London, 1931, 3rd impression. 464 pp, 48 plates. Black cloth hardcover with no dust jacket and tape repairs at hinges or cracked hinges. Good reading copy.
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. The 1930 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 attempt in which Aleister Crowley, the poet, mountaineer and occultist, took part.
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 (1930) and Everest (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. Smythe was the climber who came closest to success prior to Hillary and Tensing 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.
