MOUNTAINEERING

Evening Star, Issue 23376, 20 September 1939, Page 5

MOUNTAINEERING

HIMALAYAN EXPEDITIONS Mountaineering in the Himalayas i« becoming more popular. •, This year there were to have been five expeditions, two Gerpian, one American, on» Polish, and one Swiss. In the Himalayas are many peak* higher than the highest Europeans to offer, and for the more ambitious there are Everest, K2, Kanchenjunga, Nanga. Parbat, Nanda Devi, and Kanet, all over 23,000 ft, of which only the last two have been climbed to the top. When mountaineers first surveyed the Himalayas they were staggered by tho easiness of the problems. Scientist* warned them: man could not breathe above 22,000 ft without oxygen, man could not sleep above 23,000 ft, and so on. One by one these beliefs disappeared. The Duke of Abruzzi in 1909 climbed to 24,000 ft near K2; P. S. Smythe in 1933 slept for 13 hours at a height of 26,500 ft on Mount Everest, and it has been proved that man’s system can adapt itself to existence on the meagre oxygen to be found at high altitudes. The Everest expeditions of 1922 and 1924, in spite of the tragic loss of Mailory and Irvine, gave a great impetus to climbing in the Himalayas. Thera began a series of attacks' on the giants. Some of these expeditions were the skilfully planned affairs of experienced men—like the Bavarian attacks on Kanchenjunga; there was one that was the daring and foolhardly attempt of a single inexperienced man. Wilson, who lost his life on Everest. Some met with' disaster. German attempts on Nangat Parbat in 1934 and 1937 ended tragicallv. Recently a Germano-Swiss expedition scaled “The Tent” peak, 24,090 ft mountain near Kanchenjunga. Four Americans are on their way to K2 (the unromantic symbol on a surveyor's map that marks the second highest mountain in the world. Mount Godwin Austen). This .mountain is beautiful in its symmetry, but mighty precipices guard the approaches to the top.