INTREPID EXPLORERS

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1933, Page 7

INTREPID EXPLORERS

PARTY FOR HIMALAYAS.

YOUTH AND ADVENTURE.

Five intrepid young explorers, the youngest of whom vacated his desk in a Liverpool insurance office a few days previously, were to leave England in March on a six months’ expedition into unknown regions of the Himalayas, on the Tibetan frontier.

The expedition is probably the youngest to attempt to penetrate these wild regions, which are unknown even to native guides. With the exception of the leader, who is senior by only a few years, the adventurers are all in their -twenties, and none of them has any previous experience of the Indian frontier.

After a trek of ten days to the sacred shrine at Gangotri, near the source of the Ganges, the party intends to dispense with native carriers and travel light into high altitudes inhabited by tribes who regard it as an offence to whistle, to uncover the head in conversation, or to watch the preparation of a meal.

The party consists of Mr. Marco Fallis, son of a retired cotton merchant, of Liverpool; Mr. C. F. Kirkus, a pioneer of new routes in the hilly districts of Wales; Mr. F. E. Hicks, a Yorkshire schoolmaster, son of the vicar of Rock Ferry; Mr. R. C. Nicholson, of Lee-on-the-Solent, who has been studying metalwork and drawing at a Neston studio; and Dr. Charles Warren, of Berkshire, who will act as medical advisor. All have made mountaineering trips together in Great Britain and in the Alps. The object of the expedition is to explore the basin of the great Gangotri Glacier, and to ascend peaks hitherto unsealed. Each has chosen a special climbing suit of Manchester-made Grenfell cloth in blue, red, green or grey, to suit his personal taste, and stores, which are being taken from Liverpool, include delicacies to stimulate the appetite in high altitudes, together with pemmican and chocolate. It is hoped to find wild rhubarb and onions along the route.