MT. EVEREST TRAGEDY.

Grey River Argus, 18 July 1922, Page 3

MT. EVEREST TRAGEDY.

j LEADER’S ACCOUNT. *‘ A TER R 1 BLE MOI XTAIN. ” [A. and N.Z. (’aide Association.) (I.ONDON, July 15. General Bruee, leader of the Eve est expedition in a despatch from tl Rongbuk Glacier base camp, gives graphic story of the terrible expt* iences ending in tragedy by which en porters lost thvir lives. It was decided, he says, that Hie f nal attempt on Mt. Everest 1 made on June 7, as the monsoon wa approaching, and little time was lefStutt, Londstaffe and AForshead ha been obliged to return to Darjeeling Norton and Bruce himself were force' for reasons of health to go to a lowc altitude. However the six Englishniei were available and these were organis ed so as to evacuate the camps in con junction with the. climb. Mallory, Sommerville and Finch

with Crawford and Norris, as assist ants, left the main base camp in threatening weather. They were snowed for 36 Lours and they were compelled to return to the base camp. On Jam being confident that the slopes leading to North Col were in a trustworthy condition, it was decided to evacuate the Col and have a further try at the mountain. Mallory, Somerville and Crawford joined to assist in step-cut-ting and path making to the North Col, hoping to relieve the others for th-e greater exertions later. They were followed by fourteen coolies roped together, laden with the food and the oxygen plant which was intended for use in the latter stages. The lower slopes of the North Col were firm, but half way up the snow began to slide. Those on the leading rope load slipped. Mallory Somerville. Crawford and one porter were carried down but after sliding a hundred and fifty feet by the greatest luck the slide was chocked and all were extricated unharmed. Looking round for the rest of the caravan they saw the men on the snow below*. They climbed down and found the second rope porters had stopped on the edge of the ice cliff, sixty feet deep with a great crevasse at the foot. The other two rope loads had been swept over the cliff into the crevasse. They were able to rescue three men but tlie were buried in the deep crevasse with an avalanche of snow on the top of them. All hands worked for hours but were obliged to relinquish efforts after recovering all but one of the six. The recovered men were nil dead. General Bruce adds: In this tragic manner ends the first attempt to conquer the greatest mountain in the world. From the experience gained this year there is no reason to believe that future efforts wfill fai|. The weather has broken and whore wo once walked on dry ice. arc now torrents of water. We were lucky in completing the evacuation of the camps as we did. Everest is a terrible enemy and the chances against those attacking are of the greatest. The mountain visits the smallest error of judgment with terrible punishments.