MAN’S ASSAULT ON EVEREST

Southland Times, Issue 22999, 19 September 1936, Page 13

MAN’S ASSAULT ON EVEREST

The 1933 Expedition

Everest 1933. By Hugh Ruttledge. Hodder and Stoughton, London. English price 5/-. Our copy from W. S. Smart, Sydney. (Reviewed by H. K. SUMPTER).

Mr Hugh Ruttledge, leader of the Everest expeditions of 1933 and 1936, is not only a superb mountaineer, an efficient organizer and a wise general: he is a first-class narrator. His story of the 1933 Everest expedition is stimulating, instructive and in places inspiring. Just as he led his men unfalteringly and imperturbably, yet without bustle and fuss, so does he tell the tale of the heroic effort made three years ago to stand on the summit of the earth. It was all part of the day 3 work for these fearless mountaineers to suffer illness, to face icy hurricanes, to be injured in headlong glissades. Mr Ruttledge makes it part of his duty as leader of the expedition to tell without embellishment and heroics the combat waged against nature at heights at which a few years ago were regarded as unattainable. There is no intention to make the book an epic: yet it almost falls into this class. In the earlier chapters Mr Ruttledge briefly traces the history of man’s attempts to climb Everest and then outlines the careful preparations made for the expedition he led. He succeeds in quickening the reader’s interest, and it is with pleasurable anticipation that one reaches the fourth chapter in which the march is begun. After passing a Tibetan nunnery maintained by the offerings of yak drivers the expedition is entertained by Tibetan officials clad in beautiful costumes of Chinese silk of purple, blue and claret, surmounted by a fur-edged hat with the official button on top. Passing through a paradise for the ornithologist, members of the expedition amuse themselves and the natives by playing football at Tengkye, a mountain fortress, and by teaching the Tibetans to box. Suffering and Hardship.

All too soon do suffering and hardship take the place of recreation. Throats become so sore that smoking has to be given up, many become seriously ill and have to descend until they recover, the rigours of becoming acclimatized have to be stoically borne. Storms sweep across the faces of the mountains, the transport problem grows acute. Fortunately Mr Ruttledge has chosen a splendid lot of porters. Even while they sit in their little bell tent listening to the crash of stones wrenched by the gale from the ridges of North Peak, wondering how long the struts of the tent can hold, they drown the roar of the primus stove with merry laughter and ceaseless talk. And not once do they fail to bring in hot soup to the white man exactly at the right moment. So ever upward goes this happy band of brothers, “one equal temper of heroic hearts” despite differences of race and colour. At 22,000 feet the leader has to type dispatches with his gloves on, wondering if ever before a typewriter has bad to do duty at such a height. Finding a foothold is bad enough in good weather, but when a gale blows it is an unforgettable experience. “The wind is a torture. _lt hurts the eyes in spite of protecting goggles. It imprisons the limbs in a grip like that of fast-running icy water, till every step upward is a battle. The fingers of the hand holding the ice-axe stiffen under the glove and have to be prised open and beaten to restore circulation. Worst of all perhaps is the searing cold drawn into over-driven lungs. Movement becomes automatic, though there is’ a conscious effort to follow the feet of the next ahead and use the same ledges. One tries to remember that there is a job to be done, that it is all in the day’s work, that the porters are sticking it without complaint.”

The Bisks of Retreat. And this is only at 24,000 feet. Superlative courage and indifference to hardship cannot defy Nature when she looses her fury upon Everest and upon the midgets fighting for foothold there. The wind, tearing past in blinding sheets, causes goggles to be coated with ice till they have to be discarded. The moment this is done eyelashes freeze together, and the world disappears from sight. At such times there is only one thing to do—retreat. And even retreat is filled with terrible risks. But from the leader to porters there was an invincible spirit in the members of the 1933 expedition and soon a fresh effort would be made to establish a higher camp. Always there was in evidence a complete disregard of self. One man would give place to another if by doing so the goal might be more surely achieved. After a camp had successfully been established at 27,400 feet three attempts were made to reach the summit. But human endeavour was not enough. Good fortune in the shape of good weather must attend the climber who would conquer Everest, and this the 1933 expedition (and that of the present year) did not have. Beaten by Weather. Mr Ruttledge expresses in his book the conviction that provided it is possible to synchronize the arrival of two parties with the absence of snow and three or four consecutive days of fine weather the summit will be reached by what is known as Norton’s route. The weather beat him in 1933 and again in 1936. When the next expedition enters Tibet it will be under another leader, for Mr Ruttledge has announced his retirement. But the same spirit will no doubt actuate the party and no one will be more fervently hoping for success than the former leader who concludes his “Everest 1933” with the heartening words: I assume without hesitation that the attempt to climb Mount Everest will be continued. We cannot leave the work unfinished. Success may not come at the next attempt or till after many more attempts. But the end is certain. As soon as the Tibetan Government gives permission the struggle will be renewed, and our successors will use our experience and avoid our mistakes. Surely it is worth while to pursue one of the last great adventures which the surface of the earth has to offer.”