The new era., 1909-07-08

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
misadyentures by braving 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 we'll 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 Freshfield of his ex-
plorations round Kunchinjinga- Cava-
lier Filippo de Filippi also was COM
panion of the duke on his Polar eN-
ploration. and though he could not
accompany him to Ruwenzori, wrote
the history of that expedition which
has since been published.
Signor Botta goes as assistant pho
tographer to Sella; he. too. was
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
1908 in Baltistan. Alexis and Henri
Brocherel were with the expedition of
Messrs Longstaff. Mumm and Brace
TO the Nanda Devi group in 1907; and
C. Savoie was with the two Swedish
mountaineers who established a
Himalayan record by climbing Kabru,
$4,000 feet. in Sikkim.
The fact that the duke has ar
ranged for the collection of coolies at
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
est peaks of all. grouped round the
great Baltoro glacier; and, as it Of
fers the most tempting ground for a
mountaineer of the dukes ambitions,
one may safely assume that ii is here
that the choice of mountains to ascend
will be made.
The Baltoro glacier explored by Sir
w. Martin Conway in 1892. when he
climbed Pioneer Peak, $4,000 feet, to
its south. 1t was revisited in 1902 by
the Eckenstein-Gu 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 IF K2 and OF
other giants of the range. the formid-
able character of the climbing can
hardly be exaggerated.
In spite OF the assurance that the
duke of the Abruzzi has net yet fixed
his hopes upon any particular sum-
nit, one cannot doubt that Mount
Goodwin Austin. or K2 as 1t is more
familiarly called. is the peak which
he will first reconnoitre. Should
nearer examination prove that it is
hopeless. even for an expedition so ex
perienced and thoroughly organized as
that OF the dukes. one may still be
sure from his previous record that he
will not return empty-handed.
Even If he does not succeed in seal
ing the 2S.250 feet of K2, there are
plenty OF geographical discoveries to
be made and other virgin heights to
be climbed In. and especially beyond
the main range.
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 for
any Typographical work, we may at
least expect from them some valuable
addition to our knowledge of the
Trans -Himalayan country.
From Bombay the party will pro
coed by train to Rawal Pindi. and
then to Srinagar. where the coolies
will be in readiness and the caravan
formed. From Srinagar on to lskardo
would be distance of some 12S