part in two Himalayan expeditions in one climbing season passed through Christchurch yesterdqy on his return to his home in Dunedin. He is Mr C. M. Todd, a biochemist who left for the Himalayas early this year to join the New Zealand Alpine Club’s Himalayan expedition led by Sir Edmund Hillary. He joined an Oxford University party at Lucknow, and took part in an expedition to West Nepal. Mr Todd, with Mr G. Harrow, of Christchurch. climbed Mount Baruntse (23.380 feet), the' highest peak climbed by the. New Zealand expedition. This is one of the ascents which will be described next week in Christchurch in public lectures on the expedition. When Mr Todd and other memberf of the New Zealand expedition reached Lucknow on their return from the Himalays, they learned of the Oxford University expedition, which was led by Dr. H. J. Harrington, of Auckland, who is a brother-in-law of Sir Edmund Hillary. Dr. Harrington invited Mr Todd to join his expedition, and so it was that Mr Todd, three or four days later, turned

back to the Himalayas. The university expedition, said Mr Todd in an interview yesterday, was sponsored by the Oxford Exploration Council, a university organisation which in the last 35 yearslhad arranged many notable explorations, including some in the Arctic. I This year’s was the first Himalayan trip sponsored by the council. The interests of the members were botanical, zoological, geological and geographical. As climbers, most of the meanbers of the expedition were inexperienced by New Zealand standards, though they had all had some experience m the Swis& Alps, said Mr Todd. Dr. Harrington, .as a New Zealander experienced in mountaineering, had been invited to lead the expedition. Mr Todd gathered enough detailed information of the topography of the area to draw a reconnaissance map of an area of some 400 square miles—a task which he has not yet started, i Notes were taken by one member of the party on the people and the trade in the area. Other aspects of the party’s scientific work included 1 gathering plants and making geo- : logical surveys. “Altogether we got a lot of useful information,’’ said Mr Todd. With Dr. Harrington and an American Rhodes Scholar, Mr Todd climbed Mount Rakshya (22,000 feet). Two Sherpas accompanied the three Europeans on this climb. Mr Todd said that no Europeans had previously visited the area. Dr Harrington and Mr Todd arrived back in New Zealand in the Wanganella on Monday.