HIMALAYAN-CLIMBING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14133, 7 August 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

HIMALAYAN-CLIMBING.

The riowe from Allahabad that the Duke of the Abruzzi arrived at the foot of Godwin Austen Peak, in the Himalayas, nearly a month ago, may be soon followed by + ,he announcement that the intrepid Italian

explorer lias beaten all existing mountainclimbing records by reaching its summit, 28,265 ft above sea-level. ■

Dr. Longstaff's ascent of a Himalayan mountain 23,406 ft high two years ago, marks, probably, the highest altitude yet attained without the assistance of a balloon, though in the same year Mrs. Bullock Workman looked down on the world from a point in the Nun Kum range, only 12ft lower. -

The duke's ambition is to top Mount Everest's snow-clad crest, higher, than which no one can ever climb. Dr. Longstaff had also included in -his itinerary, "Deva Dhunga" (God's Seat), as the Nepaleee long ago named Everest, but the Indian Government for political reasons objected, and the attempt was prohibited. ■ It is believed that the prohibition applies also to' the Duke of'Abruzzi's expedition. V Beyond the 16,000 feet, level Dr. and Mrs. Workman found practically no life of any description in the Himalaya*,