DISCOVERY 



A MONTHLY POPULAR 

 JOURNAL OF KNOWLEDGE 



Vol. II, No. 15. MARCH 1921. 



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DISCOVERY. A Monthly Popular Journal of Know- 

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Editorial Notes 



There is promise of a great adventure ne.xt year. A 

 joint committee of the Alpine Club and of the Royal 

 Geographical Society has been formed to organise an 

 e.xpedition to climb Mount Everest, the highest 

 mountain in the world. It is proposed ^ to send out 

 a reconnaissance party to Tibet this year to make a 

 real, thorough survey of the whole situation, to find 

 out as much as possible about the country around 

 Everest, about the mountain itself, and about the 

 climatic conditions that prevail in those promiscuous 

 parts, and next year if all goes well to send out a 

 climbing party. It is a big undertaking, but so little 

 is really known of the geography of that part of the 

 world that a thorough reconnaissance is an abso- 

 lutely essential preliminary to the full assault of the 

 mountain. 



* * * ■ ♦ * 



If all goes well this year, then, we may reasonably 

 hope that Everest may be climbed next year. Diffi- 

 culties in the past have been of two kinds, political and 

 natural. The former have at last been overcome, and 

 the latter may now be closely and scientifically studied. 

 High risks will have to be run and uncommonly severe 

 hardships endured — risks from icy slopes, from rocky 



' See The Geographical Journal, February, 1921, pp. 73, 121. 



precipices, and avalanches ; hardships from intense 

 cold, from terrific winds, and from blinding snowstorms. 

 Even were all these difficulties magically annulled while 

 the climbing party were making the ascent, there would 

 still remain the grave difficulties due to the diminished 

 pressure of air at high elevations. Everest is 29,002 

 feet high (as we learned at school), and no man has 

 ascended a mountain within 4,000 feet of this height. 

 No man knows, therefore, the capacity of a human 

 being to stand great exertion at this altitude. It 

 can be learned by actual experience only. 



***** 

 The approaches to the mountain are as yet unknown 

 to Europeans. Few, indeed, have ever seen the peak. 

 But the most likely approach seems to be from the 

 Tibet side. Colonel Howard Bury, who has recently 

 been out there and who has been appointed Chief of 

 the E.xpedition, recommends the route from Darjeeling 

 via Phari, Kampa Dzong, and Tingri Dzong. On this 

 route pack transport of mules, ponies, or yaks could 

 be used the whole way. The members of the recon- 

 naissance party going out this year can test this point 

 and find out what pack animals can thrive best, work 

 best, be most sure-footed, and stand the altitude with 

 least fatigue. They can also decide what natives 

 are most likely to be of the greatest assistance in the 

 climb. They will have to explore with the greatest 

 care all the approaches, and to examine, photograph, 

 and map the mountain itself in fullest detail. They 

 have a piece of work to do which demands high physical, 

 moral, and scientific qualities. 



***** 

 In this work it is not considered probable that the 

 aeroplane will be of much assistance. A reconnaissance 

 of the southern slopes of the mountain could be made 

 by flying up the Arun valley from the plains of India, 

 but the difficulty of this is the provision of an aerodrome 

 at the foot of the hills. There is none there now. The 

 nearest is at Calcutta or Allahabad, and funds for 

 building a nearer one are not available. Reconnais- 

 sance by aeroplane from the Tibet side of the mountain 

 is prevented for another reason. For in the high land 



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