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1935 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition

August 21, 2023

Precipitated by unexpected permission from Tibet, the 1935 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition was planned at short notice as a preliminary to an attempt on the summit of Mount Everest in 1936. After exceptionally rancorous arguments involving the Mount Everest Committee in London, Eric Shipton was appointed leader following his successful trekking style of expedition to the Nanda Devi region in India in 1934.

Compared with what had gone before and what followed it was a small, low-cost affair. The approach was from the north side of the mountain and the climbing was planned to be after the monsoon. The monsoon was unusually late that year and, beset by the weather and in difficult conditions of snow, little was achieved regarding the summit. However, a very large number of lesser peaks were climbed for the first time and a southern route up the Western Cwm was identified as a possible line of approach if Nepal could ever be persuaded to change its policy of not admitting climbers.

Eventually, the expedition would have considerable influence on post-war British efforts on Everest from Nepal, with Shipton himself leading the 1951 southern reconnaissance.

Background

The British had been sending expeditions to Mount Everest since the 1921 reconnaissance but none had managed to reach the summit. These had been planned and financed by the Mount Everest Committee, a joint committee of the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club. With the 1933 expedition a new team of climbers had reached as high as ever before and it was felt they had done well. Even if the leader, Hugh Ruttledge, had not been a conspicuous success, no criticisms of his leadership had been voiced. The mountaineering establishment did not think that the decision against using supplementary oxygen had contributed to the expedition not reaching the summit. Anyway, the Mount Everest Committee requested permission from Tibet for a further attempt on the mountain and reappointed Ruttledge as leader. This did not please some people, particularly the younger climbers, who viewed the requirement to be the technical climbing of the mountain, to be led from the front, and not a geographical exploration planned and led by men with no recent experience of mountaineering. The mild-mannered Ruttledge (who was 50 years old and walked with a limp) took the brunt of the criticism and in March 1934 his offer to resign from the leadership was accepted by the committee which expressed its regret and said it was in any case unlikely there would be an expedition in the near future.[1]

When, completely unexpectedly in early 1935, the Tibetan government gave permission for Everest expeditions in 1935 and 1936, the committee decided to send out a reconnaissance expedition to take place after the 1935 monsoon. There was too little time and money available to embark on anything more elaborate in that year. Purely out of courtesy, they offered the leadership to Ruttledge who caught them by surprise by accepting. This produced a storm of protest with a faction arising that supported for the leadership Colin Crawford (who had been on both the 1922 expedition and the 1933 expedition). Taken aback, Ruttledge resigned again. Unable to continue with Ruttledge but unwilling to appoint Crawford, who many on the committee saw as the cause of the trouble, as late as March 1935 the leadership was being offered to at least seven other people, all of whom declined. The committee was forced into a difficult meeting to interview Ruttledge and Crawford for the position and the subsequent vote was a tie, resolved by the chairman voting for Ruttledge. Further rancour led to Crawford being removed from the committee, Strutt resigning in protest, and a number of resignations from the Alpine Club for its refusal to support Crawford's protest.[2]

Shipton's and Tilman's involvement

Eric Shipton had been to Himalaya when he had taken part in the 1933 Everest expedition after which he and Lawrence Wager had travelled back to Sikkim separately from the rest of the party using an entirely unexplored route. This led to him favouring mountain climbing by trekking, with exploration being the main aim, rather than the type of large scale expedition such as the one he had just been on.[3] The following year he and Bill Tilman led a lightweight trekking expedition[note 1] to the region of Nanda Devi and in so doing they became the first people to get into the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, which they did by ascending the Rishi Ganga gorge.[5][6] Shipton and Tilman started planning a return trip for 1935, this time hoping to reach Nanda Devi's summit by its South Ridge. In February 1935, before that trip had been started, Shipton spoke about Nanda Devi at a Royal Geographical Society meeting and received a "rapturous" reception by a large audience who was attracted as much by his charisma as his mountaineering achievements. One aspect would turn out to be of great interest to the Everest Committee – the entire expedition had cost £287.[7][note 2]

Following Tibet's unexpected offer, the Mount Everest Committee decided on an attempt on the summit for 1936 but preceded by a reconnaissance in the current year. Tom Longstaff had been very praising of the Nanda Devi trek and so this approach would be used for 1935 on Everest. The reconnaissance could be mounted quickly and paid for out of the existing funds of £1,400 so that all the new funds raised could be allocated to the 1936 bid for the summit. Shipton was offered the leadership of the 1935 slot with Ruttledge's approval. He would not be able to reach the region before July which was expected to be after the start of the monsoon but this would allow the team to find out whether the monsoon snow had sufficiently consolidated.[9][note 3]

Expedition preliminaries

As well as testing conditions during and after the monsoon, the expedition was to test likely climbers for 1936 and follow up the exploratory work of the 1921 reconnaissance.[11] Explicitly there was to be no summit attempt and supplementary oxygen was not going to be used.[12] Tilman initially regretted having to abandon the Nanda Devi summit attempt but Shipton persuaded him by the lightweight exploratory nature of what was being planned. Charles Warren and Edmund Wigram, both Cambridge medics, Edwin Kempson a Cambridge mathematician, and Dan Bryant,[note 4] an ice climber from New Zealand agreed to take part. Shipton considered this complement quite ample but he found he had a surveyor, Michael Spender added to the team. Spender had made himself extremely unpopular on earlier expeditions due to his conceit and there were rumours that his inclusion was due to mischief making. All the same, Shipton and Spender became close friends.[11]

Shipton deplored the extravagant lifestyle practised by the earlier British expeditions. He consulted a nutritionist at the Lister Institute to determine an efficient diet producing 4000 Calories a day in conjunction with locally sourced food. Lentils, dried vegetables and powdered milk were on the menu with the addition of cod liver oil along with ascorbic acid and ferrous sulphate tablets.[13] This contrasted with the caviare, foie gras, quails' eggs and lobster of 1933 and even Shipton later admitted "In 1935 I went rather too far the other way: it was bad policy to force people who were quite unused to rough food to make such a complete break with their normal diet."[13][14]

The team members reached India and met at Darjeeling on 21 May 1935. With the help of Karma Paul, who had been on all the Everest expeditions since 1922, they engaged fourteen Sherpas but Shipton decided he needed perhaps a couple more and a nineteen-year-old was selected. He was completely inexperienced in mountaineering but was chosen according to Shipton[note 5] largely because of his attractive grin – Tenzing Norgay. The party headed north through Sikkim into Tibet and then travelled west towards Everest on a route through Sar – further south and nearer to Nepal than earlier expeditions had used.[15][16] When they reached the Nyonno Ri (28°12′18″N 87°36′30″E / 28.2050°N 87.6082°E / 28.2050; 87.6082) and Ama Drime (28°05′05″N 87°36′24″E / 28.0847°N 87.6067°E / 28.0847; 87.6067) mountains they split into three groups for exploration.[15] This had all been contrary to the stipulations in their passports issued by Tibet and they were ordered back north through Gyankar Nangpar and onto the traditional road.[15][17] Earlier from Nyonno Ri they had had a fine view of Everest in unusually good weather conditions and it has since been speculated that, had they made a dash for the summit, they might have succeeded. However, Shipton made no such bid, and indeed it was forbidden by his passport and by the remit of the expedition. They reached Rongbuk Monastery on 4 July.[15]

North Col

 
Sketch map of region north of Mount Everest

Leaving Spender to survey the region of the North Face, the party ascended the East Rongbuk Glacier to reach the foot of the North Col on 8 July – in good time despite general poor health.[18][19] Bryant had been particularly ill – he had lost 14 pounds (6.4 kg) in three days – so he descended to Rongbuk.[20] While moving camp III slightly higher they discovered the remains of Maurice Wilson, the eccentric British solo climber who had died in 1934.[18] They went on to set up camp next to a food dump that had been left in 1933 – Carlsbad plums from Fortnum and Mason and chocolate were now added to the menu much to the relief of most of the party.[18][21] The old route up to the col was this year not passable so they took a line to the right that then required a long traverse.[18] They reached the 23,030-foot (7,020 m) Col at a second attempt on 12 July but from there upward there was continuous heavy monsoon snow and conditions underfoot proved impossible.[18][22]

On 16 July they started to descend from the Col.[18] Reaching the traverse they found there had been an immense avalanche which had carried away both old and new snow to a depth of about 6 feet (2 m) and this showed that their ascent had actually been very hazardous.[18][23] They reached camp III safety but decided that any further attempt on the Col was far too dangerous. Whilst this had been going on Spender had been surveying and Wigram and Tilman had climbed the Lhakpa La and its two flanking peaks. Lhakpa La is the col that was traversed by the 1921 expedition after ascending the Kharta valley.[18]

Peak bagging

The party then split up to take part in what Shipton described as "a veritable orgy of mountain climbing".[24][25] Two teams separately climbed the 23,640-foot (7,210 m) Khartaphu. Then Kempson and Warren climbed the 23,070-foot (7,030 m) Kharta Changri and two other nearby peaks while Spender surveyed that region and also while Shipton, Wigram and Tilman climbed 23,190-foot (7,070 m) Kellas Rock Peak and three more mountains. All the peaks, including those mentioned in passing, are over 21,000 feet (6,400 m).[24]

Kempson had to return home but the rest of the party divided into three mountaineering pairs. Spender and Warren continued the survey. Shipton and Bryant travelled to the West Rongbuk Glacier to make first ascents of Lingtren and its outliers and Lingtrennup.[note 6] Looking down to the Western Cwm in Nepal Shipton thought this might provide a route worth exploring for a southern attempt on Everest's summit. Tilman and Wigram went up the main Rongbuk Glacier to Lho La from where they decided that the West Ridge provided no way to the summit and that from the Lho La itself there was no means of descent to the Western Cwm. They all met up on at Rongbuk on 14 August from where they all attempted the 24,730-foot (7,540 m) Changtse but had to give up at 23,000 feet (7,000 m) because of snow.[24] The Changtse attempt had been deliberately delayed to test high-altitude snow conditions at different stages of the monsoon.[26]

Returning to Rongbuk, they trekked across country to the Kharta valley hoping to again explore Nyonno Ri but this was forbidden by the authorities. On the border of Tibet and Sikkim they climbed in the Dodang Nyima range before getting back to Darjeeling.[27]

Sighting the Western Cwm and Solu Khumbu

In 1921 George Mallory and Guy Bullock had reached an unnamed col between Pumori and Lingtren and Mallory reported on looking down on the Western Cwm "However, we have seen this Western Glacier and are not sorry we have not to go up it. It is terribly steep and broken."[28] Shipton and Bryant reached the same point on 9 August 1935 but, despite waiting several hours, mist prevented any view of the Cwm. They again reached the col on 11 August and on this occasion the mist cleared after many hours and they were able to get the first photograph of the Khumbu Icefall leading up to the Western Cwm.[29][note 7] Bryant wrote "A westerly spur of Nuptse curled round to the north thus squeezing the glacier of the upper basin into a narrow lip over which it poured in a gigantic ice-fall, a wild tumble of contorted ice, to the Khumbu Glacier 2,000 feet below. The cwm itself must be an amazing place, completely ringed in as it is, except for that narrow entrance, by a mountain wall nowhere less than 25,000 feet high." Shipton reported how the Sherpas became quite excited as they recognised landmarks in their homeland, the Solu Khumbu. He said of the route up the icefall and cwm "it did not look impossible, and I should very much like to have the opportunity one day of exploring it".[30]

Achievements and legacy

The expedition had succeeded in climbing 26 peaks of over 20,000 feet (6,100 m) – as many as had been achieved by all previous mountaineering expeditions put together.[31] Of these, 24 were first ascents.[32] In 1994 Warren remembered, "This surely must have been one of the most enjoyable of all the expeditions to Mount Everest. It was small and achieved the objectives set for it at little cost."[33] Judged in these ways, and by the surveying results achieved, the expedition was a success but one that never caught the imagination of the press or public – it was the only pre-war British expedition that did not publish a book afterwards.[32]

The expedition's experiences led to some questionable conclusions being drawn.[31] The monsoon conditions had been bad and climbing had not been possible over 23,000 feet (7,000 m). Also, it was not realised that in 1935 the monsoon had been exceptionally late (starting 26 June) – at this time the timing of the monsoon was not really understood at all.[34][note 8] The intended pre-monsoon 1936 expedition was wrecked by the particularly early monsoon that started that year on 25 May. All this led to no post-monsoon attempts being made on Everest until the Swiss expedition in the autumn of 1952 (see also 1975 British Mount Everest Southwest Face expedition) and it was only gradually discovered that the post-monsoon period is not necessarily unfavourable. The lightweight approach had, in itself, not been a clear success. Everest expeditions, and especially British-led ones, reverted to the large scale military type and this was to continue into the 1970s.[36] Tilman and Bryant had not coped at all well above 23,000 feet (7,000 m) and so they were ruled out for 1936. It was not understood at that time that a climber's acclimatisation can vary greatly from year to year.[36] Tilman was to prove this point because in 1936 he and Noel Odell were to make the first ascent of the 25,645-foot (7,817 m) Nanda Devi, the highest mountain climbed until Annapurna in 1950.[36][37]

The expedition was to have an unlikely influence on the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition, the first time the summit was reached. Tenzing Norgay had been impressive in 1935 – in future years he went on to be Sherpa many times on Everest, including on the 1952 Swiss Mount Everest expeditions. In fact he was on all the subsequent British expeditions, including 1936 and 1938, culminating in his reaching the summit of Everest in 1953. On the 1935 occasion New Zealander Dan Bryant had not been good at altitude but he had become very popular and particularly well-respected by the rest of the party. When Shipton was assembling his team for the 1951 Everest reconnaissance he received an application from an unknown New Zealander at a time when British climbers were strongly favoured. With happy memories of Bryant, Shipton personally decided to appoint the New Zealander later writing, "My momentary caprice was to have far reaching results". Following his success in 1951, Ed Hillary was invited back to Everest in 1953.[38][39]

Notes

  1. ^ Two climbers, three Sherpas and a dozen porters.[4]
  2. ^ The 1933 and 1936 expeditions each cost over £10,000.[8]
  3. ^ The monsoon normally starts in late May to late June.[10]
  4. ^ Dan Bryant's full name was Leslie Vickery Bryant.
  5. ^ Shipton's versions of events are not always to be taken seriously.
  6. ^ Lingtrennup is the peak called "Island Peak" by Mallory in 1921.
  7. ^ Mallory had taken a photograph in 1921 that showed the Icefall but the Western Cwm was hidden in mist.
  8. ^ Unsworth gives the following dates for the start of the monsoon: 7 July 1921, first week of June 1922, 16 June 1924, 30 May 1933, 26 June 1935, 25 May 1936, 5 May 1938.[35]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Unsworth (1981), pp. 161, 180–187.
  2. ^ Unsworth (1981), pp. 187–191.
  3. ^ Perrin (2013), p. 74.
  4. ^ Perrin (2013), p. 185.
  5. ^ Perrin (2013), p. 14.
  6. ^ Shipton, Eric (February 1935). "Nanda Devi and the Ganges Watershed". Geographical Journal. 85 (4): 305–314. doi:10.2307/1785589. JSTOR 1785589.
  7. ^ Perrin (2013), p. 241.
  8. ^ Unsworth (1981), pp. 163, 210.
  9. ^ Perrin (2013), pp. 242–244.
  10. ^ Unsworth (1981), p. 207.
  11. ^ a b Perrin (2013), pp. 243–246.
  12. ^ Perrin (2013), pp. 243–246, 252.
  13. ^ a b Unsworth (1981), pp. 193–195.
  14. ^ Perrin (2013), p. 250.
  15. ^ a b c d Perrin (2013), pp. 247–254.
  16. ^ Astill (2005), p. 86.
  17. ^ Astill (2005), p. 134.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h Unsworth (1981), pp. 197–199.
  19. ^ Perrin (2013), p. 255.
  20. ^ Astill (2005), p. 167–168.
  21. ^ Warren (1995), p. 9.
  22. ^ Perrin (2013), pp. 256–257.
  23. ^ Shipton (1936).
  24. ^ a b c Unsworth (1981), pp. 199–201.
  25. ^ Astill (2005), p. 1.
  26. ^ Astill (2005), p. 259.
  27. ^ Astill (2005), pp. 271–333.
  28. ^ Howard-Bury (1922), pp. 214–215.
  29. ^ Astill (2005), pp. 249–254.
  30. ^ Astill (2005), pp. 252–254.
  31. ^ a b Unsworth (1981), p. 201.
  32. ^ a b Steward, Peter. "Book review: Mount Everest The Reconnaissance 1935 – The Forgotten Adventure". UKC Gear. UK Climbing. from the original on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  33. ^ Warren (1995), p. 14.
  34. ^ Unsworth (1981), pp. 185, 207.
  35. ^ Unsworth (1981), pp. 207, 217.
  36. ^ a b c Unsworth (1981), pp. 201–202.
  37. ^ Astill (2005), p. 28.
  38. ^ Unsworth (1981), pp. 269–270.
  39. ^ Horell, Mark (5 September 2012). "How the whim of Eric Shipton shaped the history of Everest". Footsteps on the Mountain. from the original on 30 November 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2015.

Works cited

  • Astill, Tony (2005). Mount Everest : The Reconnaissance 1935: The Forgotten Adventure (1st ed.). Tony Astill. ISBN 978-0954920104.
  • Howard-Bury, C. K. (1922). Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921 (1 ed.). New York: Longman & Green. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  • Perrin, Jim (2013). Shipton and Tilman. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 9780091795467.
  • Shipton, Eric (1936). "The Mount Everest Reconnaissance, 1935". Himalayan Journal. 8. reprinted in Shipton, Eric (1979). "The Mount Everest Reconnaissance, 1935". Himalayan Journal. 35.
  • Unsworth, Walt (1981). Everest. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 0713911085.
  • Warren, Charles (1995). "Everest 1935: the Forgotten Adventure" (PDF). Alpine Journal. 1995: 1–14. Retrieved 20 February 2015.

Further reading

  • Shipton, Eric (1999). Perrin, Jim (ed.). The Six Mountain-Travel Books: Nanda Devi; Blank on the Map; Upon That Mountain; Mt. Everest Reconnaissance Expedition 1951; Mountains of Tartary; and Land of Tempest. Baton Wicks and Mountaineers Books. ISBN 9780898865394.
  • Spender, Michael (1937). "Survey on the Mount Everest Reconnaissance, 1935". Himalayan Journal. 9. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  • . RGS Picture Library. Royal Geographical Society. Archived from the original on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.

August 21, 2023
1935, british, mount, everest, reconnaissance, expedition, this, article, tone, style, reflect, encyclopedic, tone, used, wikipedia, wikipedia, guide, writing, better, articles, suggestions, february, 2022, learn, when, remove, this, template, message, precipi. This article s tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia See Wikipedia s guide to writing better articles for suggestions February 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Precipitated by unexpected permission from Tibet the 1935 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition was planned at short notice as a preliminary to an attempt on the summit of Mount Everest in 1936 After exceptionally rancorous arguments involving the Mount Everest Committee in London Eric Shipton was appointed leader following his successful trekking style of expedition to the Nanda Devi region in India in 1934 Compared with what had gone before and what followed it was a small low cost affair The approach was from the north side of the mountain and the climbing was planned to be after the monsoon The monsoon was unusually late that year and beset by the weather and in difficult conditions of snow little was achieved regarding the summit However a very large number of lesser peaks were climbed for the first time and a southern route up the Western Cwm was identified as a possible line of approach if Nepal could ever be persuaded to change its policy of not admitting climbers Eventually the expedition would have considerable influence on post war British efforts on Everest from Nepal with Shipton himself leading the 1951 southern reconnaissance Contents 1 Background 2 Shipton s and Tilman s involvement 3 Expedition preliminaries 4 North Col 5 Peak bagging 6 Sighting the Western Cwm and Solu Khumbu 7 Achievements and legacy 8 Notes 9 References 9 1 Citations 9 2 Works cited 10 Further readingBackground EditThe British had been sending expeditions to Mount Everest since the 1921 reconnaissance but none had managed to reach the summit These had been planned and financed by the Mount Everest Committee a joint committee of the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club With the 1933 expedition a new team of climbers had reached as high as ever before and it was felt they had done well Even if the leader Hugh Ruttledge had not been a conspicuous success no criticisms of his leadership had been voiced The mountaineering establishment did not think that the decision against using supplementary oxygen had contributed to the expedition not reaching the summit Anyway the Mount Everest Committee requested permission from Tibet for a further attempt on the mountain and reappointed Ruttledge as leader This did not please some people particularly the younger climbers who viewed the requirement to be the technical climbing of the mountain to be led from the front and not a geographical exploration planned and led by men with no recent experience of mountaineering The mild mannered Ruttledge who was 50 years old and walked with a limp took the brunt of the criticism and in March 1934 his offer to resign from the leadership was accepted by the committee which expressed its regret and said it was in any case unlikely there would be an expedition in the near future 1 When completely unexpectedly in early 1935 the Tibetan government gave permission for Everest expeditions in 1935 and 1936 the committee decided to send out a reconnaissance expedition to take place after the 1935 monsoon There was too little time and money available to embark on anything more elaborate in that year Purely out of courtesy they offered the leadership to Ruttledge who caught them by surprise by accepting This produced a storm of protest with a faction arising that supported for the leadership Colin Crawford who had been on both the 1922 expedition and the 1933 expedition Taken aback Ruttledge resigned again Unable to continue with Ruttledge but unwilling to appoint Crawford who many on the committee saw as the cause of the trouble as late as March 1935 the leadership was being offered to at least seven other people all of whom declined The committee was forced into a difficult meeting to interview Ruttledge and Crawford for the position and the subsequent vote was a tie resolved by the chairman voting for Ruttledge Further rancour led to Crawford being removed from the committee Strutt resigning in protest and a number of resignations from the Alpine Club for its refusal to support Crawford s protest 2 Shipton s and Tilman s involvement EditEric Shipton had been to Himalaya when he had taken part in the 1933 Everest expedition after which he and Lawrence Wager had travelled back to Sikkim separately from the rest of the party using an entirely unexplored route This led to him favouring mountain climbing by trekking with exploration being the main aim rather than the type of large scale expedition such as the one he had just been on 3 The following year he and Bill Tilman led a lightweight trekking expedition note 1 to the region of Nanda Devi and in so doing they became the first people to get into the Nanda Devi Sanctuary which they did by ascending the Rishi Ganga gorge 5 6 Shipton and Tilman started planning a return trip for 1935 this time hoping to reach Nanda Devi s summit by its South Ridge In February 1935 before that trip had been started Shipton spoke about Nanda Devi at a Royal Geographical Society meeting and received a rapturous reception by a large audience who was attracted as much by his charisma as his mountaineering achievements One aspect would turn out to be of great interest to the Everest Committee the entire expedition had cost 287 7 note 2 Following Tibet s unexpected offer the Mount Everest Committee decided on an attempt on the summit for 1936 but preceded by a reconnaissance in the current year Tom Longstaff had been very praising of the Nanda Devi trek and so this approach would be used for 1935 on Everest The reconnaissance could be mounted quickly and paid for out of the existing funds of 1 400 so that all the new funds raised could be allocated to the 1936 bid for the summit Shipton was offered the leadership of the 1935 slot with Ruttledge s approval He would not be able to reach the region before July which was expected to be after the start of the monsoon but this would allow the team to find out whether the monsoon snow had sufficiently consolidated 9 note 3 Expedition preliminaries EditAs well as testing conditions during and after the monsoon the expedition was to test likely climbers for 1936 and follow up the exploratory work of the 1921 reconnaissance 11 Explicitly there was to be no summit attempt and supplementary oxygen was not going to be used 12 Tilman initially regretted having to abandon the Nanda Devi summit attempt but Shipton persuaded him by the lightweight exploratory nature of what was being planned Charles Warren and Edmund Wigram both Cambridge medics Edwin Kempson a Cambridge mathematician and Dan Bryant note 4 an ice climber from New Zealand agreed to take part Shipton considered this complement quite ample but he found he had a surveyor Michael Spender added to the team Spender had made himself extremely unpopular on earlier expeditions due to his conceit and there were rumours that his inclusion was due to mischief making All the same Shipton and Spender became close friends 11 Shipton deplored the extravagant lifestyle practised by the earlier British expeditions He consulted a nutritionist at the Lister Institute to determine an efficient diet producing 4000 Calories a day in conjunction with locally sourced food Lentils dried vegetables and powdered milk were on the menu with the addition of cod liver oil along with ascorbic acid and ferrous sulphate tablets 13 This contrasted with the caviare foie gras quails eggs and lobster of 1933 and even Shipton later admitted In 1935 I went rather too far the other way it was bad policy to force people who were quite unused to rough food to make such a complete break with their normal diet 13 14 The team members reached India and met at Darjeeling on 21 May 1935 With the help of Karma Paul who had been on all the Everest expeditions since 1922 they engaged fourteen Sherpas but Shipton decided he needed perhaps a couple more and a nineteen year old was selected He was completely inexperienced in mountaineering but was chosen according to Shipton note 5 largely because of his attractive grin Tenzing Norgay The party headed north through Sikkim into Tibet and then travelled west towards Everest on a route through Sar further south and nearer to Nepal than earlier expeditions had used 15 16 When they reached the Nyonno Ri 28 12 18 N 87 36 30 E 28 2050 N 87 6082 E 28 2050 87 6082 and Ama Drime 28 05 05 N 87 36 24 E 28 0847 N 87 6067 E 28 0847 87 6067 mountains they split into three groups for exploration 15 This had all been contrary to the stipulations in their passports issued by Tibet and they were ordered back north through Gyankar Nangpar and onto the traditional road 15 17 Earlier from Nyonno Ri they had had a fine view of Everest in unusually good weather conditions and it has since been speculated that had they made a dash for the summit they might have succeeded However Shipton made no such bid and indeed it was forbidden by his passport and by the remit of the expedition They reached Rongbuk Monastery on 4 July 15 North Col Edit Sketch map of region north of Mount EverestLeaving Spender to survey the region of the North Face the party ascended the East Rongbuk Glacier to reach the foot of the North Col on 8 July in good time despite general poor health 18 19 Bryant had been particularly ill he had lost 14 pounds 6 4 kg in three days so he descended to Rongbuk 20 While moving camp III slightly higher they discovered the remains of Maurice Wilson the eccentric British solo climber who had died in 1934 18 They went on to set up camp next to a food dump that had been left in 1933 Carlsbad plums from Fortnum and Mason and chocolate were now added to the menu much to the relief of most of the party 18 21 The old route up to the col was this year not passable so they took a line to the right that then required a long traverse 18 They reached the 23 030 foot 7 020 m Col at a second attempt on 12 July but from there upward there was continuous heavy monsoon snow and conditions underfoot proved impossible 18 22 On 16 July they started to descend from the Col 18 Reaching the traverse they found there had been an immense avalanche which had carried away both old and new snow to a depth of about 6 feet 2 m and this showed that their ascent had actually been very hazardous 18 23 They reached camp III safety but decided that any further attempt on the Col was far too dangerous Whilst this had been going on Spender had been surveying and Wigram and Tilman had climbed the Lhakpa La and its two flanking peaks Lhakpa La is the col that was traversed by the 1921 expedition after ascending the Kharta valley 18 Peak bagging EditThe party then split up to take part in what Shipton described as a veritable orgy of mountain climbing 24 25 Two teams separately climbed the 23 640 foot 7 210 m Khartaphu Then Kempson and Warren climbed the 23 070 foot 7 030 m Kharta Changri and two other nearby peaks while Spender surveyed that region and also while Shipton Wigram and Tilman climbed 23 190 foot 7 070 m Kellas Rock Peak and three more mountains All the peaks including those mentioned in passing are over 21 000 feet 6 400 m 24 Kempson had to return home but the rest of the party divided into three mountaineering pairs Spender and Warren continued the survey Shipton and Bryant travelled to the West Rongbuk Glacier to make first ascents of Lingtren and its outliers and Lingtrennup note 6 Looking down to the Western Cwm in Nepal Shipton thought this might provide a route worth exploring for a southern attempt on Everest s summit Tilman and Wigram went up the main Rongbuk Glacier to Lho La from where they decided that the West Ridge provided no way to the summit and that from the Lho La itself there was no means of descent to the Western Cwm They all met up on at Rongbuk on 14 August from where they all attempted the 24 730 foot 7 540 m Changtse but had to give up at 23 000 feet 7 000 m because of snow 24 The Changtse attempt had been deliberately delayed to test high altitude snow conditions at different stages of the monsoon 26 Returning to Rongbuk they trekked across country to the Kharta valley hoping to again explore Nyonno Ri but this was forbidden by the authorities On the border of Tibet and Sikkim they climbed in the Dodang Nyima range before getting back to Darjeeling 27 Sighting the Western Cwm and Solu Khumbu EditIn 1921 George Mallory and Guy Bullock had reached an unnamed col between Pumori and Lingtren and Mallory reported on looking down on the Western Cwm However we have seen this Western Glacier and are not sorry we have not to go up it It is terribly steep and broken 28 Shipton and Bryant reached the same point on 9 August 1935 but despite waiting several hours mist prevented any view of the Cwm They again reached the col on 11 August and on this occasion the mist cleared after many hours and they were able to get the first photograph of the Khumbu Icefall leading up to the Western Cwm 29 note 7 Bryant wrote A westerly spur of Nuptse curled round to the north thus squeezing the glacier of the upper basin into a narrow lip over which it poured in a gigantic ice fall a wild tumble of contorted ice to the Khumbu Glacier 2 000 feet below The cwm itself must be an amazing place completely ringed in as it is except for that narrow entrance by a mountain wall nowhere less than 25 000 feet high Shipton reported how the Sherpas became quite excited as they recognised landmarks in their homeland the Solu Khumbu He said of the route up the icefall and cwm it did not look impossible and I should very much like to have the opportunity one day of exploring it 30 Achievements and legacy EditThe expedition had succeeded in climbing 26 peaks of over 20 000 feet 6 100 m as many as had been achieved by all previous mountaineering expeditions put together 31 Of these 24 were first ascents 32 In 1994 Warren remembered This surely must have been one of the most enjoyable of all the expeditions to Mount Everest It was small and achieved the objectives set for it at little cost 33 Judged in these ways and by the surveying results achieved the expedition was a success but one that never caught the imagination of the press or public it was the only pre war British expedition that did not publish a book afterwards 32 The expedition s experiences led to some questionable conclusions being drawn 31 The monsoon conditions had been bad and climbing had not been possible over 23 000 feet 7 000 m Also it was not realised that in 1935 the monsoon had been exceptionally late starting 26 June at this time the timing of the monsoon was not really understood at all 34 note 8 The intended pre monsoon 1936 expedition was wrecked by the particularly early monsoon that started that year on 25 May All this led to no post monsoon attempts being made on Everest until the Swiss expedition in the autumn of 1952 see also 1975 British Mount Everest Southwest Face expedition and it was only gradually discovered that the post monsoon period is not necessarily unfavourable The lightweight approach had in itself not been a clear success Everest expeditions and especially British led ones reverted to the large scale military type and this was to continue into the 1970s 36 Tilman and Bryant had not coped at all well above 23 000 feet 7 000 m and so they were ruled out for 1936 It was not understood at that time that a climber s acclimatisation can vary greatly from year to year 36 Tilman was to prove this point because in 1936 he and Noel Odell were to make the first ascent of the 25 645 foot 7 817 m Nanda Devi the highest mountain climbed until Annapurna in 1950 36 37 The expedition was to have an unlikely influence on the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition the first time the summit was reached Tenzing Norgay had been impressive in 1935 in future years he went on to be Sherpa many times on Everest including on the 1952 Swiss Mount Everest expeditions In fact he was on all the subsequent British expeditions including 1936 and 1938 culminating in his reaching the summit of Everest in 1953 On the 1935 occasion New Zealander Dan Bryant had not been good at altitude but he had become very popular and particularly well respected by the rest of the party When Shipton was assembling his team for the 1951 Everest reconnaissance he received an application from an unknown New Zealander at a time when British climbers were strongly favoured With happy memories of Bryant Shipton personally decided to appoint the New Zealander later writing My momentary caprice was to have far reaching results Following his success in 1951 Ed Hillary was invited back to Everest in 1953 38 39 Notes Edit Two climbers three Sherpas and a dozen porters 4 The 1933 and 1936 expeditions each cost over 10 000 8 The monsoon normally starts in late May to late June 10 Dan Bryant s full name was Leslie Vickery Bryant Shipton s versions of events are not always to be taken seriously Lingtrennup is the peak called Island Peak by Mallory in 1921 Mallory had taken a photograph in 1921 that showed the Icefall but the Western Cwm was hidden in mist Unsworth gives the following dates for the start of the monsoon 7 July 1921 first week of June 1922 16 June 1924 30 May 1933 26 June 1935 25 May 1936 5 May 1938 35 References EditCitations Edit Unsworth 1981 pp 161 180 187 Unsworth 1981 pp 187 191 Perrin 2013 p 74 Perrin 2013 p 185 Perrin 2013 p 14 Shipton Eric February 1935 Nanda Devi and the Ganges Watershed Geographical Journal 85 4 305 314 doi 10 2307 1785589 JSTOR 1785589 Perrin 2013 p 241 Unsworth 1981 pp 163 210 Perrin 2013 pp 242 244 Unsworth 1981 p 207 a b Perrin 2013 pp 243 246 Perrin 2013 pp 243 246 252 a b Unsworth 1981 pp 193 195 Perrin 2013 p 250 a b c d Perrin 2013 pp 247 254 Astill 2005 p 86 Astill 2005 p 134 a b c d e f g h Unsworth 1981 pp 197 199 Perrin 2013 p 255 Astill 2005 p 167 168 Warren 1995 p 9 Perrin 2013 pp 256 257 Shipton 1936 a b c Unsworth 1981 pp 199 201 Astill 2005 p 1 Astill 2005 p 259 Astill 2005 pp 271 333 Howard Bury 1922 pp 214 215 Astill 2005 pp 249 254 Astill 2005 pp 252 254 a b Unsworth 1981 p 201 a b Steward Peter Book review Mount Everest The Reconnaissance 1935 The Forgotten Adventure UKC Gear UK Climbing Archived from the original on 20 February 2015 Retrieved 20 February 2015 Warren 1995 p 14 Unsworth 1981 pp 185 207 Unsworth 1981 pp 207 217 a b c Unsworth 1981 pp 201 202 Astill 2005 p 28 Unsworth 1981 pp 269 270 Horell Mark 5 September 2012 How the whim of Eric Shipton shaped the history of Everest Footsteps on the Mountain Archived from the original on 30 November 2014 Retrieved 20 February 2015 Works cited Edit Astill Tony 2005 Mount Everest The Reconnaissance 1935 The Forgotten Adventure 1st ed Tony Astill ISBN 978 0954920104 Howard Bury C K 1922 Mount Everest the Reconnaissance 1921 1 ed New York Longman amp Green Retrieved 1 March 2015 Perrin Jim 2013 Shipton and Tilman London Hutchinson ISBN 9780091795467 Shipton Eric 1936 The Mount Everest Reconnaissance 1935 Himalayan Journal 8 reprinted in Shipton Eric 1979 The Mount Everest Reconnaissance 1935 Himalayan Journal 35 Unsworth Walt 1981 Everest London Allen Lane ISBN 0713911085 Warren Charles 1995 Everest 1935 the Forgotten Adventure PDF Alpine Journal 1995 1 14 Retrieved 20 February 2015 Further reading EditShipton Eric 1999 Perrin Jim ed The Six Mountain Travel Books Nanda Devi Blank on the Map Upon That Mountain Mt Everest Reconnaissance Expedition 1951 Mountains of Tartary and Land of Tempest Baton Wicks and Mountaineers Books ISBN 9780898865394 Spender Michael 1937 Survey on the Mount Everest Reconnaissance 1935 Himalayan Journal 9 Retrieved 19 March 2015 Mount Everest Expedition 1935 Images RGS Picture Library Royal Geographical Society Archived from the original on 20 February 2015 Retrieved 20 February 2015 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1935 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition amp oldid 1167623729, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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