A HIMALAYAN RAMPART.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 163, 12 June 1939, Page 6

A HIMALAYAN RAMPART.

The news that New Zealanders are formulating plans to climb Alount Kinchinjunga (orKancbenjunga) in the Himalayan Mountains is of interest far beyond these shores. The expedition is to take place next year and of the eight members live will be drawn from the Dominion, The third highest mountain in the world, Kinchinjunga is a peak of the Eastern Himalayas situated on the boundary of Sikkim and Nepal, with an elevation of, 28,140 feet. Seen from the hill, station of Darjeeling, it presents! a stupendous sight, dominating! all the intervening ranges and rising from the regions of troph ' cal undergrowth to the altitude of j eternal snows. It is one of the grandest ramparts of the world, and the expedition shows an ambition worthy of the many which in the past have sought to stand upon these great peaks. Only Mount Everest and Mount, Godwin Austen surpass it in height,' the former by very little less than 1000 feet and the latter by 104 fect. The proud peak of J'onsong and flic grim and silent heights of Kamet have known the tread of men who have sought to plant their feet upon Kinchinjunga. Some years ago an expedition headed' by Dr. Paul Bauer, the German alpinist, unsuccessfully stormed the sides of this defiant mountain. In the previous year an avalanche hurled back an international expedition and among its members was the famous British mountaineer, Mr F. S. Smythm This party then turned its attention to Jonsong' with conspicuous ! success. More recently a small ! British-American party conquered i Mount Narnia Devi, rising W 25,;G6O feet in British Gharwal. Their j first objective was Kinchinjunga, ! but the Indian Government re- ! fused the necessary permission to attack it. The expedition of 1940 has been more successful, and it will be wished every success in its great effort to subdue vet another of the promt peaks of the Himalayan ramparts, which frown forbiddingly on puny mankind, yet, have had in several instances to bow to the indomitable spirit of the mountaineer.