topics: |  adventure | mountaineering | himalayas | travel

In 1895, J. Norman Collie, Albert Mummery, and Geoffrey Hastings went to the
Himalaya Range for the world's first attempt at a Himalayan 8000-metre peak,
Nanga Parbat. They were years ahead of their time, and the mountain claimed
the first of its many victims: Mummery and two Gurkhas, Ragobir and Goman
Singh were killed by an avalanche and never seen again. 

    the eastern sun slanting across the peaks threw jagged shadows over the
    snows; soon rising higher in the heavens, it topped the ridges and bathed
    us in its warm glow.  At once the glacier wakened into life, and as the
    stones on the surface were loosened from the frozen grip of night, those
    which were insecurely perched would ever and again fall down the slippery
    ice... p.49

A sport like mountaineering needs no apology. 51

    To a few the knowledge of the hills is given.  They can wander free in
    the great snow world relying on their mountain craft ; and should their
    imagination not be impregnated nor their understanding informed, then are
    their journeys indeed useless. For Nature spreads with lavish hand before
    them some of the grandest sights upon which human eye can gaze. Delicate,
    white, ethereal peaks like crystallised clouds send point after point
    into the deep azure blue sky. Driven snow, marvellously moulded in
    curving lines by the wind, wreathes the long ridges ; and in the deep
    crevasses the light plays flashing backwards and forwards from the
    shining beryl blue sides : sights such as these delight the soul of the
    mountaineer and tempt him always onward.... [but] the mere stringing
    together of word-pictures carries little conviction. 52-53

On July 18, 1895, Collie and A.F. Mummery and G. Hastings left for Nunga
Parbat over the Raj Diangan pass (11,950 ft).  From the summit of Kamri pass
(12,438 ft) they first see Nunga Parbat:

    Then in the gleaming gold of a Himalayan sunset
    we beheld the southern face of Nanga Parbat.

    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. 60

    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. 64

altitudes during the climb were being measured by a double-reservoir mercury
barometer made by Collie, which measured the difference w.r.t. the pressure
at sea level (taken as 30 inches).   when not in use the device folded up and
went into a quarter-pound tobacco tin. http://www.jstor.org/stable/769044?seq=21

 

After a difficult climb to Tashing camp, they meet up with 
Major C.G. Bruce, a veteran mountain soldier who 
learned Nepali and built up an affiliation with the Gurkhas, 
and later led several expeditions to Everest. 

They celebrate by drinking Bass's pale ale they had brought 
from Kashmir.

   ... afterwards, when we turned into our sleeping-bags
   before the roaring camp-fire, and the twilight slowly
   passed into the azure night, and ovei'head 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. 69

[after two days of not eating, they reach the village of Lubar]
   ... horrible to relate, in less than half an hour after we entered Lubar
   we were all ravenously devouring pieces of sheep's liver only half cooked
   on the ends of sticks.  The dirty, sour goats' milk, too, was delicious,
   and as far as I can recollect, each of us drank considerably over a gallon
   that evening, to wash down the fragments of toasted sheep and chappatties
   that we made from some flour that had providentially remained behind our
   caravan with a sick coolie.

Contents

The Himalayas
I. General History of Mountaineering in the Himalaya, . 1
II. Our Journey out to Nanga Parbat, .... 25
III. The Rupal Nullah, 38
IV. First Journey to Diamirai Nullah and the Diamirai Pass, ......... 57
V. Second Journey to Diamirai Nullah and Ascent to 21,000 feet, 70
VI. Ascent of the Diamirai Peak, 85
VII. Attempt to ascend Nanga Parbat, .... 104
VIII. The Indus Valley and Third Journey to Diamirai Nullah, 118

The Canadian Rocky Mountains, 135
The Alps, 165
The Lofoten Islands, 185
A Chuilionn, 211
The Mountains of Ireland, 225
Prehistoric Climbing near Wastdale Head, 245
A Reverie, 263
The Oromaniacal Quest, 283
Fragment from a Lost MS., 299
Notes on the Himalayan Mountains, 305
Index, 311

List of Illustrations

A Stormy Sunset, Frontispiece
A Himalayan Camp, To face page 2
A Himalayan Nullah, 38
The Diamirai Pass from the Red Pass, „ ,, 62
The Mazeno Peaks from the Red Pass, 74
The Diamirai Peak from the Red Pass, 88
View of the Diamirai Peak from the Red Pass, 90
On Nanga Parbat, from Upper Camp, . . 104
Nanga Parbat from the Diamirai Glacier, . „ ,, 110
Do. Do. Do., . 112
View of Diama Glacier from Slopes of Diamirai Peak, 116
The Diama Pass from the Rakiot Nullah, . 120
The Chongra Peaks from the Red Pass, . . „ ,,122
The Freshfield Glacier, 148
A Crevasse on Mont Blanc, ....„„ 166
Lofoten, 186
The CoolIxV, 212
The Macgillicuddy's Reeks, ....„„ 226

List of maps

Map of Kashmir 28
Map of Nanga Parbat 40
Canadian Rocky Mountains. Map of the Icefields and the Mountains, . 144