SNOWMAN EXPOSED; MAKALU MISSED

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30100, 6 April 1963, Page 3

SNOWMAN EXPOSED; MAKALU MISSED

TCfh in the Thin Cold Air ** By Desmond Doig £ sir Edmund Hillary. Hodder * Stoughton. The London edition of the account of Sir Edmund HUiary’s 1980/61 Himalayan expedition has now reached New Zealand bookshops. It follows the New York edition which was available some five months ago in America The delay has benefited the book as many improvements have been made to the spelling of Sherpa names and correct captions have now been placed on the key pliotographs, some five of which were previously wrong.

It !s the story of the greatly publicised expedition which hit world headlines for many months with prolonged • Snowman” articles, a world tour with a “scalp,” and Hillary’s illness on' Mount Makalu. The purpose of the expedition was along very different lines from those suggested by the frequent bursts of publicity in the world’s press. The book only hints at its real purpose, then tends to follow the expedition’s public image at the time, concentrating still on the “Snowman” and a near multiple disaster on Makalu.

The real work, a big scale medical programme, has very little prominence, and nothing is stated of the results, which one hears through other circles, were regarded very highly and achieved many major advances in the solving of high-altitude physiological problems. The relative importance of their work can be judged by the fact that in a party of 20 (here were eight doctors, one biologist, and only one zoologist. Most of the others were mountaineers to give the necessary support

The objective was always primarily this physiological research, but an attempt at Makalu (fifth mountain in the world and climbed previously by the French) w’as added as a bait to attract some good mountaineers and as a final testing ground for the physiologists. The “Snowman” came a reluctant third objective at the request of the sponsors. To give good newspaper coverage the sponsor's public relations officer, a senior reporter, and an assistant all accompanied the expedition, Doig, the senior reporter. wrote more than the first half of the book. He finally disposed of the "Snowman” fairly well, and he now joins the six or so Europeans who have lived long enough with Sherpas to be able to converse freely with them. Not one of the six has ever found a reliable Sherpa who claims to have seen a yeti, although many books record Sherpa sightings of the poor creature. Such "sightings” have generally come through unreliable channels of translators and sensation-seekers. In this book the "Snowman” survives many chapters, as if the author did not wish too early in the day to bite the hand that fed him.

While struggling through Doig’s searching more or less from the valley floor, one gasps at the struggles with bridges, leeches, heat and precipitous mountains on the foothills just behind Katmandu. Several Western women have walked happily enough along this track and on it Nepalese women gladly carry 801 b loads suspended from their heads, for 5s a day. Doig took the best part of 17 pages to stagger over the treacherous heights of the Tashi Lapcha, which after all is a yak track Riddiford and Hillary made the first crossing by Europeans back in 1951. Although they had troubles through being off course, they still gave it barely a page in their original account.

The book suffers through this great unbalance of concentration on smaller issues. While the reader shudders at the hazards of the valleys one wonders what the backroom boys are doing. They’re mostly up in the mountains. Many fine climbs were made and they rarely appear in the

book. Barcham’s party was away two weeks on an interesting series of crossings and climbs. Milledge did a two weeks journey into the relatively unknown Mera. Swan accomplished some outstanding biological work, which has fortunately seen light of day in "The Scientific American.” The other big party did get some mention, although it was rather thinly spread. This was the construction group led by Hardie, building huts at extraordinary altitudes to form the bases for the main physiological work. Doig’s writing includes many minor inaccuracies. Had he been a reader of Himalayan books many of his mistakes would not have reached publication. Typical of these is his statement that Dr. Nevison blamed beer for the many swollen stomachs among the foothill children. Some of the doctors of the 1953 Everest expedition studied this carefully and diagnosed the complaint as sometimes a spleen swelling resulting from a malarial infection, or a symptom of under-nourishment through a protein deficiency. Sir Edmund Hillary follows. He summarises some other activities and moves on to Makalu. His task was difficult as he had to rely on others for much of his material; he was absent with the “scalp” and then invalided off the mountain at 22,000 feet. There are many changes of style, and one suspects that large pieces were adopted for the Hillary part of the book from the diaries of the five climbers whose assistance is acknowledged in the preface. Makalu was pressed very hard in conditions of wind which were unusual for the time of the year. The climb went on, and in time two Sherpas were carried off the mountain; and, in addition to Hillary, three Europeans came down in very bad shape. The summit was missed by about 400 feet. Considering the fact that climbing oxygen was not carried, it was a very creditable performance. The expedition tottered on the verge of disaster with a bad Sherpa fall. Six men were involved in one big slide and yet all lived to tell the tale. The Europeans, to their surprise, had deteriorated physically because of the long months of the high-altitude living involved in the medical programme.

Peter Mulgrew collapsed 400 feet below the summit and it was only then that the exhaustion of all the others became apparent. That they all got down safely was due to outstanding work by the Sherpas, who were beaten badly by the weather, were carrying loads and a man at above 26,000 feet and were without sleeping bags for two nights. They were short of food and drink, and there were no oxygen sets for them. One admires the climbers and Sherpas, but regrets the latter get so little published credit The route taken on the upper mountain was for some reason different from that taken by the French in 1955. Why it was different is not clear and one can only sort out the locality by studying the French photographs and sketches which are far better above 24,000 feet. A confusing passage includes the statement that climbers reached Camp 7 and saw “the slope fell straight down to Camp 3—6000 feet below.” A check of the French photographs indicates that the Hillary Camp 7 was well out on the Tibetan face and Camp 3 over the frontier pass in Nepal. For all this the book is a considerable contribution to Himalayan literature. One would expect something even better from an expedition which was so elaborately financed, was a very long time in Nepal, and included a big array of men highly qualified in their fields. Perhaps the expedition was too big and too varied in its activities, with consequent lack of co-ordination among its widely ranging parties.