HIMALAYA PASSES

Otago Witness, Issue 4074, 12 April 1932, Page 8

HIMALAYA PASSES

HAARDT SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.

EXPLORING NEW TRADE ROUTES IN ASIA.

(Photographs in This Issue.) The Haardt trans-Asiatic Expedition... which is endeavouring to estimate the economic and trade possibilities of Central Asia, and is also mapping and studying the terrain and the people of little-known parts of Asia, has sent an interesting report to the National Geographic Society of its operations in the Himalayas. These messages were sent out to the Geographic Society by radio, in order to give immediate value to its scientific investigations. The expedition reports that it is safely over the second of three Himalaya passes that are the main obstacles from India to Chinese Turkestan, and is making good progress through deep gorges on the way to Gilfit, a remote Kashmir station surrounded by some of the highest mountain peaks in the world. Special mountain-climbing cars have nosed their way steadily over the Bnrzil Pass, through snowfields so soft that men sank to their hips. The passage over more than 100 miles of the Qilfit Trail (11,000 ft high) and the Bnrzil Pass (13,775 ft high) has astonished motor experts, and the natives, most of whom had never before seen a car. After many tests with various lubricants, the expedition finally selected Mobiloil. In addition to Georges-Marie Haardt, the famous French explorer, the expedition is accompanied by many noted scientific men of all nationalities. It is operating in two sections, one party consisting of seven Citroen tractor-type cars, being under the personal leadership of M. Haardt, while the other works under the guidance of Lieutenant-colonel Victor Point, his chief of staff. Haardt’s party left Beyrouth, Syria, last April, and later, reported having reached a point south of Gilfit, on “the roof of the world,” north of the Himalayas. Lieutenant-colonel Point’s party started from Peking, and is now proceeding to Kashgar, in Chinese Turkestan, where the two sections will come together again some time this year. Because of the vagaries of climate and topography, the expedition is carrying two sets of equipment, one for the China party and another specially designed for negotiating the bitterly cold mountainous regions. The mountain cars are equipped with four-cylinder super-charged engines, and are lighter and narrower than the Chinese units. Speed has been sacrificed to power, for they will operate part of the time at a higher altitude than has any other mechanical vehicle. Each car is fitted with an extra gearbox and a specially adapted super-charger to overcome the loss of power experienced at these rarefied heights. The China cars have six-cylinder 50 h.p. engines, and will stop at nothing. They are designed to negotiate perfectly sixteen-degreed gradients or three-feet deep rivers. If the rivers are deeper, water-tight canvas-covered rubber bags supporting a demountable raft will keep the cars afloat.