EVEREST’S VICTORY

Southland Times, Issue 19277, 23 June 1924, Page 5

EVEREST’S VICTORY

EXPEDITION ABANDONED TWO MEMBERS KILLED VICTIM'S PROPHETIC UTTERANCE. (By Telegraph—Press Asan.—Copyright.) (Reuter’s Telegrams.) LONDON, June 21. (Received June 22, 5.5 p.m.). Messrs Mallory and Irvine, of the Mount Everest Expedition, have been killed. The rest of the party are safe, but the climb has been abandoned. There are no further details. The Daily Chronicle recalls that Mr Mallon\ in 1922, with Dr. Somerwell and Major Morton, broke the world's record by climbing to a height of 26,800 feet. He was with Colonel Howard Barry on a reconnaissance expedition in 1921. Mr Mallory narrowly escaped death during Briga-d:er-General Bruce’s second expedition in 1922, when he and others were overwhelmed by an avalanche, seven of the party perishing. When a senior boy of Winchester, he was taken for an Alpine trip in consequence of a chance remark to a master, and that was the beginning of his career as a climber.

Mr Irvine was one of six recruits to the latest expedition. He accompanied the Merton expedition to Spitzbergen last year, when he was a member of a sledge party who made a new traverse. He rowed for Oxford in the University boat race in 1920. The Times, editorially regretting the deaths of Mallory and Irvine, recalls the former’s recent comment: “The third time we walk up Rongbuk Glacier will be the last, for better or for worse,” thus'revealing a prophetic instinct of what the future held in store. A YOUNG MAN’S JOB The expedition which has met with dister in the attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest is led by Brigadier-General C. G. Bruce, who was in command of the expedition of 1922. This is the third expedition aimed at the conquest of the highest mountain in the world. Climbers and men of science hoped that the expedition, fortified by the experience gained in 1921 and 1922, will succeed in its great task. The first expedition, which left Darjeeling in the middle of May, 1921, under the command of Colonel Howard-Bury, was really a reconnoitring party for the second expedition, which attacked the mountain in the following year. The object which Colonel Howard-Bury and his party set themselves was to discover whether there was a practicable route to the summit. Mr Mallory and Mr Bullock, after climbing with Captain Wheeler to a height of 23,000 ft., decided that there was a practicable route to the top, but that good fortune in weather was the most important factor. Their surmise unhappily proved correct in the case of the 1922 expedition, led by General Bruce. Three distinct attempts were made to reach the summit, and all failed. All three were seriously impeded by bad weather, the last more particularly

early in June by an avalanche which overwhelmed seven of the native porters almost at the very start. Before that, however, in May, two parties sent out by the ex-

pedition had climbed considerably higher than the world’s “record” of 24,583 ft., established by the Duke of the Abruzzi in Karakoram in 1909. Mr Mallory, Mr Somervell and Major Norton reached a height of 26,985 ft., and Mr Finch and Captain Bruce succeeded, with the help of oxygen, in climbing 27,200 ft., or within less than 2000 ft. of the summit, which is still given as 29,002 ft., though the exact measurement is subject to final correction.

Interviewed a few months ago, BrigadierGeneral Bruce gave some account of the plans that have been made for this year’s adventure. The personnel of the new party was stronger, if not larger in number, than that of 1923. ‘'Only young men have a chance of climbing above 23,000 feet,” General Bruce said. “Some mistakes will be avoided which were made last year, and much study has been given since that attempt was made to the improvement of the scientific apparatus. It is doubtful whether the party’s camps can be established further up the mountain, owing to the inability of human beings to carry stores beyond a certain height, and no animal by which stores might be borne can ever get near the top of Mount Everest. If man reaches there, he will have established at one more point his superiority to all the beast creation. The exploit is, above all things, a great sporting adventure.” Major Norton, of the Everest expedition, in a despatch dated April 29, from the base camp at Rongbuk Glacier, said: “To-day finds us again at the 1922 base camp. We had a cold welcome here. Although winter has gone, there are few of the signs of early spring which cheered us on the plains below. There is not a bird or a green thing to be seen, but we have much to congratulate ourselves upon, for we reached the base camp two days ahead of our 1922 time, and with a clean bill of health. “Our efforts to collect local labour succeeded beyond expectation, and to-morrow 150 loads will leave for the No. 1 camp, five miles above. Dirty as are these local people, they are surely the hardiest in the world, as well as the cheeriest. They have come without tents, and propose to sleep for the next five or six days on the edge of the glacier, with no shelter except what they can construct from stones, and a sheepskin cape apiece. “There are half a dozen women among them. They are like the men, and each of them carries a load of 401 b. at a pace the best of us probably could equal in the Alps with 251bs. In a few days most of us will be heading up the glacier. Our organisation is complete, the climbers are fit, and the rest is on the knees of the gods.”

Considering that the objective of the Everest expedition is a peak attaining a height of 29.002 feet, it will readily be understood that even on Indian altitudes Arctic conditions may prevail, wrote M. D. Adamson in the Daily Mail recently. Stores of Alpine climbing rope are therefore being taken. This is divided into 200 ft lengths, and at certain parts of the ascent these lengths will be looped to wooden pitons resembling cricket stumps, previously placed up to their necks in holes specially drilled for them in the ice. Talc lanterns of collapsible patern, web and metal sick-carriers, anti-glare snow goggles, nails for snow-boots, weather-proof-ed woollen mitts, felt-covered cylindrical water-bottles of special pattern, cooking materials, and compressed fuel are among the miscellaneous needs. Medical stores have to be taken; and the problem of oxygen is one which has required no small amount of attention, although it is hoped that during this attack its use will be deferred to a later phase in the operations. The sleeping-bags are lined with a special flannel and look snug. Interlined with downproof fabric are green rot-proof ribbed drill portable mattresses stuffed with Java kapock, while thick, warm, fleecy, draught-proof red and black Hudson Bay blankets complete the sleeping stuff. Securely padlocked air-tight chests contain the foodstuffs. These chests weigh 401 b each when packed. One of the most interesting items is the Knac bread from Copenhagen. This looks like very thick circular oatcakes 14 inches in diameter. There are tinned sausages, little tinned Swiss cream cheese, tinned herrings, and tinned soup. Maconochie there is too —the vegetable and meat ration which became famous during the war. Iron rations will be carried, but these will be used only in grave emergencies, as when any of the members of the party are separated from main supplies and the separation is likely to continue. Included are tins of pemmican—a highly sustaining concentrated food, consisting of albumen and fibrine of beef, specially prepared for use in cold regions. Room is found for sealed hams; and there are boxes of milk chocolate studded with almonds.