London, 1930-1931, 1st or 2nd impression. 464 pp, 48 b/w plates. Green cloth hardcover with no dust jacket and wear to cover and spine, cracked back hinge. Good readable copy as pages are fine.
An account of the 1930 international expedition, with Swiss, Germans, British and an Austrian that made a serious Kanchenjunga attempt. Leader was G.O. Dyhrenfurth, Norman's father. This is the 1930 German-American expedition to climb Kangchenjunga, during which two climbers were killed. Much about the history of mountaineering in the Himalayas and the peoples of Tibet and Nepal. Mentions, on three pages the 1905 Kangchenjunga attempt in which Aleister Crowley, the poet, mountaineer and occultist, took part.
Members of the team including Smythe did a first ascent of Jongsong Peak. Jongsong Peak is a mountain in the Janak section of the Himalayas. At 7462 metres 24,482 ft, it is the 57th highest peak in the world, although it is dominated by the 3rd highest, Kangchenjunga, 20 km or 12 miles to the south. Jongsong's summit is on tripoint of India, Nepal and China. Until the first ascent of Kamet on 21 June 1931, Jongsong was the highest climbed peak in the world.
Smythe was at the forefront of early Alpine and Himalayan mountaineering - adding two major routes on Mont Blanc and being a key player on Kangchenjunga in 1930 and Everest in 1933, 1936 and 1938. On Everest in 1933 he reached 28,100ft without using supplementary oxygen, his strong bid stopped by poor snow conditions and the lack of a partner.
Frank Smythe was the climber who came closest to success prior to Hillary and Tenzing and their peers, all using supplementary oxygen, and it was not until Messner's 1982 solo ascent that his performance, in physiological terms, was bettered. After the successful Kamet expedition in 1931 he returned to this superb Garhwal region in 1937 to make a series of important first ascents in lightweight style.
