Evening star., 1932-08-10
KASHM|R CLIMBERS
PRESS FOR SUMMIT.
$4,000 Feet Up, They Seek
World Record by Reaching
Manga Parbat Peak.
BY ELIZABETH KNOWLTON,
Member of German American Himalayan
EXpedition.


Expedition.
CAMP NO. 4, MANGA PARBAT,
Kashmir, July 81 (by runner to Astor,
August 81 (N.A.N.A).-We have begun
the final phase of our conflict to con-
quer this great peak they call Manga
Parbat. Our campaign may go on for
some weeks yet, though, and from now
on it will be a desperate struggle. Not
even the most optimistic among us ex-
poets the easy victory which for time
seemed probable.
Before we arrived at Camp NO. 4
which is perched 10000 feet up, re-
ceived by runner most hopeful leIter.
The leader Of the expedition, WHY
Merkl. with Fritz Bechtold, PeteI
Aschenbrenner and Rand Herron. had
already left this camp and the others
were to follow in day or so.
The climbers, ascending Rakiot Peak,
had seen a route with no inSurmount-
able difficulties, from Rakiot Ridge TO
the summit of Manga Parbat, and the
route to Rakiot Ridge had already been
decided upon as possible. It was now,
my correspondent wrote, just question
of pressing on fast.
SITUATION SndHScu.
At Camp No. we found a completely
changed situation. The route to the
ridge, which Herrcn and ASchenbrenner
had now seen near at hand, presented
unforeseen difficulties and dangers.
Further. Bechtold and Merkl, now at
Camp No. 5, are laid up with mountain
sickness. Heron and Aschenbrenner
are back here at Camp No. 4. AScnen-
brenner has very seriously frozen loot;
Hurbert Kunigk, who had been bothereo
with a slight digestive disturbance
which had been expected to clear up IN
a day or two. found that becoming SO
troublesome that he and DR.. Hugo Ham
berger went back to the base camp.
The group is much handicapped by
the loss of these fine climbers. Aschen-
brenner. who hopes soon to be climbing
again, but who always will find that
foot a liability, is known to the Coolies
as 1.-The strong Sahib." In group OF
strong men, Kunigk, the tallest ana
Youngest member of our expedition, has
carried everything along with MS
eagerness, enthusiasm and energy.
The five climbers remaining IN action
are pressing along grimly in strenu-
Gus. painful ascent, forcing their way
up. Soon after they left Camp No. a
they began to fight the pains that come
with high attitudes. Even here, at less
than 10000 feet, and although the
doctor says we have all become well
acclimatized, I notice in every one
breathlessness after sudden exertlon, OF
even when talking rapidly.
The higher our men climb into the ~
thousands, the more OF a struggle dc
they find each movement. Another
of Manga Parbat's weapons is becoming
more deadly with increasing altitude
That is the extreme variation In tenn
perature. from the blazing heat OF the
sun at noon to the unbearable cold OF
night.
Soft Snow Impedes Climb.
Another trouble that grows increas-
ingly serious as the climbers press ur
is the depth of the soft snow. 1t melts
only enough during the day to freeze
into the thinneSt crust at night. Al
every step the climbers break through
generally up to their knees and often
so deeply that it is almost impossible tc
struggle out again.
Contending with all these difficulties
Merkl and Bechtold got through the
dangerous Serac area into the amphi-
theater below Rakiot Ridge, and Her
ron and Aschenbrenner following them
established Camp No. 6 there. The mex
day Heron and Bechtold started fol
the ridge, but finally turned back, attel
spending the last hour and a half try
ing desperately to advance 100 YARD;
to firmer ground, swimming and houn-
dering in soft snow up to their waists
The day after they started again
farther to the left, to break route t
OF lar nj q
overcome by mountain sickness and wa.
obliged to turn back. Heron, not Il
lose a day, pushed on entirely alone
Near the ridge, as he was considering
the problem of the first dangerous
crevasse, he saw Felix Simon, "the LITTLE
Sahib," coming slowly up after hin
with rope. Simon was the only one
who had been able to muster sufficient
strength to move. He had followed
painfully all the way up from camp in
case a second man should be needed.
Together, he and Heron gained {
point within 200 feet of the ridge before
being finally turned back by impossible
deep snow. After this attempt Simon
and Heron had to return to Camp No
with bad cases of the sore throat
which comes with high attitudes.
But that same day we could see from
mere four black dots, carrying what We
knew to be shovels, follow the upwarc
tracks of Heron and Simon and push
slowly on beyond until they topped tht
ridge Yesterday we watched two men
carrying large loads, leave Camp No {
and go up the now well trampled way
to the top Of the ridge. Camp No. i
at last established on Rakiot Ridge
$4,000 feet above sea level.
Rand Heron, mentioned in this dis.
patch, is one of the two Americans ir
the expedition. His home is in New
York. The other American is Mis-,
Knowlton of Boston and Springfield
Mass. Manga Parbat is 20, 300 feet high
If the expedition reaches its summit 6
new world record in mountain climbing
will have been established.
Copyright, 1882. bv North American News.
paper Alliance, Inc