The Summing Up

by G. B. Spenceley

We had all the conditions for success, for the successful ascent of the “Big White Peak” and the survey and exploration that we were required to complete; all the conditions for success except one—and that the most vital of them all, luck.  We did not have the luck, the one condition you can neither measure nor control, the ingredient that is the final vital factor that will decide success, failure or tragedy.

The most careful planning and organisation we did have — there was nothing hurried or slipshod about this; there had been time for absolute thoroughness and minute care and attention to detail, so that in the field progress was smooth and according to plan.  Much credit for this is due to the ability and hard work of those, both inside the party and outside, who were most concerned with the Expedition’s organisation in the month preceding our departure.  It is worth recording that the efficiency and speed with which, after our arrival in Katmandu, we prepared for our outward march, was commented upon by Colonel Proud, the First Secretary to the British Embassy, a man who has seen the arrival and departure of many expeditions.  Of the actual equip­ment, in spite of slender resources, there was neither lack of quantity or shoddiness in quality.  We had considered well ourselves on these matters and by others had been well advised; a few redundancies there may have been, but no vital item was forgotten, nothing proved ill suited to its task.

Success on a Himalayan peak depends too on the party both as individuals and as a team, and neither as individuals nor as a team, was there any evidence of weakness, either in skill, endurance, attitude of mind or temperament.  Indeed we may not all have been capable of chmbing so high as the very summit of the “Big White Peak”; we were not tested to this extent, nor is it likely that we should all have been able, or required, to be so tested; it was only necessary that two should reach this high objective and that and more we could certainly have done.  Beyond the normal minor disabilities suffered by all who first reach these heights there was no ill health or weakness, and in fact before we had retreated from the Phurbi Chyachumbu Glacier three men had demonstrated their fitness for any feat of endurance they might have been called upon to make.

And if we were a fit and healthy party, so, too, were we a happy and united one.  The stresses and strains, the petty irritations unavoidable in any exploration or mountaineering enterprise, and which alone have been sufficient to cause less ambitious projects than ours to founder, were never enough to cause any disruption in our accord or breed the shghtest ill feeling.  But no party is complete or capable without a good leader and in Fox we had a man of exceptional mountaineering ability and judgement; a man with a wide vision, bold in planning, prudent in execution.  He was conscientious and considerate, dedicated to his task and loved by us all.  And to all this concord and unity of purpose can be added a team of six high altitude Sherpas, strong and willing, fully entering into the spirit of the enterprise; serving us indeed in the manner which chmbers have come to expect of this worthy race.

Even the weather, the least predictable of elements, and the factor which alone could have defeated our strength and brought our well thought out plans to naught, was not unkind.  There was no day on which at some time we could not be active, and although few days were completely fine, the weather did follow a regular pattern so that we could plan accordingly.  In all aspects we were a strong and favoured party.

Our strength and good fortune was not wasted.  Till the accident on 30th April dashed all our hopes and destroyed the efforts of two strenuous weeks, our programme had progressed according to plan.  Behind us was the painful period of our initial acclimatisation, the time consuming reconnaisances, the tedious building up of stores, the largest part of our survey programme.  The first major operation was completed.  From an already well stocked Camp III as a new Advance Base, we should have gone forward to the attack.  Camp V would have been pitched at the head of the glacier near to the point where Fox and I made our final reconnaisance.  From that site, the col over­looking the Dorje Lhakpa Glacier could be easily and quickly reached, and by descending slightly and traversing we could have gained the final slopes which lead to the summit ridge.  A party superbly fit might have made the ascent in one day from the col, but it had been our intention to place a light camp on these upper slopes if we could find a platform sufficiently large.

Such had been our achievement and such were our plans for their successful completion.  We were defeated not by ill health, bad weather, by technical difficulty, by distance or height, most usual causes of failure, but by sheer bad luck.  The decision that Fox and I made in the final icefall on 30th April was not lightly made.  It was not lightly made, yet there was really no choice.  Had there existed any alternative route, less hazardous, then we should have taken it, but there was no such route.  Had it been some less important peak then we should have returned; were we to be exposed to hazard for a long time, or even had we seen evidence of recent falls of ice then we should have gone no further.  But these conditions did not apply and this was no small peak but the very purpose of our journey.  The mountaineer who has come so far will not easily turn back.  We took the risk, calculated and deemed to be justifiable, as must all but the most fortunate who wish to climb these great peaks.  On Everest, Kangchenjunga, Makalu and a host of lesser giants the same risk has been taken, not once but many times, and will continue to be taken as long as there are mountains to climb and men to face the challenge.

The odds were not high but we had gambled and lost and now we were back where we started.  Weakened party though we were, we might still have chmbed the ‘ Big White Peak.’ Our chance of success was reduced but it was not impossible.  It would have been a worthy feat, to have turned our misfortune into victory, and a great memorial to Crosby Fox.  But although the risk was slight we could not expect our Sherpas to walk by the very place where lay their comrades and I am sure our decision to retreat was the right one.  Unfortunately there was no other peak that we could chmb, but on all sides lay glaciers unknown and mountains unmapped; there remained a fascinating wealth of work to do and this not on the Phurbi Chyachumbu Glacier, a place of evil association to us all.  Fresh scenes would ease our burden and bring new life to the shattered expedition.

We do not know what might have been done had fate not struck again, not again tragically, but most unkindly, when Lhakpa Tserring and Dan Jones were injured in a regrettable mischance, The time that was wasted, the efforts that were needed to transport these two injured men to Base Camp, efforts which speak most highly for those concerned, would have been put into fruitful exploration and survey.  There was work to do, the time and the men to do it ; worthy deeds would have been accomplished and high rewards gained.  But it was not to be; what was done, initially by Wilson and Tallon, while still high on the glacier in the days immediately following the accident, and later by Anderson and Tallon in the few hectic days after the departure of the injured, gives some measure of what might have been achieved.  The map of the area as far as we were committed to make it was completed, and great credit is due to these men.

I suppose it was on the return to Katmandu, when we had more time for thought, that each in his own way pondered on the past months, their rewards and sorrows, and what they had brought to him personally.  We had failed and suffered bitter tragedy.  There had been moments it must be admitted when all mountains seemed hateful, gone was their beauty and their challenge.  With Crosby and our Sherpas buried there, just up the glacier, yet their presence haunting still every moment of the day and at night occupying our dreams, it seemed an evil and treacherous spirit that had lured us there and it enticed us no longer.

But this was a passing mood.  We did not regret less the death of our friends, and still we suffered for those at home, for whom their loss meant most, but there was restored to us again, faith in the values of the way of life we had chosen.  In the silent, majestic beauty of the mountains we felt too close to reality to hold for long these brooding thoughts; their very presence was up­lifting and even death had a nobility as had the challenge which we had answered.  These mountains had killed our friends but it was the mountains that had made them the fine men they were.

Our faith then was restored as was our love of the mountains and it was with a very real regret that we made our way back to the plains.  There were no great achievements to record, we had won no victory except perhaps a little over ourselves, we had lost dear friends, yet even so it seemed then, as we turned our backs to the mountains, to be so infinitely worth while.  We had failed and yet each of us individually in spite of, indeed perhaps because of that failure, had gained something of immeasureable value, a vast wealth of experience, a knowledge of himself, deep friendships, a memory of a fine man.  These intangible things are our reward.

The ” Big White Peak” is still there, its snows untrodden, offering its challenge to future climbers.  Those who go to it again will not perhaps call it by the same name, for that clumsy title was one of convenience.  It bears no name on any map but we have heard the Tampathang Sherpas call it Yambicho and we hope that this local name will be adopted.

Any future expedition with designs on this peak must inevitably approach by the same long route.  Their Base Camp could not be placed better than on our site, or close to it, nor could our route to Camp I be improved upon for we explored every possibility of avoiding the hazards of the stone couloir.  It is most unlikely that a reasonable route will be found straight up the valley from Pemsal, through the lower icefall.  The way to our Camp IV will remain materially the same, but it is above the camp in the crucial ‘jaws’ of the glacier that we hope improve­ments on our route will be made.  Glaciers change and another year it may be perfectly possible to walk safely up its centre.  But it may not be so and a future party would be wise to equip themselves with alloy ladders with which to span the barrier.

After the successful ascent of the “Big White Peak” there is little else on which the party can occupy themselves in the immediate area.  It would be unwise to say that Phurbi Chyachu and Dorje Lhakpa are both unclimbable, but we beheve no attempt will be made on these savage peaks until there is little else in the accessible Himalayas left to climb.  Neither mountain is high by the standard of the Himalayas, but neither would yield to any but prolonged siege tactics.  Dorje Lhakpa seems defended on all sides and no line of weakness could we see.  Phurbi Chyachu is not quite so uncompromising, there is a possibility of a route from the cols on the frontier ridge on either side of the peak, but either would be long, very steep in parts and technically difficult.  We could see no footing for a high camp.

But before this area is left by a future party the fringes of the range should be visited, both to the east and west of the Phurbi Chyachu Glacier.  Here in exploration and survey and possibly too in chmbing there will be enough to reward them.  To the east across the ridge of the Chaksil Danda they can reach the glaciers at the head of the Nosem Khola where on the Frontier Ridge between Kharani Tippe and Phurbi Chyachu there may be climbable peaks.  But it is to the west that they will most be rewarded, in the unknown country to the north of the Langtang Khola, which should not be confused with the river of the same name in the Langtang proper further to the west.

Where the moraines from two much receded glaciers meet and invade the green pastures of the head water of this torrent there are rough Sherpa shelters and here by httle lakes and streams of clear water is the most ideal of camp sites to act as a base from which to explore this area.  It is not hkely that it could be reached direct from Tampathang for the gorge of the Langtang Khola holds strange fears and hidden perils for the Sherpas, and we found none willing to take that way.  But from Panche Pokhari there is a track leading in a day’s march to this heavenly site — only it could not be traversed by unshod porters before the end of May.  Any expedition anxious only to explore this area midway between the Langtang and the Jugal Himal should take this route and we believe they will find a rich reward for their efforts.  No high mountains, but fine vistas and a wealth of unmapped country.