FIRST JOURNEY TO DIAMIRAI NULLAH AND THE DIAMIRAI PASS
'Lo! where the pass expands
Its stony jaws, the abrupt mountain breaks,
And seems, with its accumulated crags,
To overhang the world.'
SHELLEY.
Early the next morning, before the sun had risen, we started for the
Mazeno La, which should lead us into the wild and unknown Chilas
country. We soon experienced the kind of walking that afterwards we
found to be more often than not the rule. Loose stones of every size
and description lay piled between the edge of the glacier and the side
of the valley, and it was useless to attempt to walk on the glacier
itself, for not only was it buried deep with debris, but was crevassed
as well. For some distance we followed the northern or left bank,
passing by the snout of a small ice-fall that came down from the main
range of Nanga Parbat, and then turned to the right up and over an
intervening spur, which finally brought us to the level of the glacier
that lay immediately under the Mazeno La. Across this our path lay in
the burning sun of the morning. Before us, about 1500 feet higher up,
was the pass; first the glacier was crossed, and then partly by rocks
and partly over soft snow the way led upwards. Within a few hundred
feet of the summit (18,000 feet) I experienced a violent attack of
mountain sickness, and was hardly able to crawl to the top. This was
the only time any of the party suffered at all, and later a slight
headache or lassitude was the only symptom that I ever felt, even when
at heights up to 20,000 feet.
The western face of the pass is much more precipitous than the one
we had ascended, but by making use of an easy rock arête we soon got
down (2000 feet) to the more level glacier below. The Mazeno La on the
western side somewhat resembles the Zinal side of the Triftjoch, but is
not quite so difficult.
The more active of our coolies, together with servants, were sent on
with the instructions to camp on the right-hand side of the glacier as
soon as they should come to any bushes out of which a fire could be
made, but we were not destined that evening to camp in any comfort.
Caught on the glacier by the darkness we were forced to sleep for the
night on a small plot of grass on the edge of the side moraine, 13,400
feet, and not till the next morning did we rejoin our coolies about a
mile and a half lower down the valley. After we had obtained sufficient
to eat we started down beside the glacier, which I have named the Lubar
glacier on account of the small shepherds' encampment of that name
just below the end of it. On our arrival at Lubar we made our first
acquaintance with the Chilas folk, some of whom looked very wild and
unkempt, but throughout our expedition we found them to be friendly
enough, and never experienced any difficulty with them. Some sour and
particularly dirty goats' milk out of huge gourds was their offering to
us, and a small sheep, price four rupees, was purchased.
Our destination, however, was the Diamirai nullah on the north-west
of Nanga Parbat, so we did not stay long, and winding away up the
hill-side, leaving the Lubar stream far below us on the left, we first
traversed a beautiful wood of birch-trees, and later got out on to the
bare hill-side.
Only two small ridges separate the Diamirai from the Lubar nullah,
but they are only small in comparison with their bigger neighbours;
consequently we did not reach the Diamirai nullah that day, but camped
on the hill-side by a small stream at 12,500 feet. A magnificent view
to the west showed all the country stretched out before us, a country
untravelled by any European, whilst skirting the horizon were some
splendid snow-peaks that lay near the head of the Swat valley beyond
Tangir and Darel. Next day, July 22, before coming to the Diamirai
nullah a herd of markhor was seen on the slope not far in front of us,
and by midday we camped on the south side of the huge Diamirai glacier
that fills up the centre of the nullah, having taken about five hours
from our last camp, and having come over some very rough ground. As
soon as the baggage was unpacked it was discovered that a pair of
steig-eisen had been left at the camp of the night before. One of the
goat-herds from Lubar had come with us, and he, being promised a rupee
should he bring them back, started at about two o'clock, running up the
hill-side like a goat, and by half-past six o'clock was back again with
them. Of course, these men having been trained in the hills are very
agile, and able to cover long distances, but considering the height
there was to climb, and the nature of the ground traversed, his was a
fine performance.
The camp (12,450 feet) was placed amongst some stunted pine-trees and
huge boulders that had rolled down the moraine, the glacier itself
being high (200 feet) above the floor of the valley at the side.
The view to the westward was much the same as we had seen the night
before, only with this difference: it was enclosed now between the two
sides of the Diamirai nullah, whilst the glacier fell away down the
valley in the foreground, towards the Indus, 10,000 feet below. Beyond,
range after range receded to the horizon, the furthest peaks probably
being more than one hundred miles distant. There the mountain thieves
of Darel, Tangir, and of the country west of Chilas live unmolested.
But eastward, at the head of the valley, towered Nanga Parbat, 14,000
feet above us, one mass of ice and snow, with rock ribs protruding
here and there, and vast overhanging glaciers ready at any moment to
pour down thousands of tons of ice on to the glaciers below. Lit up a
brilliant orange by the setting sun, and with the shadows on the lower
snows of a pale green, it certainly looked most beautiful, but up its
precipitous face a way had to be found, and at first sight it did not
look very promising.
From our camp we could see the whole face, and Mummery was not long
before he pointed out a route by which we hoped later to gain the
upper snow-fields just underneath the summit, and thence the topmost
pinnacle which glistened in the sunlight.
The provisions brought over from the Rupal nullah were only meant to
last for a few days, so, after the exploration of the western side
of Nanga Parbat, it became necessary to arrange for the return. The
servants and coolies were sent back by the route we had come, whilst we
made up our minds to cross the ridge on the south side of the valley
sufficiently high up to bring us down either on to the Mazeno La, or,
if we were fortunate, into the head of the Rupal nullah.
I went for a walk about four miles up the glacier, but was unable to
find a break in the great wall at the head of the Diamirai nullah. On
my return I nearly ran into the arms of a huge red bear; and I must
confess that we both were very much frightened.
[Illustration: _The Diamirai Pass from the Red Pass._]
That night, a little before midnight, we started with lanterns, picking
our way first through the small rhododendron bushes by the side of the
glacier for about a mile, then turning to the right obliquely up the
hill-side with the intention of reaching a rock rib which led up to a
gap in the great wall that bounded the Diamirai nullah on the south
side. For a long time we stumbled up what seemed an interminable shoot
of loose stones, but by the time the early dawn gave sufficient light
to enable us to see where we were, a rock arête came into view on our
left.[H] Towards this we made our way, finding the climbing was by no
means difficult. Occasionally the arête would become too perpendicular
for us to follow it, and then we had to cut steps along the top of
ice- or snow-slopes that were underneath the rocks on the top of the
ridge and chance finding our way back up some gully or subsidiary rib
of rocks that might branch out from the main arête.
We did not seem to waste much time, but long after the sun had risen
and the silent ranges of blue mountains had flushed first with the
rosy tints of the rising sun and afterwards glistened with the full
blaze of the morning, the pass was still far away above us. These
Himalaya are constructed on a totally different scale from either the
Alps or any of the ordinary snow mountains. Still, point after point
had to be surmounted. Once in the mist that settled down on us about
eleven o'clock, we at last thought the summit was reached, and began
to descend an arête that led towards the south. Twenty minutes later,
when it cleared, great was our vexation to find the pass still a
long distance above us on our right, and that we had unconsciously
been descending towards the Diamirai nullah. Upwards again we had to
climb, finally finding that the ridge led to the top of a peak on the
west of the pass and about a thousand feet higher. In order to save
the extra fatigue of climbing to the summit and again descending to
the pass, Mummery made a bold effort, striking across the face of the
mountain. In some places rocks stuck out from the steep face, in others
ice slopes had to be crossed, and towards the middle a great circle
of soft snow, with steep ice underneath, gave us an anxious time; for
should the surface snow have avalanched away, it would not have stopped
for certainly several thousand feet. By tying two ropes (eighty and
sixty feet long) together, we spread ourselves out as far apart as
possible, and very carefully made our way across. It was two in the
afternoon before the summit of the pass was reached; its height was
18,050 feet. We have named it the Diamirai pass. Mummery assured us
that he had never been over a more sporting pass, and we were delighted
with the varied climbing that we had experienced. But our enthusiasm
was soon checked; below, on the further side, we could see neither the
wished-for Rupal nullah nor the Mazeno La. Easy rocks and snow led
down to a small glacier, which, flowing southwards, led into another
and larger glacier whose trend was to the west. Evidently the larger
glacier was the Lubar. The position we were in gradually began to dawn
on us. In fourteen hours we had made, as the crow flies, three miles;
of course we had climbed about six thousand feet, but in front of us
lay a descent of three thousand feet, and on to the wrong side of the
range, therefore at least five miles away round the corner on the
left was the Mazeno La, 18,000 feet. We also knew that our camp, and
probably our first food, was nearly twenty miles on the other side of
the Mazeno, and to make matters worse we had only a few scraps left,
a slice of meat, some sticks of chocolate, and about half a dozen
biscuits. There was no time to admire the view, also not much view to
admire, for the customary midday mists completely hid Nanga Parbat
and all the higher peaks. As an heroic effort Mummery suggested that
it might save time to climb up from the pass on the south side, over
a peak nearly 21,000 feet, in order to drop down on to the Mazeno La;
but we soon decided that it was imprudent so late in the day to attempt
it, especially as it would most certainly involve spending the night
out at some very high altitude. We therefore rapidly descended the
easy slopes on the south side of this pass, to which, as I have said,
we gave the name of Diamirai. After running down the foot glacier, the
Lubar glacier was reached at about half-past five. Here we stopped and
rested for about an hour and a half, vainly attempting to get away from
a bitterly cold wind that was blowing up from the west. But there was
no shelter, so the lesser of two evils was chosen, namely to go on.
Slowly we crawled to the foot of the Mazeno La, and about twenty hours
after we had started on our expedition, without food, and with only
the light of our lanterns, we toiled up the slopes that would bring us
at last to the top of our second pass, 18,000 feet above sea-level.
I shall never forget how tobacco helped me through that night, as I
smoked whilst waiting on the summit, in the freezing air and the bright
starlight, for Mummery and Hastings; it almost made me feel that I was
enjoying myself; and it stayed the pangs of hunger and soothed away the
utter weariness that beset both mind and body.
During our wild nocturnal wanderings, first down the Mazeno, and
then down the Rupal glacier, where in the dim candle-light and in a
semi-conscious condition we slipped, tumbled, and fell, but always with
one dominant idea--namely, we must go on!--that pipe continued to
help me. What cared I though Hastings growled?--he does not smoke!--or
whether poor Mummery groaned aloud as he stepped into icy pools of
water. So we stumbled frantically forwards, over the vast wilderness of
stones and ice; and I remember, as we groped our way onwards, I must
have half fallen asleep, for I could not get out of my mind that there
was a hut or a small hotel on the top of the Mazeno La, and that for
our sins we had been doomed to wander for ever in this dismal and waste
land of cold and darkness, whilst rest and food were foolishly left
behind.
But daylight came at last, and, after the sun was well up in the sky,
we finally made our way off that dreadful glacier. We also had vague
hopes that perhaps after all we might be able to get something to eat
before we reached our camp, miles away near Tashing. For one of our
Kashmiri servants had been told to wait at the foot of the glacier--a
week if necessary--till we turned up. We were quite uncertain whether
he would follow our instructions, but at seven o'clock Hastings and
I found him camped under a huge rock. At once some provisions and a
kettleful of hot tea were sent back to Mummery, who was resting some
miles up the valley. At half-past ten I left Hastings and Mummery
asleep amongst the flowers in the shade under the rock, and set off
alone for the lower camp, if possible to hurry up some ponies to
fetch them down the valley. Early in the afternoon I met them with
two of the Rupal coolies: they had crossed the Nanga Parbat glacier,
no easy thing to do, but, the steep face of dried mud and boulders
about thirty feet high leading off the glacier, they could not get
up. Engineering operations at once became necessary; with my ice-axe
I cut large footsteps diagonally upwards across this steep face. But
the first pony was afraid. After some talking, one of the men led up a
wise-looking, grey pony to the bottom, and, talking to it, showed it
the staircase. It then climbed up, feeling each step carefully with its
forelegs before venturing on to it. These unshod mountain-horses are
certainly extremely clever on such kind of ground. Several years later,
when travelling in the Canadian Rocky Mountains with a whole pack of
Canadian ponies, a place not one-quarter as difficult entirely stopped
the whole outfit, although for making their way through fallen timber
and across dangerous streams these Canadian ponies are unequalled.
Between five and six that evening I arrived at our Tashing camp and
found Bruce there. He had obtained a month's leave, bringing with
him two Gurkhas--Ragobir and Goman Singh. Over our dinner we forgot
the weary tramping of the last forty hours, celebrating the occasion
by drinking all the bottles of Bass's pale ale--a priceless treasure
in these parts--that we had brought from Kashmir. Then afterwards,
when we turned into our sleeping-bags before the roaring camp-fire,
and the twilight slowly passed into the azure night, and overhead the
glistening stars were blazing in the clear sky, a worthy ceiling to
this mountain land, it was agreed unanimously that it was worth coming
many thousand miles to enjoy climbing in the Himalaya, and that those
who lived at home ingloriously at their ease knew not the joys that
were to be found amidst the ice and snows of the greatest of mountain
ranges. Never would they enjoy the keen air that sweeps across the
snow-clad heights, never would they wander homeless and supperless over
the vile wastes which surround the Mazeno La for the best part of two
nights and two days; and, last but not least, never would such joys
as the marvellous contentment born of a good dinner, after incipient
starvation, nor the delicious rest that comes as the reward after
excessive fatigue--never would joys such as these be theirs.
FOOTNOTES:
[H] See illustration facing page 90.