THE PIONEER

Allahabad India

2 April 1902

(page 5)

MOUNTAINEERING IN INDIA.

What is looked upon as one of the most interesting mountain ascents of the present decade is, it is reported, to be shortly attempted by a party of English, Swiss and Austrian mountaineers, consisting of Messrs. Crowley, Knowles [Guy Knowles] and Eckenstein [Oscar Eckenstein], Doctors Pfannel [Heinrich Pfannl], Wessely [Victor Wessely], and Jacob [Jules Jacot Guillarmod]. The object of the expedition is stated mainly to be a sporting ambition to break all previous climbing records, and with that object in view the party propose to attempt to reach Mount Godwin Austen on the Himalayan range, 28,250 feet high, and if successful, will then endeavour to reach the summit of Mount Everest, a height of 29,00 feet, which is the highest mountain in the world. Messrs. Knowles and Eckenstein and Doctors Pfannel and Wessley passed through Bombay last week, having arrived from Trieste in the Austrian Lloyd's steamer, Imperator. They proceed to Askole in Kashmir, from which place the party will set out with porters and guides in May next, and during their ascents will make numerous scientific observations. It may be mentioned that one of the party—Mr. Eckenstein—was Sir William Conway's companion in his last Himalayan expedition in 1892, when the Pioneer Peak, 21,000 feet high, was climbed.