Evening star., 1933-11-18
EVEREST R|GORS
TOLDBY LECTURER
Commodore FelIoWes De-
! scribes Flight Phenomena
ssh Geographic.

Icy gales which for weeks at a time
blew at Velocities Of 100 to i30 miles
per hour, continuous atmospheric dust
haze thousands of feet thick and tenn
perature changes of $50 degrees within
an hour were some OF the obstacles
faced by the British expedition which
flew over the 29, ,141-foot peak of Mount
Everest last April, it was explained by Air
Commodore p. F. F. FelloweS, d, S. O.,
British royai air force, executive of1cer
of the expedition, in an illustrated lee
ture under auspices of the National
Geographic Society last night in Con-
stitution Hall.
Although at least 80 lives have been
lost in attempts to scale Everest on loot,
Commodore Fellowes said, no man yet
has set foot on the top Of the world S
highest mountain. The bodies OF
several of the explorers now are be-
Iieved to lie at about the 28,000-foot
level, the highest point actually reached
by man. Although memorial WreatnS
were carried by the two planes OF the
Felelowes expedition which reached the
top of the world, they were not dropped
because the bodies could not be seen
Five Months Preparation.
Five months of arduouS preparatory
work was necessary before the goal OF
the expedition was realized in two ~
minute flights around the top OF the
giant peak of the Himalayas. Although
Commodore Fellowes was responsible
for all the arrangements and made the
preliminary reconnaissance flights over
the dangerous terrain of the Hlmalayan
ranges about Everest, he left the actual
glory of conquering the peak 70 nVe
members of his expedition: Lord Clydes-
dale and Flight Lieut.. McIntype, pilots;
Col Blacker, observer, and two pnotog-
raphers, Bonnet and Fisher.
In weeks of waiting there were only
two DAYS when conditions would permit
attempts to be made and on one OF
these occasions winds of 10 miles veloc-
ity were encountered. The flyers were
kept alive by oxygen fed from bottles
and long tubes into masks, and by
electrically heated clothing. Even the
oxygen bottles and cameras had to be
heated electrically to keep them in
operation.
150-Degree Temperature Change.
Although Temperatures at the base
camp at Purnea averaged around 1OO
degrees, the planes climbed in less than
an hour into the thin, icy air of the
Himalayas where the thermometers
registered so degrees below zero. At
this height, Fellowes said, bits of paper
fall like bricks, without fluttering, and
coins jingled together convey no sound.
Both still and motion pictures were
taken during the two flights over Everest
and some of these were exhibited by
Commodore Fellowes to illustrate his
lecture. These pictures showed in
sharpest detail features of the mighty
mountain and its surroundings. They
disclosed the source of the plume"
habitually worn by Everest to be clouds
of icy particles swept from the eternal
SHOWS on its top into the atmosphere by
the never ceasing gales. This plume at
times is more than Is miles long.
One surprising discovery, the mystery
of which has not been fathomed, was
the discovery of tiny lake of appar-
emily unfrozen water thousands of feet
above the snow line. Although the lake
must be heated by Subterranean fires,
Fellowes said, it gave of no steam. This
is one of the remaining mysteries of
Everest which must be cleared up by
future flights, he said.
Commodore Fellowes' address opened
the Fall and Winter lecture series OF the
National Geographic Society and was
attended by an audience OF more than
$500 persons