Evening star., 1927-12-08
MOUNT EVEREST
ASCENT DESCRIBED
Capt. NJ. E. 0deII Addresses
Academy of Sciences and
Geological Society.

With the aid of some remarkable
lantern slide pictures Capt. NJ. f..
Odell of Toronto. Canada, explained
the geological formations found on the
1924 Mount Everest expedition to the
members OF the Washington Academy
of Sciences and the Geological Society
| of Washington at a joint meeting of
| those two organizations in the assem-
| bly, room of the Cosmos Club last
night.
A. Wetmore, assistant secretary of
| the Smithsonian Institution. who is
president of the local Academy of Sci
ences. presided, and in introducing the
speaker explained that he had been
with the third Mount Everest expedi
ton which had attained the highest
altitude ever reached in mountain
climbing. He added that to Capt.
Odell had been turned over the re-
sponsibility of establishing the high
est base camp of the party, where he
not only had to arrange for food and
supplies but was in charge of the oXy-
gen apparatus used by the climbers.
Capt. Odell described the tanks in
detail, saying they were a combina
tion of the ones perfected for the
British air forces and ones used by
miners. He told how through eXhaus-
tive experiments he had been able to
reduce the weight of the tanks from
81 pounds, recommended by the Brit
ish authorities to Is pounds, which
was found practicable through the
elimination of unnecessary features.
Climbers Acclimated.
Capt. Odell also advanced the theory
that the Importance of the tanks had
been very much overestimated, stating
that by gradual process the men,
bers of the expedition had been able to
acclimate themselves at the high alti.
tudes. He testified that in his base
camp, some $4,000 feet above sea level,
he was "happy and comfortable" was
able to eat and sleep, and believed his
mental faculties were normal. as notes
he had written there later seemed
grammatical and logical.
He said the initial difficulty was ex-
perienced at about $4,000 feet, where
at first the climbers suffered from
nausea and insomnia. 1t was around
10000 feet, however, he said, that the
vital test came and some famous AL
pine climbers were found mot to be
able definitely to react at that alti-
tude." All of the members of the
1924 party had been given special
tests before starting, he disclosed.
The speaker briefly reviewed the
work that had been accomplished by
the first two expeditions, and showed
by means of diagrams and maps not
only the route the 1924 party had
taken but the geological formations
they had found. Several views were
shown of the people of Tibet encoun.
tered on the journey. Their religious
traditions often handicapped the sci.
entists, Capt. Odell declared, recall
ing that biologists were barred by the
native authorities after a member of
one of the early expeditions had
Clipped off and brought back pieces
of rock. This. the natives feared, dis
turbed the natural and spiritual forces
and would arouse the devils against
them. 1t was often necessary to ex-
plain to the inhabitants that the party
was composed of group of oil men
from Persia or that they were max.
ing pilgrimage to the holy noun.
tain by way of an excuse for their
journey.
Snakes In Hot Springs.
The luxurious foliage in the valleys
crossed, the extraordinary beauty OF
the formations of some of the cliffs
were described. One of the curious
things discovered was some hot
springs in one of the passes in which
lived snakes, whose presence puzzled
the members of the party, for they
were the only reptiles in the region
and must have migrated great dis.
tances and endured many hardships
to get there, Capt. Odell said spiders
also were found in the crevices of ice
$4,000 feet high. Asked what they
subsisted upon, the natural history ex-
pert of the party could only suggest
they must eat each other.
The heroic but unsuccessful effort
TO scale the summit of the mountain,
in which two members of the expedi-
ton lost their lives, was graphically
recounted by Capt. Odel at the end
of his lecture. In closing. the speaker
expressed the hope that he would
have the privilege of making another
attempt to ascend the peak. but in
dicated that all efforts to send out
another expedition at present are
meeting with religious and political
opposition from the native authorities.
who claim that the accidents suffered
on the last trip were caused by the
anger Of the goddess of the mountain.
and that If further efforts are made
to reach the summit the evil one will
punish those who live nearby.