HIMALAYAN RECORD

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1930, Page 17

HIMALAYAN RECORD

'■ ASCENT OF JONSONG PEAK ' ' ■ ' ■ : ...s . .‘fj CLIMBER’S NARRATIVE. ; ??’’ HIGHEST SUMMIT ,E,VER RE ACHED. i (An account of the two accents. on " June 3 and 8, of Jonsong Peak by all the members of . the Kanchenjunga ex‘i pedition has been written by the h. British member, Mr. F. S. Smythe.) After a wild night in camp at 21,000 ft :■.( on the north-weet ridge of Jonsong, ■ with a wonderful view of Everest 50 miles away, Hoerlin and Schneider set off at 9 a.m. on June 3, followed by ' Wopd-JoHnson ' and hie, down a eteep 000 ft of ice elope to the glacier, and up it to the snowfield at its head. On the glacier we began t to. notice WoodJohnson going badly, licit with his usual T; speed, and although the glacier was [■’ easy, walking • progress was painfully «low, . .-.Finally Wood-Johnson could go. no further. He begged me to lejive him. and continue the ascent, and'this I did. i- ’ thinking him merely suffering from P,.i mountain sickness.

’/ ..Schneider and Hoerlin were now far !. ■ ahead, and I hurried to catch them, but hurrying at heights over 20,000 ft is iin-t-l possible without exhaustion, and alH'i though I got near them I had to sit in '•; the enow and watch them continue uppu. .the mountain face,... .

p SPLENDID’ FEAT : ACCOMPLISHED

It was now 3 o'clock, and continua- : tion meant being benighted if the BumKi mi't was to be reached by rue.too. I ’:•! had 'reached'23,oooft, andit wad a-bitter' diSa’ppOin'tment to - returup bub'.solitary ? I foolhardiness has no place in Himalayan' ; climbing, and I returned, conscious that if! I had put forth my best efforts. On ii.l reaching Wood-Johnson I was shocked >iji to find him ill,' and ttiat :i he had lain over an hour unconscious■’ - As I eat considering the situation, two minute dots passed, slowly up the. !,•; last snow slope near'' the summit ot : : Jonsong Peak. A few minutes' more, ' ; and they stood on the commit, barely , distinguishable against the deep blue «ky.. It wavs a great moment —Schneider. ; ; and Hoerlin had accomplished a nplendid. feat of pluck and' '■'cnftiirancc, as : they had ascended 3000 ft at a great altitude from the low camp. :j The evening was. drawing. on apace as Wood-Johnson and I commence! ’ the *i; ascent of the ridge to the camp. As , ( i Wood-Johnson said afterwards,-“it was the greatest effort of my life.” on H some ice traverses, a Blip by one would h[. have-been fatal 'to, both, .but, although J - in a< fainting condition, Wood-Johnson did hot -slip. Not until our. servant's irushed forth, to meet us did he collapse. ■;j His effort had been one of which any mountaineer might be proud. ■ Schneider and . Hoerlin; came in, very : late. Hoerlin: said that the ascent had 1 been 1 mostly eaey climbing;; but the .; loose, rocks required, care-,, They, had ; climbed .unroped, although .a (dip would ■ havehbeen fatal, in many... placefi, ;' ' A GLACIER ST AIR WA Y. .’ ■’ ’ A On' ! the following da-y we dcdbendM io Camp One. There we met Dyhreniurth, Kurz and Wieland,; who intended climbing Jonsong Peak. Although tired I! decided to carry on and'attempt the peak again. Meanwhile Hoerlin and Schneider descended to the Base Camp for a rest. Next day we descended to' the Ridge ' Camp,' but made our camp' on a more sheltered spot below. This ascent of 3000 ft was a hard day for our porters.' On June 0 it was so windy that nb general advance was possible; but Dyhrenfiirth and Wieland further prospected the route down the ice slope to the glacier and cut many steps in the hard ice. Next day, in good weather, Wieland-and I completed the work of cutting the staircase to the glacier, taking turns in this laborious work. Once more our porters behaved splendidly on the steep snow and ice, and the descent of our caravan to the glacier ' ' was accomplished without accident or ■'•‘tiny dropping of loads. Camp Four was established high up the mountain below an iOe vtalT which only partly sheltered us from the usual gale which beat on the camp all night ...FURIOUS BLASTS'OF WIND. :

.Once again the ■ wind dropped with the advent of the nun next morning, and at.,9 a.m. we were all off, each sahib , ' Climbing with his own servant, , all of whom were experienced. men. On the i mountain, however, we were greeted with, sudden blasts of wind which drova before-.-them a torrent of snow. At • times., it was impossible to advance .against it and we crouch® low down .before its bitter fury. Down the couloir ... was blown an icy blast and it was . <pece»-sary to cut steps, myself leading. . . Cutting at 22,000 ft is strenuous work, and after a few minutes a halt is necessary to puff and blow. . A Ion" stretch of broken rocks led up ,to the. °main ..north-west, .ridge, Here ~'th.Q. .wind, was almost paralysing at times.. Kurz's . servant Thinabo ' and ‘ Dyhrenfurth’® : Lcwa both. . behaved throughout. magnificently, climbing as . well.as alpine, guide®. The rocks of the . ridge were piled in unstable, tottery masses, and the greatest .care was needed in negotiating the traverses below . them. ..... *i . .. , • As we .ascended, all .peaks, save Evere.st’ and Makalu, gradually sank below,view and any pleasure there may .have been in climbing or, in the view wae neutralised by the effort of each upward step in fave of the abominable ( ~jyind .that ever sought us out. At last . flie interminable rocks ended and Kurz . aridj, who were ahead, found'.ourselves . pn the long slope of scree stretching up ’/almost to the summit of Jonspng. Easy ’ ' technically it was yet trying work, for '' the. scree rested on a frozen substratum and flipped back at every step. A few ' isfeps, then a prolonged bout of pant- ‘ jrig, arid then another few steps, was our method of progress. Excitement increased; the peak was ours. Kurz was ' ahead; he climbed a short, steep, little snowslope. An instant later came a faint triumphant shout. I followed, with Wieland not far behind. A few hard-won upward 'steps and my vision topped the ridge, to be confronted by Kanchenjunga flanked by Jannu. ON THE SUMMIT. '■ An instant later I was shaking hands' with Kurz. The'wind had dropped considerably, but what there was shortened a stay that will live in memory. A torn, savage mountain world sur- • "rounded us. Our gaze passed at a glaheei'-fayor inconceivable, distances and ■ rested bn mountains and.'.-.glaciers unknown to man. The day was wonder-

fully clear. Perhaps' 200 miles away over the brown Tibetan plains to the north-east rose' a range of huge enowy peaks, in 'the direction '■ of Chinese Turkestan. Even at that distance they seemed' to rival Everest-. Were, they the peaks Been by General Pereira and said by him and others to be as high as, Everest? Our' extremities were numbing ominously before we reluctantly turned to descend. Downhill was easy work. Nightfall was ushered in by an increase of wind and we waited anxiously for Dyhrenfurth. He arrived at about 9 p.m. very tired. His has been the greatest effort of any member of the expedition, for he is 44 years old. His epfh”6:i?j"m had taken him to another and lower summit of the peak, as the mountain is extremely interesting geologically, consisting as it does of Everest limestone bedded on Kanchenjunga granite. Dyhrenfurth said that the way down had been made very difficult by furioua winds raising a blizzard of snow so thick as to obscure i the moonlight upon which he relied, and the cold was intense, but ho luckily escaped frostbite. The following day we descended to Camp One and the day after to the Base Camp.