LOST STAMINA

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 December 1933, Page 8

LOST STAMINA

EVEREST FAILURE EXPLAINED. In an article recently published in the London “Daily Telegraph” Dr. Raymond Greene, the medical officer of the Expedition, reveals the physiological influences noted among the climbers who made the recent gallant but unsuccessful assault on Everest. He shows how “deterioration,” common to those who reach high altitudes, affected the party at the crucial stages. He' describes its symptoms, suggests some probable causes, and presents other conclusions of vital scientific value in the sphere of high altitude climbing. He states: — Since we left Everest behind us too short a time has elapsed for a properly digested account to be given of the mass of clinical and physiological material which, by the whole-hearted collaboration of every member of the party, has been added to our knowledge of conditions at great altitudes. Dtying the two and a-half months spent at Base Camp and on the moun. tain, the members of the Expedition developed not merely an interest in physiology, but a great skill and care in clinical unanimity in their conclusions.

All climbers at great altitudes are highly strung, and when the whole object of an expedition is the attainment of the summit, everything should be done to protect them from every possible source of worry and annoyance, and of additional effort, however small.

Such physiological experiments as were made were therefore made on myself, and my companions were subjected only to careful clinical observation. As a result of these observations, and of past experience in the Himalayas, it is possible to draw some conclusions on the subject of the choice of personnel. . In choosing a member of an Everest team, the first essential is to ensure that he is a sound and experienced mountaineer. No considerations of personal friendship, linguistic skill, or athletic achievement must he allowed to interfere with this essential criterion. The ascent of peaks of 25,000 ft. and over (and it is only at this height that the effects of altitude become serious to an acclimatised party) involves invariably a great nervous strain, obvious always in those whose self-con-trol is not good, appreciable to careful observation in the strongest characters.

If to this necessary strain is added the factors of living under conditions never before experienced; of lack of confidence in his climbing ability; of fear of falling, whether conscious or subconscious, inevitable in an inexperienced mountaineer; perhaps most important of all, of fear of letting down his companions, it is hardly to be expected that a man can be any-.

thing but a handicap to an expedition.

The Everest climber must be a good mountaineer. He must also be physically sound, capable of withstanding hardship, both physically and mentally, able to live on terms of friendship with those whose failings become more obvious as conditions of life become harder, and capable of quick acclimatisation to lack of oxygen. There are no means except experience of assessing the last qualification. The others are as likely, perhaps more likely, to be found among mountaineers than in any other group of men.

The age of the Everest climber is a subject which it has always been difficult to discuss without prejudice. As in all branches of human activity, those whose experience is longest rule the roost. It is difficult for a man who is conscious of the possession of a wealth of valuable experience to confess even to himself that he is no longer capable of putting his experience into practice. But my opinion, based on my own experience and on the greater experience of others, is that the best ages lie between 25 and 30 years—or possibly 35—and that no man, older or younger, who has not recently shown himself ah exception to the rule by actual climbing at great altitudes, should be chosen. To this rule there is one general exception. A man who has, within the proceeding two or three years, climbed to a great height undoubtedly retains some acclimatising power. This advantage over men who have never had an opportunity of showing this power may justify the choice of an older man.

This Everest expedition, the first to lay down a policy of careful acrclimatication and to abide by it, having been forced by bad weather to overshoot the mark, provides evidence of deterioration sufficient to convert the most stubborn doubter. Before turning to this evidence, it is well to describe the remarkable effects of our policy of slow acclimatisation. The most obvious difference from past expeditions was, perhaps, the absence of serious respiratory difficulty throughout. A certain disorder of breathing occurred in several members during their first night at a new altitude. This passed off rapidly except in the case of one slow acclimatiser.

HEARTY APPETITES. Little distress was felt during exercise, and of the 14 climbers 13 reached the North Col without undue distress. So also did the signals officer of Camp 111., who is not a climber. The one exception, who had not noticed up to Camp 111. any increase in his breathing, unfortunately contracted a. gastric ulcer, a trouble not to be attributed to altitude, and had to return to Base Camp. Above the North Col there was a general increase in respiration, but

not to the extent of serious embarrassment. Those who ascended above Camp VI. needed only two or three breaths to a step, and found it unnecessary to make frequent halts. This is a very different story from that told by our predecessors. The accounts of previous attempts on Everest have laid frequent stress on the distressful breathing experienced at great altitudes, but no member of the recent expedition was embarrassed to that extent.

On the porters the effects of acclimatisation were equally marked. There were no cases of mountainsickness, such as those which occurred in 1922 and 1924, and there was never a shortage of volunteers for Camp V. and VI. Never was there any difficulty in making them start in the morningeven under the worst conditions; yet the weather conditions were, according to the evidence of those who were present on both occasions, far worse than in 1924. lam sure that men ’ike those who attempted Everest in 1924 would never have been forced to retreat from Camp 111. to Base Camp had they been properly acclimatised, and, therefore, fit. In other particulars, also, acclimatisation proved a valuable and, to the transport officer, an embarrassing asset. Climbers retained their appeties even at the highest camps, and their fastidiousness increased. Time was when climbers were prepared to live for long periods on a tin of condensed milk, a pot of jam, and an acid drop. The high-camp ration-boxes were filled on these lines. This year urgent messages were daily sent down to the harassed party at Camp HI., and by them passed on by wireless to the base, demanding mutton and ham and eggs. At Camp IV. men dreamed with childlike and blissful smiles of steak and onions and roly-poly, while the more fiery spirits emptied into the crevasse tin after tin of meat ration. For great altitude had made gourmets of us all. The minor ills of high climbing were likewise reduced by our slow upward progress. Headaches were uncommon. Most men slept well throughout, except sometimes during their first night at a new camp, or where the discomforts of their position were too great. Smythe, alone at Camp VI., slept for 13 hours.

DETERIORATION SET IN. I The party was remarkably fit, cheerful, and full of energy, even at camps above the North Col. But in time deterioration, the bogey of the pioneers, came to make a. retreat inevitable. It is difficult to convey exactly what, is meant by altitude deterioration. It is a complex of many small symptoms and signs. But there is one obvious and constant sign—loss of weight. There came a time when faces looked less cheerful and sometimes drawn and haggard.

An increasing lassitude began slowly to reduce the abounding energy of the party. We climbed more slowly, and with more fatigue. Each time a man went from Camp IV. to Camp V. he reported that he had felt the strain more than on the last occasion. Appetites grew smaller. The weather forced a return to Base Camp, where a rapid recovery took place. But when we once more ascended the glacier the change iu our condition was obvious.

Each day we spent at Camp 111., waiting for an improvement in snow conditions which never came, made it more clear to me that the party had shot its bolt. Only two were still fit, and these were the men who, by reason of slow acclimatisation, had taken upon themselves the hard and unshowy work of keeping open the low[er lines of communication, but had I never been to great heights. I By the time we had reached Base 'Camp again, there was not one of us iwho had not lost at least a stone in (weight. One man had lost three , stones. It is extremely improbable that anyone can be found capable of going twice in the same year to Camp VI. This deterioration is probably not due to any single cause. This year the known vitamin deficiencies were excluded, but. I have no doubt that monotonous food, the uncomfortable and often sordid conditions of life, cold and wind and snow, and great nervous strain alternating witli period of monotony, all bear their part. ft is generally supposed that a j chronic shortage of oxygen is the most, important cause, but I have seen deterioration occurring at an alarming

rate at the moderate altitude of 21,000 feet, in men who, through acclimatisation, have suffered no obvious oxygen shortage three or four thousand feet above. .On the 1933 expedition wo were provided. with an apparatus which, unlike its predecessors, was genuinely portable, weighing- only 12:71b. It proved its value in the treatment of pneumonia and of frostbite, but was never used by climbers. The apparatus was ready at Camp IV., ami there it remains. We did not succeed, owing to the dangerous condition of the. North Col slopes, in reaching so high a point again. Thus the monsoon robbed us of an opportunity to test the new apparatus in appropriate conditions.