CONCLUSIONS
It might be supposed that, from the experience of two expeditions to
Mount Everest, it would be possible to deduce an estimate of the dangers
and difficulties involved and to formulate a plan for overcoming the
obstacles which would meet with universal approval among mountaineers.
But, in fact, though many deductions could hardly be denied, I should be
surprised to find, even among us of the second party, anything like
complete agreement either in our judgment of events or in our ideas for
the future. Accordingly, I must be understood as expressing only my
personal opinions. The reader, no doubt, will judge the book more
interesting if he finds the joint authors disagreeing among themselves.
The story of the first attempt to climb the mountain in 1922 will have
no doubts on one point. The final camp was too low. However strong a
party may be brought to the assault, their aim, unless they are provided
with oxygen, must be to establish a camp considerably higher than our
camp at 25,000 feet. The whole performance of the porters encourages us
to believe that this can be done. Some of them went to a height of
25,000 feet and more, not once only, but thrice; and they accomplished
this feat with strength to spare. It is reasonable to suppose that these
same men, or others of their type, could carry loads up to 27,000 feet.
But it would be equally unreasonable to suppose that they could reach
this height in one day from the camp on Chang La at 23,000 feet. No one
would be so foolish as to organise an attempt on this assumption. Two
camps instead of one must be placed above the Chang La; another stage
must be added to the structure before the climbing party sets forth to
reach the summit.
But how exactly is this to be done? It is to this question that one
would wish to deduce an answer from the experience of 1922. It is very
unlikely that any future party will find itself in the position to carry
out any ideal plan of organisation. Ideally, they ought to start by
considering what previous performances might help or hinder the aim of
bringing the party of attack in the fittest possible condition to the
last camp. What ought they to have done or not to have done, having
regard to acclimatisation? It is still impossible to lay down the law on
this head. After the first Expedition, I supposed that the limit of
acclimatisation must be somewhere about 21,000 feet. It now seems
probable that it is higher. One of the physiologists who has been most
deeply concerned with this problem of acclimatisation considers that it
would probably be desirable, from the physiological point of view, to
stay four or five days at 25,000 feet before proceeding to attempt the
two last stages on consecutive days. Those of us who slept at Camp V for
the first attempt would certainly be agreed in our attitude towards this
counsel. The desire to continue the advance and spend another night at a
higher elevation, if it persisted at all for so long a time at 25,000
feet, would be chilled to tepidity, and the increasing desire to get
away from Camp V might lead to retreat instead of advance. The
conditions must be altogether more comfortable if the climbers are to
derive any advantage from their rustication at this altitude. It would
not be impossible, perhaps, if every effort were concentrated on this
end, to make a happy home where the aspiring mountaineers might pass a
long week-end in enjoyment of the simplest life at 25,000 feet; it would
not be practicable, having regard to other ends to be served by the
system of transport. But it might be well to spend a similar period for
acclimatisation 2,000 feet lower on the Chang La. There a very
comfortable camp, with perfect shelter from the prevailing wind and good
snow to lie on, can easily be established. Noel actually spent three
successive nights there in 1922, and apparently was the better rather
than the worse for the experience.
No less important in this connection is the effect of exertions at high
altitudes on a man’s subsequent performance. We have to take into
account the condition of the climbing parties when they returned to the
Base Camp after reaching approximately 27,000 feet. With one exception,
all the climbers were affected in various degrees by their exertions, to
the prejudice of future efforts. It would seem, therefore, that they
cannot have had much strength to spare for the final stage to the
summit. But there was a general agreement among the climbers that it was
not so much the normal exertion of climbing upwards that was in itself
unduly exhausting, but the addition of anything that might be considered
abnormal, such as cutting steps, contending with wind, pushing on for a
particular reason at a faster pace, and the many little things that had
to be done in camp. It is difficult from a normal elevation to
appreciate how great is the difference between establishing a camp on
the one hand and merely ascending to one already established on the
other. If ever it proves possible to organise an advanced party whose
business it would be to establish at 25,000 feet a much more comfortable
camp than ours in 1922, and if, in addition, a man could be spared to
undertake the preparation of meals, the climbers detailed for the
highest section of all would both be spared a considerable fatigue and
would have a better chance of real rest and sleep.
The peculiar dangers of climbing at great altitudes were illustrated by
the experience of 1922. The difficulty of maintaining the standard of
sound and accurate mountaineering among a party all more or less
affected by the conditions, and the delays and misfortunes that may
arise from the exhaustion of one of the party, are dangers which might
be minimised by a supporting party. Two men remaining at the final camp
and two men near Camp V watching the progress of the unit of assault
along the final ridge, and prepared to come to their assistance, might
serve to produce vital stimulants, hot tea or merely water, at the
critical moment, and to protect the descent. It is a counsel of
perfection to suggest providing against contingencies on this lavish
scale; but it is well to bear in mind the ideal. And there is, besides,
a precaution which surely can and will be taken: to take a supply of
oxygen for restorative purposes. The value of oxygen for restoring
exhausted and warming cold men was sufficiently well illustrated during
the second attempt in 1922.
[Illustration:
CHANG LA AND NORTH-EAST SHOULDER OF MOUNT EVEREST
]
The question as to whether the use of oxygen will otherwise help or
hinder climbers is one about which opinions may be expected to disagree.
Anyone who thinks that it is impossible to get up without oxygen can
claim that nothing has shown it to be impossible to get up with its aid.
For my part, I don’t think it impossible to get up without oxygen. The
difference of atmospheric pressure between 27,000 feet and the summit is
small, and it is safe to conclude that men who have exerted themselves
at 27,000 feet could live without difficulty for a number of hours on
the summit. As to whether their power of progress would give out before
reaching 29,000 feet, it is impossible to dogmatise. I can only say that
nothing in the experience of the first attempt has led me to suppose
that those last 2,000 feet cannot be climbed in a day. I am not
competent to sift and weigh all the evidence as to whether, how much,
and with what consumption of gas it was easier to proceed up the slopes
of Mount Everest with oxygen so far as Finch and Bruce went on that
memorable day. But I do venture to combat the suggestion that it is
necessarily easier to reach the top in that manner. I think no one will
dispute the statement that the final camp for the second attempt was too
low, as it had been for the first, to enable the oxygen party to reach
the summit. With the same apparatus it will be necessary in this case
also to provide a second camp above the North Col. And the question for
the moment will ultimately be, is it possible to add to that immense
burden of transport to 27,000 feet the weight of the oxygen cylinders
required?
The weather in all probability will have something to say to this
problem. The Expedition of 1922 was certainly not favoured by the
weather. There was no continuous spell of calm fine days, and the summer
snows began a week earlier than the most usual date. One wonders what
sort of weather is to be expected with the most favourable conditions on
Mount Everest. It is conceivable that a series of calm fine days
sometimes precede the monsoon. But when we consider the perpetual winds
of Tibet at all seasons, it seems unlikely that Mount Everest is often
immune from this abominable visitation. It is far more likely that the
calm day is a rare exception, and only to be expected when the
north-westerly current is neutralised by the monsoon from the
South-east. The ill-luck of 1922 may probably be computed as no more
than those seven days by which the monsoon preceded expectation. With so
short a time for preparations and advance, we were indeed unfortunate in
meeting an early monsoon. And it is hardly possible considerably to
extend the available time by starting earlier. There was only the barest
trickle of water at the Base Camp on May 1, 1922, and the complications
involved by the necessity of melting snow for water, both here and at
all higher stages, for any considerable time, would be a severe
handicap. But it must be remembered that the second attempt was made a
week before the monsoon broke. Time appeared short on the mountain
chiefly from the threat of bad weather and the signs showing that the
majority of days were, to say the least, extremely disagreeable for
climbing high on the mountain. If others are confronted by similar
conditions, they too will probably feel that each fine day must be
utilised and the attack must be pressed on; for the fine days past will
not come back, and ahead is the uncertain monsoon.
A final question may now be asked: What advantages will another
Expedition have which we did not have in 1922? In one small and in one
large matter the next Expedition may be better equipped. It was
disappointing, after so much time and thought had been expended upon the
problem of foot-gear, that nothing was evolved in 1922 which succeeded
in taking the place of Alpine boots of well-known patterns. The great
disadvantage of these sorts of boot is that one cannot wear crampons
with them at these high altitudes, for the strap bound tightly round the
foot will almost certainly cause frostbite; either different boots or
different spikes must be invented if the climbers are to have crampons
or their equivalent. It is essential that they should be so equipped to
avoid the labour of step-cutting, and the lack of this equipment might
well rob them of victory on the steep final slopes below the summit.
This matter of foot-gear is not so very small, after all. But a still
more important one is the oxygen apparatus. It is conceivable, and I
believe by no means unlikely, that a different type of cylinder may be
used in the future, and capable of containing more oxygen, compared with
the same weight, than those of 1922. A 50 per cent. improvement in this
direction should alter the whole problem of using oxygen. With this
advantage it might well be possible to go to the top and back with the
four cylinders which a man may be expected to carry from a height of
25,000 feet or little higher. If a second camp above the North Col
becomes unnecessary in this way, the whole effort required, and
especially the effort of transport, will be reduced to the scale of what
has already been accomplished, and can no doubt be accomplished again.
The further advantage of a future Expedition is simply that of
experience. It amounts to something, one cannot say how much. In small
ways a number of mistakes may be avoided. The provision of this and that
may be more accurately calculated according to tried values. The whole
organisation of life in high camps should be rather more efficient.
Beyond all this, the experience of 1922 should help when the moment
comes towards the making of a right plan; and a party which chooses
rightly what to do and when to do it, and can so exclude other
possibilities as to be certain that no better way could be chosen, has a
great advantage. But, when all is said as to experience and equipment,
it still remains true that success requires a quality. History repeats
itself, perhaps, but in a vague and general fashion only where mountains
are concerned. The problem of reaching the summit is every time a fresh
one. The keen eye for a fair opportunity and resource in grave
emergencies are no less necessary to the mountaineer everywhere, and not
least upon Mount Everest, than determination to carry through the high
project, the simple will to conquer in the struggle.
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NOTES
By
T. HOWARD SOMERVELL
on
ACCLIMATISATION AT HIGH
ALTITUDES
COLOUR IN TIBET
TIBETAN CULTURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------