SNOW ON EVEREST

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 52, Issue 3767, 10 June 1936, Page 3

SNOW ON EVEREST

One of the chief factors in delaying the proposed ascent of Mount Everest is the continuous heavy fall of snow. “The weather decides,” says Sir Francis Younghusband, in writing of the attempts to climb the mountain. “And in the weather the deciding factor is the precipitation of snow upon the steeply outwardfacing slabs of rock on the approach to the final pyramid. The Everest climbers seem able to ride out the most terrific blizzards and to put up with the severest cold. But once a sprinkling of snow has settled on the mountain they are brought to a standstill.”

Sir Franois says the snow on Everest “'was not enough in itself to give sufficient hold. It was just enough to make going on the slabs dangerous. It covered the footholds. Mountaineers, steady in control and in fine physique, might get over that difficulty. But returning mountaineers, with little control of themselves, and in the last stage of exhaustion, might be in the utmost peril on these outward-facing snowsprinkled slabs.”