Mount Everest - free ebook by Charles Howard-Bury

MOUNT EVEREST

THE RECONNAISSANCE, 1921 By Lieut.-Col. C. K. HOWARD-BURY, D.S.O. AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE MOUNT EVEREST EXPEDITION WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 55 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK LONDON: EDWARD ARNOLD &amp; CO. 1922...

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PREFACE

The Mount Everest Committee of the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club desire to express their thanks to Colonel Howard-Bury, Mr. Wollaston, Mr. Mallory, Major Morshead, Major Wheeler and Dr. Heron for the trouble they have taken to write so soon after their return an account of their several parts in the joint work of the Expedition. They have thereby enabled the present Expedition to start with full knowledge of the results of the reconnaissance, and the public to follow the progres

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INTRODUCTION

By Sir FRANCIS YOUNGHUSBAND, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E. The idea of climbing Mount Everest has been vaguely in men's mind for thirty or forty years past. Certainly that veteran mountain-climber and mountain-lover, Douglas Freshfield, had it persistently rising within him as he broke away from the Swiss Alps and subdued the giants of the Caucasus and then sought still higher peaks to conquer. Lord Curzon also had had it in his mind, and when Viceroy of India had written suggesting that the Royal Geograph

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CHAPTER I

FROM DARJEELING THROUGH SIKKIM Early in May most of the members of the Expedition had assembled at Darjeeling. Mr. Raeburn had been the first to arrive there in order to collect as many coolies of the right type as he could. I had come out a few weeks earlier in order to visit the Indian Authorities at Simla and to make sure that there were no political difficulties in the way. There I found every one very kind and helpful and all were anxious to do their best to assist the Expedition. Owing to

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CHAPTER II

THE CHUMBI VALLEY AND THE TIBETAN PLATEAU The range of mountains which here forms the boundary between Sikkim and Tibet runs nearly North and South, and the two main passes across it are the Jelep La and the Nathu La, the latter being a few miles to the North of the Jelep La and about the same height. The Jelep La being the main trade route across which the telegraph line runs, and over which the postal runners travel, is kept open all the year round, though often after a heavy blizzard it is cl

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Chapter III

FROM KHAMBA DZONG THROUGH UNKNOWN COUNTRY TO TINGRI Our camp at Khamba Dzong [3] was pitched in a walled enclosure at the foot of the fort, built on a great crag that rose 500 feet sheer above us. They called this enclosure a Bagichah, or garden, because it once boasted of three willow trees. Only one of these three is alive to-day, the other two being merely dead stumps of wood. The Jongpen here, who was under the direct orders of Shigatse, was very friendly, and after our arrival presented us

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CHAPTER IV

TINGRI AND THE COUNTRY TO THE SOUTH Tingri is a place of some importance, with a considerable trade at certain seasons of the year. It is the last place of any size on this side of the Nepalese frontier and boasts of a military governor. The garrison, however, when we visited it, consisted only of a sergeant and four or five soldiers. There were about three hundred houses in Tingri, all clustered together on the slopes of a small isolated hill standing in the middle of the great plain. On the to

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CHAPTER V

THE SEARCH FOR KHARTA After leaving Mallory and Bullock to continue the search for a possible route up Mount Everest from the Rongbuk side, Heron and I, on July 5, started off down the Rongbuk Valley in order to visit Kharta. We had been told that it was only two days' easy march from the monastery to get there. It was a cold morning when we started off; there had been a sharp frost during the night and the sun did not reach us till late in the morning. Mount Everest stood out at the head of the

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CHAPTER VI

THE MOVE TO KHARTA I had arrived back at Tingri on July 11, and remained there in the Chinese rest-house until July 24, when I started to move the base camp and all the stores round to Kharta. During the time I was not left always alone, for Heron came in occasionally for a night between his various geological expeditions to the North. Wheeler also came down for a change and a rest, and to develop the photographs that he had taken. He had been having a very trying and provoking time in the high

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CHAPTER VII

THE KAMA VALLEY We had not been able to gather much information locally about Mount Everest. A few of the shepherds said that they had heard that there was a great mountain in the next valley to the South, but they could not tell us whether the Kharta River came from this great mountain. The easiest way to get to this valley, they told us, was by crossing the Shao La, or the Langma La, both of which passes were to the South of the Kharta Valley, and, they said, led into this new valley. They cal

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CHAPTER VIII

THE UPPER KHARTA VALLEY AND THE 20,000 FOOT CAMP During the early part of August Mallory and Bullock, after they had found that there was no possible means of attacking Mount Everest from the Kama Valley, crossed the Langma La and returned to the Kharta Valley. Up this valley they now proceeded until they reached the glaciers in which the Kharta River has its source. After exploring a number of valleys, they at last found one which led straight to Mount Everest. Accompanied by Major Morshead, wh

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CHAPTER IX

THE RETURN TO KHARTA BY THE KAMA VALLEY Winter was now rapidly approaching. Every night was growing steadily colder, and we were all anxious to get down to lower altitudes. Every one had been feeling the strain of life at these high altitudes. It had been, however, a great relief to us that all the party had got back to the 20,000-foot camp in safety, and that we had had no cases of sickness or frost-bite. The coolies had throughout worked most willingly and to the best of their ability. They ha

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CHAPTER X

THE RETURN JOURNEY TO PHARI Autumn had already come to Kharta. The willows and the poplars under which we were camped were fast shedding their leaves, which rustled on the ground, or blew into our tents, a warning that winter was not far off. Even here there were one or two degrees of frost every night. The days, however, were still warm and sunny. The next five days were fully occupied with strenuous work. Wheeler and I took alternate mornings and afternoons in the dark room. We had each taken

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CHAPTER XI

BACK TO CIVILISATION When we turned our backs on Phari and started to march down the Chumbi Valley, we had left the real Tibet behind us. I could not somehow look upon the Chumbi Valley as being a part of Tibet. Its characteristics, its houses, its people, its vegetation, are all so different from the greater part of Tibet. There are not the same cold winds that freeze the very marrow, nor are there the wide plains and the undulating hills with their extensive views. In spite of all discomforts,

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CHAPTER XII

THE NORTHERN APPROACH As a matter of history it has been stated already in an earlier chapter of this book that the highest mountain in the world attracted attention so early as 1850. When we started our travels in 1921, something was already known about it from a surveyor's point of view; it was a triangulated peak with a position on the map; but from the mountaineer's point of view almost nothing was known. Mount Everest had been seen and photographed from various points on the Singalila ridge

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CHAPTER XIII

THE NORTHERN APPROACH— continued The reader will gather from these notes some idea of the whole nature of our problem and the subjects of our most anxious thoughts. The camp established on June 25 lasted us until July 8. Meanwhile the idea was growing, the vision of Everest as a structural whole, and of the glaciers and lower summits to North and West. This idea resembled the beginning of an artist's painting, a mere rough design at the start, but growing by steps of clearer definition in one pa

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CHAPTER XIV

THE EASTERN APPROACH The new base at Kharta established by Colonel Howard-Bury at the end of July was well suited to meet the needs of climbers, and no less agreeable, I believe, to all members of the Expedition. At the moderate elevation of 12,300 feet and in an almost ideal climate, where the air was always warm but never hot or stuffy, where the sun shone brightly but never fiercely, and clouds floated about the hills and brought moisture from the South, but never too much rain, here the body

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CHAPTER XV

THE ASSAULT In the agreeable climate of Kharta we were sufficiently occupied with the results of photography and preparations for the future; and there was time besides for unmixed idleness, which we knew how to appreciate. Our thoughts turned often to the weather. Local lore confirmed our expectations for September, and we looked each day for signs of a change. It was arranged, in hope if not in confidence, to move up on the first signs of improvement. Already before we came down to Kharta our

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CHAPTER XVI

WEATHER AND CONDITION OF SNOW Without consulting the meteorologist at Simla it is difficult to accept assertions about the monsoon as ultimate truth. Beyond a general, rather vague, agreement as to what should normally be expected, opinions differ not a little as to the measure and frequency of divergences from the norm. And individuals who observe in one locality more or less than they hope or expect are apt to forget that their dearth or plenty may be elsewhere compensated by capricious incide

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CHAPTER XVII

THE ROUTE TO THE SUMMIT The reader who has carefully followed the preceding story will hardly have failed to notice that the route which has been chosen as the only one offering reasonable chances of success remains still very largely a matter of speculation. But the reconnaissance, unless it were actually to reach the summit, was obliged to leave much unproved, and its value must depend upon observations in various sorts and not merely upon the practice of treading the snow and rocks. Speculati

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CHAPTER XVIII

AN EXCURSION TO NYENYAM AND LAPCHE KANG By a liberal interpretation of the expression “Mount Everest” we considered it necessary to explore the surrounding country as far as a hundred miles or more from the mountain, East, North and South; in all directions, that is, excepting toward the forbidden territory of Nepal. So it happened one day in July that Major Morshead and I, already nearly fifty miles from Everest, set out in a South-westerly direction, he anxious to add a few hundred square mile

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CHAPTER XIX

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES To a naturalist Tibet offers considerable difficulties: it is true that in some places animals are so tame that they will almost eat out of your hand; for instance, in the Rongbuk Valley the burhel (wild sheep) come to the cells of the hermits for food, and in every village the ravens and rock-doves are as fearless as the sparrows in London. But against this tameness must be set the Buddhist religion, which forbids the people from taking life, so that, whereas in most count

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CHAPTER XX

AN APPRECIATION OF THE RECONNAISSANCE By Professor NORMAN COLLIE, F.R.S. President of the Alpine Club The chance of wandering into the wild places of the earth is given to few. But those who have once visited the Himalaya will never forget either the magnificence or the beauty of that immense mountain land, whether it be the valley country that lies between the great snow-covered ranges and the plains, where wonderful forests, flowers, clear streams and lesser peaks form a fitting guard to the m

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APPENDIX I

THE SURVEY By Major H. T. MORSHEAD, D.S.O. The personnel selected to form the Survey Detachment under my charge were as follows: Brevet-Major E. O. Wheeler, M.C., R.E., Mr. Lalbir Singh Thapa, Surveyors Gujjar Singh and Turubaz Khan, Photographer Abdul Jalil Khan, sixteen khalasis, etc. The tasks allotted to the detachment were:— (1) A general survey of the whole unmapped area covered by the Expedition, on a scale of 1 inch to 4 miles. (2) A detailed survey of the immediate environs of Mount Eve

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APPENDIX II

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEY By Major E. O. WHEELER, M.C. I had purchased a set of photo-topographical surveying instruments of the Canadian pattern, on behalf of the Survey of India, while on leave in 1920. A trial of this method of surveying mountainous country was to be carried out in Garhwal in 1921; but when Survey of India officers were asked for to accompany the Mount Everest Expedition, I was detailed to carry out the trial there. Possibly a word of explanation of the method used may not be a

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APPENDIX III

A NOTE ON THE GEOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION By A. M. HERON, D.Sc., F.G.S., Geological Survey of India. The area geologically examined is somewhat over 8,000 square miles, comprising the Tibetan portion of the Arun drainage area, with, in the West, the headwaters of the Bhotia Kosi and its tributaries. The circumstances of the Expedition were not favourable for work in any detail, but an endeavour was made to traverse and map as large an area as possible on a scale of ¼-inch to the mile, o

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APPENDIX IV

THE SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT By A. R. HINKS, F.R.S., Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society. The most important scientific work of the first year's expedition should have been the study of the physiological effects of high altitude that Dr. Kellas had undertaken, with the support of Professor Haldane, F.R.S., and of the Oxygen Research Committee of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. In his work on Kamet in 1920, Dr. Kellas had tried, and provisionally decided against, the use

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APPENDIX V

MAMMALS, BIRDS AND PLANTS COLLECTED BY THE EXPEDITION By A. F. R. WOLLASTON A.—LIST OF MAMMALS COLLECTED Stoat. Mustela temon Stoat. Mustela longstaffi Marmot. Marmota himalayana Hamster. Cricetulus alticola tibetanus , subsp. n. Vole. Phaiomys leucurus Vole. Phaiomys everesti Vole. Microtus ( Alticola ), sp. Pika. Ochotona roylei nepalensis Pika. Ochotona wollastoni , sp. n. Pika. Ochotona curzoniæ B.—LIST OF BIRDS COLLECTED Central Asian blackbird. Turdus maxima Solitary thrush. Monticola soli

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