NEW ST. BERNARD

Waipa Post, Volume 44, Issue 3178, 14 May 1932, Page 6

NEW ST. BERNARD

PIONEER MONKS TO SURVEY. SI-LA PASS.

Several monks of the Great St. Bernard left Switzerland recently for the border of Szechwan and Tibet to make a further survey on the Si-la Pass with a view to building a hospice for travellers. The pass is crossed every year by thousands of pilgrims and travellers, many of whom suffer severely from the snowstorms. Among the monks chosen were Canons Coquoz and Melly, who last year completed an adventurous journey of 1500 miles, partly on horseback and partly on foot and skis, to study the possibilities of building such a hos pice. The crossing of the Si-la (12,600 ft.) was the main object of their journey, as it is near the top that a hospice is to be built. They could not employ native guides and porters, as skiing is unknown in these regions.! They were, however, able to teach skiing to a young French priest who spoke Tibetan and had already crossed the Si-la in summer time, and were the first to cross the pass on skis.

DANGEROUS AND DIFFICULT. As the weather seemed favourable, the party left the Mekong valley on mules and rode up to a point where the track became so difficult and dangerous that the mules were sent back. After passing through a splendid forest of firs and birches, they reached the snow line and their porters turned back. The three men put on their skis and began the ascent. Rain began to fall, followed by snow; the ground was covered with bushes which made progress very slow. At nightfall they camped on a small plateau, at a height of about 10,800 ft., around which several huge avalanches had fallen. Here stood a sheltered elump of firs, and they slept on a bed of branches, around which they rapidly built a snow wall. A roof was improvised by a waterproof blanket supported on skis. A fire was lighted to dry their wet clothes and to keep away wild animals, whose growls could be heard in the distance.

Next morning the monks continued their ascent on hard snow. When they were half-way up a thick mist enveloped them, and hail fell heavily, soon followed by snow. The last climb was very hard, but by mid-day they were on the Si-la, on which the snow was 40ft. deep in places. The going was good, and the priests quickly slid over the white snow-fields. The neighbouring mountains were hidden in a thick fog, a strong and cold south-west wind was blowing, and, as there was no shelteied place on the pass, they did not remain long. ,The descent on the other side was made difficult by steep rocks and couloirs overhanging dangerous precipices. The priests took off their skis and roped themselves. Mist and hail prevented them from seeing the way down, and they attempted a detour with the object of reaching the Ser-wa-Longba or Hail Glen, but were stopped by ice slopes. Turning back, they arrived at a clump of trees, where they resolved to camp, as night was falling. They found some wet wood, which produced more smoke than heat; their clothes and blankets were wet, and the three men shivered until morning came. SHORT OF FOOD. The next day snow continued to fall heavily, but it was not very cold. A steep couloir led the party to the base of the rock walls, and soon they arrived in a wild glen, where stood another hut built by missionaries, but this was snowed up. After a long trek on steep snow slopes, they reached a point where they expected to regrain the pass, but were unable to find it. Again they had to spend a night in the open, and felt anxious, as they were short of food. Next morning a gale was blowing and snow fell heavily. Progress was slow owing to the abundance of soft snow. Finally, they found themselves on a ridge at a height of 12,300 ft. The altitude was much higher than they had expected, and the pass stood some 30ipft. lower. During the greater part of the morning they wandered among the mountains, climbing along steep slopes and descending nasty couloirs; vertical rock walls twice stopped them, and they were unable to discover an outlet towards the west. In the end, after ascending a long couloir between two rock walls and crossing a ridge, they found a small valley running westward, which they followed. They had to cut their way through a forest of bamboos half buried in the snow, and when night came they camped among the bamboos where they ate their last fragments of food and burned their last matches in a vain attempt to light a fire. Happily the weather was fine on the following morning. They struggled for another two hours among the bamboos, and finally came to open country. The snow was left behind

and spring greeted them when they arrived at the banks of the Lutsekiang (Salween River). A house was sighted in the distance; it was occupied by a family of Christian Tibetans, who gave the exhausted travellers milk and food. They found a youim man willing to guide them lower down' and to carry part of their load, and at noon they arrived safely at Bahang, where they handed to the local missionary part of the mail he had been awaiting for five months.