WORLD’S GREATEST ADVENTURE.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 March 1921, Page 3

WORLD’S GREATEST ADVENTURE.

. j CAN EVEREST HE CLIMBED Y ■ j (By George IE Abraham, the famous I Climber and Author of “The Comj plete Mountaineer.”) : Compared with the journey to the J Poles, the ascent to the top of the j world is a vastly more dangerous and | difficult undertaking. ! It is gocxi news to hear that popular attention is to Ire lifted to loftier levels, and that the forthcoming attempt on ! Mount Everest, under the auspices of j the Royal Geographical Society and the j Alpine Club, is to receive Government I assent. Thus far the latter has been i withheld. | The great peak is situated in the “Forbidden Land” of Nepaul, and even j now the,native element must be reckoni ed as one of the dangers, j The local name of Mount Everest is j .Joma Kang Kar— “Our Lady of the 1 Snows”—and, its its towering, snowy I dome is an object of reverence and worship over a vast area, the visit ol white | men mav cause trouble.

The fate of part of the bite Mr A. F. Mummery’s party near the foot of Nanga Pa t hat in 1895 should not be forgotten. They disappeared totally, anti though it may he convenient to say that an disaster, those who knew the skill and foresight of the greatest of British mountaineers resent the suggestion. At the moment very few white men have ever seen Mount Everest, and though its official height has lately been raised from 29,002 feet to 29,141 feet, very little is known of the tremendous mass of adjacent peaks. Doubtless our ignorance of our own wonderful property will ilow be largely dispelled, and once the great white peak’ is really attained the attackers’ most “serious energy will he mountain sickness.

This mystenons ailment has brought almost all lofty wanderers low. The difficulty of air pressure has to be overcome, for while the barometer at sealevel stands at 30in at the top of Mount Everest, it would register under 9in. <f)n lower heights the discomtort may be overcome, but up ’midst the glittering whiteness of the eternal snows the purple-black dome of heaven seems like a weight on one’s head. The sun smites down mercilessly through the “thin air,” every upward step is a struggle; limbs feel heavy as lead, and exertion makes the lungs gasp unavnilingly for more and more of the light nil so lacking in oxygen.

The heart beats painfully and proI gross is retarded to two or three steps a minute. Careful training and slow acclimatisation to great heights niaj mitigate this trouble, but it remains to be proved that human beings can undergo exertion above 25,000 feet. Flying men have reached much greater altitudes. aided by oxygen cyclinders. The latter are impossible on mountains. The most important detail of equipmen for success will be the physique of the climbers. As a result of exhaustive plans and experiments made with a view to an expedition in the Himalayas with the late Owen Glyneo Jones, I hold strong opinions that a test of the members of the party should he held in Europe. Certainly the man who hopes to climb Mbunt Everest must be able when in training to run, at fair speed up the last 300 feet of Mont Blanc. If there are technical difficulties of rock or ice on the final 5,000 feet of Mount Everest the ascent is undoubtedly impossible, but it is reported that the south side of the great snow dome has easy slopes of great magnitude. j If an aeroplane could land here with j oxygen cylinders and supplies, good i progress could be made. A week of fine weather would then settle the fate ; of “Our Lady of the Snows”—or the , climbers.