EVEREST THE CONQUEROR

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19199, 16 December 1936, Page 16

EVEREST THE CONQUEROR

MR. RUTTLRDGE'S REVIEW WILL NOT TRY AGAIN SUM-HIT WILL BE REACHED • ' V* '•n w #|wi" 1 ' . .. LPNDON,. Nov 2. Mr. HughTlattlccJge, loader of tfie fifth ujisuceegs'taK Mount. Everest- expedition, which returned to Rnglkncl this- summer, Announced at the end of a lecture which he gave yesterday afternoon to the-Royal Geographical Society," that he had deeidcii not’to take part, in-. future expeditions. Mr. Ruttledge said.: “Though 1 must now cease from active participation in this great venture, I can never forget the way in which my comrades took the lough with the smooth and made even failure a happy memory. “Some day 1 hope they will return and that they will be favoured with fairer conditions—then 1 am sure they will reach the summit/' '.1.. . Summing up the new experiences the expedition had gaiued, Mr. Ruttledge said that they now had the nucleus of an absolutely first-rate party and had explored the possibilities of the -east side of the North Col. They had made a sufficient examination Of the west side to l'eel justified in recommending it as an alternative route, so that there were now three possible ways to the summit. A NARROW ESCAPE Mr. Ruttledge told the story of a fight against bad weather which culminated in a narrow escape from death for two members* of the party, Mr. Shipton and Mr. Wyn Hams, who had attempted a reconnaissance. Just- above u 400 ft. ice precipice, the slope on which the two .climbers were standing began to litovfi. Shipton Was instantly carried down on his back, blit Harris, making a desperate effort, leaped back towards the lower lip of the crevasse and drove his axe deep into the hard snow.’ “Just when it seemed that the straining rope must pull the axe out of the snow and Wyn Harris. With it,” said Mr. R.uttledge, “the avalanche slowed down and stopped close' to the brink of the iee precipice.". After that there was no further argument as to whether the expeditiOlVisiiOufd proceed. Tfie North C.ol had-liti'd thp. last word, and they all knew. ihrelbthkt ;tTi6 mountain was finished with for the year. The monsoon strived considerably before it was expected. It I‘Dshed-up from Ceylon to the Everest region ill tour days, instead of the usual fortnight or three weeks. Explaining how the fourth expedition had reached'a point within, ltiCOft. of the summit, Mr. Ruttledge said that Abey felt sure that only the extreme and possibly unprecedented conditibite 6f that particular Season prevented complete success, that it was Unlikely \Vcather alone would stop a future- expedition. “We were Wrong,” lie said, “the mountain h'tfd moi‘e shots*, in Tier locker, and in laying before my audience the results of- this year’s- expedition, I have the inyidlQOfl - task of describing how ; a party of excepitiPiiiil'domgetfe'ftdo met with weather pot; experienced.,'lpy apy previous expedition; jSfed, yy.gs. unable to reach a height greater than that- attained by the reeonnais'rfiidct < Of i 4 * ’•