1937 Shipton - PIVOTAL NANDA DEVI EXPEDITION - Wraps

Author: SHIPTON, Eric.
Title: More Exploration Round Nanda Devi.
Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1937.
Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!!

Notes:   In 1936, Eric Shipton returned as team member on the Sixth British Everest Expedition, a mission aborted due to the early onset of monsoon conditions. In the autumn of that year, Shipton accompanied Major Osmaston who had been detailed by the Survey of India to make a map of the basin of the Nanda Devi and the gorges of the Rishi, the results of which are reiterated here in Shipton's characteristically well written report. Shipton was, of course, eminently qualified for the task, having, in 1934, together with H.W. Tilman and three Sherpa companions - Angtharkay, Pasang, and Kusang - finally solved the riddle of the upper Rishi Ganga. With a minimum of gear and supplies, the small compact team became the first to set eyes upon the Nanda Devi basin they likened to an inner sanctum. They went on to explore the Southern Ridge of Nanda Devi as the most likely ascent route and were the first to summit Maiktoli and cross the Sunderdhunga Col. Paying further homage to the Himalayas, Shipton and Tilman later also accomplished the arduous Gangotri-Badrinath and Badrinath-Kedarnath watershed traverses.

Features numerous photographs including scenes of Nanda Devi and the Bagini watershed, the twin peaks of Nanda Devi from the west, Dunagiri, Changabang and Kalanka, the peaks north of the Bagini Glacier, the Ronti Nala, Kurumtoli Glacier, Chagabang from the Rhamani Glacier and the head of the Kurumtoli Glacier.

Included is an additional and fascinating scientific account entitled "The Medical and Physiological Aspects of the Mount Everest Expeditions," by Dr. C. B. Warren.

Excerpt from the text:  "The climbing of Mount Everest calls forth physiological adjustments in the human body which are of great interest for the practical bearing which they have upon the success or failure of the venture. It is coming to be realized that the climbing of the mountain is almost as much a physiological problem as a mountaineering feat. Does deterioration in the physical condition set in when a certain altitude has been reached, depite the fact that acclimatization may still be going on? Is it possible to climb to 29,002 feet without using oxygen? These are problems which concern particularly the ascent of a high mountain..." End Excerpt.

Eric Shipton's 1936 Mount Everest Expedition - Perilous Ascents and Physiological Study!

The ascent of Nanda Devi's main summit necessitated fifty years of arduous exploration in search of a passage into the Sanctuary. The outlet is the Rishi Gorge, a deep, narrow canyon which is very difficult to traverse safely, and is the biggest hindrance to entering the Sanctuary; any other route involves difficult passes, the lowest of which is 5,180 m (16,990 ft). Hugh Ruttledge attempted to reach the peak three times in the 1930s and failed each time. In a letter to The Times he wrote that 'Nanda Devi imposes on her votaries an admission test as yet beyond their skill and endurance', adding that gaining the Nanda Devi Sanctuary alone was more difficult than reaching the North Pole. In 1934, British explorers Eric Shipton and H.W. Tilman, with three Sherpa companions, Angtharkay, Pasang, and Kusang, finally discovered the access route through the Rishi Gorge into the Nanda Devi Sanctuary. Their shoe-string budget expedition operated in the Kumaon-Garhwal mountains continuously from pre-monsoon to post-monsoon, and set a record for single-expedition achievement, which has never been equalled. Shipton published the account in 'Nanda Devi' in 1936 before returning for further exploration.

For More   HIMALAYA & TIBET   items click here

For More   MOUNTAINEERING   items click here

Condition: 36 pages. Plus a full-page sketch map and black and white plates. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue of the Geographical Journal, containing the two above described narratives. Seldom found in such good and original condition.