The New Expedition's Attack on Everest

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 75, 30 March 1936, Page 5

The New Expedition's Attack on Everest

ITS CHANCES OF SUCCESS

It is not-unduly optimistic to say, writes “M.C.” in tho Manchester Guardian, that each expedition 'that plans attack on Mt. Everest is more likely to succeed than tho expedtions before it. There are solid reasons for expecting that the 1936 expedition, under the leadership of Mr Hugh Ruttledge, will come nearer than any to achieving tho summit. Everest is not an obstacle against which attack after attack has been launched in the same manner and defeated by the same forces; if that were so, the attempt might be given up for good. Chances and probabilities are now narrowed down to smaller margin than ever before, thanks to tho work of earlier expeditions. One striking instance of this can easily be given: Mallory, in the expedition of 1922, decided that the last camp must bo above 25,000 feet, which was too low for the culminating attempt on the summit to be made. On the expedition of 1924 the final camp was placed higher; Mallory and Irvine lost their lives in th e attempt on the summit, and it may well have been because there was still not time to cover the distanco and return. On the expedition of 1933 the final camp was placed at 27,400 feet, and it was still not hign enough. The expedition now going out proposed to add yet another camp at 27,800 feet, a third of a mile nearer to tho summit, leaving only 1200 feet to go to the top. This decision is based on previous experience, and it should give the climbers the best chance there has yet been of covering the final distance in a given time, which is how the problem ultimately works out. The condition of the rock and snow on the mountain and the state of the weather are the incalculable elements, and they have played their part in the defeat of other parties. Hut with the last camp pitched as high as possible and with relays of picked climbers in readiness there will he nothing left to chance except tho weather or some unforeseen accident. Organising the Ascent

Organising the attack on Everest is a complicated work, beginning with tho system of transport that lands the party at the Base Camp on the Rongbuk Glacier. Thero the expedition is like a small army, with the climbers, the native porters, the huge store of provisions and equipment. All this careful organisation leads to the eventual setting out of two climbers, many days later, from a little tent nearly 28,000 feet high on the mountain. In between is a journey, done by arduous relays, which to climbers who have done it before must seem like setting out again on a familiar yet always astonishing journey. Three camps are on the East Rongbuk Glacier leading to the foot of the Chan La, or North Col; then comes the steep and difficult climb to the ridge where Camp IV is pitched. From year to year the difficulties of this climb vary, and in 1924 part of the way had to be provided with a ladder and ropes for the laden porters. From the camp on the North Col the way lies up the slope of the north ridge to tho intermediate Camp V, and then to the (hitherto) highest Camp VI. In these two stretches there is no inherently difficult climbing; it has been possible for porters and climbois to pitch the tents and for men to eat, sleep, and breathe for a night or more at the camp 27,400 feet high. It is after the last camp that the difficulties beo-in. After a gradual ascent comes a rock buttress known as the 1 irst Step; this has been surmounted before, and this time should be passed earlier than ever before because the last camp will be appreciably nearer to it. Then comes the Second Step, a precipitous rock band which, as earlier climbers have proved, can only be climbed where a steep couloir crosses it vertically.

It is hero that all climbers so far havo been stopped. Norton in 1922 and Wyn Harrie, Wager, and Smythe in 1993 have skirted the base of the precipitous band as far as the couloir but have not been able to climb any distance up it. '-The slabs of rock slopo downwards very steeply, and on the 1933 expedition there was fresh, deep snow, which added to the dangers and made progress so slow as . to bo useles. In 1933 Mr Smythe, going on alone after his companion liaO been forced to turn back, only covered fifty feet after an hour of intense effort. A more heroic fight there could not be, but to risk certain disaster is not heroic; Mr Symthe turned back and reached Camp VI, not before a storm had broken in which he must have died had he gone on with the climb. The task is by this attempt made clearer for the new expedition, and the time at their disposal for climbing the couloir will be the greater because their starting-point will be nearer. The final pyramid to the summit is an unknown climb, but it is not thought to present any insuperable difficulties. -No one has trodden these last feet of the mountain unless it were Mallory and Irvine, whose fate is unknown. Picked Men for Last Pinch

The way up Everest is known, and the plans are made; the personnel o± the expedition is promising. Mr Ruttledge will not go to the highest camp, but will go so far as the North Col (23,000 ft), from which he should be able to watch, with a telescope, the climbers on the. higher slopes. All the party are capable of reaching Camp IV on the North Col. The climbers for the higher camps and the final attempt are Symthe, Shipton, and Wyn Harris,

who in the last expedition all reached 28,000 feet; Ivempsou, Warren and Wigram, who went on last year’s reconnaissance of Everest; and Oliver and Gavin. The porters, a most important section of the expedition, are some from Darjeeling, and some are the hardy Shcrpas. Many of them will no doubt have helped in previous attacks for these brave and devoted porters often serve again and again in Himalayan climbing expeditions. ireless receiving and transmitting set? are being taken, and it is hoped that they will be used as high as Camp V at 25,700 feet.

Suppose that all is prepared, the highest camp has been established, and two of the picked climbers arc sleeping there at 27,860 feet, only 1200 feet from the summit. They have their schedule for next day; they must start early—about 6 a.m.; they have estimated that it may take fifteen hours to get to the summit and back. As Mallory said years ago, the final climb is a matter of endurance and pace uphill. A given distance must be covered in a given time. Suppose all this and the greatest possible state of fitness and acclimatisation. in the climbers. Then the only obstacles are those unforeseen and unforesce-

rl; 1 1 remains that a fi d"y may send the climbers to the summit; a sudden storm or series of storms may blanket all their effort. Or the conditions on the great vertical couloir may again prove impossible if there is too much fresh snow on the slabs. But these are difficulties which leave room for hope. One thing at least is plain; the expedition of 1936 has, in its plans, been able to come nearer to certainty, wherever that is possible, than any expedition yet.