Uttarakhand 21
Bury, Mallory and Bullocks, had attempted Everest successi-
vely but failed. In 1930 Jonksong peak (24340 ft.) which lies
•between Sikkim and Nepal was climbed by Prof. Gunther Dy-
ren Furth. In 1931 Frank S. Smythe and Eric Shipton won
their way atop Kamet (25441 ft) in Garhwal Himalayas. They
discovered a valley which had rare flowers in abundance and
named it as the valley of flowers. In the year 1933 aerial reco-
nnaissance was introduced in the field of mountaineering
when two adventure loving flying officers named Marquis of
Douglas, Glydesdale and Fit. ft. Maclntyrc flew at a height of
over 33000 ft and had a close view of the ultimate height of
the world. Gunther's wife won recognition in 1934 when she
-climbed Queen Mary in Karakoram.
Some fifty miles southeast of Kamet stands Nanda Devi
(25615 ft.) which has always held irrestible lure for men with
courage and conviction. Eric Shipton climbodand surveyed the
neighbouring area of Nanda Devi sanctuary in the year 1934
.and again in the year 1936. Another batch of climbers set out
to climb it and claim to have climbed it. Probably, this was the
last climb before the war started except with the exception of
Arnold Heims and August Gausse's Swiss team which climbed
some places in central Himalayas and while war was on the
Poles marched on an expedition over Nanda Devi but failed.
Second world war eclipsed mountaineering activities for full
five years but no sooner the war was over, the tents were again
pitched and the great caravan of mountaineers was once
more on the march. In 1947 Andre Roche's Swiss party made
a number of successful ascents in the Garhwal Himalayas. In
the year 1950, the French climbed Annapurna (26493 ft) peak.
In 1951, yet another unsuccessful attempt was made on the
Nanda Devi. But the finest hour in the history of human ende-
avour to climb the unclimbable came on May 29, 1953 when
"Sri Edmuad Hillary and Tenzing Norkay stood on top of the
world. The year 1953 brought yet another significant success
when Willy Merkel memorial expedition succeeded in placing
Dr. Herrmann Buhl on top of Nanga Parvat which had been
-defying the Germans hitherto. Karakoram 2 was climbed fey
the Italians in 1954 and in 1955 British climber ascended the
divine height of Kanchenjunga.