Life At The Highest Hut In The World

Press, Volume C, Issue 29448, 25 February 1961, Page 6

Life At The Highest Hut In The World

[By DESMOND DOIG, Journalist with the 1961 Hillary Himalayan Expedition]

ALL were anxious to spend Christmas together in Silver Hut (19,200 ft so, although the four physiologists who had just arrived were sure to suffer from mountain sickness, we decided to take the risk and Christmas Eve found us as far on our way as Green Hut (18,000 ft

It was not a merry occasion as most of the partv were suffering from headaches and fatigue after the long ascent from Ningbo; but next morning recovery was complete.

Everyone then enjoyed the ascent of the ice-fall and neve of the Mingbo glacier in the calm, clear air and warm sunshine. As Silver Hut came into view, we were greeted with the sound of Christmas carols sung by the five occupants, who had come outside to welcome us. Some of us spent the rest of the morning skiing. For my part, I was surprised to find my balance quite unaffected by altitude. After that came Christmas dinner, consisting of soup, roast lamb and Christmas pudding. There followed toasts to Her Majesty, absent friends

and loved ones; then more carol singing until it was time to return to the lower huL No one seemed to have suffered any ill effects from the height and even the skiers seemed reasonably adept On our return we fixed a rope down a treacherous 30-foot ice cliff for the benefit of those wearing ski boots. The steps we had enlarged and hollowed out that morning were full of water —a striking testimony to the power of the Himalayan sun even in mid-winter. By the time we reached Green Hut the sun had gone down and it was intensely cold, so we were glad to reach shelter.

Swiss Visit On December 31, the longawaited helicopter suddenly made its appearance round the corner of the valley below Mingbo. A minute later it circled above the camp and settled easily in one of the stone-walled enclosures near the tents.

It was a moment of intense excitement for ail of us, not least the Swedish pilot, Mr Nils Grimskog, and his two Swiss passengers, Mr J. D. Monsch, of the Swiss Dairy project at Jiri, and Dr. Hagen, who was making this flight in connection with his work for the Tibetan refugees in Sola Khumbu.

They spent an hour with us and inspected a site for an airstrip for use in the spring, when two light aircraft will be in service in Katmandu. The ground will need only a little preparation and we have already begun work with a group of sherpas. After the return of Sir Edmund Hillary and the "yeti scalp’’ on January 5, by the same helicopter, and his departure for Katmandu after discussing plans for the move to Mount Makalu in the spring, we settled down once more to scientific work. In this first phase we are still divided into two parties, one at Siver Hut and the other at Mingbo. After almost uninterrupted fine weather since October, the winter storms are now upon us.

We are beginning to realise that working at the lower camp will become increasingly difficult on account of the cold, and the buffeting winds. The effect of oxygen is the least of our difficulties. The newcomers have acclimatised remarkably quickly, as shown by the experience over Christmas, and the members of the party at Silver Hut are beginning to recover some of the weight lost during the early part of the expedition.

Acclimatisation This Is perhaps the best single Indication we have as yet of the establishment of full acclimatisation. It is in fact becoming more than ever clear that difficulty in acclimatisation and physical deterioration on Himalayan expeditions is as much due to hard living and extreme physical exertion as to altitude.

In view of the deteriorating weather the Mingbo party will be moved up to Silver Hut, where we are completely Independent of weather conditions, at least as far as our work is concerned.

Later I will describe aspects of the physiological work being carried on there. Although physiology occupies most of us, we are also carrying out a glac.ological programme.

Barry Bishop, our glaciologist, is studying the movement of the Mingbo glacier, also the balance between nourishment of the glacier by snowfall, avalanche and wind deposition, and its ablation by melting and evaporation. Valuable Information about the recent climatic history of the region is being obtained by studying the stratification of the glacial snow and ice by means of pits and borings. A cross-section of the glacier is revealed in the walls of some of the Immense crevasses seen here. It shows seasonal stratification reminiscent of the rings of a tree. Careful measurement of these strata yields the same kind of information as can be obtained from examination of the structure of trees. Information about the climate of the region in the more distant past is obtained by a study of moraines and other glacial forms, and can be correlated with similar studies from other parts of the world. The results of such studies have already contributed much to the knowledge of the weather's climatic variations. (Copyright 1981—by World Book Enryclopedia. Chicago Distributed by Opera Mundi. Paris ]