THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, APRIL 15, 1935 ATTACK ON EVEREST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22085, 15 April 1935, Page 10

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, APRIL 15, 1935 ATTACK ON EVEREST

Another attack on Mount Everest is being planned, the Tibetan authorities having given permission to a British expedition to invade the northern solitudes and attempt the ascent on the only side possible. It will be under the command of Mr. Hugh Ruttledge, who led the expedition of 1933, and a New Zealander, Mr. L. V. Bryant, has been invited to join it. This is a high honour for Mr. Bryant, and for New Zealand mountaineering, though it is more than probable that the capacity he displayed as a climber in the Swiss Alps brought him under the eye of the selectors. The selection of the party is one of the major problems in the organisation of such an expedition. The task is so formidable that volunteers must submit to the sternest tests of experience and fitness, and only the cream of climbers can hope to gain a place. Even then there must remain an unknown quantity, it being impossible to judge on any scientific basis the physical and mental reactions of any man under the influence of oxygen-lack of the higher levels. High flying may have aided science in measuring individual reaction's, but such observations do not cover the physical strain of a climb. When the expedition of 1933 was being organised, the committee that was composed of Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society and members of the Alpine Club first selected the leader, and, seeing that team work was an essential to success, Ruttledge was given a free hand in gathering his party, which the Tibetan Government had 'stipulated must be entirely British in personnel. There were shoals of applications, but few could combine all the qualifications that could be measured. Those provisionally selected had then to submit themselves to an overhaul by the Royal Air Force Medical Board. "For three mortal hours," says Ruttledge, "the trembling candidates were subjected to every test which could possibly reveal a weakness of mind or body." But "an Everest candidate was terra incognita. Who could say definitely if a man would acclimatise well on the mountain, or what would be the result on the individual of the change of climate, of the long preliminary marches across Tibet, of months of intense strain, physical amd moral, and of cold, wind, loss of appetite and sleep, and of all the inevitable discomforts of a Himalayan expedition 1 ?" A number of great mountaineers survived the actual tests on the mountain, and among them was Eric Shipton, who leads the advance party now going to India.

Everest has levied toll on precious life, and it is quite probable that more lives will be lost before the final pyramid is trodden by the foot of man. Because of the risk there are people who regard the effort as a foolish adventure. It is well for the spirit of the race that there are many who do not count it as futile. "It was more than an experts' expedition, and more than a British expedition," said Sir Francis Younghusband in referring to the attempt of 1933. "It was an attempt of the human race itself, feeling its way in its natural surroundings, measuring its capacities against physical obstacles, seeing how far it could go, testing the extreme limits of its capacities." Speaking of those who presumed to pit themselves against the highest mountain in the wprld he discussed the importance of the invincible spirit, a spirit firm and tenacious and ambitious enough to drive on the body to its seemingly last extremity, yet selfless enough to throw away all hope of the prize in order to stand by a comrade or give place to another, if through him the goal might the more surely be achieved. "So emerged the figure of Everest as a symbol of the loftiest spiritual height of man's imagination." Within the limits of the time factor, which is one of Everest's strongest defences, seeing that the final assaults cannot be long delayed after the higher camps are established, the leader of the last and the coming expedition decided upon a policy of slow acclimatisation. By comparison with previous results it was successful, although the effect on individuals varied considerably. Next year Mr. Ruttledge will be armed with a knowledge he did not then possess. In many other directions he will have an advantage. He has the confidence of many of the Tibetan governors, whose co-opera-tion is necessary. They no longer suspect expeditions of ulterior motives—the searching for minerals and the like—and their religious doubts are stilled. He knows the extraordinary capacity of the Tibetan and Nepalese porters without whom it would be impossible to establish the requisite bases. He knows also more about maintaining health and of the diet climbers may require. Guided by former experience the men who worked to the highest levels in 1933 took light Food, which, :in their more highly acclimatised condition, was not sufficiently nourishing. In the highest camp storm-stayed men were longing for the strong rations for which others had had no desire on account of mountain sickness. Not only transport will be facilitated on account of previous experience. Scores of items of equipment, simple in themselves but of tremendous value so far away from supplies, will be pre-

pared in advance and carried in by motor, mule pack, yak pack and on the backs of men. Oxygen will, of course, be necessary. In the last expedition there were climbers who had regarded the use of oxygen almost as unsporting—as an unfair advantage against the mountain. They were convinced that without oxygen Everest may never be climbed. But in the light of the new knowledge in the matter of gradual acclimatisation, it is probable that oxygen supplies will be carefully conserved not merely to lighten porter age, but to bring it into use when most necessary. At a height where men must take three breath's for every step there must always be a temptation to use oxygen to help to speed up the pace in the final assault. It may be possible, however, to concentrate oxygen aid for the difficult place below the pyramid and win. But the final arbiter will be the weather on the particular day or days. A six-hour blizzard may nullify the preparations of six months.