Climbing on the Himalaya and Other Mountain RangesCollie, Norman
History
Climbing on the Himalaya and Other Mountain Ranges
Collie, Norman
Himalaya Mountains; Mountaineering
It was on the 5th of September that I received a telegram from
Hastings. He had returned to the Diamirai nullah without finding
Mummery. The camp there was just as we had left it. Next day, 1st
September, he made his way up the glacier to the high camp under Nanga
Parbat with Rosamir and Lor Khan; there he found the extra provisions
and some other things exactly as they had been placed by Mummery on the
morning of the 24th There was only one conclusion to draw--Mummery,
Ragobir, and Goman Singh had been killed somewhere up the glacier that
lies between the Ganalo peak and Nanga Parbat. For there was absolutely
no way out, except the way they had gone in. The Diama pass over to
the Rakiot nullah we knew to be impossible on the eastern face, on the
south lay Nanga Parbat, whilst on the north was the Ganalo peak, 21,500
feet high. If, therefore, they never returned for the provisions, some
catastrophe must have overtaken them during their attempt to climb over
the pass.
From what I have seen of the valley, an avalanche falling from the
north face of Nanga Parbat seems the most probable explanation; but in
that vast ice world the hidden dangers are so many that any suggestion
must necessarily be the merest guessing, and what happened we shall
never know.
For Hastings to attempt to explore this glacier alone would have been
a most hazardous and hopeless task. He had no one with him on whom he
could rely, and the area to be explored was also far too large. His
only alternative therefore was to go at once with the greatest speed
possible to the nearest post where he knew an Englishman was, namely at
Chilas. This he did, but it was not till the 5th of September that he
reached Jiliper on the Indus and was able to telegraph to me at Astor.
In the meantime the villagers in the Bunar nullah had been ordered by
the officer in command at Chilas to explore all the valleys round the
Diamirai, and on the receipt of the telegram at Astor, Captain Stewart,
the head political officer of the Gilgit district, sent word to the
people in the Rupal nullah to do the same as far as the Mazeno La. I
felt, however, that there was no help and no hope. Out of that valley
up which Mummery had gone there was but one way: that was the one by
which he had entered it; he had not returned, the provisions were
untouched. It was a dreadful ending to our expedition. The mountains
amongst which we had spent so many pleasant days together no longer
were the same. The sunshine and the beauty were gone; savage, cruel,
and inhospitable the black pinnacles of the ridges and the overhanging
glaciers of cold ice filled my mind with only one thought. I could not
stop at Astor. Moreover, by descending the valley I should at least
meet Hastings sooner, for he was returning by forced marches to join
me at Astor. On the 6th September we met at Doian. Beyond what he had
already told me in his telegram there was nothing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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