Contents
About the Author
W.E. Bowman (1912-85) was a civil engineer who spent his free time hill-walking, painting and writing (unpublished) books on the Theory of Relativity. He was married with two children.
THE ASCENT OF RUM DOODLE
W.E. Bowman
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Epub ISBN: 9781446468401
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Copyright W.E. Bowman 1956
W.E. Bowman has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published by Max Parrish & Co Ltd in 1956.
www.vintage-books.co.uk
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
To George and Margot
No criticism of any mountaineering book or method, and no reference to any mountaineer past or present is intended.
Foreword
by SIR HUGELEY HAVERING, AISC, MPL ,
Chairman of the
Rum Doodle Committee
It is with pleasure as well as with a sense of privilege that I associate myself with this account of the climbing of the worlds highest mountain. The difficulties were many. They were overcome by the determination of each member of the expedition to give his best to the common cause. No praise is too high for these men. This is a book which should be read and re-read by every schoolboy and by all who value human endeavour and fortitude.
Introduction
by O. T OTTER
It is a pleasure and a privilege to associate oneself with this account of the ascent of the worlds highest mountain. The obstacles were tremendous. That they were overcome is due to the dogged perseverance, which each member of the team brought to the common cause. It is impossible to praise these men too highly. Every schoolboy should read this book twice, and so should everybody who honours courage and enterprise.
The Team
WHEN I WAS asked by the Rum Doodle committee to lead the assault on the mountain I was deeply conscious of the honour bestowed upon me. To climb Mont Blanc by the Grpon route is one thing; to climb Rum Doodle is, as Totter once said, quite another. I hesitated to accept so great a responsibility, and only the insistence of the committee, particularly of its chairman, Sir Hugeley Havering, persuaded me to change my mind.
I would like at the outset to record my deep appreciation of the selfless devotion and sound judgment with which the Rum Doodle committee and particularly its chairman did its job. In no way was that judgment more effective than in the choice of personnel. If I had it all to do over again I would choose those same companions who supported me with such wholehearted and unselfish enthusiasm. I venture to say that no leader has been better served.
Our success was due to two things: magnificent team work and the splendid efforts of the porters, without whom the expedition would have failed.
In advising the committee on the composition of the team I had in mind a principle which has served me well on many occasions: to make one thing fulfil two purposes. Each member of the team was selected to be responsible for a particular organizational or technical job, and each had in addition some special quality which made him valuable as a mountaineer and a companion.
How well this policy succeeded will be evident.
The team members were as follows: T OM B URLEY , Major in the RASC. In charge of the commissariat. Well known for his prodigious feats of endurance on many mountains, and chosen as our strong man. Had been high. Interrupted a mountaineering furlough in the Alps to join us.
C HRISTOPHER W ISH , scientist to the expedition. Excellent on rock. Had been higher than most. Just returned from a successful first ascent in the Andes.
D ONALD S HUTE , our photographer. Splendid on ice. Had been as high as most. Lately returned from the Rockies.
H UMPHREY J UNGLE , radio expert and route-finder. Had been nearly as high as most. Recalled from the Caucasus.
L ANCELOT C ONSTANT , diplomat and linguist. In charge of the porters. Chosen especially for his social tact and good-fellowship. Was expected to go high. Just back from the Atlas mountains.
R IDLEY P RONE , doctor to the expedition and our oxygen expert. Had been high enough. Barely returned from the Himalayas.
The Plan
AFTER THREE HECTIC months of preparation we met in London, on the eve of our departure, for a final review of our plans. Only Jungle, who was to have spoken on the use of the radio gear and his own methods of route-finding, was absent. He rang up to say that he had taken the wrong bus and was not quite certain of his whereabouts; but he had just caught sight of the North Star and expected to join us shortly.
Burley, although not at his best he told me he was suffering from London lassitude gave us a detailed picture of the transportation arrangements. The object of the expedition was to place two men on the summit of Rum Doodle. This necessitated the establishment of a camp at 39,000 feet stocked with a fortnights supplies for two, so that in the event of adverse weather conditions the party could wait in comfort for an improvement. The equipment for this camp had to be carried from the railhead at Chaikhosi, a distance of 500 miles. Five porters would be needed for this. Two porters would be needed to carry the food for these five, and another would carry the food for these two. His food would be carried by a boy. The boy would carry his own food. The first supporting party would be established at 38,000 feet, also with a fortnights supplies, which necessitated another eight porters and a boy. In all, to transport tents and equipment, food, radio, scientific and photographic gear, personal effects, and so on, 3,000 porters and 375 boys would be required.
At this point the telephone bell rang. It was Jungle, who seemed in the best of spirits. He had, he said, definitely identified his whereabouts as Cockfosters. We congratulated him and said we would expect him shortly.
Burley was congratulated on his masterly command of detail, although Wish expressed the opinion that the weight allowed for scientific equipment was scandalously small. He particularly wanted to take a mechanical glacier shovel and a three-ton pneumatic geologists hammer, but neither of these indispensable items was allowed for. Burley was quite short with him. He pointed out that shovelling ice on Rum Doodle was quite a different thing from shovelling ice on Mont Blanc, while the rarefied atmosphere obtaining on the mountain would probably render the pneumatic gear impracticable. Wish burst into tears and said that he might as well go home at once, as he did not seem to be appreciated. Constant, in his tactful way, said that he was sure that Burley had no intention of belittling Wishs importance to the expedition; he had only meant that scientific gear was out of place on an expedition whose sole object was to place two men on the summit of Rum Doodle. This brought in Shute, who said he very much regretted the implication that scientific gear was a white elephant; one of the most important parts of our work would be the investigation of the effects of rarefied atmosphere upon three-dimensional colour television. Prone, who was suffering from a severe cold in the head, muttered something, which nobody quite understood, about ibportant bedical baterial in a kind of enraged mumble.
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