High Drama Of A Daring Triumph

One of the greatest mountaineering feats since the conquest of Everest was the assault last spring on Dhaulagiri, at 26,975 feet the "unclimbable fiend" of the Himalayan range. Last week Norman Dyhrenfurth, the expedition's photographer and a climbing member, assisted by SPORTS ILLUSTRATED Editor James Murray, described the difficulties the climbers had to overcome to establish their acclimatization and supply camps at the base of Dhaulagiri. The expedition, which was made up of Swiss, Austrian, German and Polish mountaineers, had counted on the use of an airplane to ferry men and supplies over ice towers and crevasses to the advance base camps. But the plane crashed, leaving the climbing parties and the bulk of their supplies stranded. The whole plan of attack had to be hastily revised. Dyhrenfurth, the two Polish climbers and a small party of Sherpas undertook the transport of supplies on foot. They evacuated the original acclimatization camp and made their way across Dhaulagiri's icefall to an advance base camp which became the staging area for the long climb to the top. The dramatic story of this final effort begins on page 47.

THE THRUST TO THE SUMMIT

It is an old mountaineer's boast to have carried 25 kilos, the equivalent of 55 pounds, on a climb, and it is an old mountaineer's joke that the 25 kilos usually turn out to be nearer 10 or 15. Actually, several of us carried 25-kilo loads on Dhaulagiri in the Himalayas last May. I am certain that I did, and so did Dr. Georg Hajdukiewicz and Adam Skoczylas, the two Polish members of our Swiss Himalayan expedition. Ang Dawa, one of our small band of Sherpas, carried even more. We were laboriously transferring supplies from the camp we had set up a couple of weeks before on a snowy pass called Dapa Col, a camp now rendered useless by the crash of our airplane. Unknown to us, while we were making our uncertain way through the maze of ice towers and crevasses of the Mayangdi Glacier, events of high drama were taking place on the assault route far up the mountain.

On these steep and wind-torn slopes a reconnaissance party consisting of Ernst Forrer, Albin Schelbert, Kurt Diemberger and two Sherpas had been working for three weeks to establish a route for the final assault on Dhaulagiri. Ernst, Albin and Kurt were first-rate mountaineers, the Sherpas Nima Dorje and Nawang Dorje were young as Sherpas go, but tough and eager. The party was working on short supplies, but still they were willing to take a reckless gamble on a dash to the summit if and when an opportunity presented itself. Later, Ernst Forrer told me how, on May 4, that chance came:

"Camp 4 (see map on pages 48-49) had been established, but we wanted to carry one more tent to the vicinity of the summit. Despite heavy winds and blowing snow, our two Sherpas brought us additional equipment and supplies to Camp 4, the highest camp so far set up. Then they disappeared again in heavy fog, climbing down the steep ice wall to Camp 3.

"We stayed at Camp 4 for the night, and it was a bitter night of severe storm. The wind tore at the walls of the tent while we held on with all our might to the tent poles, in constant fear of being blown off our tiny platform perched on the edge of the world.

"After the frightful night, the morning dawned clear, and we set out to establish Camp 5 somewhere above.

"Our rucksacks were heavy—much too heavy for Himalayan climbing. Camp 5, we hoped, would be set up at 24,400 feet, and it was planned to make this the last of the chain of camps. It was difficult at this altitude, this business of carrying loads, but we succeeded in bringing up one tent and other gear."

We struggled up a rock wall, then along a lofty snow ridge and reached our campsite at last. There we came upon the debris of the Austrian expedition of 1959: torn tents, an ice ax and one oxygen cylinder were evidence of their bitter battle with the mountain.

"We chopped our clearing for a campsite between two rocks. In this protected location we felt secure. Here we planned to rest a day to renew our strength. Albin and I were in excellent condition, but Kurt seemed to be suffering somewhat from snow blindness.