BOLD ATTACK ON HIMALAYAS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18598, 20 June 1930, Page 9

BOLD ATTACK ON HIMALAYAS.

New Plans Of Expedition. ASCENT OF JONSONG PEAK PROPOSED. (United Press Association—Bf Blectrle Telegraph—Copyright.) (Received June 19, 7.0 p.m.) LONDON, June 18. Advice from Jonsong Peak base camp on May 31, states: “Kinchinjunga has beaten us, but we are prepared to attack Jonsong peak of 24,340 ft; the northerly outpost of Kinchinjunga, in an effort to gain the highest Himalayan summit yet reached. It’s precipices rival those of Kinchinjunga in height and grandeur. These precipices are defended by icewalls of enormous thickness, from which avalanches continually break off, thundering down thousands of feet. Schneider and Wieland discovered a practicable route up Jonsong. and Schneider alone climbed a 23,470 ft un-named peak. The Himalayas, however, take defeat hardly, and that night they threw down boulders towards the camp and nearly annihilated Mr Smythe, who was sleeping peacefully, and awoke to hear a series of crashes. He realised that boulders were descending on the tent, and he realised that there was nothing to do but to huddle up in a sleeping bag. Later he found a huge rock embedded in a snowdrift three yards behind the tent. Two days‘later, another fall nearly killed Frau Dyrenfurth.

ATTACK ON HIMALAYAS. STRENGTH OF INTERNATIONAL EXPEDITION. The strongest mountaineering ex- ■ pedition that has ever visited the , Himalayas recently set out from , Europe to attempt the ascent of Kan- j chenjunga, the second highest peak in f the world. Famous climbers of four nations —Germany, Switzerland, Aus- ; tria and Great Britain—are taking part in this expedition, which is the third to attempt the unconquered ] peak. Professor G. O. Dyhrenfurth, 1 of Germany, will lead the expedition. 1 He will be accompanied by Frau Dyhrenfurth, and by Herr H. Hoerlin, Herr U. Wieland, and Dr. H. Richter; 1 by Herr M. Kurz and Herr C. Duvanel. of Switzerland; by Herr E. Schneider, i of Austria; and by Mr F. S. Smythe, * of Great Britain. Mr E. O. Shebbeare. 1 a member of the last Mount Everest expedition and forest officer of Sikkim, joined the party later. Early Set-back. Early in May, disaster ended the first attempt to reach the first terrace, and establish Camp No. 3, on Kan- 1 chenpunga, an avalanche killing a porter named Chettan, a veteran of three Everest expeditions, and the 1929 Kanchenjunga expedition. The remainder of the party—s Europeans and 11 porters—escaped miraculously. Everyone, after a careful study, was satisfied that the route was reasonably safe. The party set out at 9.5 on the fatal journey. The weather was ominously warm, but previous experience had shown that avalanches usually fall during dense cold at night time. Mr F. S. Smythe (British representative with the Expedition) said he heard a tremendous roar, and was horrified to see an enormous portion of the ice wall immediately on the actual route, breaking away, and hundreds of thousands of tons of ice, like a huge tidal wave, sweeping with frightful force across the snowslopes below, on which the ascending party was crawling. The party halted momentarily, and then dashed frantically to the left. Next moment a rolling snowcloud swept down, blotting them out like insects. “It was the most ghastly sight I ever witnessed,” said Mr Smythe. “The roar i increased, as the snow clouds swept down, with incredible velocity. The avalanche narrowly missed the camp. I started for the scene, fearing the worst, but when the snowclouds settled, it revealed the majority safe, owing to a bend in the path. If they had been ten minutes earlier or later, the avalanche would have engulfed them. Even then, two coolies, who were bruised, found Chettan’s hand sticking out from an iceblock, and dug him out, crushed and suffocated. Members of the expedition decided to abandon the proposed route in favour of the longer, unexplored one.” Mr Smythe concluded: “I am finishing the despatch amid a thunderous roll of avalanches.” (In an interview at Darjeeling, early in June, Colonel Tobin and Mr Hannah, two returned members of the Mount Kanchenjunga expedition, said they had abandoned hope of reaching the summit of Kanchenjunga this year. They had broken camp, and were moving off in the direction of Jongsong La Pass, which has been crossed only once from Jongsong La. 1 The expedition hoped to ascend the 1 Jongsong peak, which is 24,300 ft. high. After the climb the expedition would return through Nepal, thus completely rounding Kanchenjunga).