ASCENT OF EVEREST

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 36, 11 August 1923, Page 14

ASCENT OF EVEREST

NEXT YEAR'S PROPOSED EXPEDI-

TION.

In the coursaof his presidential address to the Royal Geographical Society on 28th May, reports the " Daily Telegraph," Lord Ronaldshay said that at the anniversary general meeting last year Sir Francis Younghusband spoke of the highly equipped expedition which had been dispatched to make a serious attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest, and he summed up the factors in favonr of and those militating against the success of ,the enterprise.- They how knew that even while he was speaking, weighing with a carefully judicial mind the probabilities of success or' failure. Mallory's and Finch's great climbs had been made, wjrich, though they fell short of complete success, established new records in the annals of ruottritaiheering. And these records, consisting of ascents to altitudes of 26,985 feet by Mallory, Somervill, and Norton withoift the aid of oxygen and of 27,300 feet' by Finch and Geoffrey Bruce using oxygen, won a*, they were by a. mignincent combination of human courage and endurance, must necessarily occupy an outstanding, place in any review of the progress of geography during the year. There was no need for him to dwell upon the difficulties with which the Mount Everett Expedition of 1922, under the competent leadership of General Bruce, was confronted or upon the manner in which they were met and overcome,. for the story of the expedition has been graphically told by its members themselves f and those who were fortunate enough to be present at the meetings held under the auspices of that society and the Alpine . Club in October last would not?- easily, forget either the photographic views or the word pictures by means of which' they -were apprised of the labours and the achievements of the expedition. It had.not been possible to organise a further attempt upon the peak Jhis year; but that did not imply that man lias been beaten by the mountain. Far from it. The experience gained by the expedition of 1932, and notably the fact established by the climbers of the party that a camp at an altitude of 25,500 feet is a possibility and at an even greater altitude a probability, gave ground for hope that an attempt which they'hoped to launch' next year may yet be crowned with success.