THE TIMES OF INDIA

Bombay, India

4 June 1902

(PAGE 6)

A GREAT CLIMB.

Dr. Jaccot-Guilliarmod [Jules Jacot Guillarmod], of Nenchatel, the well-known Swiss Alpinist, who is one of the members of the intrepid party that intends climbing some of the Highest peaks in the Himalayas this season, writes an interesting account home from Srinigar in Cashmere. The international party of Alpinists consists—says the Geneoa correspondent of the Daily Chronicle—of three Englishmen, Messers. Crowley, Knowles [Guy Knowles], and Eckenstein [Oscar Eckenstein], the last of whom accompanied Sir William Conway in his last expedition to the Himalayas; two Austrians, Drs. Pfannel [Heinrich Pfannl] and Wessely [Victor Wessely]; and the Swiss doctor mentioned above. The starting point of the expedition was Trieste, which town the Alpinists quitted on March 3rd, and reached Bombay on March 20th. From there they went to Rawalpindi, where their baggage had been previously forwarded, and spent three days in this town in getting everything into order for their perilous undertaking. Great difficulty was experienced in packing the large amount of luggage in portable form, and it took seventeen ekkas to transport it to Srinigar. The main object of the expedition is a sporting ambition to break all former records in mountaineering, but scientific observations will also be made, and the flora and fauna of the Himalayas, of which scientists have so little knowledge, will not be neglected. The services of a small army of porters have been engaged, while experienced Swiss and native guides will conduct the expedition in these unexplored heights. The first summits to be attempted will be the Godwin Austen, 28,250ft., and the Dapsang, 28,265ft. If success crowns the initiative, attempts [on] Mount Everest, 29,002ft., the highest mountain in the world, and the goal of ambitious Alpinists, will be tried, but this last part of the programme has not been settled yet. It may be of interest to mention here that the record in Himalayan mountaineering is held by Sir William Conway, who climbed the Pioneer Peak, 21,000ft., in 1892. Since this time no important ascents have been attempted in the Himalayas.