JONSONG CONQUERED

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1005, 23 June 1930, Page 9

JONSONG CONQUERED

HIMALAYAN CLIMBERS HAVE TOUGH TRIP TERRIFIC SNOWSTORM RAGES Times Cable. LONDON, Saturday. Messages from the Himalayan expedition dispatched from the camp at the base of Jonsong Peak state that on June 3 Herr H. Hoerlin (Germany) and Herr E. Schneider (Austria) climbed that mountain (24,340 ft.). Subsequently—on June 6—the same feat was accomplished by the leader of the party, Pjjofessor G. O. Dyhrenfurth (Germany), Mi - . M. Kurtz (Switzerland), Herr U. Wieland (Germany), and Mr. F. S. Smythe (Britain), and two porters. Thus six mountaineers from the four nations named ascended to the highest summit yet scaled in any part of the world. This is regarded by the members of the expedition as a practical expression of international feeling which they all hope will cement international friendship and goodwill. The first party originally consisted of Herrs Hoerlin and Schneider, Mr. Wood Johnson (Britain) and Mr. Smythe. They climbed from their encampment on the north-west ridge. After a wild night, when the wind blowing in 50 degrees of frost endeavoured to hurl them from the ridge, Herrs Schneider and- Hoerlin went on ahead. MEMBER OVERCOME Mr. Wood Johnson was overcome by sudden illness and could not proceed. He begged Mr. Smythe to go on and, thinking his comrade was merely suffering from mountain sickness, Mr. Smythe consented. However, he was not able to catch up to the leaders, so he sat in the snow 23,000 ft. up and watched two minute dots slowly crawling up the snow slope to the summit. When Mr. Smythe returned to Mr. Wood Johnson, who had been unconscious for an hour, the latter recovered and was assisted back to camp. A terrific storm raged on June 1, and while most of the members of the expedition spent the day in their sleeping-bags awaiting a chance to assault Jonsong, Frau Dyhrenfurth, wife of the leader, accomplished one of the finest feats of courage and endurance by crossing Jonsong La accompanied by a coolie and some Nepalese, after sending on her baggage from Nepal. One of the Nepalese and a coolie woman succumbed from the effects of exposure.

BATTERED BY STORM Reed. 11.50 a.m. LONDON, Sunday. In a message from the Jonsong base camp on June 11, Smythe, relating his experiences when climbing Jonsong Peak, said the party spent the night on the mountain side, and encamped below an ice wall offering poor shelter from the gale. When the climb began, the sudden blasts brought a torrent of snow, which forced the climbers to crouch before its bitter fury. It became necessary to cut ice steps, which at 20,000 feet was most strenuous, requiring cessation to regain breath every few minutes. Finally Smythe and Kurz almost reached the summit. Members of the expedition are departing for Darjeeling. All are fit, but everyone has lost a stone in weight.