The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST” FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1938. Invincible Everest

Northern Advocate, 29 July 1938, Page 4

The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST”

FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1938. Invincible Everest

Registered for transmission through the post aa a Newspaper

ACCORDING to Mr. F. S. Smythe, a member of the British Everest Expedition, the odds arc fifty to one against sealing Hie mountain. Attempts on Everest are governed by a number of factors. In the first place,, the consent of. the Thibetan Government has to be obtained. In the second place, the state of the weather determines with the utmost finali y whether or not it is prudent to assault the so far impregnable peak. On Everest fine weather seldom lasts for long, and once the southwest monsoon starts to blow it is impossible with any certainty to expect fine weather at all. 1 1 . „ VT u w This year’s expedition, under the leadership of Mi. H. V\. Tilman, was unfortunate, in that the monsopn came unusually early, and after that there was hardly any fine weather. It appeared at one stage that the expedition would have to be prematurely abandoned, but in the middle of June it did succeed m occupying the North Col, so this somewhat limited success (limited by Everest standards, but stupendous by any other) was the most it managed to achieve. It was an interesting expedition, in that several cardinal principles of earlier attempts were discarded. [The party of seven was small and mobile, and every member of it was capable, should the occasion have arisen, of taking part in the final assault. Then, again, it was decided that oxygen should be used in a crisis. ■Unfortunately, the weather did not permit a really satisfactory test of these new theories. However, it is considered now that another attempt may be feasible in the autumn, when the monsoon is over. The cold then is certain to be intense, but those familiar with the region believe that the weather should he clear, and that there may not be too much snow to make climbing impracticable over the last few thousand feet. New Zealand has a slight personal interest in the attempt on Everest through the fact that a well-known New Zealand mountaineer, Mr. D. V. Bryant, has lately participated in some of the reeonnaisanee work round the lower and middle slopes. There is, too, a certain glamour about these persistent attempts to conquer tile world’s highest summit. Whether success will ever be achieved cannot at present be predicted with confidence, but it does seem* that a bold and skilful party, given luck with the weather, could reach the summit. Already live members of previous expeditions have reached the prodigious height of 28,000 ft. It was only the last terrible 1000 ft. that defied them. When it is remembered that one by one the great impregnable mountain summits of the world have fallen before the persistence of alpinists, there seems some reason to hope that Everest, too, will fall. At one time the Matterhorn, in the Swiss Alps, was deemed unclimbabie, but Edward Whymper conquered it, and now the climbing of it is almost an everyday affair. Then, again, the north face of the Eiger, 13,000 ft., in the Bernese Oberland, was reported by cable to have been climbed the other day. This terrifying precipice has claimed the. lives of many audacious climbers, and some epic feats of endurance and tragedy have been enacted upon its storm-swept ledges. But now, four young Germans have dissipated the legend of its invincibility. Their feat was scarcely less difficult and dangerous than the ascent of Everest. Thus Everest, too, may eventually yield.