Chapter 26 Chapter 23 Assault

The great moment has come.Twice the climbers had been turned back by the cold and the wind, and now they were back for the third time to engage in this tough battle.This time, the weather was near perfect.They themselves were exhausted and their numbers dwindled, but the blizzard passed; day after day, the mountain stood sharply and sharply, and the climbers were eager to catch up before the seasonal rains covered the entire mountain with a transparent veil. In front of the breathless snow, seize this last chance to climb up. As a human being, every climber naturally wants to be the first in a series of mountaineering groups to perform a difficult task.Maybe the first group will be able to take it down, leaving the second group no chance.Or, even if the first group fails, the seasonal rains or certain typhoons may not spare the second group and those who follow.The chances of success still depend on the first group.Norton, as the team leader, can put himself in the first group, but as we have seen, he upholds the chivalrous demeanor.As at the beginning, as the climax approached, his preoccupation was still with the expedition's success or failure, not with his personal success.Every little action that has the potential to lead to success must be done.Every little thing that might be a hindrance must be avoided.So now, the two apparently strongest-looking guys in the regiment: Malory, Geoffrey.The Bruce will charge first; everyone expects them to take that prize.

They set off from the 3rd Battalion on June 1st with nine tigers.It was another sunny day, and they were full of hope.On the way to the North Col, they fastened ropes to the ice wall below the chimney in a crevasse, to make walking easier for bearers.On reaching the Fourth Battalion they found O'Dell and Irving there ready to function as support, keeping an eye on the comfort of the exhausted climbers after the fortification, with hot food ready, And rescue the returning provocateur team. On June 2, Malory and Geoffrey.Bruce, with their nine provocateurs, set off up the mountain for the real assault.They expected to set up the fifth battalion on the first day, the sixth battalion on the second day, and reach the summit on the third day.That was not an unreasonable expectation as the weather conditions continued to be good with clear skies and no signs of monsoon rain.Alas!In the Himalayas, a clear sky usually means strong winds.Between the scorching plains and the icy peaks, there is a strong whirlwind of air.As soon as Malory's men stepped out of the ice barrier of the North Col, they were immediately hit by a strong wind blowing from the mountain to the northwest.This group wore windproof clothing, but that was no more effective in tropical rain than so-called waterproof clothing.The wind tore through the windbreaker, penetrated the woolen coat, penetrated the flesh, and penetrated to the marrow of the bone.It penetrates everything, not only is it pervasive, but it exerts such pressure that the weighted bearer can barely keep his feet.

Norton described the mountain above the North Col as: an easy rock peak free of snow and glaciers.But he speaks the word plain to the British Mountaineering Association, which doesn't speak the same language as the rest of the world.In this language, the hill may be said to be flat, but it must obviously be steep, otherwise the snow would be on it, and it would not be an ice-free rock peak.And how steep is it?We can learn this from the fact that whenever we hear of a climber dropping something, we also often hear that the thing is gone and never returned.It was in this crushing wind that they had to manage their way up the steep ledge of Everest.

The Fifth Battalion was supposed to be established on the east, or sheltered, side of the ridge about 25,300 feet high, but at about 25,000 feet the strength of the challengers was exhausted. (We might as well remind ourselves again: before these several Everest expeditions, the highest altitude ever reached by human beings was 24,600 feet, and it was reached without weight.) Only four challengers were still alive Exuberant, the rest dropped the bales and couldn't go any further up.So Malory had to stop, organize a camp, and Geoffrey.Bruce and tough Lobsang walked back twice to bring back the lost bundle.It was a heroic act, not only for Lobsang, who had carried his bundle up, but also for Bruce, who had not spent his life in the habit of Carrying heavy loads in the mountains was a labor he had never been accustomed to doing anywhere else.

The two flimsy small tents that Norton described perched on a steep slope now had a dignified title: the Fifth Battalion.According to the plan, five pickers were sent back to the North Col to support the camp, and the best three were retained to send another tent up 2,000 feet and establish another battalion. The next morning, June 3rd, Malory and Bruce were supposed to set off for the summit, but even overnight the men saw no hope.The cold wind not only entered their bones, but also entered their hearts.The wind chilled their guts.Neither Bruce nor Malory could cheer them up the next morning.One was free to go, while the other two claimed to be ill.Geoffrey.Bruce, like his cousin, General Bruce, had a knack for dealing with these mountain people, but now even he couldn't help it.Besides, Bruce himself was suffering from a heart injury from carrying a heavy load up the day before.There was nothing left to hope for but to return to the North Col.The first team, on which the expedition relied so heavily, failed.

When Malory and Bruce left the Fifth Battalion to go down, Norton and Somerwell, who had gone up the mountain a day later than them, were also leaving the Fourth Battalion to go up.The two groups met exactly in the middle of the two camps.The sight of Malory walking back made Norton feel sympathetic.It means one less chance to reach the summit.It may also mean that no challenger has been able to move camping equipment above 25,000 feet, which also means that any chance is lost.That's a bad prospect.In any case, Malory and Bruce found their way back to the North Col, where they were greeted by Odell and Irwin, who were provided with refreshments. Now, these two men are doing this valuable support work on the well-supplied North Col, And this was Norton's initiative after learning lessons from his 1922 expedition.As Malory and Bruce headed down toward the North Col, Norton and Somerwell pushed up.They also experienced the biting cold wind of Mount Everest, but they finally reached the fifth battalion.They kept four pickers in the hope that they would be willing to take a tent to 27,000 feet the next day.Of the two tents Malory set up here, one was used by four pickers and the other was used by two climbers.Norton and Somerwell discovered that the people who had come before them had leveled the floor inside the tent.After a meal of dry meatloaf and mighty beef, coffee and biscuits, they had had a good night and slept at least half the night.This is important because it was previously assumed that it would be impossible for humans to sleep at such high altitudes.

The key, however, is whether the provocateurs can continue their efforts the next day.Norton said he had a bad omen that night: the attitude of the provocateurs made him dare not hope that he and Somerwell would be more able to persuade them to pack up and go up the next day than Malory and Bruce could.The next day, the two climbers rose at 5 a.m. to deal with the problem, and the hours that followed marked one of several major turning points in the history of Everest exploration.If these provocateurs, and Malory's provocateurs, were not fit or willing to go up, not only would this expedition be a failure, but any future expeditions would also be frustrated.They'll take it almost for granted that pickers couldn't possibly get the bales above 25,000 feet.

If we want to understand what it's like to be a human being on Mount Everest at five o'clock in the morning, we must recall what bees look like on a cool autumn morning.These busy little bees are usually full of vitality, but at this time, they hardly move; they are frozen, have neither physical nor mental power, and the source of life has left them.The provocations were like that, and maybe Norton itself wasn't much better.When he went to the picket's tent to inquire, the only answer he got was groans.But he went on to do a very clever thing.He coaxed them to get up and cook something, eat something, and then return to their tent for breakfast.After breakfast, things looked much better than before.An empty stomach makes everything seem impossible, so it is not necessary to carry things to the top of Mount Everest.But after breakfast, even that might be considered a treat.

All were eaten, and Norton threw himself into his work.The struggle between him and these four provocateurs was basically on the spiritual level.The organization has done everything it can.Thought can do no more.The only question is whether the mind can persuade the body to go any further, and that depends more on imagination than on will.Here Norton once again showed wisdom.He appeals to the imagination; in great causes we are all carried by the imagination.No one put a gun to their head; no physical coercion, no threats, not even a monetary bribe.He merely paints a picture of the provocateurs: they are heaped with glory and reverence, receiving admiration from all sides; and he tells them how their names will be stamped in gold in the book describing their achievements as long as They can carry bales up to 27,000 feet.It was a chess move that turned the situation around. This appeal touched their masculine feelings.What Norton actually said was: Act like a man!You will be respected by men.Norton and Somerwell were able to make this appeal because they had risked their lives, their health and the success of the expedition to show manliness and companionship to go back and rescue the four provocateurs trapped in the North Col. .At least three of the four provocateurs answered the call to eternal glory; another was really too sick.Their names, as my readers read them, should glow golden with glory:

□□□ Napbu.Napboo Yishay Lakpa.Lhakpa Chedi Semchumbi There was a turning point: they moved forward, not backward.Once they set out on the road, they went very well, although Chunbi Xian walked with a little limp from a bruised knee and had to be watched by Somerwell, who himself had a terrible sore throat and had to stop from time to time. cough.The flat, gravel slopes of the first day softened as they climbed between 25,000 and 26,000 feet; so did their energy and mood, Somerwell said. Suffering from heavy steps.Further up, the slopes of loose gravel turned into slopes strewn with small boulders, making their walk unsteady and dangerous.In order for the breath to adequately satisfy the needs of the body, they must often stop.But the weather continued to be sunny and the wind was much less than the previous day.Their spirits lifted as they passed the highest point they and Malory had reached in 1922, which was, of course, the highest altitude ever recorded by man.They are going to camp at higher altitudes.As long as there is another sunny day and other good conditions, there is nothing they can't achieve!

So they went on until one-thirty; by then it was evident that the heroic Xian Chunbi could go no further.A narrow cleft in the north-facing rock face, which looked like a good shelter from the northwest wind, was chosen for camp.Norton sent the two lead pickers to rake the pile of rubble to form a surface for camping in the cracked floor.It was there that the small tents for the two climbers were erected. This was the Sixth Battalion, at an altitude of 26,800 feet.It is more than 11,000 feet higher than the highest point of Mont Blanc in Europe. The situation was far from ideal, but it was the best possibility that the local area could make at that time.On Everest, you have to make the most of what you can get and be grateful, Somerwell said.Norton said that he went up and down the North Arete of Mount Everest twice, and he had never seen a six-foot-square place that did not require a platform for the purple camp. As soon as the tiny battalion was set up, the three pickers were sent back to the North Col camp.They had played their part heroically and established a timeless point: within a day's hike of the summit of Everest, a camp could be pitched.Now the climbers are left alone to play their part. But before they actually start the ascent, they have to spend the night in that camp; so the second point has to be figured out.Can humans sleep near 27,000 feet?By the next morning, this question too was answered, and satisfactorily.Norton wrote in his notebook that day: I had the best night since I left the first camp.Perhaps this has something to do with the great relief of not having to worry about provocation.Whatever the reason, the fact is so, and this fact is of great value.Somerwell didn't sleep as well as Norton, but he recorded: "When the morning came, we were all well rested, and there were no high-altitude effects such as breathing difficulties. The discovery of these two facts, namely, that a climber can carry a tent to the 27,000-foot contour, and that a climber can fall asleep there, were two major achievements of this third expedition.