NOTES

1. The Himalaya as a Playground
2. Royal Geographical Society Awards, 1934
3. Mr. D. N. Wadia
4. The Chong Kumdan Glacier Dam in 1934
5. The Porters of the Nanga Parbat Expedition, 1934
6. Medical Aid by Air
7. Tragedy on Mount Everest
8. The Mountain Club of India and the Eastern Section of the Himalayan Club

 

 

Many parts of the earth to-day are in an unhappy state of unrest. They are the low parts, low in altitude and low in outlook. A few parts of the earth are left unspoilt; the loftier regions of the Himalaya are among them. From time immemorial men have been able to quit the anxieties of their daily life in the plains and seek relaxation, pleasure, and peace among the mountain solitudes.

The Himalaya are becoming better known to the world. The days when they were visited only by survey officers, travellers, and sportsmen, escaping from the heat of the plains, are gone. Every year more secrets are revealed, more hidden paths are trodden; and every traveller, maybe quite unconsciously, reaps where his predecessors have sown. Every new achievement has a long history of preparation behind it. A great summit may be seen from the plains and fixed; a surveyor locates the approaches to its base; travellers remark on its beauty and pass it by; perhaps a mountaineer, unprepared to come to grips, may play about its skirts. Between this stage and the day when the summit is reached many years may elapse.

Richard Strachey, as long ago as 1848, first found Kamet; Adolf and Robert Schlagintweit were next to see it; Ryall, of the Survey of India, fixed its position and height accurately in 1875, and Pocock surveyed its western flanks. Detailed reconnaissance began in 1907. Bruce, Mumm, Longstaff, Morris Slingsby, Meade, Kellas, Morshead, and possibly others, all played their part, before Smythe led his party to a well-planned victory in 1931.

So it is, and so it should be, with other great peaks of the Himalaya. None become the personal property of any one man, still less of any one nation. Each subscribes his contribution to the ultimate object. Nations and nationalism have nothing to do with the matter. A man of one nation may show the way, a man of another nation may reach the summit; a man of a third may help towards success from an office in Simla or in London; without the Himalayan porter no success is possible; all have contributed.

There has been talk of 'poaching'. Poaching consists of snaring things from another man's property. It is not applicable to the great mountains of the Himalaya. No man and no nation has a prescriptive right to climb any of the summits, except with the permission of those to whom they belong; though one who has shown his competence has a better claim to consideration than one who has not. In many forms of international sport friendly rivalry is giving place to a passionate nationalism. There is no place for this in the Himalaya. There should be friendly co-operation between mountaineers of all nations, though, owing to human weaknesses, international high-climbing parties may be inadvisable.

One curse of Himalayan climbing is the straining after high altitude records. It was held for many years by a humble member of the Survey of India who placed a pole on the summit of Shilla in Spiti, 23,050 feet, in i860. He did not know the altitude, and we do not know his name. The modesty of the man who achieved this feat should be a lesson to modern record-seekers.

 

 

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The Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society was awarded in 1934 to Mr. Hugh Ruttledge for his journeys in the Kumaun and Garhwal Himalaya, and for his leadership of the 1933 Mount Everest expedition.

Mr. Ruttledge joined the Indian Civil Service in 1909 and retired from it in 1931. He is a Founder Member of the Himalayan Club. He began climbing in a modest way at Zermatt in 1906, where, during a spell of bad weather, he met Edward Whymper, who first interested him in mountaineering. Owing to work in India, Mr. Ruttledge's visits to Switzerland were few and far between, being limited to three seasons, 1921, 1928, and 1931. While in the I.C.S. he was stationed at Almora, from 1925 to 1929, first as Deputy Commissioner, then as Settlement Officer. It was during this period that he carried out a number of journeys of importance.

In 1925, with his wife, R. C. Wilson (now Major-General), and Cecil Carfrae, he made an attempt on Traill's pass from the south, explored the upper reaches of the Milam glacier, and reconnoitred the north side of Traill's pass from the Lwanl Gadh. In 1926, with his wife, R. C. Wilson, and T. H. Somervell, he explored the Timphu glacier, carried out various climbs, crossed the Lipu Lekh (pass) into Tibet, and made the circuit of Mount Kailas. He also reached a point about 18,000 feet high on the southern face of Kailas. After recrossing the watershed into India by the Anta Dhura pass, he made the first crossing of Traill's pass since 1865.

In 1927, with his wife and T. G. Longstaff, he made the first exploration of the Nandagini glacier, and in the following year the first exploration of the Kedarnath glacier, with A. W. Ibbotson. In 1929 he crossed the Lebong pass and attempted the east ridge of Panch Chuli with his wife. In 1928 and 1931 he was in Switzerland. In 1932, after his retirement, he returned again to the Himalaya and tried, with the guide fimile Rey of Courmayeur, to force a way into the Nanda Devi basin by way of the Sundardhunga col, a reconnaissance which was useful to Messrs. Ship ton and Tilman in 1934, when they made the first exploration of the inner basin and came out by the Sundardhunga col.¹ Before taking the field against Mount Everest Mr. Ruttledge studied the problems connected with the attack from every point of view. The result was, in Sir Geoffrey Corbett's words: 'There has never been an attempt on a mountain more carefully prepared, more methodically directed'-and one might truthfully add, more unselfishly led.

He has been selected to lead the 1935-6 Mount Everest expedition, for which permission has now been granted by the Tibetan Government.

 

 

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The Back Grant of the Royal Geographical Society was awarded in 1934 to Mr. D. N. Wadia, of the Geological Survey of India, for his studies of the Himalayan axis and other problems of Indian geomorphology of importance to geographers. Previous to joining the Geological Survey of India in 1921 Mr. Wadia was professor of geology at the Prince of Wales's College in Jammu. It was here that he wrote his text-book on The Geology of India in 1919 (2nd edition, 1926). Since then he has worked almost entirely in the Kashmir and Hazara Himalaya, in the Potwar region, and in Waziristan. It was while working south-west of the Pir Panjal range in Punch, and north-westwards towards Kaghan, that the syntaxial structure of the north-west Himalaya first suggested itself. His paper on the tectonics and orogeny of the mountains here is of outstanding importance to geographers.² Mr. Wadia has also done valuable pioneer research on the rocks of Nanga Parbat and of other regions in Kashmir and Punch. In 1934 he was engaged in investigating the effects of the earthquake in Bihar.

 

 

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A report received from Mr. T. Durji, the sub-overseer at Leh, through the Assistant Engineer of the Kargil subdivision, and through the Resident of Kashmir, gives the following interesting information regarding the condition of the Chong Kumdan dam in 1934. A minor flood, according to the Saser Brangsa river-guard, occurred during the year 1934 (^£on the 6th Sawan, 1991'). The total volume of the flood was less than half that of 1933; and that of 1933 was not of dangerous dimensions.

Mr. Durji reports that the width of the dam across the river-bed has greatly diminished since he visited the dam in 1932, especially in the southern corner. The width along the axis of the Shyok river is now not more than 600 feet, the height is from 200 to 250 feet in the middle of the glacier and little more than 100 feet at the edges. The dam has changed its shape considerably, especially at the centre and southern corner. The channel through which the lake is emptied is now from 150 to 200 feet wide at its upstream side, and from 350 to 400 feet wide at its southern exit. In view of the glacier's degeneration Mr. Durji considers that there is no probability of a catastrophic flood in the near future, though temporary stoppages may still result in 'nominal' floods.

The subject of 'threatening' glaciers, such as the Chong Kumdan, was discussed at an afternoon meeting of the Royal Geographical Society held in London on the 19th November 1934.¹ The Nevado glacier, in the Andes, very similar to the Chong Kumdan, had advanced, blocked the Rio Plomo valley, and impounded a lake. The dam burst in January 1934, and the flood caused by the released waters of the Rio Plomo destroyed the great railway bridge over the Mendoza river, many miles downstream, tore up a considerable section of the Transandine railway, and wiped out the electric power station. The Mendoza bridge lies on the only direct line uniting the capitals of Argentina and Chile, but before rebuilding it it was felt that further information was required regarding the probability of a similar flood in the future.

The discussion brought together the data derived from the study of similar glaciers in the Karakoram, but it was obvious that we are still very ignorant of the actual causes of such sudden advances of glacier tongues. India can contribute considerably to this question, for there are a number of glaciers that are known to make rapid advances. It is to be hoped, therefore, that travellers will co-operate by reporting any unusual movements of glaciers. In Himalayan Journal, vol. iii, pp. 129-30, Sir Edwin Pascoe gave a list of glaciers that have been observed and whose movements have been reported in the Records of the Geological Survey of India. It only remains to add that three are very likely to be of considerable interest during the next few years, the Yengutz Har, the Minapin, and the Kichik Kumdan. The first two are in Nagar, the last in the upper Shyok valley. They are very likely to advance suddenly for several miles> during the next few years. It is to be hoped that officers stationed at Gilgit will continue to carry on the extremely useful observations they have made during the last few years, and that travellers to the upper Shyok will report on the glaciers in that region.

 

 

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In another section of this Journal some details are given concerning the porters, Gaylay, Dakshi, Nima Dorje II, Nima Tashi, Nima Norbu, and Pinju Norbu, who died on Nanga Parbat. The following notes have been compiled from information received from the Honorary Secretary of the Eastern Section of the Club, from Hugh Ruttledge, Paul Bauer, Frank Smythe, and other members of recent expeditions to the Himalaya. Owing to the difficulty of obtaining exact records, the Eastern Section is now distributing official Club books to each porter engaged on major Himalayan expeditions, and during the winter General the Hon. C. G. Bruce took up to Darjeeling a further supply and distributed them. It is hoped that travellers will co-operate by keeping exact records in these books.

Besides the six men who lost their lives on Nanga Parbat, the following porters from Darjeeling are known to have accompanied the expedition:¹³

Lewa, S. (head sirdar); Sonam Tobgay, B. (assistant sirdar); Nima

Dorje I, S. (assistant cook); Jigmay Ishering, S. (s/o Tenchedar, medical orderly to Dr. Bernard, and interpreter).

 

Porters:

1. Kitar, S. [22, 24, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 (Ruttledge), 1934 (Merkl).]
2. Angtsering, S. [29, 31B, 32, 33 (Ruttledge), 1934 (Merkl).]
3. Pasang Kikuli, S. [29, 30, 31b, 33 (McLean, frostbitten), 1934 (Wieland).]
4. Pasang s/o Mingma, S. [29, 30, 33 (Birnie, frostbitten), 1934 (Schneider).]
5. Jigmay, S. [33 (Wyn-Harris), 1934 (Welzenbach).]
6. Pasang Norbu, s/o Ah-Phutti, S. [29, 31b (Brenner), 1934 (Bechtold).]
7. Angtenjing, S. [24 (Norton), 1934 (Drexel).]
8. Pasang Lama, S. [24 (Norton), 1934.] 9. Angnima, S. [31 (Holdsworth), 1934 (Miillritter).]
9. Nima Tendrup, B. [21, 22, 24, 29, 30, 31s, 32, 33 (Smythe), 1934 (Finsterwalder).]
10. Pasang Dorje, S. [30, 33 (Shebbeare), 1934 (Raechl).]
11. Tashi Tendrup, B. [22, 24, 29, 30, 31B, 33W, 1934 (Misch).]
12. Wangdi Norbu (or Ongdi), B. [29, 30, 32, 33 (Wood-J*, pneumonia), 1934 (Frier).]
13. Dawa Tendrup, S. [33 (Smythe), 1934.]
14. Kusang, B. [31B, 33 (Longland, frostbitten feet), 1934.]
15. Lobsang Tenjing, B. [33, 1934.]
16. Ilia, S. [33 (Wager), 1934.]
17. Lobsang, S. [29, 33, 1934.]
18. Namgyal, B. [33 (Ruttledge), 1934.]
19. Nima, S. (Lewa's brother-in-law), [31 (Shipton), 1934 (Miill ritter).]
20. Norbu Sonam, S. [33, 1934.]
21. Thundu (Tendrup ?), B. [33, 1934.]
22. Palden (or Pal ten), S. [33 (wireless), 1934 (cinema).]
23. Nullu, S. [24, 31s, 1934.]

There are said to have been thirty-five men enlisted in Darjeeling, some Bhutias and some Sherpas. This number appears to be made up of the two sirdars, the cook, the interpreter, the twenty-four men whose names are given above, the six who died, and one, Purba Tenjing, who was enlisted, but did not actually go. Of those who went, twenty-nine received from the survivors of the expedition the highest praise. Lewa lived up to his great reputation as a first-class sirdar, and among other feats of endurance carried medicines from the Base Camp to Camp 1 through soft snow during the heat of the day on the 8th June in the effort to save Herr Drexel, who was dying of pneumonia. It should be remembered that Lewa lost his toes from frostbite on the Kamet expedition of 1931.

On the same day two porters, Palden, an exceptionally strong man who was servant to the wireless members of the 1933 Mount Everest expedition, and Pasang Norbu, achieved the almost incredible feat of carrying a message from Camp 2 to Camp 3, then going down half-way to Camp 1 to meet the doctor and bring up his loads to Camp 2. At 7 p.m. they again went down to Camp 1, in a snowstorm, and carried oxygen to Camp 2 during the night, a steep climb which they accomplished in the dark in four hours. Pasang Norbu was one of the survivors of Camp 8, as stated below.

An especial word of praise is due to Nima Tendrup (Tondup or Thondup), one of the older men, who has been on every major Himalayan expedition since the first Mount Everest expedition of 1921. His list includes all four Mount Everest expeditions, the 1929 and 1930 Kangchenjunga expeditions, and the Kamet climb of 1931. He missed the Kangchenjunga expedition of 1931 solely because he had gone to Kamet. He was Frank Smythe's servant in 1931 and 1933. Affectionately known as 'the old soldier⁵, it was amazing the amount of work that he was able to do in 1934, in spite of his forty years of age.

Of the eleven porters and five Europeans who were overtaken by the storm at Camp 8, six porters and three Germans died. Of the three porters who accompanied the advanced party under Schneider and Aschenbrenner, Pinju Norbu and Nima Dorje II (Aschen- brenner's servant) died near Camp 5 on the 10th, while Pasang Norbu reached Camp 4 the same day. This is not the Pasang, son of Mingma, who was Birnie's servant on Mount Everest in 1933, who then reached Camp 5, but lost two fingers from frostbite.

Kitar, Pasang Kikuli, Dawa Tendrup, and Angtsering are the sole survivors of the party that left Camp 8 later on the 8th. Kitar was on the Mount Everest expeditions of 1922 and 1924, with Paul Bauer in 1929, with Dyhrenfurth in 1930, and again with Bauer in 1931 on Kangchenjunga. He was with Hugh Ruttledge in Kumaun in 1932 and his servant on Mount Everest in 1933, where he reached Camp 5. Pasang Kikuli was also on the three Kangchenjunga expeditions, reached Camp 5 on Mount Everest in 1933, where he was one of the best of the porters, but was frostbitten. Dawa Tendrup, alias Da Thondu or Dawa Thondup, was also an excellent porter who spent three nights at Camp 5 on Mount Everest. On Nanga Parbat these three passed the night of the 8th in the snow above Camp 7, in a hole dug in the snow near Camp 6 on the 9th, and, picking up Pasang Norbu near Camp 5 on the 10th, brought him down to Camp 4 the same day.

Norbu Sonam, who was Sonam Tobgay's brother-in-law, acted as medical orderly on Nanga Parbat, and went as high as Camp 7. On his return from Nanga Parbat he went into northern Sikkim with Messrs. G. B. Gourlay and J. B. Auden during the autumn of ^I934 and unfortunately contracted the virulent form of malaria which was rife in the Tista valley at that period. He died in Darjeeling.

Angtsering,¹ who left Camp 8 with Merkl and Gaylay, last of all, was snow-blind during the early part of the descent. It seems likely that this fact and the weakness of Dakshi delayed the rearmost party, which failed to reach Camp 7 and spent the night of the 8th in the snow. Angtsering spent the nights of the 9th, 10th, nth, and 12th in Camp 7 or between this and Camp 6. On the 13th he passed the night with Merkl and Gaylay in a snow cave near Camp 6 and the next day reached Camp 4 alone, having been six days without food. Angtsering first accompanied Paul Bauer on Kangchenjunga in 1929 and in 1931, was with Hugh Ruttledge in Kumaun in 1932 and his servant on Mount Everest. He is not the Angtsering of the party that established Camp 6 on Mount Everest, but surely no ‘tiger’ ever surpassed this man in endurance.

 

After the expedition Angtsering was in hospital in Darjeeling for some time. He lost several toes from frostbite. Early in December 1934 Herr Bechtold heard that he was not yet fit enough to earn a livelihood, and cabled at once to the German Consulate in Calcutta to supply money for his needs. Dr. Richter immediately communicated with the Eastern Section of the Himalayan Club. Through friends in Darjeeling the Club kept in touch with Angtsering, and monthly instalments sufficient to support him, his wife and two children were paid to him, from the money received from the German expedition, until he was fit enough to work again.

In connexion with the question of compensation to the dependants of those who lost their lives, there is no truth whatever in the statements which appeared in certain newspapers regarding the inadequacy of the compensation paid to the dependants of those who lost their lives on Nanga Parbat. Compensation was carefully fixed by representatives of the Expedition, the Himalayan Club, and the German Consulate.

 

 

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Few incidents illustrate the change that the conquest of the air is making in the world than the following story which has reached us from a correspondent in Kashmir.

Lieutenant A. A. M. Best, Assistant Political Agent in Chilas, who was alone with his wife at Babusar, nearly 10,000 feet above sea- level, on a spur of Nanga Parbat, 27 miles from Chilas, was taken desperately ill with appendicitis in June. On receiving the news of his illness, the Resident in Kashmir asked for a surgeon to be dispatched by air from Peshawar. There is no landing-ground between Peshawar and Chilas, and planes have to rise to over 20,000 feet to clear the ranges. Lieutenant Best had been in great pain for ninety hours before the news reached Peshawar; there was no doctor nearer than Srinagar, fifteen marches away.

The officer commanding the R.A.F. at Peshawar made immediate arrangements to send up Dr. Hukam Chand and an anaesthetist by air. The planes reached Chilas in two hours, a journey that usually takes fifteen days by road. Lieutenant Best was then successfully operated upon. A nursing sister was subsequently sent up by plane to attend upon the patient.

 

 

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Maurice Wilson's futile attempt to climb Mount Everest alone is worthy of record for one reason only. There may be others who believe that all but they are fools, and that no preparation, no equipment, no skill, are necessary.

A man who deliberately climbs alone breaks the first rule of mountaineering. Such action in the high Himalaya must be treated as madness; there is no other word for it. On or about the 27th May 1929, and against the earnest entreaty of his porters, Edgar Francis Farmer attempted to climb the ice-wall below the Talung saddle of Kangchenj unga, alone; he paid the inevitable penalty of his rashness, and was not seen again. This should have been a warning, if one was needed.

In 1934 Maurice Wilson, with no technical training and no qualification but a crazy idea that all his fellow men were fools, set out from Darjeeling. Disguised as a Tibetan he passed through Sikkim with three porters, entered Tibet, and reached the Rongbuk monastery. There was nothing whatever clever in that. Here one of his ill-equipped porters developed dysentery. Wilson, with the other two, continued up the glacier to Camp 3, where, on the 17 th May, his porters tried to wean him from his folly. Without his porters he persisted, attempted to climb the North Col, and perished. The weather was perfect, the conditions ideal, the mountain took no part in his death. He died of his own accord.

 

 

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The Honorary Secretary of the Eastern Section of the Himalayan Club sends for publication an account of the formation of the Mountain Club of India, from which the Eastern Section of the Himalayan Club derives.

In 1925 a large party was formed to visit the southern glaciers of Kangchenjunga. Many members were unable to go at the last moment, and the difficulty of making up parties by personal action became obvious, though there were many interested in the area. On the return of those who went, it was decided to form a club, if necessary only a local organization, by getting in touch with as many people as possible. The prime movers in this were Messrs. Shebbeare, Tobin, and Houlding of Darjeeling, and Messrs. Hannah, Cooke, Marr (Jr.), Macleod, and Allsup of Calcutta. Mr. Allsup was entrusted with the work. By 1926 sufficient support had come in to warrant extension to other parts of India, but it was not till 1927 that Mr. Allsup thought the time ripe to write to European clubs in India and to the leading English newspapers. As a result about fifty names came in, and it was decided to hold a meeting to decide on further steps. General Bruce agreed to accept the position of first president and honorary member of the club, if the meeting offered him the post.

An inaugural meeting with the intention of founding the Mountain Club was held at Peliti's Restaurant, Calcutta, on the 23rd September 1927, the initiative in arranging it and advertising it in the press being taken by Mr. Allsup. Mr. H. Newman, an early and keen supporter of the scheme and a member of the Statesman staff, took the chair. Consequently, the issue of the Statesman for the 25th September contained a reliable statement of the aims of the new club, to which it devoted a leading article. This explained the desire to attract inexperienced persons in order to assist their mountain work, and the fact that no Alpine qualification was necessary for membership. Ladies were to be eligible for election.

At the meeting rules were approved and office-bearers were elected. General Bruce was chosen president, Mr. Allsup, honorary secretary, and Mr. Macleod, treasurer. There were two vice-presidents and six members of the committee. The club definitely aimed at encouraging and assisting travel and mountaineering in all parts of India. Kindred clubs were notified of the formation of the Mountain Club of India. Mr. Macleod afterwards found it impossible to take up the position of honorary treasurer and Mr. Allsup took over the duties in his stead.

The founding of the Himalayan Club at Delhi, with 127 founder members, and under the presidency of Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood, on the 17th February 1928, the amalgamation of the two clubs on the 21st February 1929, and the terms of amalgamation, were recounted at the time in the Himalayan Journal, vol. i.¹ The Committee of the Himalayan Club undertook to appoint a Sub- Committee for Calcutta, under Rule 41 (12) of the Rules of the Club, ‘for the purpose of furthering the objects of the Club in the provinces of Bengal and Assam and in the Himalaya east of Nepal, and to exercise such powers as might be delegated to it from time to time by the Committee of the Club'. There were also certain financial arrangements. On the 24th February 1930 a General Meeting of the Club decided that this Sub-Committee should be called 'The Eastern Section Committee'.

The office-bearers and members of the Calcutta Sub-Committee and of the Eastern Section Committee in various years are as follows:

Calcutta Sub-Committee, iQ2g.

*The Hon. Mr. A. Marr, Vice-President of the Himalayan Club {Chairman); *Mr. G. B. Gourlay (Hon. Sec.); Mr. C. R. Cooke (Hon. Treas.); * Lt.-Col. H. W. Tobin (Hon. Sec., Darjeeling); * Major K. Mason, *Sir Edwin Pascoe, *Lt.-Col. J. R. L. Weir, Mr. E. O. Shebbeare (members).

Calcutta Sub-Committee, 1930.

*The Hon. Mr, A. Marr, Vice-President of the Himalayan Club {Chairman); *Mr. G. B. Gourlay (Hon. Sec. and Treas.); * Lt.-Col. H. W. Tobin (Hon. Sec., Darjeeling); Messrs. A. A. Marr, J. D. Tyson, H. Newman, J. H. Blinko, E. O. Shebbeare, ♦Lt.-Col. J. Weir {members).

Eastern Section Committee, 1931.

*The Hon. Mr. A. Marr (Chairman); *Mr. L. R. Fawcus (Hon. Sec.); *Mr. G. B. Gourlay (Hon. Treas.); * Lt.-Col. H. W. Tobin {Hon. Sec., Darjeeling); Messrs. E. O. Shebbeare, H. Newman, A. A. Marr {members).

Eastern Section Committee, 1932.

♦Mr. L. R. Fawcus (Hon. Sec.); *Mr. G. B. Gourlay (Hon. Treas.); * Lt.-Col. H. W. Tobin (Hon. Sec., Darjeeling); Dr. A. M. Heron, Dr. P. C. Visser, Messrs. J. S. Hannah, H. Newman, A. A. Marr {members).

Eastern Section Committee, 1933.

(As in 1932; Mr. J. S. Hannah joined the Central Committee).

Eastern Section Committee, 1934.

♦Mr. G. B. Gourlay (Chairman and Treasurer); ♦Mrs. H. P. V. Townend (Hon. Sec.); ♦Lt.-Col. H. W. Tobin (Hon. Sec., Darjeeling); ♦Dr. A. M. Heron, Messrs. L. R. Fawcus, J. S. Hannah, A. A. Marr, H. Newman, *E. O. Shebbeare {members).

* Members of the Central Committee of the Himalayan Club.

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