Highest Camps and Climbs 



7*3 



HIGHEST CAMPS AND CLIMBS 



BY EDWIN SWIFT BALCH. 



In the summer of 1905, Dr T. G. Longstaff,* 

 with the guides Alexis and Henri Brocherel, of 

 Courmayeur, made a journey in which he ex- 

 plored several little known portions of the 

 Himalaya, and also accomplished some remark- 

 able feats of mountaineering. 



On Nanda Devi he camped at 19,100 feet, 

 and the next day climbed to 19,750 feet. On 

 Nanda Kot he camped at 16,300 feet, and the 

 day after ascended to about 21,000 feet. 



Later he made a most determined attempt on 

 Gurla Mandhata (25,350 feet), in southern 

 Tibet. After a reconnaissance, through a mis- 

 take, on a lower peak (22,200 feet), he went up 

 the western arete of Gurla to an altitude of 

 about 23,000 feet, where they overlooked the 

 22,200-foot peak. Here the climbers started an 

 avalanche and were carried down nearly 1,000 

 feet. At the spot to which they had fallen they 

 spent the night. The next day they ascended 

 the Gurla glacier to about 23,000 feet, where 

 thev spent the night in a hole in the snow ; and 

 the following day they climbed about 1,000 feet 

 higher on Gurla, where they could not have 

 been much below 24,000 feet. It is tolerably 

 certain that this camp at 23,000 feet is the high- 

 est altitude at which men have ever had a 

 "good rest," and that this topmost point at- 

 tained on Gurla is probably the second highest 

 altitude thus far reached. 



Dr Longstaff's account is •> oiece of bald 

 prose, and to a mountaineer should carry the 

 conviction of his veracity. So far, he has 

 escaped being attacked for having successfully 

 carried out these wonderful feats of endurance, 

 in which respect he has been more fortunate 

 than his predecessor, Mr Graham. 



Mr Grahamf in 1883. with Herr Emil Boss, 

 landlord of the Bar at Grindelwald and captain 

 m the Swiss army, and Ulrich Kauffmann, a 

 first-class guide from Grindelwald, made a 

 journey in the Sikhim Himalaya, in which they 

 reached about 22,700 feet on Dunagiri ; 

 ascended A 21, which they christened Mount 

 Monal, 22,516 feet; ascended Jubonu, 21,300 

 feet ; and finally ascended Kabru, which the 

 Indian Survey triangulates as 24,015 feet high. 



Mr Graham says : "We were off next morn- 

 ing at 4.30, and found at once all our work cut 

 out for us. The very first thing was the worst. 

 A long couloir like a half-funnel, crowned with 

 rocks, had to be passed. The snow was lying 

 loose, just ready to slide, and the greatest pos- 



*T. G. Longstaff: "Six Months' Wandering 

 in the Himalaya." The Alpine Journal, 1906, 

 vol. xxiii, pp. 202-228. 



IThe most complete account of Mr Graham's 

 trip is : W. W. Graham : "Travel and Ascents 

 in the Himalaya." The Alpine Journal, 1884, 

 vol. xii, pp. 25-52. Emil Boss and Douglas W. 

 Freshfield : "Notes on the Himalaya and 

 Himalayan Survey." The Alpine Journal. 1884, 

 vol. xii, pp. 52-60. 



sible care had to be taken to avoid an ava- 

 lanche. Then a steep ice-slope led us to a snow 

 incline, and so to the foot of the true peak. 

 Here we had nearly 1,000 feet of most delight- 

 ful rock-work, forming a perfect staircase. At 

 10 we were at the top of this, and not more 

 than 1,500 feet above was the eastern summit. 

 A short halt for food and then came the tug of 

 war. All this last slope is pure ice, at an angle 

 of from 45 degrees to nearly 60 degrees. Ow- 

 ing to the heavy snow and the subsequent frost, 

 it was coated three or four inches deep with 

 frozen snow, and up this coating we cut. I am 

 perfectly aware that it was a most hazardous 

 proceeding, and in cold blood I should not try 

 it again, but only in this state would the ascent 

 have been possible in the time. Kauffmann led 

 all the way, and at 12.15 we reached the lower 

 summit of Kabru, at least 23,700 feet above the 

 sea. The glories of the view were beyond all 

 compare. * * * However, we had no long 

 time for the view, for the actual summit was 

 connected with ours by a short arete, and rose 

 in about 300 feet of the steepest ice I have seen. 

 We went at it, and after an hour and a half 

 we reached our goal. The summit was cleft by 

 three gashes, and into one of these we got. 

 The absolute summit was little more than a 

 pillar of ice, and rose at most 30 or 40 feet 

 above us still, but, independently of the ex- 

 treme difficulty and danger of attempting it, 

 we had no time. A bottle was left at our high- 

 est point, and we descended." 



Many attempts have been made to discredit 

 Mr Graham's ascent of Kabru. These were prin- 

 cipally done at the time by Anglo-Indians, who 

 had had little or no experience of mountaineer- 

 ing. Their arguments have been refuted and 

 the folly of most of their statements demon- 

 strated by Mr Freshfield and other writers.* 

 The account of Mr Graham reads clearly and 

 truthfully and should carry conviction to any 

 experienced mountaineer. 



To any one who will look at the facts intel- 

 ligently and without prejudice, there can be no 

 doubt that Dr Longstaff has made the highest 

 camp and the second highest ascent, and that to 

 Mr Graham still belongs the coveted honor of 

 the record ascent. 



DRAINAGE OF WET LANDS 



Few people realize how valuable the topo- 

 graphic maps published by the U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey may be in furnishing accurate 

 data on which to base plans for improving 

 swamps and marshes. On these sheets a gen- 

 eral drainage plan may be laid down and the 

 feasibility of the proposition definitely deter- 

 mined. There are many areas mapped by the 

 Geological Survey in which enough informa- 

 tion has already been collected to make a sub- 



*See Edwin Swift Balch: "The Highest 

 Mountain Ascent." Bulletin of the American 

 Geographical Society, 1904, vol. xxxvi, pp. 107- 

 109. 



