HIMALAYAN TRAGEDY

Evening Star, Issue 21783, 27 July 1934, Page 9

HIMALAYAN TRAGEDY

SEARCH ABANDONED RETURN TO BASE CAMP FrM* Association—By Telsgraph—Copy? flit. CALCUTTA, July 26. A message from the base camp says that all hope for Dr Merkl and the porter, Gaylay, has been abandoned. All the climbers and porters have returned to the base camp after being unable to get more than halfway to camp 5 owing to bad weather. Dr Willy Merkl and eleven German climbers had been making an attempt to climb Nanga Parbat, 26,620 ft, a peak in Kashmir. The party consisted of nine climbers, three of whom were scientific experts and six of whom had previous experience in Himalayan climbing. Dr Merkl met with considerable ill-luck in . his 1932 attempt to conquer the Nanga Parbat peak. He was driven back by storms, and members of his party were affected by sickness. Thus twice previously have expeditions braved the sheer face of Nanga Parbat, and twice has the mountain re pulsed the attempts. In 1895 A. F. Mummery, one of the greatest figures in the history of mountain climbing, was lost with two porters at a height of 20,000 ft. In 1932 the German-Ame rican expedition under Dr Merkl abandoned its attempt through sickness among the members. Even then one climber. Herr Weissher. narrowly escaped death in an avalanche which swept him into a 60ft crevasse. Nanga Parbat, seventh highest peak in. the world, and the highest single mountain from base to summit, rises out of the Indus Valley with_ a single magnificent face of 23,000 ft. its height above sea level being 26.620 ft. It is regarded as the finest mountain spec tacle m existence. The party which made the attempt last year consisted of the following membersDr Merkl, Herren Fritz Beehtold, Peter Aschen brenner, Rand Herron. Herbert Kuniek, Fritz Weissner, Felix Simon Dr Hugo Hamberger, and Miss Elizabeth Knowlton. ,