On The Hills And Elsewhere
Kamet.—The mountaineering event of 1931 has been the successful attack on Kamct (25,477 ft-) by the British party led by F. S. Smythe. In the minds of the Yorkshire Ramblers there was a peculiar fitness about this success, for a Yorkshire Rambler had conquered a great peak, so far the highest actual summit to be attained, which had been first resolutely attacked by another Yorkshire Rambler, Morris Slingsby, in 1911. The account of the latter remarkable climb is to be found in Y.R.C.J., Vol. IV., p. 19 et seq.
In 1913 Slingsby returned to the attack by the same route and reached over 23,000 ft., while Pierre Blanc and Meade, trying the opposite side, opened out the better route and reached over 24,000 ft.
The organisation of the expedition of 1931 aroused much interest in Yorkshire, and in February the Club voted 100 gns. towards the expenses, an act which Smythc acknowledged in the following letter :—
22nd February, 1931.
Dear Burrow,
It is with something more than gratitude that I reply to your letter informing me that the Club has granted 100 guineas towards the expenses of the Kamet expedition. It is indeed difficult to express adequately the gratitude of the members of the expedition and my own for this generous act.
Having lived in the South for some years, I have sometimes felt myself to be out of touch with the Club and its activities, whilst I have generally been prevented from attending Club Meets, but my visit to Leeds, recently, bridged a gap of years and made me feel once again as when I lived at Bradford and used to escape weekly on to the crags and moors
If you will forgive a personal note—it was members of the Club who taught me to climb, and it was as a member of the Club that I learnt that most precious gift of the hills, good comradeship.
If we arc fortunate enough to tread the summit of Kamet we shall be but completing the work of another member of the Club, Morris Slingsby. Had he survived the War, he would have climbed it.
Whatever the result it will be something more than a pleasure to relate next winter the story of our success or failure, and if it is success the members of the expedition will feel that its fulfilment was rendered possible by the sympathy and generosity of the Yorkshire Ramblers,
Yours sincerely,
FRANK SMYTHE,
For a full account of the expedition, pending the publication of a book, readers who did not hear the lecture arc referred to Alpine Journal (November, 193r). The Editor hopes that in the next number Smythe will reveal to us some of the happier aspects of Himalayan exploration, for there have been dark hints that all is not so bad as it sounds, and that camping in Britain is a poor show.
The party reached their base camp on 9th June and returned on 26th June. Smythe, Holdsworth, Shipton and Lewa climbed to the top on the 21st, and Birnic, Greene, and Kesar Singh on the 23rd. Many smaller peaks were climbed during the month of July, and Ranikhet, where the expedition broke up, was reached on 13th August.
Seventy porters was the total employed, under Birnie as transport officer, and it is a matter of great satisfaction that no life was lost and that their behaviour has received the highest praise. The whole effect of the expedition must be to leave another local nucleus of natives who are willing to venture on the high glaciers.
The clangers of the Himalaya arc serious, Lewa was badly frost-bitten, and Smythe was carried away in an avalanche and almost crushed to death.
The ascent of Kamet opens, no doubt, an era in which many peaks over 25,000 feet will be conquered by ordinary mountaineering methods, and by experience of the effects of altitude over 24,000 feet. It is inevitable that parties will be reluctant to miss the opportunity of photography at the greatest heights. The Editor would not presume to offer advice, but he has often wondered whether the final efforts on Himalayan peaks would not be eased by a resolution to scrap the cinematograph.
The Alps.—What is the matter with Alpine seasons ? 1929 was said to be the worst ever, equal to 1912, 1930 up to the. third week in August was not good, and 1931 seems to have continued the line, with the added injury that it was not so much storms as incessant cloud with absence of sun which reduced the number of ordinary fine warm Alpine days to about one out of five. The position of Swiss hotel-keepers, lirsl of all affected by the striking absence of Germans and Americans, then by the weather of 1931, and now threatened by the exchange troubles of 1932, must be extremely serious.
Holidays, 1931.—E. H. Sale, T. C. Mitchell, and D. L. Reed went out to Zurs-am-Arlberg, January 10th-25th, for ordinary ski-running. Highest point, Madloch. They did not join the Arlberg ski-ing school, as did some of the Gritstone Club men.
Sale and Reed’s June fortnight is recorded in this Journal, as well as Sale’s August holiday in the Alps.
G. C. Marshall walked up the Zugspitze (Bavaria). He then entered Italy by a closed pass, the Hocli Joch (near the Weisskugel), between Vent Tal and Schnalser Tal. Apart from a lengthy palaver with the commandant of a frontier village post and the company of an armed escort as far as the nearest small town, where the Commissar was interviewed, the trip was uneventful. Prior to the excursion the Italian Ambassador in London had been approached, and had notified the frontier authorities. Without this precaution such passes are not recommended.
Last of all Marshall ascended the Hinterc Schonlauf Spitze in the Ortler group.
W. M. Roberts from Maloja did Salacina, Monte Forno and Pizzi dei Rossi, Monte Sissone, and was beaten otherwise by the weather.
W. V. Brown and E. E. Roberts walked from Lucerne to Disentis, Andeer to Maloja, two very bad days, two sunny days, and two densely cloudy days. They climbed Monte Rosso, Cima del Largo, and Cima di Cantone.
E. E. Roberts managed to force Piz Tschierva and Piz Prievlus, but then had the luck, on a brilliant and bitter north wind day, to traverse Piz Trovat, Piz d’Arias and Piz Cambrena (with Gueterbock and Greg). He also walked up Piz Languard and had a good rock climb on Piz Gravasalvas.
F. H. Slingsby appears to have been most unfortunate, tramping with guide to many huts without any luck at all. In 1930 he walked up Karwendel and Dreitorspitze, and from Kandersteg climbed with a guide Hockenhorn, Wildefrau, Morgenhorn, and Balmhorn.
F. and H. Booth and D. Shaw went to Saas, and their climbs there are recorded in this number.
J. K. Crawford at Easter did Wild Boar Fell and the other Mallerstang summits, Helvellyn in March, Cader Idris in July, and went to the Highlands when summer began in September, bagging Cairngorm, Slioch, and Sgurr nan Gillean, and driving as far as Dundonnell.
M. Botterill sailed from Lancaster to Skye, calling at Rum, where further exploration of the Alival chimneys was made in decent weather in the early part of the year. On the way south he landed at Staff a and Iona. Two voyages were made to Ireland, including a visit to the grave at Downpatrick where St. Patrick is not buried. On both occasions there were views of the fine profile of the Mourne Mountains.
W. Allsup was last heard from when touring Assam on factory and electric business. He had reached the Brahmaputra Gorge, 1,300 miles by car, and as far beyond as the Tibetan border. He has heard of unexplored caves and speaks of cliffs and gorges within forty miles of Shillong, capital of Assam, and of journeys which take him to 8,000 feet.