Читать книгу The Epic of Mount Everest - Francis Edward Younghusband - Страница 10

The idea of climbing Mount Everest had thus entered into men’s minds and was slowly spreading there and penetrating deeper. Men were no longer content with idly contemplating the mountain from a distance. They must be up and grappling with it. The time for action had arrived. And how the idea was put into execution is the story now to be told. It necessarily divides itself into three phases. First there is the phase when the mountain had to be prospected carefully; for no one yet—no European—had been within 40 miles of it. This was the reconnaissance phase. Then, a practical way up having been discovered by Mallory, came the actual attempt to reach the summit—an attempt which did not succeed—but which showed that men could climb to 27,000 feet. Lastly, came the second attempt which ended so tragically but in which men, with no adventitious aid, climbed to 28,100 feet.

These are the three phases of the high adventure; and it is with the first that we will now deal.

Before any great idea can be put into execution there are usually a number of preliminary barriers which have to be removed. In this case the first barriers were human. The Nepalese barred the way to Mount Everest from the south. The Tibetans had hitherto barred it on the north. Could the reluctance of the latter to admit strangers be overcome? That was the first matter to be tackled. It was a question of diplomacy and that art had to be exercised before an expedition could be launched.

A deputation composed of members of the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club waited on the Secretary of State for India to acquaint him with the importance which the two bodies attached to the project and to enlist his sympathy. Should that sympathy be forthcoming, and he have no objection to an Everest Expedition being sent to Tibet, provided the sanction of the Government of India and the Tibetan Government were obtained, the two Societies proposed inviting Colonel Howard Bury to proceed to India to negotiate the matter with the Government of India. This was the representation that was made to him.

By a strange coincidence the deputation (which was headed by the President of the Royal Geographical Society) was received by Lord Sinha, who was then Under-Secretary of State. He was a Bengali, from whose native Province Mount Everest can be seen. Perhaps he himself was not particularly enthusiastic about the scheme. But speaking as the mouthpiece of the Secretary of State he said that no objection would be raised by the India Office.

This was one barrier out of the way. And it might have been insuperable. For a previous Secretary of State had raised objections to Englishmen travelling in Tibet. He held the view that travellers caused trouble and should be discouraged.

To remove the next barrier Colonel Howard Bury was dispatched to India. He was an officer of the 60th Rifles who after service in the Great War had just retired. Before the War he had served in India and been on shooting expeditions in the Himalaya. And being interested in the Everest project put himself at the disposal of the Royal Geographical Society. He proved an excellent ambassador. He inspired Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy, and Lord Rawlinson, the Commander-in-Chief, with enthusiasm for the idea, and he got a promise of their support if the local agent, Mr. Bell, should think the Tibetans would raise no objection. Colonel Howard Bury then proceeded to Sikkim and saw Mr. Bell and got him also interested. And, fortunately, Mr. (now Sir Charles) Bell had great influence with the Tibetans. The result was that by the end of 1920 news came to London that the Tibetan Government had granted permission for an Expedition to proceed to Mount Everest in the following year.

Diplomacy having achieved its object and human obstacles being overcome it was possible to go full steam ahead organizing an Expedition. And climbing Mount Everest was a matter which interested both the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club. It interested the former because the Society will not admit that there is any spot on the earth’s surface on which man should not at least try to set his foot. And it interested the latter because climbing mountains is their especial province. It was decided, therefore, to make the Expedition a joint effort of the two societies. And this was the more desirable because the Geographical Society had greater facilities for organizing exploring expeditions, while the Alpine Club had better means of choosing the personnel. A joint Committee, called the Mount Everest Committee, was therefore formed, composed of three members each of the two societies. And it was arranged that during the first phase, while the mountain was being reconnoitred, the President of the Royal Geographical Society should be Chairman; and in the second phase, when the mountain was to be climbed, the President of the Alpine Club should preside.

Thus constituted the Mount Everest Committee was composed of the following:

As ever, the first necessity was money—and Everest expeditions are expensive matters. Neither of the two societies had any money at their disposal; so all had to be raised by private subscription. And here the Alpine Club were extraordinarily generous—or anyhow they were made to be by the compelling Captain Farrar. If a single member had a single sovereign to spare Farrar forced him to disgorge it. In the Geographical Society there still lingered the notion that climbing Mount Everest was sensational but not “scientific.” If it were a matter of making a map of the region, then the project should be encouraged. If it were a question merely of climbing the mountain, then it should be left to mountaineers and not absorb the attention of a scientific body like the Royal Geographical Society.

This narrow view of the functions of the Society was strongly held by some fellows—even by an ex-President. It was a survival of times when the making of a map was looked upon as the be-all and end-all of a geographer. But it was now laid down from the very first that the attainment of the summit of Mount Everest was the supreme object of the Expedition and all other objects subsidiary to that. Climbing the mountain was no mere sensationalism. It was testing the capacity of man. If he could pass the test of climbing the highest mountain he would feel himself capable of climbing every other peak that did not present insuperable physical obstacles; and the range of geographers would be extended into new and unexplored regions of the earth.

As to the map: that would follow right enough. Let it be known that we were out on a great adventure, and map-makers, geologists, naturalists, botanists and all the rest would come flocking in. That was the view put before the Society and which the Society adopted.

Concurrently with collecting the money the Mount Everest Committee concerned itself with collecting the men and purchasing the equipment and stores. And the composition of the party was determined by the primary object with which the first Expedition would be dispatched; and that object was reconnaissance. For it must be explained that up till now little was known of the mountain itself. Its position and height had been determined by observations made from stations in the plains of India more than a hundred miles away. But from the plains only the tip of it can be seen. A little more can be seen from the neighbourhood of Darjiling, but even then only at a distance of 80 miles. From the Tibetan side Rawling and Ryder had approached to within about sixty miles and Noel perhaps closer. Still, all this did not tell us very much about the mountain. The upper portion looked reasonably practicable. But what it was like between 16,000 feet and 26,000 feet no one could say.

Douglas Freshfield and Norman Collie, who had both climbed in the Himalaya and who both had a keen eye for mountain topography, were, therefore, strongly of opinion that a whole season should be devoted to a thorough reconnaissance of the mountain so that not only a route to the summit but also that route which would indubitably be the best should be found. For it was certain that it would only be by the easiest way up that the summit would ever be reached. And it would be disastrous if a party, after toiling up one route and failing to attain its object, were afterward to find that a better route was all the time available.

Reconnaissance being the object of the first Expedition it was necessary to choose a man to lead the climbers who was a good judge of a mountain—a man of wide experience in mountaineering who would be able to give an authoritative opinion on the vital question of the route Mr. Harold Raeburn had this experience and he had, as it happened, on the previous year been climbing in Sikkim. He was somewhat old, but he would not be expected to climb to any great heights and it was hoped that his experience would compensate for his age.

For the higher climbing that might be necessary, and for the real attempt which would be made on the following year, one name was immediately mentioned by the Alpine Club members, and that name was Mallory. There was no question in their mind that he was the finest climber they had. George Leigh Mallory was then a master at Charterhouse. There was nothing remarkable in his appearance. He was of the ordinary type of young man that you see in thousands every day. He was not like Bruce was at the same age, a giant of strength and bursting with physical energy. Nor was he of the wiry, vivid, alert type we see among Frenchmen and Italians. He was certainly good looking, with a sensitive, cultivated air. And now and then he would speak in a sudden, perhaps rather jerky impatient way, showing that there was more going on within him than met the eye. But no one who had not seen him on a mountain would have remarked anything very special in him. And if the man in the street had had the selection of the climbers he would have chosen robuster, more vigorous-looking men than Mallory.

Nor did Mallory give the appearance of bursting himself with enthusiasm to join the Expedition. When the Committee had made their choice he was asked by Farrar to meet the Chairman at luncheon. The situation was to be discussed and the Chairman was to make him the definite invitation to join. But when the invitation was made he accepted it without visible emotion. He had the self-confidence of assured position as a climber. He had neither exaggerated modesty nor pushful self-assertiveness. He was conscious of his own powers and of the position he had won by his own exertions; and he had, in consequence, a not obtrusive but quite perceptible and quite justifiable pride in himself as a mountaineer.

Only one indication was there of the fire that all the time was burning within. A question had arisen about the inclusion of a certain other climber in the party. As a mountaineer this other was all that could be desired; but he had characteristics which several members of the Committee who knew him thought would cause friction and irritation in the party and destroy that cohesion which is so vitally necessary in an Everest Expedition. At high altitudes it is well known that men become irritable. And at the altitudes of Mount Everest they might find it wholly impossible to contain their irritation; and an uncongenial member might break up the party. It was an urgent matter; and to put it further to the test the Chairman consulted Mallory and asked him whether he would be prepared to sleep in the same bag with this man at 27,000 feet. Mallory, in that quick sudden way he used when he was intent on a thing, said that he “didn’t care who he slept with as long as they got to the top.”

From the manner in which he said this there was no question of his keenness. And, if he was not of the conventional bulldog, heavy-jawed, determined type; and, if he was not boisterously enthusiastic, he was evidently keen enough at bottom—keener than the most boisterous.

He was then a man of thirty-three, slim and supple if not broad and beefy. He was a Winchester boy and had, while still at school, been inspired with the love of mountaineering by that well-known mountain-loving master, Mr. Irving. He had responded from the first, and was now both an ardent and a skilful mountaineer.

George Finch was the next choice. He had the reputation of being a most competent and determined mountaineer. And his keenness was evident from the first moment. When the Committee had decided upon selecting him he was asked to come and see the Chairman. The Chairman then made to him the formal invitation. For a few seconds he seemed unable to speak from the intensity of emotion that was surging within him. Then he said, “Sir Francis, you’ve sent me to heaven.” He was a tall, well-made athletic man with a determined look about him. But clearly he was not in good health. And when he went to the doctor—as all members of the Expedition had to—he was turned down. And a bitter pill it was for him to swallow—though in the following year he was able to join the next Expedition.

A substitute had hastily to be found and Mallory suggested his old schoolfellow and mountaineering companion, Mr. Bullock, then (and now) in the Consular Service, but at home on leave. A reference to Lord Curzon, then Foreign Secretary, at once produced the required extension of leave and Bullock joined the Expedition. He was much more of the build the inexperienced would expect of an Everest climber; squarer and stronger than either Mallory or Finch; and at school he had been a long-distance runner and had great staying power. One further qualification he had: a placid temperament and the ability to sleep under any conditions

As naturalist and medical officer an excellent man was available—A. F. R. Wollaston. He had already made a reputation as an explorer in New Guinea, Ruwenzori, and elsewhere. He was also a good mountaineer, a keen naturalist, a cheery companion, and a man who could deal sympathetically with natives.

Others who would join the expedition in India were Dr. Kellas, and the surveyor officers, Major H. T. Morshead, D.S.O., and Captain E. O. Wheeler, M.C.

Kellas had made many expeditions in Sikkim and other parts of the Himalaya. He was a lecturer in chemistry who had for years made a study of the use of oxygen for climbing at high altitudes. And he was one of those indefatigable men who cannot be torn away from their special pursuits. In the previous summer he had made a ascent to 23,000 feet and should during the cold weather have taken a rest. But he spent all the time climbing in Sikkim, living on very poor and insufficient food.

Morshead was known for his exploration with Major F. M. Bailey of the course of the Tsang-po, or Brahmaputra, as it cut through the Himalaya; and both he and Wheeler were eminently competent to make the required map of Mount Everest and its surroundings; though Morshead had not the training in the technique of climbing or the experience of snow and ice which were so necessary for the actual climbers.

This was the party, and as leader of it Colonel C. K. Howard Bury was selected. He was only a “walker”: he was not a “climber” in the Alpine Club sense. But he had done a good deal of shooting, both in the Alps and the Himalaya, and, what was more necessary for the leader, he knew how to deal with Asiatics, and could be trusted to lead the Expedition without friction through Tibet.

While the party was being formed numerous applications were received for inclusion in it. Men from nearly all over the world wrote saying that they were ready to go in any capacity. Many of these applications were curious productions, setting forth the candidate’s claims and limitations in the most appealing fashion. A particularly quaint one which reached the Chairman he put before the Committee as perhaps about “the limit,” and it caused much merriment, until his daughter asked him to observe the date. It had arrived on April 1st! Except this the others were undoubtedly genuine—and testified to the keenness for adventure there is in men. They also brought out in glaring relief the value of training and experience. Every single one had to be turned down when such men as Mallory and Finch were available. The untrained and inexperienced, however keen, had not a ghost of a chance beside proved mountaineers.

The collection of money and the selection of men had to be supplemented by the purchase of supplies and equipment and instruments. Farrar and Meade dealt with supplies and equipment: Jacks and Hinks with instruments.

If Farrar had not been on the wrong side of sixty he would have been the very man to get to the top of Everest. Of marvellous energy, full of pluck and go, of wide and long experience and of that combination of care and daring which is essential for great enterprise he would indeed have put Everest on her mettle. As he could not go with the Expedition he concentrated his energy on collecting money and efficiently equipping it. And in this he was assisted by Meade, who the year before had climbed to 23,000 feet in the Himalaya and knew the requirements.

Jacks, who was the Chief of the Geographical Section of the War Office, and Hinks, the Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, were of course peculiarly well fitted to choose the cameras, theodolite, compasses, etc., which were required, and to look after all geographical requirements.

The Committee were always able to have the best advice on any line. For the aim being to attain the highest, and nothing but the best, whether in men or material, being good enough for that purpose, the best men in every line were interested in the adventure. And among them Dr. De Filippi, the very capable and experienced Italian explorer and scientist, who had accompanied the Duke of the Abruzzi.

None were more interested than Their Majesties the King and Queen, and H.R.H. The Prince of Wales.

The Expedition started, therefore, the best manned and equipped expedition which had ever tackled the Himalaya, and with the good wishes of the highest in the land.