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CLIMBING ON THE HIMALAYA AND OTHER MOUNTAIN RANGES
* * * * * *
_Printed at the Edinburgh University Press_,
by T. and A. CONSTABLE,
FOR DAVID DOUGLAS.
LONDON SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT AND CO., LTD.
CAMBRIDGE MACMILLAN AND BOWES.
GLASGOW JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: A Stormy Sunset.]
CLIMBING ON THE HIMALAYA AND OTHER MOUNTAIN RANGES
by
J. NORMAN COLLIE, F.R.S.
Member of the Alpine Club
Edinburgh
David Douglas
1902
All rights reserved
PREFACE
After a book has been written, delivered to the publisher, and the
proofs corrected, the author fondly imagines that little or no more is
expected of him. All he has to do is to wait. In due time his child
will be introduced to the world, and perhaps an enthusiastic public,
by judicious comments on the virtues of the youngster, will make the
parent proud of his offspring.
Before, however, this much-desired event can take place, custom demands
that a preface, or an introduction of the aforesaid youngster to polite
society, must be written. Unfortunately also the parent has to compile
a list or index of the various items of his progeny's belongings that
are of interest; so that nothing be left undone that may be of service
to the young fellow, what time he makes his bow before a critical
audience. In books on travel, nowadays, it is customary often somewhat
to scamp this necessary duty, and, after a few remarks in the preface,
on subjects not always of absorbing interest, to conclude with the hope
that the reader will be as interested in the description of places he
has never seen as the author has been in writing about them.
Of course, formerly these matters were better managed. In the 'Epistle
Dedicatorie,' the author would at once begin with:--'To the most Noble
Earle'--then with many apologies, all in the best English and most
perfect taste, he, under the patronage of the aforesaid Noble Earle,
would launch his venture on to the wide seas of publicity, or perhaps
growing bolder, would put forth his wares with some such phrases as the
following:--'And now, oh most ingenuous reader! can you find narrated
many adventures, both on the high mountains of the earth, and in far
countries but little known to the vulgar. Here are landscapes brought
home, and so faithfully wrought, that you must confess, none but the
best engravers could work them. Here, too, may'st thou find described
diverse parts of thine own native land.'
'Choose that which pleaseth thee best. Not to detain thee longer,
farewell; and when thou hast considered thy purchase, may'st thou say,
that the price of it was but a charity to thyself, so not ill spent.'
J. N. C.
16 CAMPDEN GROVE,
LONDON, _24th March 1902_
NOTE
Four of the chapters in this book have appeared before in the pages
of the Scottish Mountaineering Club _Journal_ (A Chuilionn, Wastdale
Head, A Reverie, and the Oromaniacal Quest). They all, however, have
been partly rewritten, so the author trusts that he may be excused for
offering to the public wares which are not entirely fresh.
The Fragment from a Lost MS., and part of the chapter on the Lofoten
Islands, were first printed in the _Alpine Journal_.
The author also takes this opportunity of thanking Mr. Colin B.
Phillip, first, for allowing photogravure reproductions to be made of
two of his pictures (The Coolin and the Macgillicuddy's Reeks), and
secondly, for the great trouble Mr. Phillip took in producing the three
sketches of the Himalayan mountains which are to be found in the text.
CONTENTS
THE HIMALAYA--
CHAP. PAGE
I. General History of Mountaineering in the
Himalaya, 1
II. Our Journey out to Nanga Parbat, 25
III. The Rupal Nullah, 38
IV. First Journey to Diamirai Nullah
and the Diamirai Pass, 57
V. Second Journey to Diamirai Nullah
and Ascent to 21,000 feet, 70
VI. Ascent of the Diamirai Peak, 85
VII. Attempt to ascend Nanga Parbat, 104
VIII. The Indus Valley and Third Journey
to Diamirai Nullah, 118
THE CANADIAN ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 135
THE ALPS, 165
THE LOFOTEN ISLANDS, 185
A CHUILIONN, 211
THE MOUNTAINS OF IRELAND, 225
PREHISTORIC CLIMBING NEAR WASTDALE HEAD, 245
A REVERIE, 263
THE OROMANIACAL QUEST, 283
FRAGMENT FROM A LOST MS., 299
NOTES ON THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS, 305
INDEX, 311
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A STORMY SUNSET, _Frontispiece_
A HIMALAYAN CAMP, To face page 2
A HIMALAYAN NULLAH, " " 38
THE DIAMIRAI PASS FROM THE RED PASS, " " 62
THE MAZENO PEAKS FROM THE RED PASS, " " 74
THE DIAMIRAI PEAK FROM THE RED PASS, " " 88
VIEW OF THE DIAMIRAI PEAK FROM THE RED PASS, " " 90
ON NANGA PARBAT, FROM UPPER CAMP, " " 104
NANGA PARBAT FROM THE DIAMIRAI GLACIER, " " 110
DO. DO. DO., " " 112
VIEW OF DIAMA GLACIER FROM SLOPES OF DIAMIRAI
PEAK, " " 116
THE DIAMA PASS FROM THE RAKIOT NULLAH, " " 120
THE CHONGRA PEAKS FROM THE RED PASS, " " 122
THE FRESHFIELD GLACIER, " " 148
A CREVASSE ON MONT BLANC, " " 166
LOFOTEN, " " 186
THE COOLIN, " " 212
THE MACGILLICUDDY'S REEKS, " " 226
LIST OF MAPS
MAP OF KASHMIR, To face page 28
MAP OF NANGA PARBAT, " " 40
CANADIAN ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
MAP OF THE ICE-FIELDS AND THE MOUNTAINS, " " 144
CHAPTER I
GENERAL HISTORY OF MOUNTAINEERING IN THE HIMALAYA
'Let him spend his time no more at home,
Which would be great impeachment to his age
In having known no travel in his youth.'
SHAKESPEARE.
At some future date, how many years hence who can tell? all the wild
places on the earth will have been explored. The Cape to Cairo railway
will have brought the various sources of the Nile within a few days'
travel of England; the endless fields of barren ice that surround the
poles will have yielded up their secrets; whilst the vast and trackless
fastnesses of that stupendous range of mountains which eclipses all
others, and which from time immemorial has served as a barrier to
roll back the waves of barbaric invasion from the fertile plains of
Hindustan--these Himalaya will have been mapped, and the highest points
in the world above sea-level will have been visited by man. Most
certainly that time will come. Yet the Himalaya, although conquered,
will remain, still they will be the greatest range of mountains on
earth, but will their magnitude, their beauty, their fascination, and
their mystery be the same for those who travel amongst them? I venture
to think not: for it is unfortunately true that familiarity breeds
contempt.
Be that as it may, at the present time an enormous portion of that
country of vast peaks has never been trodden by human foot. Immense
districts covered with snow and ice are yet virgin and await the
arrival of the mountain explorer. His will be the satisfaction of
going where others have feared to tread, his the delight of seeing
mighty glaciers and superb snow-clad peaks never gazed upon before by
human eyes, and his the gratification of having overcome difficulties
of no small magnitude. For exploration in the Himalaya must always be
surrounded by difficulties and often dangers. That which in winter on
a Scotch hill would be a slide of snow, and in the Alps an avalanche,
becomes amongst these giant peaks an overwhelming cataclysm shaking the
solid bases of the hills, and capable with its breath alone of sweeping
down forests.
[Illustration: _A Himalayan Camp._]
The man who ventures amongst the Himalaya in order that he may gain a
thorough knowledge of them must of necessity be a mountaineer as well
as a mountain traveller. He must delight not only in finding his way
to the summits of the mountains, but also in the beauties of the green
valleys below, in the bare hill-sides, and in the vast expanses of
glaciers and snow and ice; moreover his curiosity must not be confined
to the snows and the rock ridges merely as a means for exercising an
abnormal craze for gymnastic performances, or he will show himself to
be 'a creature physically specialised, perhaps, but intellectually
maimed.'
For in order to cope with all the difficulties as they arise, and to
guard against all the dangers that lurk amidst the snows and precipices
of the great mountains, a high standard, mental as well as physical,
will be required of him who sets out to explore the Himalaya: he must
have had a long apprenticeship amidst the snow-peaks and possess, too,
geographical instincts, common sense, and love of the mountains of no
mean order.
During these latter years few sports have developed so rapidly as
mountaineering; nor is this to be wondered at, for no sport is more
in harmony with the personal characteristics of the Englishman. When
he sets out to conquer unknown peaks, to spend his leisure time in
fighting with the great mountains, it is usually no easy task he
places in front of himself; but in return there is no kind of sport
that affords keener enjoyments or more lasting memories than those the
mountaineer wrests from Nature in his playground amongst the hills.
Mountaineering, moreover, is a sport of which we as a nation should
be proud, for it is the English who have made it what it is. There
are many isolated instances of men of other nationalities who have
spent their time in climbing snow-peaks and fighting their way through
mountainous countries; but when we inquire into the records of
discovery amongst the mountain ranges of the world--in the Alps, the
frosty Caucasus, the mighty Himalaya, in the Andes, in New Zealand, in
Norway, wherever there are noble snow-clad mountains to climb, wherever
there are difficulties to overcome--it is usually Englishmen that have
led the way.
For the pure love of sport they have fought with Nature and conquered;
others have followed after; and the various Alpine Clubs which have
been founded during the last twenty years are witnesses of the fact
that mountaineering is now one of the pastimes of the world. It has
taken its place amongst our national sports, and every year sees a
larger number of recruits filling the ranks.
In one volume of that splendid collection of books which could have
been produced nowhere else but in England--the 'Badminton Library
of Sports and Pastimes'--we find Mr. C. E. Mathews writing: 'I can
understand the delight of a severely contested game of tennis or
rackets, or the fascination of a hard-fought cricket-match under fair
summer skies. Football justly claims many votaries, and yachting has
been extolled on the ground (amongst others) that it gives the maximum
of appetite with the minimum of exertion. I can appreciate a straight
ride across country on a good horse, and I know how the pulse beats
when the University boats shoot under Barnes bridge with their bows
dead level, to the music of a roaring crowd; and yet there is no sport
like mountaineering.' This was written for a book on mountaineering,
but it may be truthfully said, without making distinctions between
sports of various kinds, all of which have their votaries, that a sport
that demands from those who would excel in its pursuit the utmost
efforts, both physical and mental, not for a few hours only, but day
after day in sunshine and in storm--a sport whose followers have the
whole of the mountain ranges of the world for their playground, where
the most magnificent scenery Nature can lavish is spread before them,
where success means the keenest of pleasure, and defeat is unattended
by feelings of regret; where friendships are made which would have
been impossible under other circumstances--for on the mountains the
difficulties and the dangers shared in common by all are the surest
means for showing a man as he really is--a sport which renews our
youth, banishes all sordid cares, ministers to mind and body diseased,
invigorating and restoring the whole--surely such a sport can be second
to none!
But as access to the Alps and other snow ranges becomes easier year
by year, the mountaineer, should he wish to test his powers against
the unclimbed hills, must perforce go further afield. There are still,
however, unclimbed mountains enough and to spare for many years yet to
come.
In the Himalaya the peaks exceeding 24,000 feet in height, that have
been measured, number over fifty,[A] whilst those above 20,000 feet
may be counted by the thousand. Every year, officers of the Indian
Army and others in search of game wander through the valleys which
come down from the great ranges, but up to the present time only a few
mountaineering expeditions have been made to this marvellous mountain
land. For this there are many reasons. The distance of India from
England precludes the busy man from spending his summer vacation there;
the natural difficulties of the country, the lack of provisions, the
total absence of roads, and lastly, the disturbed political conditions,
make any ordinary expedition impossible. Moreover, although the English
are supposed to hold the southern slopes of the Himalaya, yet it is a
curious fact that almost from the eastern end of this range in Bhutan
to the western limit in the Hindu Kush above Chitral we are rigorously
excluded. About the eastern portion of the Himalaya in Bhutan, and the
mountains surrounding the gorge through which the Bramaputra flows, we
know very little, as only some of the higher peaks have been surveyed
from a distance. Next in order, to the westward, comes Sikkim, one of
the few districts in the Himalaya where Europeans can safely travel
under the very shadows of the great peaks. Next comes the native
state of Nepaul, stretching for five hundred miles, the borders of
which no white man can cross, except those who are sent by the Indian
Government as political agents, etc., to the capital, Katmandu. It is
evident at once to any one looking at the map of India, that Nepaul
and Bhutan hold the keys of the doors through which Chinese trade
might come south. The breaks in the main chain in many places allow of
trade-routes, and in times gone by even Chinese armies have poured
through these passes and successfully invaded Nepaul.
The idea of establishing friendly relations between India and this
Trans-Himalayan region was one of the many wise and far-reaching
political aspirations of Warren Hastings. On it he spent much of his
time and thought. His policy was carried out consistently during the
time he was Governor-General of India, and commercial intercourse
during that period seemed to be well established. Four separate
embassies were sent to Bhutan, one of which extended its operations
to Tibet. This first British Mission to penetrate beyond the Himalaya
was that under Mr. George Bogle in 1774. But on the removal of Warren
Hastings from India, these admirable methods of establishing a
friendly acquaintance with the powers in Bhutan and Tibet were at once
abandoned. It is true that a quarter of a century later, in 1811, Mr.
Thomas Manning, a private individual, performed the extraordinary feat
of reaching Lhasa, and saw the Dalai Lama, a feat that to this day has
not been repeated by an Englishman. But when the guiding hand and head
of Warren Hastings no longer ruled India, this commercial policy sank
into complete oblivion. From that day to the present little intercourse
of any kind seems to have been held between the English Government and
those states in that border land between India and China.[B]
On the west of Nepaul lie Kumaon, Garhwal, Kulu, and Spiti. Through
most of these districts the Englishman can wander, which is also the
case with Kashmir to a certain extent.
The sources of the rivers that emerge from these Himalayan mountains
are almost unknown, except in the case of the Ganges, which rises in
the Gangootri peaks in Garhwal. The upper waters of the Indus, the
Sutlej, the Bramaputra (or Sanpu), and the numberless rivers emerging
from Nepaul and flowing into the Ganges, in almost every case come
from beyond the range we call the Himalaya. Their sources lie in that
unknown land north of the so-called main chain. Whether there is a
loftier and more magnificent range behind is at present doubtful, but
reports of higher peaks further north than Devadhunga (Mount Everest)
reach us from time to time. The Indian Government occasionally sends
out trained natives from the survey department to collect information
about these districts where Englishmen are forbidden to go, and it is
to their efforts that the various details we find on maps relating to
these countries are due. Some day the lower ranges leading up to the
great snow-covered mountains will be opened to the English. Sanatoria
will be established, tea plantations will appear on the slopes of
the Nepaulese hills, as is now the case at Darjeeling, and then only
will the exploration of the mountains really begin, for which, at the
present day, as far as Tibet and Nepaul are concerned, we have even
less facilities than the Schlagintweits and Hooker had forty to fifty
years ago.
From the mountaineer's point of view, little has been accomplished
amongst the Himalaya, and of the thousands of peaks of 20,000
feet and upwards hardly twenty have been climbed. The properly
equipped expeditions made to these mountains merely for the sport of
mountaineering may be said to be less than half a dozen. Of course
the officers in charge of the survey department have done invaluable
work, which, however, often had to be carried out by men unacquainted
(from a purely climbing point of view) with the higher developments of
mountain craft. To this, however, there are exceptions, notably Mr. W.
H. Johnson, who worked on the Karakoram range.
To omit work done by the earlier travellers, the first prominent piece
of mountaineering seems to have been achieved by Captain Gerard
in the Spiti district. In the year 1818 he attempted the ascent of
Leo Porgyul, but was unsuccessful after reaching a height of 19,400
feet (trigonometrically surveyed). Ten years later he made the first
successful ascent of a mountain (unnamed) of 20,400 feet. Speaking
of his wanderings in 1817-21, he says: 'I have visited thirty-seven
places at different times between 14,000 and 19,400 feet, and thirteen
of my camps were upwards of 15,000 feet.' During the years 1848-49-50
Sir Joseph Hooker made his famous journeys into the Himalaya from
Darjeeling through Sikkim. Obtaining leave to travel in East Nepaul,
he traversed a district that since then has been entirely closed to
Europeans. By travelling to the westward of Darjeeling he crossed
into Nepaul, explored the Tambur river as far as Wallanchoon, whence
he ascended to the head of a snow pass, 16,756 feet, leading over
to the valley of the Arun river, which rises far away northward of
Kanchenjunga. On the pass he experienced his first attack of mountain
sickness, suffering from headache, giddiness, and lassitude. At this
point he was probably nearer to Devadhunga[C] (Mount Everest) than any
European has ever been, the mountain being only fifty miles away. From
the summit of another pass in East Nepaul, the Choonjerma pass, 16,000
feet, he no doubt saw Devadhunga. From here he returned to Sikkim, and
travelled to Mon Lepcha, immediately at the south-west of Kanchenjunga.
During the next year he visited the passes on the north-east of
Kanchenjunga leading into Tibet and ascended three of them, the Kongra
Lama pass, 15,745 feet; the Tunkra pass, 16,083 feet; and the Donkia
pass, 18,500 feet. From Bhomtso, 18,590 feet, the highest and most
northerly point reached by him, a magnificent view to the northward
into Tibet was obtained; and Dr. Hooker mentions having seen from this
point two immense mountains over one hundred miles distant to the north
of Nepaul. It was during his return to Darjeeling that he and Dr.
Campbell were made prisoners by the Raja of Sikkim.
During the years 1854-58 the two brothers, Adolf and Robert
Schlagintweit wandered through a large portion of the Himalaya. They
were the first explorers who possessed any real knowledge of snow work,
having gained their experience in the Alps. Starting from Nynee Tal
they followed the Pindar river to its source, just under the southern
slopes of Nanda Devi. Then crossing to the north-east by a pass about
17,700 feet high, they reached Milam on the Gori river, whence they
penetrated into Tibet over several passes averaging 18,000 feet. In
this district, never since visited by Europeans, they made more than
one glacier expedition, finally returning over the main chain, close
to Kamet or Ibi Gamin (25,443 feet), on the slopes of which they
remained for a fortnight, their highest camp being at 19,326 feet. An
unsuccessful attempt was made on the peak, for they were forced to
retreat after having reached an altitude of 22,259 feet. Returning
over the Mana pass to the valley of the Sarsuti river, they descended
to Badrinath. The upper valley of the Indus north of Kashmir was next
explored, and Adolf, having crossed the Karakoram pass, was murdered
at Kashgar.[D] In the _Journal_ of the Royal Asiatic Society of
Bengal (vol. xxxv.) will be found a paper by the two brothers on the
'Comparative Hypsometrical and Physical Features of High Asia, the
Andes, and the Alps,' which deals in a most interesting manner with the
respective features of these several mountain ranges.
In the years 1860-1865 Mr. W. H. Johnson, whilst engaged on the Kashmir
Survey, established a large number of trigonometrical stations at a
height of over 20,000 feet. One of his masonry platforms on the top of
a peak 21,500 feet high is said to be visible from Leh in Ladâk. The
highest point he probably reached was during an expedition made from
the district Changchenmo north of the Pangong lake in the year 1864.
Travelling northwards he made his way through the mountains to the
Yarkand road, and at one point, being unable to proceed, he found it
necessary to climb over the mountain range at a height of 22,300 feet,
where the darkness overtook him, and he was forced to spend the night
at 22,000 feet. In the next year, 1865, on his journey to Khutan he was
obliged to wait for permission to enter Turkestan; and being anxious
to obtain as much knowledge of the country to the north as possible,
he climbed three peaks--E^{57}, 21,757 feet; E^{58}, 21,971 feet; and
E^{61}, 23,890 feet (?). The heights of the first two mountains have
been accurately determined by a series of trigonometrical observations,
but there has probably been some error made in the height of the last,
E^{61}.
Mr. Johnson was a most enthusiastic mountaineer, and, owing to a
suggestion made by him and Mr. Drew to the Asiatic Society of Bengal,
efforts were made in 1866 to form a Himalayan Club, but through want of
support and sympathy the club was never started. Mountaineering was
indeed in those days so little appreciated by the political department
of India that this journey of Mr. Johnson's in 1865 was made the excuse
for a reprimand, owing to which he left the Service and took employment
under the Maharaja of Kashmir.
About the same time that Johnson was exploring the district to the
north and north-east of Ladák, the officers of the survey, Captain
T. G. Montgomerie, H. H. Godwin Austen, and others, were actively at
work on the Astor Gilgit and Skardu districts. They pushed glacier
exploration much further than had been done before; and it is quite
remarkable how much they accomplished when one considers that in those
days climbers had only just learned the use of ice-axes and ropes, and
the knowledge of ice and snow even in the Alps was very limited. The
exploration of the Baltoro glacier, the discovery of the second highest
peak in the Himalaya--K^{2}, 28,278 feet--and the peaks Gusherbrum
and Masherbrum, by H. H. Godwin Austen, and his ascent of the Punmah
glacier to the old Mustagh pass will remain as marvels of mountain
exploration.
In the next ten or fifteen years but little mountaineering was done
in the Himalaya. The Government Survey in Garhwal, Kumaon, and Sikkim
was carried on, and more correct maps of the mountain ranges in these
parts were issued. On Kamet about 22,000 feet was reached. In Sikkim,
Captain Harman, during his work for the survey, made several attempts
to climb some of the loftier peaks. He revisited the Donkia pass, and,
like Dr. Hooker, saw from it the two enormous peaks far away to the
north of Nepaul. In order to measure their height trigonometrically,
he remained on the summit of the pass (18,500 feet) all night, but
unfortunately was so severely frost-bitten that ultimately he was
invalided home.
In the year 1883 Mr. W. W. Graham started for India with the Swiss
guide Joseph Imboden, on a purely mountaineering expedition; he first
went to Sikkim, then attacked the group round Nanda Devi in Garhwal,
and later returned to Sikkim and the mountains near Kanchenjunga.
This expedition of Graham's remains still the most successful
mountaineering effort that has been made amongst the Himalaya. No less
than seven times was he above 20,000 feet on the mountains, the three
highest ascents being, Kabru (Sikkim), 24,015 feet, A^{21} or Mount
Monal (Garhwal), 22,516 feet, and a height of 22,500-22,700 feet on
Dunagiri (Garhwal). It is perhaps to be regretted that Graham did not
write a book setting forth in detail all his experiences, though a
short account of his travels and ascents may be found in vol. xii. of
the Alpine Club _Journal_.
Arriving at Darjeeling early in 1883, he and Imboden made their way
to Jongri just under Kanchenjunga on the south-west, and climbed a
peak, Kang La, 20,300 feet. The Guicho La (pass), 16,000 feet, between
Kanchenjunga and Pundim, was ascended, but as the end of March was
much too early in the year for climbing, they returned to Darjeeling,
and Imboden then went back to Europe. It was not till the end of June
that Graham was joined by Emil Boss and Ulrich Kauffmann, who came out
from Grindelwald. They started from Nynee Tal to attack Nanda Devi,
travelling to Rini on the Dhauli river, just to the westward of Nanda
Devi. From Rini they proceeded up the Rishiganga, which runs down from
the glaciers on the west of Nanda Devi, but they were stopped in the
valley by an impassable gorge that had been cut by a glacier descending
from the Trisuli peaks. Obliged to retreat, they next attacked
Dunagiri, 23,184 feet; after climbing over two peaks, 17,000 and 18,000
feet, they camped at 18,400 feet, and finally got to a point from which
they could see the top of A^{22}, 21,001 feet over the top of A^{21},
22,516 feet, and must therefore have been at least at a height of
22,700 feet. Unfortunately hail, wind, and snow drove Graham and Boss
off the peak within 500 feet of the top--Kauffmann had given in some
distance lower down--and it was only with difficulty that they were
able to return to their camp, which was reached in the dark.
The weather then obliged them to return to Rini, from which place they
again started for Nanda Devi. This time they went up the north bank
of the Rishiganga. After illness, the desertion of their coolies, and
all the sufferings produced by cold and wet weather, they reached
the glacier in four days, only to find that again they were cut off
from it by a perpendicular cliff of 200 feet, down which the glacier
torrent poured. Their attempt to cross the stream was also fruitless;
so, baffled for the second time, they were forced to return to
their camping-ground under Dunagiri at Dunassau, from which place
they climbed A^{21}, 22,516 feet, by the western ridge, calling it
Mount Monal. They then tried A^{22}, 21,001 feet, but were stopped
by difficult rocks after reaching a point about 20,000 feet. By the
middle of August Graham was back again in Sikkim and got to Jongri
by September 2. With Boss and Kauffmann he explored the west side of
Kabru and the glacier which comes down from Kanchenjunga. But the
weather was continuously bad; they started to climb Jubonu, but were
turned back. Then they crossed the Guicho La to ascend Pundim, but
found it impossible; more bad weather kept them idle till the end of
the month. They then managed to ascend Jubonu, 21,300 feet. A few days
later they went up the glacier which lies on the south-east of Kabru,
camping at 18,400 feet; and starting at 4.30 A.M. they succeeded, owing
to a favourable state of the mountain, in reaching the summit, 24,015
feet (or rather, the summit being cleft into three gashes, they got
into one of these, about 30 feet from the true top). It was not till
10 P.M. that they returned to their camp. The last peak they ascended
was one 19,000 feet on the Nepaul side of the Kang La. Thus ended this
most remarkable series of ascents, carried out often under the most
difficult circumstances. Graham, from his account of his travels, was
evidently not a man to talk about all the discomforts and hardships
of climbing at these altitudes, and this lack of information about
his feelings and sensations above 20,000 feet has been urged against
him as a proof that he never got to 24,000 feet at all. But any one
who will take the trouble to read his account of the ascent of Kabru,
cannot fail to admit that he must have climbed the peak lying on the
south-west of Kanchenjunga, viz. Kabru, for there is no other high peak
there which he could have ascended from his starting-point except
Kanchenjunga itself; moreover, unless he had climbed Kabru, neither he
nor Emil Boss could have seen Devadhunga nor the two enormous peaks
to the north-west, which they distinctly state must be higher than
Devadhunga. Now, if they climbed Kabru, they were at a height of 24,000
feet whether they had a barometer with them or not, for that is the
height determined by the Ordnance Survey. The heights reached in all
their other completed ascents are vouched for in the same way, for if
a mountain has been properly measured by triangulation, its height is
known with a greater degree of accuracy than can ever be obtained by
taking a barometer to the summit.
The next real mountaineering expedition after that of Graham was
in 1892, when Sir Martin Conway, together with Major Bruce, and M.
Zurbriggen as guide, explored a large part of the Mustagh range. In all
they made some sixteen ascents to heights of 16,000 feet and upwards,
the highest being Pioneer peak, 22,600 feet.
Arriving at Gilgit in May, when much winter snow still lay low down
on the mountains, they first explored the Bagrot nullah. Here they
ascended several glaciers and surveyed the country. But huge avalanches
continually falling entirely stopped any high climbing. They therefore
went into the Hunza Nagyr valley as far as Nagyr. In the meantime, as
the weather was bad, they investigated first the Samayar and afterwards
the Shallihuru glaciers. At the head of the former a pass was climbed,
the Daranshi saddle, 17,940 feet, and a peak called the Dasskaram
needle, 17,660 feet. They then returned to the Nagyr valley and reached
the foot of the great Hispar glacier, 10,320 feet. From here they
travelled to the Hispar pass, 17,650 feet, nearly forty miles, thence
down the Biafo glacier, another thirty miles. The Hispar pass is
therefore the longest snow pass traversed outside the Arctic regions.
About half way up the Hispar glacier Bruce left Conway and climbed over
the Nushik La, but joined him again later at Askole.
From Askole the Baltoro glacier was ascended. Near its head the summit
of Crystal peak, 19,400 feet, on the north side of the valley, was
reached. From the summit, the Mustagh tower, a rival in height to
K^{2}, 28,278 feet, was seen. To quote Conway's description: 'Away
to the left, peering over a neighbouring rib like the one we were
ascending, rose an astonishing tower. Its base was buried in clouds,
and a cloud-banner waved on one side of it, but the bulk was clear, and
the right-hand outline was a vertical cliff. We afterwards discovered
that it was equally vertical on the other side. This peak rises in
the immediate vicinity of the Mustagh pass, and is one of the most
extraordinary mountains for form we anywhere beheld.'
Two days later they made another climb on a ridge to the east, and
parallel to the one previously climbed. From here they first saw K^{2}.
Amongst the magnificent circle of peaks that surrounded them at this
spot, many of which were over 25,000 feet, one only seemed to offer any
chance of being climbed. This was the Golden Throne. It stands at the
head of the Baltoro glacier, differing greatly in form and structure
from its neighbours; and of all the mountains it seemed most accessible.
Amongst, however, the enormous glaciers and snow-fields that eclipse
probably those of any other mountains in ordinary latitudes, even
to arrive at the beginning of the climbing was a problem of much
difficulty. To again quote: 'We struggled round the base of the Golden
Throne, up 2000 feet of ice-fall to a plateau where we camped; then we
forced a camp on to a second, and again on to a third platform ... we
got daily weaker as we ascended ... we finally reached the foot of the
ridge which was to lead us, as we supposed, to the top of the Golden
Throne. It was an ice-ridge, and not as we hoped of snow, and it did
not lead us to the top but to a detached point in the midst of the two
main buttresses of the Throne.' This peak they named Pioneer peak,
22,600 feet. After this climb they returned to Kashmir.
Major Bruce, who accompanied Sir M. Conway in this expedition, has been
climbing in the Himalaya for many years. In 1893, whilst at Chitral
with Capt. F. Younghusband, he ascended Ispero Zorn. In July of the
same year he made several ascents near Hunza on the Dhaltar peaks--the
highest point reached being 18,000 feet. During August of the same
year he climbed to 17,000 feet above Phekkar near Nagyr, with Captain
B. E. M. Gurdon, and even in December, at Dharmsala, he had some
mountaineering.
Major Bruce has done some excellent mountaineering in a district that
may be said to be his alone, namely in Khaghan, a district south-west
of Nanga Parbat and north of Abbottabad. Here, in company with
Harkabir Thapa and other Gurkhas, a great deal of climbing has been
accomplished, the district having been visited almost every year since
1894.
The best piece of climbing in Khaghan was the ascent of the most
northern Ragee-Bogee peaks (16,700 feet), by Harkabir Thapa alone. This
peak is close to the Shikara pass, though separated by one peak from
it.
Another district visited by Major Bruce in 1898 was in Ladák east of
Kashmir--the Nun Kun range. Several new passes were traversed, and
peaks up to 19,500 feet were climbed.[E]
There is certainly no mountaineer who has a record of Himalayan
climbing to compare with Major Bruce's, ranging as it does from Chitral
on the west to Sikkim on the east. In fact, to show how the mountains
exercise a magnetic influence on him, in the summer of 1898 he saw,
what no one had ever seen before, in the short space of two months, the
three highest mountains in the world: Devadhunga, K^2, and Kanchenjunga.
In 1898 Dr. and Mrs. Bullock Workman traversed several passes in Ladák,
Nubra, and Suru; and in 1899, with M. Zurbriggen as guide, went to
Askole and up the Biafo glacier to the Hispar Pass. Then they climbed
the Siegfried Horn, 18,600 feet, and Mount Bullock-Workman, 19,450
feet, both near the Skoro La. Afterwards, returning to the Shigar
valley, Mount Koser Gunge, 21,000 feet, was ascended.
The last mountaineering expedition to the Himalaya was that of Mr.
Douglas Freshfield, who, in company with Signor V. Sella, Mr. E.
Garwood, and A. Maquignaz as guide, made the tour of Kanchenjunga,
crossing the Jonsong La, 21,000 feet.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] See p. 307.
[B] _Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet and of the
Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa._ By Clements R. Markham, C.B.,
F.R.S. 1876.
[C] Tibetan name: Jomo-kang-kar.
[D] Cp. _Travels in Ladâk Tartary and Kashmir_, Lieut.-Colonel Torrens,
1862, pp. 350-360, Appendix.
[E] _Alpine Journal_, vol. xx. p. 311.