BARRIER BROKEN

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33381, 13 November 1973, Page 17

BARRIER BROKEN

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copj/naht) GEORGETOWN, Nov. 12.

Four British climbers have scaled Guyana’s highest peak at their third attempt, having been thwarted earlier by a barrier of tarantulas and scorpions. The climbers today flashed the news of their success by radio to army headquarters in the capital, 190 miles away, and were later seen dancing with joy on the 9219 ft-high Roraima summit by members of the expedition at the main camp below, at the 7000 ft level.

The four who mastered the unconquered north-east face of the mountain in a joint British-Guyanese expedition, were Messrs Joe Brown, Don Williams and Julian Anthoine, and a cameraman who is leading a British Broadcasting Corporation filming team, Mr Hamish Mclnnes. The final assault was held up for several hours by a fierce storm which lashed the mountain this morning. After carrying out scientific investigations on the summit, they will rejoin the main expedition and spend five days returning to the Kamarang River settlement, and will then be flown back to Georgetown next week-end. The mountain was first climbed by the relatively easy Venezuelan side in 1884 by two British mountaineers, Sir Everard Im Thum and Mr W. Perkins. It is said that Sir Everard Im Thum’s description of the fascinating scenes on the summit plateau inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel, “The Lost World.”