CLUB PROCEEDINGS, 1962-63

The Thirty-fifth Annual General Meeting of the Club was held at the Saturday Club, Calcutta, on Monday, August 5, 1963. Mr. F. C. Badhwar, O.B.E., took the chair, and reported on the Club's activities during the year.

Officers, Elective Members of the Committee and Additional Members of the Balloting Committee were elected as follows:

Officers:

 

Members of Committee

 

Additional Members of Balloting Committee

 

 

Other Appointments:

 

After the meeting Mr. R. P. Ghandhy's film on a small expedition to ⁴ Black Peak' was shown. This was followed by an illustrated account given by Mr. J. P. O'F. Lynam on his expeditions to the 'Bara Shigri Glacier' area in 1958 and 1961. Twenty-five members and guests attended the meeting.

MEETINGS: Apart from the A.G.M. the following gatherings took place:

Calcutta: Mr. Desmond Doig gave an illustrated lecture on September 20, 1962, illustrating some aspects of Sir Edmund Hillary's expedition in 1960-61 and slides of Bhutan.

On March 3, 1963, Sir Edmund Hillary gave a most entertaining illustrated lecture on his recent expedition to Nepal. The lecture was held in conjunction with the Saturday Club and about 50 Club members and guests attended.

Bombay: Members of the Bombay Section entertained M. Lionel Terray, leader of the successful French Jannu Expedition, who was passing through en route to France. M. Terray (with the kind permission of the Director of Alliance Frangaise) was able to project a breathtaking colour film of the successful attempt.

Some members were able to meet and entertain the Austrian team to Dhaulagiri II.

The Annual Dinner was held at the West End Hotel on July 15, 1963. The dinner was preceded by a show of coloured slides and a film set to recorded music and commentary, and entitled Sikkim 1962 produced by R. S. Pillai and S. S. Mehta. Thirty-one members and guests attended including Mr. C. E. J. Crawford who kindly presided.

London Reunion

The London Reunion was held on March 29, 1963. Forty-eight members and guests gathered, amongst whom were Gen. Sir Roger Wilson, K.C.B., D.S.O., M.S., Dr. T. Howard Somervill, Mr, H. W. Tilman, Prof, and Mrs. N. E. Odell, Mr. W. G. Bartlett, Mr. D. F. MacMillan, C.B.E., Mr. C. E. Sexton, Mr. F. K. Derrick, Miss I. R. Mitchell, Mr. R. Berry, Maj. and Mrs. A. M. Jenkins, Mrs. L. J. Townciul, Mr. A. B. Marshall, Sir Geoffrey and Lady Ramsden, Kt., CI I Mr. C. J. Morris, C.B.E., Mr. D. W. Soughan, Mr. A. A. Marr, Mr 1 1 n timer, Mr. F. D. C. Sumner, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. D. Waller, Mr W Allsup, Mrs. R. G. M. Chase, Mr. V. S. Risoe, and Dr. M. J. Ball.

Before the buffet supper the Duke of Edinburgh's film of the Himalaya and film, Spring in Kashmir, were shown.

MEMBERSHIP : The Club's membership at present stands at 571, of whom 169 members are resident in India, Pakistan and Nepal. The names of 29 Founder Members stand in the Current Members' Register, and seven Honorary Members.

OBITUARY : We mourn the deaths of the following members:

LIBRARY : A library list has now been prepared and copies are available from the Honorary Librarian. It is hoped that a sub- library will be established in Bombay in the near future.

EXPEDITIONS, 1962 : These notes cover only expeditions which have not been fully reported elsewhere in this Journal or already mentioned in Vol. XXIII.

NEPAL

A South Korean Expedition to Dhaulagiri II (25,429 feet) were unable to reach the summit.

The Nihon University Expedition (Japanese) to Mukut and Churen Himal climbed Hangde (21,654 feet) in the Mukut Himal on May 8. On their return, they climbed three more peaks in the same area—Peak 20,554 feet, Peak 19,767 feet and Tongu Peak (about 20,500 feet)—the first two being first ascents, the last-named peak being a second ascent.

They failed on the highest peak in Churen Himal but found con- solation in the ascent of Khantokhal (about 21,325 feet) on June 7.

GARHWAL

Nilgiri Parbat (21,140 feet) was climbed by an expedition from the Himalayan Association of Calcutta on October 26. Bhanu Banerjee, Netai Ray, Ajeeba Topgay, Phurba Chindu, Ang Dawa and Ang Temba reached the summit. The team was led by Amulya Sen.

KARAKORAM

The first ascent of Saltoro Kangri (K36) (25,400 feet) was made by Y. Takamura, A. Saito and R. Bashir (of Pakistan) on J uly 24, 1962. This was a joint expedition of the Academic Alpine Club of Kyoto and the Karakoram Club of Pakistan.

The summit party launched the final assault from Camp V at 23,650 feet and after a bivouac at 24,500 feet reached the summit.at 10.40 a.m. returning to Camp V the same day.

Prof. Ardito Desio led a geological expedition to the Hunza and Skardu area. Dr. Ercole Martina made the first ascent of Theri Sar (16,568 feet) by the north wall. The mountain was reached from Misgar village and the Barah valley.

HINDU KUSH

Fritz Stammberger, a German aged 32 climbing alone on Tirich Mir (25,260 feet), received head and face injuries when he was swept down by an avalanche. He was attended by Dr. Bartlett of the American party who were commencing their ascent.

The American team comprising Felix Knauth, Bill Bartlett and Peter Newell reached a height of 21,500 feet when a blizzard struck, confining them to their tents for five days. The summit attempt was called off due to the danger of subsequent avalanches.

The Cracow and Poznan branches of the Polish Mountaineering Club led by S. Zierhoffer visited the Afghanistan area of the Eastern Hindu Kush. Four French climbers were also invited.

The Poznan group climbed in the Mandaras valley where they made the first ascent of the principal peak (23,376 feet) on the main ridge on August 27, which they named Kuh-e-Nadir Shah. Another successful attempt on the same peak followed a few days later. Three more first ascents were recorded on peaks, (about 19,685 feet) on August 9, (about 20,000 feet) on August 14, and (about 20,500 feet) on August 16. After this they made yet another first ascent of Kuh-e-Mandaras (21,754 feet) on the main ridge of the Hindu Kush on September 4.

The Cracow group climbed in the Urghendi valley where they reached the summit of the peak (23,016 feet) on the main ridge, on August 28, and which they named Kuh-e-Tez.

 

EXPEDITIONS, 1963:
NEPAL

The American Everest Expedition led by Norman Dyhrenfurth made mountaineering history when the summit was reached thrice within a month, the last two ascents the same day and within three hours of each other, one of which was made from the west ridge hitherto considered impossible. The west ridge team completed the first major Himalayan traverse by descending over the south ridge.

Their first ascent was on May 1—James Whittaker and Nowang Gombu: the second ascent at 3.30 p.m. on May 22—Barry Bishop and Luther Jerstad: and the third ascent by the west ridge at 6.30 p.m. on May 22—William Unsoeld and Thomas Hornbeim.

The N.Z.-U.S. Expedition led by Sir Edmund Hillary reached a point 200 feet from the summit of Taweche (21,463 feet) before being forced to return by extremely dangerous snow conditions.

They, however, succeeded on Kangtega (22,340 feet) when Tom Frost, David Dorrnan, Michael Gill and J. Wilson reached the summit on June 5.

The Austrian Himalayan Association Expedition to Dhaulagiri II (25,429 feet) led by Egbert Eidher found a new route to the summit, but were beaten back by the weather after reaching about 23,000 feet.

The Japanese Chiba University Expedition led by Makato Numata to Numbur (22,817 feet) was successful when four of the members reached the top.

The Federation of All-Japanese Mountaineering Union Expedition to Himlung Himal (23,380 feet) led by H. Zengyo were unable to reach the summit. A height of 6,800 metres was reached.

The Tokyo Agricultural University team of four led by K. Miya- zawa reached a point about 500 feet from the summit of Twins (24,117 feet) before being forced to retreat by snow conditions following a heavy snow-fall.

The Doshisha Himalayan Expedition climbed Saipal (23,080 feet) in west Nepal.

Hira Bayashi and Sherpa Pasang Putra reached the summit by the south ridge on October 21. The leader was Kanji Kojima.

The Italian Alpine Club has received permission from the Nepal Government to climb Langtang Himal (23,750 feet). The team led by Mr. Andreotti left Kathmandu on September 27. There have been two previous Japanese attempts on this peak—the last in 1961 suffered an avalanche disaster in which three lives were lost.

KARAKORAM

A Tokyo University team led by S. Kato scaled Baltoro Kangri (Golden Throne) (23,989 feet) on August 4. The summit team comprised S. Koro and F. Shima.

GARHWAL

A team led by Sonam Gyatso climbed Hathi Parbat (22,070 feet) on June 6 and 7.

The ‘Paribhraman ' of Ahmedabad led by D. Pandya climbed Shri Kailas (22,742 feet) and two other unnamed peaks in the Gangotri region.

HIMALAYAN JOURNAL, VOL. XXV : All papers intended for publication should be forwarded to the Hon. Editor, c/o The Himalayan Club, Post Box No. 9049, Calcutta 16. It is requested that articles should be typewritten, and preferably accompanied by sketch-maps ; these should be clearly drawn in Indian ink with references given, if possible, to the existing Survey sheets. Photographs should be clear, with definition as sharp as possible; they should be at least half-plate size printed on glossy paper. The Editor will be glad to receive articles of general Himalayan interest and also on subjects other than climbing.

JOURNAL BACK NUMBERS : The only volumes now available for sale arc Vols. XVII, XIX, XX, XXI, XXII, and XXIII which are priced at Rs.10 per copy, post free for members, and applies to one copy per member. In some cases additional copies an be made available at Rs.14 per copy, post free.

DI SPATCH OF THE JOURNAL : Responsibility for nondelivery of the Journal cannot be accepted if members do not notify then change of address. Considerable trouble is caused in readdressing Journals returned, and duplicate copies cannot be sent except on payment.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS : Members are requested to notify the Hon. Secretary promptly of any change of address. If this Journal has not been correctly addressed will you please advise the Hon. Secretary immediately of the amendments or alterations.

LOST MEMBERS : The club is still endeavouring to trace a few Life Members with whom they have lost contact. Any information as to their whereabouts will be greatly appreciated by the Honorary Secretary:

JOURNAL INDEX: -Mr. D. F. O. Dangar has very kindly indexed Volumes XXII and XXIII and these have been printed and included with this Journal. Should any members require copies of the Journal Index, Vols. I—XXI, they are still available either from Mr. V. S. Risoe or the Honorary Librarian in Calcutta.

JOURNALS RECEIVED: We gratefully acknowledge receipt during the year of the following journals and publications in exchange of our Journal:

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