ATTEMPT ON EVEREST

Taranaki Daily News, 13 April 1935, Page 6

ATTEMPT ON EVEREST

NEW ZEALANDER CHOSEN MR. L. V. BRYANT’S OPPORTUNITY. LEARNED CLIMBING IN TARANAKI BRILLIANT CAREER CULMINATES. A chance of participating in the ultimate adventure of a mountaineer s career, an expedition to Mount Everest, has come to Mr. L. V. Bryant, former club captain and one of the foundation members of the Taranaki Alpine Club and now a resident of Palmerston North, where he is a teacher at the Boys High School. Having accepted last year an invitation to join at Darjeeling on May 20 the reconnaissance party for the Everest expedition being led by Mr. Hugh Ruttledge, Mr. Bryant left on the first stage of his journey to the Himalayas last night. A member of the teaching staff of the New Plymouth Boys’ High School from 1927 to 1930, Mr. Bryant is one of the most brilliant mountaineers ever produced in New Zealand. Remembered in Taranaki for his daring work and feats of endurance on Mount Egmont, he received his early training on its slopes and has a fine mountaineering record m the Southern Alps. Conversing with a reporter on Thursday, Mr. Bryant said he had been interested in alpine climbing all his life. The present opportunity was one which he could not refuse, as it meant the consummation of his ambition. He was to be at Darjeeling on May 20, where he' was to meet Mr. E. Shibton, the wellknown English climber and a member of the 1930 Himalayan expedition. He expected it would be necessary for him to leave immediately to keep this appointment. Mr. Bryant stated that members of the reconnaissance party would probably be under the leader of the 1930 expedition, Mr. Hugh Ruttledge. Members of the party would soon become acclimatised to Himalayan conditions. “I am looking forward to the venture, as it will bring me into contact with some of the world’s best climbers,” he said. “When I was in England recently I talked with members of the Mount Everest committee. When I informed them of my desire to become a member of the next party attempting Everest I was told then that it might be 20 years before another attempt was made, but I said I would still be willing to join at any time so long' as I was not too old. Arrangements for the attempt have been under way for some time, but the committee has been waiting for permission from the Government of Tibet. This permission has now been received.”

CLUBMATES’ CONGRATULATIONS.

Members of the Taranaki Alpine Club were delighted yesterday when they heard the news of the honour conferred on Mr. Bryant. A radiogram will be sent Mr. Bryant from his old clubmates congratulating him on his selection and wishing the expedition success. In 1929, some time after the Mount Egmont Alpine Club, the oldest in Taranaki, was formed at Hawera, Mr. Bryant became a member, and with Mr. Rod Syme and others his climbing technique rapidly improved. He was one of the foundation members of the Taranaki Alpine Club and his work on. its behalf did much to advance the attractions of North Egmont as a climbing test. In 1930 he was appointed to the Waitaki Boys’ High School, and there again he did much good work among the boys. He quickly achieved fame on the difficult slopes of the Southern Alps, and one effort in particular, a traverse of several peaks made in company with Mr. Syme, stands out as one of the most brilliant achievements, of its kind in New Zealand mountaineering history. On skis, too, Mr. quickly proved himself among the best, and he secured places in national title events. From Waitaki Mr. Bryant went to the Southland Boys’ High School, and though the opportunities for mountaineering of the really difficult type were few, his enthusiastic advocacy of skiing as a winter sport did a good deal in bringing the sport to the forefront on the snow-covered ground round Invercargill in the winter. Last year Mr. Bryant made a visit to England. While in Europe.he made a daring double traverse of the Matterhorn. The climb was made without guides, and in the face of the determined opposition of the knowledgeable guides employed on the famous mountain, who did not like the weather. Mr. Bryant was recently voted to membership of the English Alpine Club, the most exclusive organisation of its kind in the world.