Evening star., 1953-06-20


more beautiful. Our optimism
was tremendous, perhaps We
were overoptimistic, for the gil
gantic scope of the face set us
problems that we had never had
to cope with in the Alps. And
above all, time was short.
If we were to succeed, not a
moment must be lost. The ar
rival of the monsoon was an
nounced for about June S. We
had just IL days left. We'd
have to move fast, very fast
indeed.
I was haunted by this idea.
To do so we would have to
lengthen out the intervals be-
tween the successive camps, Or
ganize shuttle service to bring
up the maximum number of
loads in the minimum time, ac-
climatize ourselves and, finally,
maintain communications with
the rear. This last point wor-
ried me. Out party was Or
ganized on the scale of a recon-
naiSsance and the total supply
at our disposal was only five
days food and a limited amount
Of equipment.
Plans for Camp III.
How could I possibly keep
track of the thousand and one
questions that buzzed round in
my head? The rest of the party
were all highly excited and
talked away noisily while the
sherpas moved about the tents
as usual. There were only two
Of them here and we could not
possibly begin operations with
just these two. So the sahibs
would have to set off alone and
carry their own loads; in this
way we should be able to- get
Camp II pitched the next day.
When I asked the others opin-
ion they enthusiastically agreed
to make this extra effort, which
would save us at least two days.
Adjiba would go back to the base
camp and show the people there
the way up to Camp I, which
would have to be entirely re-
equipped since we were going
to take everything with us for
Camp II.
All four of us, Lachenal, Re-
buffat, Terray and myself, got
our things ready and filled our
sacks with as much as we could
possibly carry in the way of
equipment, food, tents and sleep
ing bags, leaving behind only one
container with q few accessories
which we did not need at once.
We shared out the equipment;
as usual, some preferred the
heavier but less bulky loads, with
others 1t was the opposite. It
worked out at an average of
about As pounds apiece.
Crushing Burdens.
At this height, where the least
exertion is an effort, we felt
crushed beneath our burdens.
The straps cut into our should
ers and it seemed a physical i'm
possibility to walk for more than
five minutes.
All the same we somehow
struggled on, for although our
packs were far too heavy, we re-
f1ected on all the time we were
saving.
So the four sahibs, in single
file and we'll spaced out on the
rope, climbed heavily up through
the snow of the great plateau at
the foot of Annapurna.
With the sun vertically above
us, the glacier basin was like
furnace, with every ray reflected
back from the surface of the
snow. Walking soon became
dull agony. We sweated and
suffocated.
Then we stopped, split open
some tubes of anti-sunburn
cream and applied the paste
thickly to our sweating faces.
Lachenal and Rebuffat, who
seemed to suffer even more than
Terray and myself. made them
selves white Ku Klux Klan cowls
out of the cotton lining of my
sleeping bag. They assured me
that this was admirable protec-
ton against Sunstroke. but I
wasn't convinced; they seemed
to be sitting in them. Terray
and I preferred to rely on the
cream.