SCALING EVEREST.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 4577, 1 May 1922, Page 4

SCALING EVEREST.

POPE'S TELEGRAM TO BRUCE. London, April 6. Dr. W. S. Bruce, leader of the Mount Everest expedition, in a dispatch dated Apdil 4, says that the main body of the expedition was then at Yatung. All were fit and well, and the weather was perfect. Dr. Bruce received a telegram from Darjeeling, sent by the Pope, who is a keen and skilful Alpinist, and has often encountered Lieutenant-Colonel Strutt (one of the six chambers) in the high Alps. Dr. Bruce delivered a mesage from Major-General Ba don-Powell to the Boy Scouts of Kalimpong, where the movement is flourishing. Marching up the Inchumbi Valley, Dr. Bruce was struck by the extraordinary richness and variety of forest scenery, and mountain sculpture. There was no transport difficulty, the baggage being carried by Tibetan mules, the hardiest in the country. The most trying stage was that between Rongli and Gnatong, the distance apart by map being eight miles, but in altitude 10,000 feet. Two days were occupied in traversing tlio track, which wound up among blooming rhododendrons and mangolias. Descending the valley from Jelapla to Chumbi, the expedition entered the country of pine woods. The villages were reminiscent of Switzerland, filled with very cheery and jolly Tibetans, and many Nepalese emigrants. Dr. Bruce expected to reach PhariDzong in two days, and find the whole outfit, which was, dispatched from England, and the stores of grain ordered to be collected. As the monsoon begins very early in this part of the Himalayas, there is no time to lose. Probably not more than sfx weeks will be available from the time the base camp is established at the foot of Mount Everest, till weather conditions cause a cessation of the expedition's efforts.