Mr. W. M. Conway, who was sent out by the Royal Geographical Society
of London last spring to explore the Kara Koram Mountains and their
mighty glaciers north of Cashmere, has accomplished the most brilliant
feats of mountain and glacier climbing that any explorer has achieved
in years. He has sent to the society a report of his ascent of the
Baltoro glacier, over forty miles in length and the longest glacier
that is known in temperate regions, and of his ascent of an ice-covered
mountain over 23,000 feet high at the upper end of the glacier.
He began the ascent of the Baltoro glacier on Aug. 5. He had little
idea on starting of the discomforts before him. His party included
three Englishmen besides himself, an Alpine guide, and four Sepoys
detailed from an Indian regiment. Fully two-thirds of the entire length
of the glacier was so completely covered with stone debris that the ice
was not visible except where lakes or crevasses occurred. He was unable
to ascend along the banks at the sides of the glacier, for they were
not traversable. He was therefore forced to go up the horrible middle
of the ice. The surface was not flat, but was a series of prodigious
mounds. He measured one of them, which was over 200 feet high, and it
was usually easier to climb over these mounds than to circumvent them.
The stones that rested upon the ice were constantly giving way under
foot. The consequence was that the progress of the heavily laden Sepoys
was slow and the marches had to be short.
The party was nearly two weeks ascending this icy river, four days
of which time they remained in camp on account of stormy weather.
When they finally turned up a tributary glacier in order to ascend
the mountain, they had reached a height of 16,000 feet above the
sea. All through the journey the cold was very severe. The party was
very heavily laden because in addition to their food supplies it was
necessary to carry a quantity of fuel.
It was not until Aug. 25, twenty days after they had left the foot of
the glacier, that they began the assaults upon the icy peak which they
intended to surmount. Two or three of the party had become disabled
by cold and fatigue, and had to return to a camp established on the
glacier. The party complained of some discomforts which travelers
among the Himalayas have often mentioned. The sun, day after day came
out with scorching power, and while their feet were numbed with cold,
their bodies were far too hot to be comfortable. Mr. Conway says the
great variations between biting cold and grilling heat are the chief
impediments to mountaineering at high altitudes in those regions. Not
only the cold and the heat alike are hard to endure, but the change
from one to the other seems to weaken the forces and render the whole
body feeble.
Ascending the steep slope of the final peak, their climbing irons were
of the greatest assistance. They found to their dismay after climbing
a few hundred feet that the upper part of _the peak was not of snow,
but of hard, blue ice, covered with a thin layer of snow. Every step
they took had to be cut through the snow into the ice. The ice was too
hard for the steel points of the climbing irons to penetrate until
it had been prepared by a stroke or two of the ax._ The Alpine guide
said the work of step cutting was far more fatiguing than he had ever
experienced in Switzerland. One of the Sepoys was overtaken by mountain
sickness and had to be left behind. Now and then a puff of air inspired
the party with a little life. Most of the time they suffered from the
rarefication of the air.
Reaching the top, about 23,000 feet above the sea, Conway named the
mountain Pioneer Point. He saw the most glorious views on every side.
The whole panorama of valley, mountain, glacier, and snow has an
effect, at an elevation, of majestic repose. The observers were far
above the noises of avalanches and rivers and nature’s forces were
reduced to mere insignificance as they gazed thousands of feet below
them upon the scenery. Many of the mountains they saw had not before
been seen by human eye.