Reviews

KAMET CONQUERED : by F. S. Smythe. (VictorGollanez, 1932, 420 pp.). F. S. Smythe, the author of ” The Kanchenjunga Adventure ” has contributed another worthy volume to the attractive literature of mountaineering by the publication of his new book.

Climbing is itself a sport which appeals to the few. Yet there must be large numbers of men and women, whose nearest approach to snow-capped mountains is the Gornergrat, who have read this book with real enjoyment. To please the expert and the novice is a difficult task, but one which Smythe has accomplished. The story he tells is Aeschylean in its setting—for surely Aeschylus could have found no better background for his plays than the Himalayas. It also has the simplicity of the Greek Drama and, like Greek Drama, concerns itself with the struggle of man against the forces of nature. Fortunately the analogy ends here, as Smythe, unlike the Greek Dramatists, can tell us of a happy and successful ending.

The narrative is for the most part simple and always clear. One reviewer took the author to task for sometimes using what he termed “ flamboyant ” language. In judging the style of the book, however, it must be remembered that the scenery which Smythe is describing is on such a colossal scale as almost “to beggar all description,” Indeed, the subject calls for something abnormal. It ill becomes one who has only seen a mouse to criticize another’s description of an elephant. The style of the book as a whole is admirably clear.

And what can we tell of the author from his book ? Certainly that he is very modest. Secondly that his consideration was always for others. It is not every leader who, in the excitement of victory, would step aside to give the greatest honour to one who had served him well. He must also be a shrewd judge of men. He says himself that the personnel of the climbing party is the key to its success. Then, a successful leader must also know how to handle his men. The loyalty of the porters and the fact that they gave of their best are proof positive that not only Smythe, but his colleagues too, are excellent psychologists of the native mind.

In “ Kamet Conquered ” the general public finds a good story well told. The expert looks deeper and asks himself what lessons the book can teach him. There can be little doubt that members of the Everest Expedition read it with care and respect. In many cases Smythe makes his points by contrasting the ice and snow, climate, etc. of the Himalayas with those of the Alps. Here his information should be useful. But it is clear that his ideas on the technique of Himalayan climbing are proving the most valuable—the abandonment of the rush tactics of assault for siege operations based on acclimatization.

His theory, too, of the essential part played by rhythm in climbing at high altitudes is very interesting. Every expert oarsman says that rhythm is the driving force in rowing, after the first minute, one is told, the mind becomes sluggishly conscious only of a white blur ahead, with which it instinctively knows it must keep in time. Again, in the case of machinery, when rhythm ceases there is something amiss with the engine. It may be that in formulating these last two theories Smythe has discovered the missing link between failure and success at the highest altitudes.

The expert will also read the appendices, which contain much useful information. Dr. Greene’s contribution on the medical aspect of Himalayan climbing is particularly interesting.

As for the illustrations, one is reminded of the saying, ” good wine needs no bush.” They speak for themselves. It is easy to see why Smythe is inevitably lured back to these mountains.—D.H.L.

CAVING. by Ernest A. Baker. (Chapman&Hall, 1932, 252 pp., manyillustrations, 8 plans, 15s. net). Dr. Baker is, with the exception of Mr. H. E. Balch, the only Englishman who has written a book on cave-exploration. It is good that he has written a successor to TheNetherworldofMendip, good too that he has given it, as title, a word we have long wanted. Some will not like it, but as a pundit of English Baker can stand up for himself, and he has killed the invention of a ghastly word I only hint at.

The book, dedicated to M. Edouard A. Martel, and provided with a jacket which is an impression of Gaping Ghyll, covers a vast field, is in fact Baker’s caving autobiography, and is most readable and enjoyable.

To Eldon Hole, tackled in 1900, their first really formidable problem, Baker and his friends of the Kyndwr Club applied rock climbing methods and were successful in their exciting adventure, but I have always understood that the party ran even more risk on their second descent, through the fearful strain put on the cross cable in trying to keep it taut.

The first distant expeditions were to Somerset, and a thrilling account is given of the Eastwater Flood of 1910, with the desperate escape through the Traverse, an account which has hitherto only appeared in Balch’s WookeyHole. Let me assure the veteran Rambler that here are no spacious belfries and that the two tight places are serious, while the bedding-plane is 45° and the possible route has to be selected.

It is always a matter of regret that Baker was not the first to reach the end of Swildon’s Hole, and failed by ten yards to reach Barnes’s Loop; owing to his initiative all difficulties had been passed; it is the first step that costs. The marvellous beauty of the Stalactite Chamber is now soiled by the unthinking use of flares.

There are joyous reminiscences of Ingleborough, and a most amusing chapter on dene-holes and the Chislehurst caves which might have been called ” The Destruction of a Myth.”

Quite thrilling chapters follow on the work done in Ireland with Hill, Kentish, Wingfield, and Brodrick, It is great to have the whole gathered into one connected story of the years before the War. In them came the discovery of the Lisdoonvarna or Burren group of caverns, and the dramatic journey with Kentish a good mile into Poulnagollum. It was only fitting that in 1925 Baker and his party should be the first to reach the end of two miles of watercourse. Despite fantastic claims this cave stands absolutely alone among British caverns withfivemilesofpassages.

The close of the book, sightseeing mostly in France and Belgium, is a valuable summary of where to go and what to see, but exploration is not for foreigners, on the ground where Martel and his successors have worked so strenuously.—E.E.R.

ON FOOT IN THE HIGHLANDS: by E. A. Baker. (AlexanderMaclehoseandCo., 1932, 200pp., 5s. net). This is an excellent book from which to gain an idea of what glorious walks can be taken in the Highlands and of what beautiful glens and hills there are to visit. It is not a list of routes as Smith’s HillPathsinScotland or a guide book like Baddeley’s, but it tells the visitor about each area in such a way that he can plan his tour on foot to the best advantage.

Baker does not mince his words about the strange social position in the Highlands, but as owing to a loose use of the word “ Scotch ” at times, he is liable to be misunderstood, I should like to make it clear that in my experience his complaints and those of other Englishmen are peculiar to the Highlands. Otherwise the Scotch hills are freer than in England, the keepers more friendly, and prices no higher, or less, for the same class of accommodation.—E.E.R.

SPELUNCA (BulletinduSpéléo-ClubdeFrance, 1931 and 1932)—1931 The enormous field of activity open to our French friends is exhibited in striking fashion by a diagram showing the depths to which Spéléo-Club parties, led by the President, M. de Joly, descended during the year, A rough count shows that over a dozen involved ladder climbs of 200 ft., and that two were pot-holes of staggering total depths, 550 ft.

An unusual type of success was the climb of the subterranean Gave (Val d’Ossau, Basses-Pyrénées), to a height of 770 ft. in 1,300 yards. Another cavern, AvendeHures (Causse Méjean) went down 670 ft., with enough pitches and enough transport of tackle to satisfy any Yorkshire Rambler.

The famous TroudeToro on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees has been dosed by M. Casteret with a cwt. of fluorescein, which coloured a tributary of the Garonne for 40 miles. A question of international rights thus looms in the future.

M. Casteret’s daring methods of solitary exploration are again confessed to in his account of the GrottedeCagire. He must be a gymnast of the first rank, for he thinks little of seventy feet up or down a single rope, obviously not a cable.

M. Balsan reports on ten good pot-holes and on other caves near Millau, and Mr. Johnston on three caverns in Alabama, one of them, a pot-hole of 220 ft., being described in a note as the first of the type reported from the U.S.A. !

1932. The various articles describe half a dozen pots up to 130 ft. within 12 miles of Montpellier, numerous pots up to 230 ft. near Millau, another 230 footer in Hérault, and more caverns in the Jura, There is a cavern near Ponte Leccia (Corsica) and a much larger one, GrottaMarmori, in Sardinia. A solitary explorer invites the club to good sport in Dauphiné.

There are 35 pages summarizing the activities of the Spéléo-Club; 54 explorations, 25 of them new, caves and pot-holes in astounding numbers and of great depths.

M. Balsan makes a vigorous protest against the complete neglect of the peasants to observe the law against throwing down carcasses, which pollute the water of neighbouring springs.

Our Journal is reviewed at length ; M. Joly considers it insufficiently technical. He recommends briquets of ferro-cerium instead of matches. Enquiries so far suggest that, if to be procured commercially, they are in the nature of flint-lighters.

Strictly scientific though Speluvaca is, it contains much which fires the imagination of the ” cave-man,” The Editor has received a most friendly letter from M. de Joly, and it is to be hoped that someone may feel able to do a little exploring in France.

MODERN MOUNTAINEERING: by G. D, Abraham. (MethuenandCo., 1933, 198 pp., 7s. 6d. net). To men who do not go abroad regularly and who do not read much climbing literature, the contents of this book should be an interesting summary of things as they are and of what has taken place since the War, throwing light on, say, the Matterhorn North Face Climb, the Flying Dutchman, karabiner, Girdle Traverses, etc.

The author gives some account of the amazing bivouac efforts of German climbers, and of the extensive use of pitons, a practice which originated, we believe, in the Kaisergebirge.

It is difficult to avoid writing an essay on the many points raised by perusal. The dangers and accidents in mountaineering are continually stressed, to no effect that we can see. Apart from post-war indifference to smashes, it is certain that the ordinary man regards his business life as the risky part, and his mountain vacations as safety from the other motorist.

The growth of mountaineering legend is curious. The expert Irving party in L’Evêque accident are assumed to have failed to plunge their axes into deep good snow! Mr. Abraham cannot know the leader.

ALPINE JOURNAL (1932 and 1933).—So much climbing is being done up and down the world that every number contains something which must be read if any touch is to be kept with the history of mountaineering.

In the two 1932 numbers are accounts of the second Bavarian attempt on Kangchenjunga in 1931, and of the climb by the brothers Schmid of the Matterhorn North Face. The Bavarians were actually above 6,000 m. (20,000 ft.) on the North East Spur for six weeks, literally excavating a path in the ice ridge. Further there are recounted Watkin’s Greenland Expedition, and the struggle of the Germans with Nanga Parbat.

F. S. Smythe describes briefly his climb of the very difficult south east ridge of the Baltschieder Jägihorn, Miss O’Brien the risky ascent of the Finsteraarhorn North East Face, Madame Debelak new expeditions in the Julian Alps, almost unknown to the British, and Rickmers gives a valuable account of Cantrabia, with the astonishing and reassuring information that the people, however poor, are clean.

In 1933 the great events related are the attack on Everest, and the German doings in the Cordillera Blanca (Peru), the range of Huascaran. Besides these have occurred, another expedition to Mount Mackinley, a Belgian ascent of Ruwenzori from the Congo side (west), and a determined American ascent of Minya Konka (24,900) in West China, which among summits reached must come next to Kamet.

There are also recorded more stiff expeditions by Graham Brown, and times by Eustace Thomas which make the Alps sound very small.

Of great interest are the quotations from the diary of a botanist, Blaikie, who not only came into intimate touch with the Paccard family in 1775, but was taken out by the famous Paccard, then eighteen, on expeditions which show the latter to have been the first great amateur mountaineer.

BRITISH SKI YEAR BOOK (1932). There is little enough to be said about the season 1931-1932 from the British skier’s point of view, but Mr. Arnold Lunn is to be congratulated on the production of a Year Book no slighter in girth and decidedly more Imperial in character than those of previous years. This is in no small degree due to the original and—except in so far as snow was concerned—highly successful Oxford and Cambridge tour in Canada, where a combined team defeated McGill University in a langlauf and a slalom, McGill having just returned from winning the Canadian and American Inter-Collegiate Championship at Lake Placid. It was unfortunate that they suffered from lack of snow—a complaint apparently as common in other parts of the world as in Scotland that season.

There are three interesting articles dealing with the Canadian Rockies, and a description by Niall Rankin of the Skoki Valley Ski Camp, forty miles west of Banff, has a strong appeal to the downhill runner with a Swiss education. Mr. Rankin first tried the Laurentian Mountains in Eastern Canada, where the Oxford and Cambridge meeting was held, but he failed to find a real downhill run.

It was at Banff in Alberta, the headquarters of the Ski Club of the Canadian Rockies, that he finally found what he was looking for. This club has recently developed a ski camp in the Skoki Valley, at 7,500 ft., near the source of the Red Deer river, fully bewirtschaftet, and possessing its own experienced Austrian instructor and guide. Here there are unlimited facilities for short runs, long tours, glacier, ski-ing and ski-mountaineering, on snow which is in excellent condition from February till June. The article is illustrated by some excellent photographs.

” The Scottish Season, 1931-32,” by Captain Sir John Forbes, takes the form of a diary of expeditions made in the Cairngorms, starting from Strathdon. There were 15 days on which ski-ing was possible, some of them very cold and stormy ; six fell between October 25th and February 14th, five in April, and the remaining four between May 8th and 15th. The best day of the year was May 8th, on Ben Avon, 4,000 ft. of running in perfect snow and faultless weather conditions, On May 14th an expedition to the top of Bynack More gave 1,300 ft. of running over spring snow.

Sir John Forbes makes two remarks, which sum up what we read in the newspapers about Scotland last year :–

“Wait till the snow is there and then come up and enjoy it.”

“ Anyone who comes to ski in Scotland must be prepared for temporary defeat from the weather, but one good day in the Cairngorms will make them forget ten days of vain endeavour.”

There are several accounts of new, or rather, unfrequented ski-tours, always interesting to those who have the leisure and the inclination to wander from the more populous stamping-grounds, which include many useful hints about those very necessary adjuncts to ski-touring,–

hotels, huts, villages, trains, sleighs, itineraries.

“Overtime in the Oberland,” by Frank Elliott, is a description of a number of ways of spending sixteen hours a day on ski, including a three day tour from Villars to Adelboden, via Bex and Montana to the Rohrbach Haus (9,495 ft,), 1st day—over the Wildstrubel and the Gemmi Pass to Kandersteg, 2nd day—over the Bonderkrinden to Adelboden, 3rd day—the plan to return from Adelboden to Villars in one day being unfortunately frustrated by a heavy snowfall.”

“Equipment Section.” There are no revolutionary innovations to record this year. The deluge of new bindings produced in the last ten years seems to have spent itself and the “ Alpina ” to have become the generally accepted one for most purposes. The new spring heelstrap for the “Alpina” is achieving some success this year, and has been praised in SkiNotesandQueries by Miss Doreen Elliott.

A discussion on reinforced edges hesitates to make any definite recommendation, as these edges are still in the experimental stage ; on the whole, however, brass is preferred to steel, as steel becomes very slow on cold snow.

“On Choice of Turn” and. “ Vorlage,” by Vivian Caulfield and Arnold Lunn, are two articles on technique which are of as great interest to the beginner as to the more experienced skier.

The first is a vindication of the telemark as a heavy snow turn, and compares its usefulness with that of the stem-turn and of the christiania, (a) it has a greater range of snow, being easy in crust, where the christiania is impossible; (b) it has a higher speed limit and is therefore much more useful for stop-turning. There are indications that the hitherto strong taboo against the telemark by the Arlberg school is breaking down, and it seems likely that before long the turn will be introduced into the Arlberg curriculum.

The second article holds that Vorlage (literally-forward position) is a misnomer, and that the term does not mean “ forward leaning ” but the maintenance of a neutral position at right angles to the ground over which the skier is travelling. In the case of a novice the importance of leaning forward, has to be stressed to the utmost by the teacher, as the novice tends instinctively to lean backwards. To pretend that Vorlage is the secret of good ski-ing is absurd.

(1933) “An Examination of Snow Deposits.” A most valuable monograph on Dr. W.Welzenbach’s and other glaciological researches, with particular reference to snow-cornice formation, by Gerald Seligman, is continued in 80 pages of this number. Mr. Seligman begins by asking the practical ski-runner’s obvious question, “ How will a knowledge of the inner structure of snow deposits help the man on the spot ? ” He answers it with a quotation from Mr. Geoffrey Young’s MountainCraft.

“ As it is certain that we cannot do much route-inventing or advanced climbing upon rock without knowing something of the different sorts of rock and their meanings, so it is far more certain that in really big mountaineering no one will get far or go secure whose knowledge of ice and snow is limited to the mere physical ability to climb upon them.”

The other important article is by Col. Daukes on his experiences round Nanga Parbat.

There is much technical and racing matter. Mr. Colin Wyatt has made the splendid jump of 38 metres on Holmenkollen, the famous Norwegian hill.—H.C.W

SKI NOTES AND QUERIES (3 times a year).—Number Fifty appeared in May, 1933, and we congratulate Mr. G. Seligman, the Editor. Short touring articles, personal sketches, all the news of the moment, lively correspondence, with numerous beautiful photos, make up the numbers.

JOURNAL OF THE FELL AND ROCK CLIMBING CLUB (Nos. 25 and 26 for 1931-32, published 1932 and 1933). The articles range from Lakeland over many parts of the world. In No. 25 the Rev. W. T. Elmslie tells of another adventurous journey to the Balkans with Sleeman, Ellwood and Storr, this time to ascend Musalla (9,631 ft.), S. of Sofia, the second highest summit in the Peninsula. The peak was not hard to get at, but their travelling experiences renew one’s admiration for their enterprise, without rousing any wild desire to follow them, unless a master of the language.

Wood-Johnson’s Kangchenjunga Diary is important and intensely interesting.

No. 26 contains a delightful article on the Diamond Mountains, Corea, by Miss Pilley, and a useful one on the Pyrenees by A. E. Storr. The latter was evidently the leader in the expeditions related by G. R. Smith in “ Peaks and Porterage in the Pyrenees,” Y.R,C.J., 1927.

There are notes on a new crag in Long Sleddale, Buckbarrow Crag, on a new climb to the left of the Pillar North-West, and others, with a particularly successful set of winter pictures from Kirkfell.

It is curious that the Rev. W.T. Elmslie in commenting on our last Journal dislikes not only the Red Coolin picture, so disappointing in reproduction, but the Liathach picture, described by other critics as magnificent.

Other reviews are held over.