The Epic of Mount Everest. Francis Edward Younghusband
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be seen the last of a series of peaks which included such giants as Kangchenjunga, 28,150 feet, and Makalu, 27,790 feet. There, spread out in glorious array and culminating in the highest mountain in the world, were the finest peaks in the Himalaya, only to be approached in grandeur by that other constellation of mighty peaks which cluster round K2, 28,278 feet in height, at the other end of the Range.
Everest was still too distant for Mallory to make much of it from the climbing point of view. But that North-East Ridge, sloping easily downward from the summit and known to us from photographs taken near Darjiling, could be fully seen. It seemed a very feasible way up for the last fifteen hundred or two thousand feet. The question was what Everest was like below that. Was there any means of reaching that Ridge? And that question could not be answered yet, for an intervening range shut out the view of the lower portion.
But, after the Expedition had crossed this range and reached the basin of the Arun River which drains the Everest glaciers and then cuts clean through the Himalaya in the most daring fashion by a series of stupendous gorges, there might be a chance of getting a satisfying view of the mountain. Starting early in the morning of June 11th Mallory and Bullock reached the banks of the river and made their way, therefore, up a rocky crest from which they fully expected to get the view they wanted.
Alas! all in the direction of Everest was cloudy vapour. Rifts, however, appeared from time to time revealing mountain shapes behind, so they waited patiently on. And at length fleeting glimpses of a mountain which could be none other than Everest were obtained,—first one fragment, then another, and then the summit itself—the great mountain face and the glacier and the ridges. And that evening from an eminence above the camp they saw the mountain again calm and clear in the closing light.
Everest was even now 57 miles away and there were still intervening ridges hiding the base, but Mallory could see that the North-East Ridge was not impossibly steep, and he could see too that a valley came down from the eastern face, and evidently drained into the Arun, and might afford a means of approach. It was a valley which he was afterwards to discover and which proved to be one of the most beautiful in the whole Himalaya.
But they were not yet to prospect the mountain from this eastern side. They were to proceed further west to Tingri, rather west of north of the mountain, and bear down on it from there. Tingri was the small town visited by Rawling and Ryder in 1904. And it promised to be a convenient base of operations for the whole reconnaissance. Towards it, therefore, they continued their march.
On the way they passed Shekar Dzong which had never before been visited by a European and which is so characteristically Tibetan that it is worth while pausing, even on the verge of Everest, to hear about it. Howard Bury has given an interesting description of it, and the numerous photographs which members of all three Expeditions were impelled to take bear out his description. It is finely situated on a rocky and sharp-pointed hill, like an enlarged St. Michael’s Mount. The actual town stands at the foot of the hill, but a large monastery, holding over four hundred monks, and consisting of innumerable buildings, is literally “perched” half-way up the cliff. The buildings are connected by walls and towers with the fort which rises above them all. The fort again is connected by turreted walls with a curious Gothic-like structure on the summit of the hill where incense is offered up daily.
While they were resting here on June 17th Howard Bury and some of his companions visited the big monastery of Shekar Chö-te. It consisted of a great number of buildings terraced one above the other on a very steep rocky slope. A path along the face of the rock led under several archways. Then the party had to go up and down some picturesque, but very steep and narrow, streets until they came to a large courtyard on one side of which was the main temple, and in it several gilt statues of Buddha decorated all over with turquoises and other precious stones. And behind these was a huge figure of Buddha quite 50 feet high, the face of which was re-gilded every year. Around this were eight curious figures about 10 feet high, dressed in quaint flounces. They were said to be guardians of the shrine.
Ascending steep and slippery ladders, in almost pitch darkness, the party came out on a platform opposite the face of the great Buddha. Here they saw some beautifully chased silver teapots and other interesting pieces of silver richly decorated in relief. Inside the shrine it was very dark and the smell of rancid butter used in the lamps was almost overpowering.
Howard Bury and his companions were received and shown round by the official head of the monastery. And before leaving they went to see the head Lama who had lived in the monastery for sixty-six years. He was looked upon as being extremely holy and as the re-incarnation of a former abbot and was practically worshipped by the people. He had only one tooth left, but for all that had a very pleasant smile. All round his room were silver-gilt chortens inlaid with turquoises and precious stones. And incense was being burnt everywhere.
This most interesting character Howard Bury was able to photograph. After much persuasion from the monks he was induced to come out dressed up in robes of beautiful golden brocades, with priceless silk Chinese hangings arranged behind him, while he sat on a raised dais with his dorje and his bell set on a finely carved Chinese table in front of him. This photograph Howard Bury afterwards distributed. And no more welcome present could he give; the recipients, regarding the old abbot as a saint, would put them in shrines and burn incense in front of them.
THE ABBOT OF SHEKAR CHÖ-TE
This and other similar experiences by travellers shows that religion is a very real and live and potent factor in Tibet. The chief lamas in the monasteries are often truly venerable men. The lama at Rongbuk, whom the Expedition met later on, is a special instance. They have devoted their whole lives to the service of religion—and be it noted to religiously inspired art as well. On the intellectual side they are not highly developed: they have not that taste for religious philosophy that Hindus have. But they have a delicate spiritual sense. They are kindly and courteous, and are deeply venerated. And these objects of veneration satisfy a great need in the Tibetan people and perhaps account for their being so generally contented as they are. Man needs some one to worship. And here right in among the Tibetans are living beings upon which they can pour forth their adoration.
CHAPTER VI
THE APPROACH TO EVEREST
Tingri was reached on June 19th, and now the reconnaissance could begin in earnest. It had taken exactly a month to get there from Darjiling—longer than it takes to reach Darjiling from London—for the détour necessitated by having to avoid Nepal was a long one. But the marches across Tibet were acclimatizing the climbers for the higher altitudes to come. And from a hill behind Tingri they had a magnificent view across the plain, both of Everest itself 44 miles away, and also of more great peaks to the west of it including those twin giants Cho Uyo, 26,867 feet, and Gyachungkang 25,990 feet.
Still, however, there were intervening ridges, for Himalayan peaks do not stick straight up by themselves. And Mallory’s problem was an intricate one. He was now on the western side of that North-East Ridge which was his goal. He was looking from the opposite side to that from which it is seen from Darjiling, and he had to find out if there was any way up on to it from this northwestern side, and if there were any better way to the summit than this North-East Ridge. There might be nothing but precipices and ice-falls; and, as the Duke of the Abruzzi had found K2, Everest from its physical character might be quite unclimbable, apart from the effects of high altitude. That Mallory would have to satisfy himself about when he got closer to the mountain. His immediate task was to find some valley which would lead him to it. And this might not be easy, for all in front was a maze of mountains, and now in the monsoon season Everest itself was usually hidden.
Tingri proved to be a good base of operations. And Mallory and Bullock set out from there on June 23rd straight for Everest, while the rest of the party, including Wollaston, set out on their particular pursuits—surveying, geologizing, and collecting. The climbers took with them sixteen of the best porters and a sirdar, and having heard of a long valley leading up to Everest they made for that. Crossing a ridge, they found themselves in the valley of the Rongbuk, and ascending