The Dominion. SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 1933. THE ATTACK ON MT. EVEREST

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 218, 10 June 1933, Page 10

The Dominion. SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 1933. THE ATTACK ON MT. EVEREST

SgX X appeal as the campaign “ TSa MseSorf the word, with reconnaissances outDOsts supply depots and transport as carefully organised as an aS by a military force on a strongly-held posit,on. Exptong parties like army scouts reconnoitred the approaches to Ewest dt , and 1922. The first assault was made on June 1/24, when Mallorv and Irvine lost their lives. The last seen of them wete two black dots observed through a break in the clouds climbing the shou e ° f they reached the summit or how near they got to it will never be knoLn unless the present or some chmbers find traces of their oxygen cylinders or other relics. That this grim ias ness will be conquered some day may be assumed to be certain. It - only a question as to which nation will succeed in captur ng honours. The British alpinists are being closely followed by the Germans, and the Italians are also in the running. +n The German assault of 1931 on Kanchenjunga, adjacent to Everest, was a remarkable achievement. The technical mountaineering difficulties are said to be much greater than on Everest J" addition, the advance party worked at great heights up to 26,200 feett foi six weeks continuously, and kept up a rate of ascent not less than half the pace of ordinary mountain climbing. "For skill endurance, cold-blooded courage, and especially for judgment,” said the Alpine Journal in admiring comment the expedition will stand as the classic model for all time, Need ess to say. the present expedition, whose advanced camp is now pitched a 27 400 feet, 1740 feet below the summit,. has profited by the experi'ence of the German as well as of previous British attempts. The difficulties, however, are tremendous. It will have been noted from the cable messages that the climbers are in danger of missing their opportunity for the final dash by the advent of the monsoon. The layman may ask, “Why not begin earlier?” The fact is that a very short period is avai.able between the coming of comparatively warm weather and. the monsoon. Again the extreme cold makes it impossible for climbing to begin until tae ■sun is up. Thus the climbing day is shortened. . If the feat were a simple matter of mountaineering it would have been accomplished long ago. Ihe difficulty, of bieathing and the extreme weakness induced by even slight physical efforts at such lofty altitudes combine to make progress slow and laboured. One of the 1924 climbers said that he was rarely able to take thirteen steps without resting. The foregoing considerations show that the attack on Everest is a task demanding extraordinary powers of endurance, high courage, and most careful organisation. The peak is almost tantalizingly near the advanced post, yet two attempts to reach it have failed within the past week. It does not seem possible, now that the monsoon is due, that the present attempt will succeed. Supposing it does, some may ask, of what profit will it be that men should risk their lives in order to be able to say that they have scaled the highest peak on earth? Apart from possible valuable additions to scientific data there is that glorious love of adventure, instinct in the human race, without which there would have been no discoveries, and no progress. Our Empire itself has been built upon high adventure by land and sea.