IN THE HIMALAYAS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 29, 18 February 1937, Page 6

IN THE HIMALAYAS

— Own Correspondent.)

German Climbers Explore Unknown Valieys CAUGHT IN SN0WST0RM i • ■ ■

(By Air Mail—

. . CALCUTTA, Jan. 10. It is now posSsible to give some details of the "expefiehces of tbe l'oui German climbers who set out to reconnoitre. . approacbds • to Kunchanjinga and to explore - some of tbe "unknown" valieys to tbe nortb and southeast of tbe Zemu Glacier. Herr Paui Bauer, sligbt of build, unassuming, a man who quietly insptgea confidence, was tbe leadei£ He kuew tbe country. So did Dr. Wien, lecturer in geography at tbe University of Municbj young and sturdy, tbe posaessor of an inveterate. ismile. Tbe otbers were Dr. Hepp and Herr Goettner. Dr. Hepp, .but for bis finely modelled ' bands, might as easily be taken for an athleto as for the surgeon, he is. Herr Goettner, fair, pink and as enthusiastie as a scboolboy, may be the youngs'st of tbe party. They pitched their base camp on a strip of "plain" studded with rhododendron, juniper, and gentian beside tbe Zemu Glacier. Tbe altitude fhere is 15,000 feet. 1 As far as tbe base camp they took 45 porters; after that they travelled light. They took on only four porters, a cook, and a sirdar to take cbarge of these. Food was relayed to them from tbe base camp, where one man was left in cbarge. Two of tbe porters f ell ilL one an old malaria infection flared up. Tbe other blistered bis feet badly. They were sent back to Darjeeling for treatment.

Crossing tbe Zemu Glacier. Tbe expedition made its first sally by erossing tbe Zemu Glacier and proceeding soutb into tbe Zumtu Yalley, wbicb bitberto has never been explorcd. Dr. Wien made sketcb maps of tbe east and nortb-east approaches to Siniolcbu, wbicb they eventually climbed They spent 12 days in that region. Tbe weather was bad. Rain fell constantly^and, tbe climbers moved ott to tbe nortb-west, wbore the climate would be better. They erossed tbo Zemu Glaeier again and made their way up tbe Nepal Gap Glacier and fhere camped at 20,000 feet. Tbe weather improved and they attempted t'o cllmb Tbe Twins, with tbe object of examining tbe nortb -ridge of Kunchanjinga. But they were held up again at, 22,00ft feet by soft snow, so they returned Tbe next sally was to examine Tent Peak, whieh. they saw to tbe north, with its long ridge and two slopmg flanks. .On the way, after crossing Nepal Peak, 23,500 feet, they found the ridge between Nepal Peak and Tent Peak doeply muffled with dangerously ; soft snow. So again. they wero eompelled to retrace their routo It was then about mid-September. They then' encountered a snowstorin wbicb left over 18 inches of snow. They retreated burriedly eastward, along tbe Nepal Gap and Zemu Giaciers. Snow continued to i'alJ steadilv all' that week.- The stbrms were coming from tbe west. When tbo weather clearcd ttgain they launcbed their succossful assault on Siniolcbu, 22,(520 feet. After that they deeided to try to climb. Sinivo. Tbe party split up and Dr. Wien, with two porters, erossed tbe Simvo saddle, and explored tbe Passanaram Valley whilst the otbers made the aseent of Simvo 's nortb-east peak Explortng Unknown Country. They were then in unknown country, and the weather became sleadily worse. Dr. Wien found • he could not re'erosa tbe Simvo saddle; and tbe weather was too bad for him and bis two men to cross tbe ridge that lay between bim, in tbe JPassanaram Valley, and -4tbe

Zemu Valley beyond. They were c'ut off. So they set off down tbe Talung Valley, wbcre ' tb'ey met extremely beavy going, and had to back their way through scrub and traverse *ha* otically rocky ground., They bad set off with six days ' xations. Herr Bauer and ' tbe otbers meanwhile were ' ekirting their ' way eastward, ' to tbe north of Dr. Wien and bis men, with an impassable ridge between. them. They were anxious for tbe safety of Dr. Wien and the porters, since tbeey.knew the latter" bad. so' little food and no prospect of getting any on tbe way. • Dr. Wien found.be was makihg dangerously slow progress. 'He and the porters made one and a-qubrter mllea. in two days, and at tbe. end'of five days they bad travelled only five miles. They ' were then in comparatively low altitudes', ranging from 5000 to 10,000 feet. Thc-whole maicb from tbe saddle to Mangen took them 16 days, and they made their six days' rations last for 12 days. For tbe next two days they. had nothing to eat at all. 'On tbe fifteenth and sixteenth days they were in inbabited country again and obtained tsampa, rice and vegetables. They joinfed up with the rest of the expedition, wbose return was less adventurous, through Lbonak and Lacben, at Singliik. There tbe story ended. Herr Bauer, with a wistful smile, folded up tbe worn maps. "We hope," be said, "to taekle Nanga Parbat this year, and Kunchanjinga in 1938."