Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-01

taa highest mountain in the world,
and more than half a century ago
schcolboys were taught that its height
29.oo2 feet. 1t is hard, then, to believe that
up to the date of Col Howard Bury's prospect
ing expedition in 1921 no European had been
within so miles of the base of the great peak.
It IS tine vss.ncss of the Hmalayas and their
haccesSiblty which makes their conquest so
dificuIt and. to make matters still harder for
climbers, most of the range is situated in the
forbidden land" CT Tibet. Mount Everest is
10 miles from Katmandu the capital of Nepal
and the nearest civilized place to its base.
Another difficulty in the way of climbers is the
nature O. the country, which is wild and rough
beyond conception. In order to reach the base
of Everest passes must be crossed whose sum-
nits are 1000 feet higher than the peaks of
Mont Blanc. and every morsel Of food, all in
strumerlts and stores have to be carried on the
backs CT men or pack animals over these ire
mendous heights.
After Col Howard Bury had proved that It
was possible to approach the base of Everest
the Mount Everest Committee set to work on
the expedition which to attack the mourl-
tain in the following Spring. One of the great
difficulties in the way of climbing Everest is
that the season is so short The monsoon or
rainy season, which brings a great snowfall,
gates and terrible weather in the mountains,
arrives early in June, so that all climbing must
be dcne during May. On the other hand. it
is iSspcssibie to start very early in the year. for
the cold up TO the end OF March Is terrible IN
the high passes of Tibet.
The party chosen for the first assault on
Everest was commanded by Brig. Gen. C.. G.
Bruce, and no man could have been picked who
was better qualified for the task He was
expert mountaineer; had served in Gurkfa
regiment, spoke the Gurkha language and was
extremely popular with these fine little fighting
men. Beyond that, he had a wide knowledge
of the peoples of the H malayas, their thoughts,
customs and superstitions. Especially their
superstitions for it must be remembered that
the Tibetans lock with awe upon the huge
mountains which dominate their country and
have firm belief that the heights are tenanted
by demons who will destroy any mortals rash
enough to invade their snowclad peaks.
CECOND In command was Lieut. Col E. l.
- Strut. The medical officer was DR.. T. G.
LongStaff, who was also an expert naturalist,
and the photographer was Capt. J. B. Nool
It was not expected that any of these would
make the actual assault on the summit. For
this purpose were chosen George Lc.gh-MaIlory,
who had already been on the reconnaissance
expedition: Capt George Finch, Maj. E. L.
Norton DR.. Somervell and DR.. Wakefield Two
Indian officers, Capt j.. @. Bruce and Capt C.
G. Morris, were in charge of transport and the
last member of the party was Maj. Morshead,
who, like Mr.. Mallory, had been up with the
survey party Of the previous year and who was
well acquainted with the country they had to
cross.
The party arrived at Phari, in Tibet, on
April 6. Phari lies more than 1900 feet up and
the weather intensely cold. From there
the great convoy with yaks ponies, bullocks and
mules, started across lofty plains covered with
frozen grass 1t showed heavily They climbed
to 1900 feet and suffered bitterly with cold.
The fast-howing stream outside the camp froze
solid during the night They had more than
600 pack animals and SO or so Tibetan porters,
and when they reached the foot of Everest all
-four. meat and grain for this small army had
to be brought from villages 40 miles away.
Another dificuty was that all the men had to
be paid in cash. which mean the carrying of q
very large quantity of silver money. The last
human habitation they passed was the Monas-
terry OF Rongbuk.
The base camp was pitched at q height of
10 500 feet. Here the chief difficulties were fuel
and water. All the streams were frozen and
ice had TO be melted to make tea. There was
not too much time, for the monsoon wss due
in about four weeks, work was pushed
rapidly and other camps were formed at 1890.
$500 and 81, 900 feet At these attitudes the
night temperature dropped to ~ degrees below
zero. The weather was very bad and on May IA
the w.rd blew so hard that it was impossible TO
stand against it.
At last all was ready for the attempt on the
summit. This was made by Mallory Somervell,
Morshead and Newton, who climbed to 1000
feet where they spent the night. Next day
they reached the record height of 26985 feet, or
only about 1000 feet below the summit. This
attempt was made without oxygen and 1t was a
Ssarprise TO all that they coUli clipIh at such a
height in the intensely thin air. They suffered
from breathlessness, a dull headache and sore
throat but were not actually sick 1t was