The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-09-17
STORMS BALk
ASCENT OF PEAK
Mountaineers Make Daring At
tempt to Climb Giant of
the Himalayas.
WILL RENEW ATTACK LATER
British Explorers Get $1,000 Feet Up
Mount kinchinjunga and Are Com.
PEELED to Stop by Bad Weather.
Encounter Difficulties.

e. Manchester, England.-A Manches-
ter Guardian correspondent at Calcut-
ia remarks that great interest has
been aroused by an attempt to climb
Mount Kinchinjunga, one Of the giants
Of the H1malayas.
Harold Raeburn, editor of Noun
jtaineering Art, and G. G. Crawford Of
the Assam civil sevice, both men,
,,bers Of the Alpine club, were known
to be conducting preliminary explora-
lions in the hope of finding an easy
access to the summit.
More than one skirmish in the
vicinity Of Kinchinjunga was made,
though the rains at the time were
heavy and the ever-shifting ice fields
in the mountains were likely to come
down in terrific avalanches, making
Iall climbing impossible without seri-
GUS risk to life.
Their explorations led the climbers
along the course Of the Talung river,
which takes it's rise in the Talung
glacier. Here they crossed streams,
the bridges Of which had been washed
away, and passed impenetrable for
,ests, through which they had to hew
their way for several days. Un-
daunted by the rainy weather, they
Travelled almost straight north to
Pamionghi, across the. Giuchu Pass,
16,43O feet, to the Talung glacier,
which is almost Immediately to the
south of Kinchinjunga, and there OBJ
tanned glorious view Of the noun
itains.
: Encounter Great Difficulties.
; The party returned to Darjeeling
and made their final preparations, en-
igaging coolies and large quantities of
stores. The rains, however, were so
severe that it was not until September
2 that the two explorers were able to
get away. Travelling out by the Sim
galila ridge, they attacked Kinchin-
ljunga on the southwest side and ex-
plored the glaciers. Access to the
summit by that direction was found
difficult, but the party persevered and
eventually camped out at a level Of
10000 feet.
; Here more difficulties were met and
bad weather was experienced. Snow
began to fall and the expedition be-
came increasingly hazardous. A fur
Their thousand feet was overcome, but
at this point the attempt had to be
abandoned.
) The return was made by new
snow pass about $4,000 feet high. The
weather was at first exceedingly bad,
but conditions became better later.
There was no rain on lower level, al
though occasional snow showers were
met higher up. Considerable difficulty
was experienced when returning, ow-
ing to the depth of new SHOWS on the
,Sikkhim side, which were probably due
to the bad weather experienced in the
latter part Of September. Finally the
party reached Darjeeling in the mid
die Of October, having been away
over month. Both the explorers
were greatly impressed by the peaks,
but confident that, given good wealth
er, the summit could be attained.
Attempt Made In 1899.
It Is interesting to recall that q
similar attempt was made by Douglas
w. Freshfeld in 1899. Mr.. Freshfeld
was led to undertake the exploration
by the fact that owing, as he says,
partly to cost and the difficulty Of
travel in Stkkhim and partly to the
obstacle presented by the Nepalese
frontier, no European had up to the
end of the nineteenth century gone
around the mountain. Even Sir
Joseph Hooker did not approach near
enough to explore the glaciers of the
giant. AS for official surveys, these,
according to Mr.. Freshfield, have al
ternately ignored and caricatured the
glaciers. 49,.
Mr.. Freshfeld did not think much
Of his tour from climbing point Of
view.
1T is, Of course, impossible" he
writes, ITO go. up and down $4,000
feet without some climbing in the pop
ular sense of the word, but in the
technically Alpine sense we had far
too little mountaineering for my taste.
Rope and tce-ax played but a very
subordinate part in our Journey"