The Glenwood post., 1909-06-26

The duke of the AbruzZi is either
at or near Bombay, which city is to
be the starting point of his expedition
to the Himalayas.
A considerable and unnecessary
amount of mystery has been thrown
around the plans of the ducal explorer.
| who has been romantically supposed
to be seeking relief from his love
misadventures by Drawing the dangers
of the Indian glaciers. but the follow
ing details can be considered authen-
tic:
The party which accompanies the
duke of the Abruzzi consists OF
Marchese Negrotto. Cavalier Vittorio
Sella, Cavalier Filippo de Filippi. Sig
nor Botta. and seven guides from the
Courmayeur. Marchese Negrotto is
the dukes flag lieutenant in the ltal-
ian navy Cavalier Sella accompanied
the duke on his former expeditions at
Mount St. Elias in Alaska and to Ruw-
enzori. His skill as a photographer
is well known.
His illustrations added not little
to the interest of the book published
on the Ruwenzori, and were one OF
the chief attractions of the account
given by Douglas Freshfied of his ex-
plorations round kunchinjinga. Cava-
lier Filippo de Filippi also was com
panion of the duke on his Polar ex-
ploration, and though he could not
accompany him to Ruwenzori, wrote
the history of that expedition which
has since been published.
| aSgictant nhO-
tographer to Sella; he, too. was a
member of the earlier expeditions to
Alaska and Ruwenzori. and has had
moreover some mountaineering ex-
perience in the Caucasus and the
Himalayas.
Besides Sella and Botta. four of the
, seven guides have had Himalayan ex'
: perience. Joseph Petigax, who accom-
panied the duke on his former expedi-
tions, was for some time with DR..
Bullock Workman in his expedition in
1903 IN Baltistan. Alexis and Henri
Brocherel were with the expedition of
Messrs. Longstaff, Mumm and Brace
to the Nanda Devi group in 1907; and
, G. Savoie was with the two Swedish
: mountaineers who established
Himalayan record by climbing kabru
, $4,000 feet. in Sikkim.
The fact that the duke has ar
ranged for the collection of coolies al
Srinagar leaves, of course, no doubt
as to the Karakram range being the
scene of his explorations, and the
large proportion of guides among the
members of the party would show that
his main object is climbing.
Now, the western part of the Kara
koran has recently been explored by
: the Workmans. The central part OF
the range. however, contains the high
est peaks of all. grouped round the
great Baltoro glacier; and, as it of
: fers the most tempting ground for q
: mountaineer of the dukes arlbitions
one may safely assume that 1t is here
that the choice of mountains to ascend
will be made.
The Baltoro glacier explored by Sill
w. Martin Conway in 1892. when he
climbed Pioneer Peak. $4,000 feet, te
its south. 1t was revisited in 1902 by
the Eckenstein-G Guillarmod expedition
of which an account was published
by DR.. Guillarmod on their unsuccess
full attempt to reach K2. To judge
from the photographs which have
been brought back both of K2 and o
other giants of the range, the formid
able character of the climbing car
hardly be exaggerated.
In spite of the assurance that th'
duke of the Abruzzi has not yet fixet
his hopes upon any particular sum
nit, one cannot doubt that Noun
Goodwin Austin. or K2 as it is mor'
familiarly called. is the peak whicl
he will first reconnoitre. Should
nearer examination prove that 1t II
hopeless. even for an expedition SO eY
perienced and thoroughly organized al
that of the dukes. one may still b.
sure from his previous record that HI
will not return empty-handed.
j., Even If he does not succeed in seal
:, ing the 2S.250 feet of K2, there ar
= plenty of geographical discoveries t.
:. be made and other virgin heights t
:, be climbed in. and especially beyon,
i, the main range.
i, The region on the north of Kara
koran has been little explored. and
, as both the duke and his flag-lieuten
;, ant, Negrotto. are fully qualified 70
=, any Typographical work. We may a
!, least expect from them some VALUABLE
addition to our knowledge OF tn
y Trans Himalayan country.
;, From Bombay the party will pre-
ceed by train to Rawal Pindi. an,
then to Srinagar. where the coolie
O. will be in readiness and the caravan
i, formed. From Srinasar on to Iskard
would be . distance Of some IL