EVEREST MYSTERY

Hokitika Guardian, 20 May 1933, Page 6

EVEREST MYSTERY

RECENT TRAGEDY RECALLED.

; fascination OF MQUNTA/INL

MALLORY'S FIRST VENTURE

[ This, first expedition was, rather an ( exploration than ’ «i'real ‘ attempt- to J. rcacty,,the summit. . Mellon- and two companions made one attack, but they reached only- about .23,0.00. feet bm ore being- forged ~'..+6. /..turn Lack. . They; .as-hawed • that, the,, .only. war. to. _/ cljmb’ Everest. was .tile- ‘‘polar method” of ;, a; carefully placed series of camps each ' at ‘a. day’s rdiscoyergd., the tone practicable; .rout-e-rby-.. th,eNorth Bidtre or Cdiancrrlsn. Heside these achievements their mistake in not finding the East Eongbuk Glacier until too late to explore it, was not -great. This is the easiest approach 4 to Everest and le-d.s right to the-base of Is North Hidge,.- the next j expedition-tyacl.tp, spend,/fen 'proSPms davs finding suitable camp rsites 'on ’this" • glacier.. , • , .

REAL HOPES' 0F v SUCCESS,

In this expedition Mallory and two companions established a new world’s a'tttudo h-ecord, 'which was subsequently raised by a second' party, led bv the Australian (j( I. Finch to ■ 27.250 feet.The expedition ended jn disaster when Mallory ’ was" leading another party hip the 1000-foot cliff from 'the RoWgbiik Glacier on to the North 'Ridge. Thjs was always one of the most difficult parts' of the climb, and the soft snow caused an avalanche to develop which engulfed nine native porters.

Butj less than 2000 feet of mo mountain remained nnconquereir, a"d fortified with the knowledge gained by the previous attempts the third expeditions went out in with real hopes of reaching the summit. The now familiar procedure was followed of establishing camps—the ba S e at, 16,000 .feet near tile Rongbuk monastery, camps IT., 11. and HI. up the glacier, camp IV. on the North Rulge, and the high camp V. at 25,000 feet. But the j expedition was dogged by il|-lnrk from the; .start,-, and storms so delayed the climbers that when Mallory and Irvine started their climb it was already • regarded as icomethjng of a forlorn hope. Irvine was a magnificently built young athlete who hud given up his place in the' Oxford 1 rowing eight to join' the expedition!'

All the members of the party noticed that Mallory had developed a strange fatalism toward the climb. He was the only man who h d been on all three expeditions, and ho <eeme Ito nav u &■ feed against. the mountain. He was .stubbornly determined to conquer but at- the same time be seemed to be conscious that the mountain held the mastery. I He had been greatly exhausted in rescuing four porters who were marooned at camp IV. on the North Ridge during a storm, and some believe that his strength suddenly broke down on the last day.

FAT.E UNCERTAIN

An attempt by Norton and S° lT| ervo!l had reached the record height of 28,125 .feet, but it was 'seen that it would be impossible to climb more than 2000 feet on th. e last stage in one day, and that a camp must be made .at at least 27,000 feet. The establishment or this camp, practically at the world’s height record, left high hopes for victory, Next day there was a brief clearing in the clouds about the summit, and Captain Noel Odell, who was iii support, at’the 25,000-foot camp, caught a. glimpse of the two figure, 3 at the base of the final pyramid .within 600 feet of the summit and “going strong.” That was tlie Hst that wa s ever seen of them, Ordel! made heroic efforts to find them. Twice he climbed to the ,27,000-

J Ever since the two 'climbers Mallory and.,lrvine lost their lives .within.a, few hundred feet of tile 'summit nf Mount Everest nine years ago speculation as to their fate has not ceased. N»w thal another expedition is facing ttye mountain' climb, interest has been renewed for even if there its.little -chance of find, mg artrace of the lost men, ( .oncljtio'::s near the |op may solve the mystery of their death. The interest is .not hard to explain. Ever since the Himalayas became known as the h'ghest range in the world thev have exercised an extraordinary fascination. The route to Eve'' cst through Nopi] and Tibet was closed to foreigners, but amazing talcs are tom of the Indian ‘‘pundit, explorers’’ who journeyed into the. heart of the Himalayas with compasses disguised ns ■amnlets, and boiling point thermometers in hollow walking sticks. They sometimes r!>sr-}.’-pcired for years and sent their surprisingly accurate observations to India by inserting scrap* of paper in log* and floating them down rivers. ■Later toward the mountain were made bv Dr Kellas, 'Captjan Noel and others, disguised as natives.

Then in 1921 the route, throreh Tibet was at last opened. It was thpn that George Leigh Mallory, leader of that last party, and of ail but two of the climbing parties that have attacked the higher slopes of Everest, first made the mountain’s acquaintance. Mallory w»s a. lecturer at Cambridge University, and was probably the greatest of all •Himnlnvan climbers. He had a. splendid mountain temperament and slept- well at, heights where others c°uld not s’eep. He was young and strong, a man of great, dash and .determination. He had developed his own system of breathing at high altitudes, but he refused to make its secret known until the summit of Everest had been reached and there w'i> “nothing higher left to limb in the world.” On every climb he .was..ready to go on when his com* •pSktttons' faad : •to stop. ;•>,