Headline, December 02 2024/ ''' HUMAN* MOUNTAINEERING HURRAY '''

''' HUMAN* 

MOUNTAINEERING

 HURRAY '''

!WOW! : '' THE PATHOLOGICAL HUMAN NEED TO CLIMB.'' '' The White Ladder : Triumph and Tragedy at the Dawn of Mountaineering.'' By Daniel Light.

WHEN ASKED BY REPORTER WHY he wanted to climb Mount Everest - George Mallory famously replied : '' Because it is there.''

'' The White Ladder, '' an engaging and agreeably ornate history of earlier mountaineering, the British author Daniel Light paints a vivid picture of this seemingly innate need and those who first heeded its call.

Centuries after the conquistadors, the German climber and scientist Adolph Schlagintweit was gripped by the same yen for peril. In 1854, he embarked with his brother on an ambitious expedition to study the geography and culture of the Himalayas.

An accomplished cartographer, Schlagintweit craved not just the glory, but to map what he found. [ Glory goes without saying.]

The brothers managed to ascend 22, 259 feet on Ibi Gamin. Although they didn't reach the top, they set a precedent for European adventurers of the time, who had rarely ventured so far. Schlagintweit was, in the end, not as lucky as Ordaz.

He died during his expedition, not from a fall or avalanche - but by beheading, executed by a warlord in Kashgar [ now in Xinjiang, China] after being accused of spying.

Oscar Eckenstein, the Jewish British explorer known for contribution to climbing technology - including the development of better crampons and ice axis - was determined to defeat the Himalayan K2 [ short for Karakoram], which the midcentury mountain climber Geroge Bell would later dub the '' Savage Mountain.''

But, like Schlagintweit, Eckenstein encountered men on his adventures that were as dangerous and unpredictable as the mountain. One was a member of his 1902 expedition on K2 : the future occultist Aleister Crowley.

He had insisted upon bringing a collection of heavy, vellum-bound poetry books up with him.

'' I would rather bear physical starvation than intellectual-starvation,'' Crowley said. This absurd, forceful flare of ego was a bad augur.

Adverse weather conditions had kept them confined to their tents, ultimately preventing them from completing their mission. A fever befell Crawley, causing him to experience severe hallucinations.

At one point he drew his revolver, only to have it taken away before he could hurt anyone. By his own account, he savagely beat the party's sherpa guides more than once.

Being the first woman to stand atop Koser Gunge, just shy of 21,000 feet above the rest of the Karakoram range in Kashmir, wasn't enough for Fanny Bullock Workman.

She and her husband, Wiiliam Hunter Workman, were in perpetual pursuit of verticality.

By the turn of the 20th century, Fanny held several high-altitude records for women and had ice-axed her way into the firmament of the world's greatest climbers. In 1902, she and Hunter climbed the Bhayakara Col, also in Karakoram.

There would be no record attained at the 19, 260-foot apex. Instad, while the group was descending on an ice wall, they had climbed earlier in the day, the glacier began to melt. Hunter attributed their safe return to '' indesmut, '' which in German can be translated as '' a total disregard for one's safety.''

What unifies Light's heroes is that total disregard and a desperate almost pathological urge to climb for climbing's sake. One of the earliest primal urges observed in toddlers on a playground is for ascent - to climb the highest point on the jungle gym. Because, why not?

Mallory died in 1924 while attempting to summit Everest. His body was discovered in 1999 encased in ice, and it is still there.

The Honour and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on great accomplishments, and mountaineers, continues. The World Students Society thanks Charles Kurkin for the Review.

With respectful dedication the Global Founder Framers of !WOW! and then Students, Professors and Teachers of the world.

See You all prepare for Great Global Elections on !WOW! - the exclusive and eternal ownership of every student in the world : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

Good Night and God Bless

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