DANGERS OF EVEREST CLIMB

Northern Advocate, 23 March 1936, Page 5

DANGERS OF EVEREST CLIMB

DIFFICULTIES OF LAST 1000 FEET (Received 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, March 22. The need of keeping a pair of expert climbers in reserve and unexhausted, for the final dangerous and difficult 1000 feet of Mt. Everest was emphasised by Sir Francis Younghusband, in his book “Everest —The Challenge.” Previous expeditions, he says, found it impossible to keep men fresh for the last dash, and as a result, those attacking the summit were so played out as to be utterly incapable of the eftort.

He suggests the possibility of establishing a final camp at 28,400 ft., from where the attempt on the last 600 ft. to the summit would be made.' It has been proved, he added, that great heights induce a craving for food. It might help, therefore, if the pair were supplied with plenty of appetising nourishment at 28,400 ft. “At the actual moment of turning back from a further effort to reach the summit,” he writes, “the climbers have no sense of disappointment, only a feeling of relief. Through the shortage of oxygen their susceptibilities are dulled, and they are: so exhausted . that they are almost dying men, indifferent to success or failure.