MINYA KONKA

Evening Star, Issue 22351, 29 May 1936, Page 11

MINYA KONKA

CONQUEST OF A MOUNTAIN It is easy to understand the fascination that mountains hold for some men when one reads such books as ‘ Men Against the Clouds.’ Here is told the conquest by a party of young Americans of Minya Konka, the highest peak of a great range on the borders of China and Tibet. Snow-clad Minya Konka stands 24,900 ft, and except on Everest, Kanchenjunga, and Kamet, no one has ever climbed higher than its conquerors. The Tibetans believe that Minya Konka is the abode of Dorjelutru, the Thunder God. Nobody, I imagine, could forget his first glimpse of it. Mr Arthur B. Emmons describes in his part of the narrative how their Tibetan guide woke them one morning, shouting “ Lookee! Lookeel ” ‘ ‘ There stood the resplendent Konga in the clear morning air, the very embodiment of majesty and awe, with a golden'plume of sunlit snow streaming from its summit in the early dawn. It seemed so remote that it was almost ethereal in its aloof austerity—a thing quite apart from the petty world below. “No wonder the Tibetans of this whole region worshipped it as a holy mountain! It was not difficult to imagine what had given rise to the legend that on its summit there reposed a golden crown whose radiance was now so much in evidence in the light of the rising sun.” A LAST GLIMPSE. As he says, it seemed almost a desecration even to attempt the ascent. But there was no turning back. After it was all over we find Mr Emmons writing:— “ An hour before sunset we breasted the pass. I turned in my saddle and gazed for the last time at Minya Konka, rising in supreme majesty above the clouds—again a being of indescribable beauty and mystery, aflame in the golden light of the dying day. I felt a swelling in my throat and a tug at my heart as I waved her farewell and dipped over the divide.” Only two of the party reached the windswept summit. Mr Emmons was not one of them; cruel luck robbed him, of the chance he had risked so much to win. At their last and highest camp, he says, they had just made the final plans for the attack “ when I attempted to slice a frozen biscuit with my pocket knife. The biscuit was tough, and its frozen interior yielded but little to my efforts.. Suddenly it gave way, and the knife broke through, cutting a deep gash in the palm of my left hand nearly two inches Jong. . . . “ I sat and dazed watched the thick drops of blood ooze out and drip slowly on to my sleeping bag. Suddenly the significance of what had happened penetrated my altitude-benumbed consciousness. “ This accident put Mr Emmons out of the running. He swallowed his disappointment while the others pushed on. They returned with “ their beards and eyebrows a mass of ice and their clothes sheathed in a white rime of frost, and sank exhausted: —

“ Unable to restrain myself longer, I posed the momentous question, ‘ \>cil, what luck? ’ Moore smiled wearily and said, simply ‘ Wc made it.’ “Made it! The thrill was electric! What an eloquent story those three words told. We had travelled over half-way round the globe, spent nearly a year in attaining our present position, and now at last the Konka had fallen I ” And what of the feelings of the conquerors, Mr Terriss Moore, in the chapter called ‘ The Citadel Falls,’ tolls us bow they struggled up the steep slopes. First, to their dismay, they found that they had mistaken a bump on the ridge for the summit. They retraced their steps, and finally gained their objective. “ At our feet, nearly three miles belov, the great sea of clouds lapped at the bases of the peaks. As the eye travelled eastward itmoved away across the endless plains of China to the distant line where earth and sky met. Hero and there rugged black islands of rock protruded through the mists in bold relief. “ North and south the entire range lay at our feet. To the west stretched the vast undulating plateau of Tibet, broken here and there by isolated snow ranges, mysterious and remote.” AN AMUSING CEREMONY. Tn the rushing wind they could barely hear each other’s shouts. They brought their cameras into action and exposed about 30 negatives of the distant horizon and the many jagged peaks. They carried out. too, an amusing and human little ceremony. “ Flag-waving was certainly not one of the purposes of our expedition, yet,

since this was the highest point of land (24,900 ft), which Americans had Over reached, we flew the American flag for a few brief seconds from my inverted ice-axe, while Dick photographed it. “ The same courtesy was shown the Chinese emblem because of the many kindnesses extended to us by that country whose guests we were.” And in the text we have the picture of Mr Moore, looking in his padded clothes and snow goggles like a visitor from another planet, kneeling on the summit of Minya Konko holding his national flag. But they had every reason to be proud of their achievement; they suffered much for it, and Mr Emmons was so badly frostbitten when he was waiting for the return of his friends that he had to have his toes amputated. But they have no regrets —“ ours had been some of the finest adventures imaginable.” .