Alpine Club expedition off soon to Mt Everest

Press, 12 July 1985, Page 2

Alpine Club expedition off soon to Mt Everest

Mount Qomolangma will during the next three months be uppermost in the minds and sights of 14 members of the New Zealand Alpine Club. Qomolangma is the Tibetan name for the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest. The climbers will leave next week on the first leg of an ambitious expedition which seeks to scale the mountain from its northern slopes. Final preparations are being made during a promotional tour of New Zealand, which passed through Christchurch yesterday.

All 14 members of the party will be together for the first time in Sydney on July 20. They will fly to Peking the next day, then begin the long overland journey to a base camp near the site of the Rongbuk Monastery in Tibet.

The proposed climbing route is via the mountain’s west ridge, across part of the north face, and up the treacherous Hornbein couloir (gully) to the summit.

Equipment and provisions, most of which have already been shipped to China, include 7km of rope, 200 snow anchors, and 80 days supply of food. Several companies have

given equipment, ranging from radios for communication between bases to a four-wheel-drive vehicle to be used to carry mail and fresh vegetables between base camp and the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. The vehicle, provided by Toyota New Zealand, Ltd, will be given to the Chinese Mountaineering Association after the climb.

The New Zealand expedition is being run on a shoestring budget. Sponsorship has helped, although each climber has had to raise more than ?6000 for the trip. Lack of funds is one reason why the New Zealanders will not be using Chinese porters. One of the climbers, Warwick Anderson, of Greymouth, said that in China a person was considered to lack integrity if he could not look after his own gear. He said that the use of porters would also be contrary to the do-it-your-self image of New Zealanders. If successful, the 1985 Qomolangma expedition will be the first New Zealand party to climb Mount Everest. Two New Zealanders — Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953 and Nick Banks in 1980 — have reached the summit, but both did so as part of overseas expeditions.