Everest is Stili a Chatlenge

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 466, 28 May 1948, Page 10

Everest is Stili a Chatlenge

| MOUNT EVEREST, 1938. By H. W. Tilman. Cambridge University Press. :

(Reviewed by

John

Pascoe

O mountain holds _ the imagination more than Everest. Its height makes the mountain supreme in the Himalaya and in the world. Its ‘great mass has a dignity at which photographs can only hint. Its name is linked with the greatest of British mountaineers and of Himalayan porters. It is the ambition, if a secret one, of most mer who have climbed in the last 27 years. Till 1921, 90 miles was the closest that any European had been to the mountain. Since then there have been seven expeditions to visit Mount Everest, of which five have made serious attempts. So far there has not been certain success. There have been adventure, hardship, advances, retreats, tragedies, and interplay between man and mountain that constitutes a story as brave as that of Polar exploration. Some nonsense has been written, but never by the protagonists themselves. The mountain has not only drawn the best climbers, but it has drawn the best from the climbers. Before assessing and describing Mr. Tilman’s contribution to a worthy tradition, it may be expedient to glance backwards. In 1921 Mallory and Bullock reconnoitred Mount Everest and proved that one route was feasible. In the following year a determined assault was made by this route, whose key was the North Col above the Rongbuk glacier. Finch and Bruce reached 27,230 feet, with help from oxygen. Mallory and Norton also made a determined attempt. An avalanche below the North Col killed some porters and brought the expedition

of 1922 to a tragic close. Mallory’s feeling for the mountain was such that he -wrote ". . . how can I help rejoicing in the yet undimmed splendour, the undiminished glory, the unconquered supremacy of Mount Everest?" In 1924 Mallory and Irvine never returned from what may have been the highest ascent. Their progress was seen by Odell, till cloud curtained them. Nine years later an ice-axe was found below the ridge, and though this must have belonged to Mallory or Irvine the final height they reached is still a secret. In 1933 Wyn Harris and Wager pushed their attack to the point reached in 1924, and Smythe and Shipton also went very high. In 1935 Shipton led an expedition during the monsoon, in which 26 peaks of over 20,000 feet were climbed. This party included the New Zealander L. V. (Dan) Bryant, whose achievements were in keeping with his unequalled record in the Southern Alps. In 1936 another expedition tried, but, as in the previous year, the North Col was the highest point reached. This summary has not space to detail the difficulties of acclimatisation to great altitudes, nor the continuous struggle against bad conditions that is the theme of all the expeditions. One striking characteristic of most of the Everest expeditions was that they were blessed with the weight, authority, and resources of the Alpine Club and the Royal GeoSociety. Another was that their finance was in part dependent on worldwide publicity and newspaper rights. Many of the climbers felt that the expeditions were unwielaly and over-organ-ised. The thesis presented by Mr. Tilman is that a smaller expedition, such as the one led by Shipton in 1936 and by him in 1938, can achieve the same measure of success and with only onefifth of the gear carried and one-fifth of

the expense spent by previous expeditions. He makes the further point that the more efficient and modestly organised small expedition does not disturb the economy of the country through which the mountaineers must pass on their approach to the mountain, or inflate the market for goods and services, food and porters. He establishes his case. * * * HE 1938 story is told with a simplicity worthy of the expedition itself. It is typical that Mr. Tilman not only writes, "I have no hardships to bemoan, no disasters to recount, and no tragedies to regret" but also that "unlike the desert and the sea, mountains have not yet found a writer worthy of them." Yet his is as great in his own field as Gertrude Bell and Herman Melville were in theirs. His narrative is so shorn of the superfluous that his account emerges with all the clarity and grace of the essential. He begins logically with the preparations faced by his party of seven, including such experienced men as Shipton, Smythe, and Odell. His estimate of a sufficient weight of food averaging two pounds a man a day is one which some self-indulgent New Zealand mountaineers could well remember. With the cost of the expedition under £2,500 it was possible to do without newspaper support. The assembly of Sherpa porters, the trek through Sikkim to Thibet, incidents of hospitality en route, and obstacles of snow on the high passes make an under-current that is familiar and welcome to all readers of Himalayan literature. Then. follows the work of swagging loads, the irritations of sore throats and influenza, and the decision to recuperate in+he Kharta valley where camp was made in "a broad meadow sheltered on two sides by forests of birch, juniper, and rhododendron. The pattern ‘of retreat and advance, advance and retreat is of absorbing interest. On the way up to the North Col the porters were involved in an avalanche, but good technique saved them from injury. The western approach to the North Col proved a safer route under bad snow conditions. Shipton and Smythe helped by porters made Camp VI. at 27,000 feet. Their attempt was made in powder snow, hip-deep. Shipton wrote: "An hour’s exhausting work yielded little more than a rope’s length of progress, even on easy beginning on the slabs. We went on until, on the steeper ground, we were in obvious danger of being swept off the rocks by a snow avalanche. Then we returned, completely convinced of the hopelessness of the task. It was bitterly disappointing, ‘as we were both far fitter at these altitudes than we had been in 1933, and the glittering summit looked tauntingly near." Tilman and Lloyd made an attempt to reach the summit ridge, but "smooth out-ward-sloping rocks, covered in part by snow" turned them back. ILMAN’S final chapter pleads not only for the minimum of organisation for future expeditions, but for these to be made without elaborate aerial droppings. "Mountains," he writes, "can claim the rights of ‘open towns,’ and our self-respect should restrain us from dropping on them tents, tins, or possibly men." He thinks that with favourable weather and conditions near the summit, the mountain can be climbed by good men without auxiliary aids. The appendices include an interesting discussion reprinted from the Geographical Journal, some judicious levity about the "Abominable Snowman," a dissertation about

the use of oxygen, on which opinion is | divided, and scientific notes by Odell. There is no false note in this book. Its interest will hold for the layman as well. as for the. mountaineer. . It has brought the attempts on Mount Everest into true perspective. The maps and index are good, and generally the illustrations are impressive, though the publishers have not used photographs to the best advantage either for size or position. Tilman notes that his forerunners to the Himalaya did not look upon themseives as "so many bearded and be-whis-kered embodiments of man’s unconquerable spirit striving to attain the highest." His case is that of a normal man who enjoys mountaineering, whether in his own country or among the highest peaks of the world. We should be grateéful to him for his valid reasoning and lively narrative.