EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND MOUNTAINEERING IN INDIAN HIMALAYAS

Yet climbers like Clinton Dent said that they were sure, that man could climb Everest. Many expeditions started. Martin Conway attempted K2 in 1892. Albert Frederick Mummery attacked Nanga Parbat ( 8125 m ) in 1895. Twelve years later, in 1907, the first peak over "7000" fell. It was Trisul in Garhwal. Longstaff, Alexis, Henri Brocherel and one Gurkha climbed it.

In 1909, the Italian Duke of Abruzzi, while attempting K2, climbed to 7489 m on Chogolisa. This became a record.

In 1911, Alexander Mitchell Kellas climbed the beautiful peak of Paunhari ( 7128 m ) in Sikkim. In 1913, Mario Piacenza scaled Kun in Ladakh, yet another "seven thousander". And in 1913 and 1914, Filippo De Filippi crossed Kashmir, Baltistan and Ladakh, touched Kun Lun and reached Sinkiang ( China ).

But it was in 1899, when Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India suggested to Douglas Freshfield, the first President of the Alpine Club and head of the royal Geographical Society, the enigmatic name "Mt Everest". Finally, on 12th January 1921, the first meeting in charge of organizing the expedition was called. Charles Kenneth Howard was appointed chief of the expedition. It was amply clear that this expedition would serve the primary purpose of reconnaissance. Like earlier approaches, this one too involved going to Darjeeling and crossing Sikkim.

Everest and the Indian Himalayas and Darjeeling and Sikkim for some reason or the other are interwoven and inseparable.

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