UNTAMED EVEREST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22903, 10 June 1936, Page 8

UNTAMED EVEREST

The grim heights of Mount Everest have again defeated Mr Hugh Ruttledge and his party of climbers. The assaults on the world’s greatest mountain have always been dependent in a great measure upon incalculable factors, hut the Ruttledgc expedition seems to have been particularly hardly dealt with by events against which there could be no form of assurance. The first stages of the long climb were made in circumstances that were almost suspiciously propitious. The parly was able to establish itself tit Camp 111, the advance base of operations, in almost perfect conditions, and there seems, from Mr Ruttledge’s brief despatches, to have been little difficulty in stocking Camp IV, at the base of the great ice face of the North Col. But from that time the expedition experienced bad fortune. Air Smythe and Mr Shipton, who established themselves at Camp IV, were unable to make progress up the Col, and on May I!) withdrew to the advance base. Coincidently with this retreat reports were received that the monsoon had reached Ceylon ten days earlier than was anticipated. The usual speed at which this uncontrollable visitor traverses India appears to have been greatly accelerated, since a calculation that it would reach the Himalayas about June 10 proved erroneous, and by the end of last month it was attacking the North Col in great strength, making climbing impossibly dangerous. When the monsoon temporarily weakened the party was still prepared to attempt a dash for the summit, hut north-west winds, in which, it has been stated, no man could live, were experienced. A gallant endeavour to recover lost, ground, in the hope that a lull might occur, was defeated by gales of hurricane strength, and Mr Ruttledge has now decided —obviously not before it was time —that the attempt must be abandoned.

The expedition has been beaten by conditions that could neither he regulated nor defied. From the reports received, it is clear that Mr Ruttledge and his party were prepared, in face of the extraordinarily difficult and unseasonable conditions which harassed them, to push forward with a determination that would in the circumstances have indicated incaution. But there will he a distinct feeling of relief that they stopped short of a foolhardiness which, as the fate ol other climbers has shown, would have been suicidal. The extreme disappointment which must he expei ienced by the members of the expedition at the annihilation of the hopes that were entertained by them will receive its sympathetic response among the people of the Empire—indeed, of all countries —who have been following the record of (heir progress in Mr Ruttledge’s communications. Everest's constant angry refusal to tolerate trespass upon its sacred heights lias given to this

lofty, remote peak a sinister yet romantic interest which grips the imagination. Whether another attempt at disturbing its fastnesses can soon he made must depend on the priesthood which claims authority over the bleak Tibetan uplands. But it seems certain that, soon or late, man will complete on foot the conquest which was made by air in 1933 by British tlyers. The world’s highest summit has become more than a mountain to be scaled. It symbolises in some sense man’s struggle to triumph over all physical obstacles. Its challenge is one which explorers, those happy warriors of our civilisation, cannot resist.