Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1921-02-05
some OF HIGHEST
MOUNTAINS HAVE
never BEEN SCALED

MI. Everest, the Hlmaiaydn peak
called "the roof of the world" when
Sir Francis Younghusband, the Bril-
fish soldier-explorer. will attempt to
climb next summer, has never yet
been scaled by man.
Towering above the frontiers Of
the hitherto forbidden land of Tibet
and the remote province of Nepal.
India, another land of mystery, the
difficulties in even approaching Mt
Everest have been sufficient to baf-
fe explorers.
The worlds highest peak lies in
Tibet north OF the British Indian
border, yet, so far as known, no
European has ever approached near
er than so miles from its base and
few travellers have even seen its up
per slopes.
The attempts which have been
made to ascend some OF Mt. Everest
sister peaks Of the Himalayas have
usually been made through Nepal
because access to them through Ii
bet was not open. The approach to
Mt. Everest through Tibet is said to
be more accessible and present great
err prospects OF success than from the
Nepal side.
Sir Francis Younghusband an
nounced that the Tibetan govern
ment had granted him permission to
attempt the ascent Of the mountain
by the Tibetan route. 1t was Sir
Francis, who as colonel commanding
a British mission to the Forbidden
City of Lhasa In 1903-O2, opened
Tibet to civilization.
Mt. Everest named for Sir George
Everest, famous British surveyor
general of India. Is the highest
known mountain in the world. Its
trigonometrical altitude Is $4,000
feet Its probable height is 29,l41
feet. The next known highest of
the Himalayan peaks are Knchin-
iunga, 2S,226 feet and K-2, or Bride
peak, whose altitude is 28,191 feet.
The intrepid Duke of the Abruzzi,
who reached the top of Mt. st. Elias
In Alaska (18,024 feet) and who at
one time held the record of Earth
est north" In Arctic exploration,
tried to climb K-2 or Bride peak, In
1909 but failed because from what
ever point Of the compass he adj
yanced he could find no way up to
attain the summit. At 24,600 feet
he and his companions were in good
physical condition although pro-
gress was slow and laborious;
thick mist warned them that to go
on would have been madness
This achievement of the Italian ex-
plorer, however, is the worlds rec
ord for mountain climbing. Pride
peak is in the Karakoram Himalayas.
Besides 1t and its two higher sister
peaks, there are in the Himaiayas
no less than rs peaks above $4,000
feet, 4S above $4,000 feet, 16 above
26, 900 feet and five about $1,000
feet.
Mounain climbing is one of he
most ancient as well as Fascinating
forms of adventure. Is chief dang
ers are ayalanches, landslides, fall
ing rocks, billiards., falling Ice, falls
from precipices OF into crevasses'
falls from ice slopes or down snow
slopes
Sir Francis announcement OF his
intention to attempt this mountain
climbing feat recalls the exploits u
two American women--Mrs. Fannie
B. Workman and Miss Annie $. Peck
and their conquest OF some of the
highest peaks in Asia and South
America.
Mrs. Workman in 1893, 1893
1906 and 1908 made ascents In the
Himalayas, including one OF the Nun
Kun peaks whose summit is 2s'Soo
feet high, or more than half a mile
above the apex of that forb1dding
sentinel of the Alaskan silences' MI
Miss Peck in 1908
negotiated the top of Mt. Huascaran
in the Peruvian Andes. a height OF
21S12 feet and three years later she
climbed the two peaks of the vol
cano Coropuna