Full details of each lot are displayed, except the lot number, estimate and price. You must be a subscriber to view lot numbers, estimates and prices.
The International Himalayan…
Sale Title:
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Melbourne
Date:
27-Aug-2023
Lot No.
***
Description:
The International Himalayan Expedition, 1930. An archive of original photographs taken by the expedition members; all bearing typed explanatory labels verso as well as 'The Times Kanchenjunga Expedition' copyright stamps. Each image also bears a release date: 24 May 1930 (10), 28 May 1930 (12), 21 June 1930 (5), 30 June 1930 (8), 5 August 1930 (9), while the Expedition was in progress. Total: 46 photographs, all 26 x 20 cm or 20 x 26 cm. Besides the numerous sherpa porters and guides, the I.H.E. was composed of five Germans, three Englishmen, two Swiss and one Austrian. They were, Professor G.O. Dyhrenfurth, the leader; Mrs. Dyhrenfurth, secretary, 'quartermaster' and commandant of the various base camps; Dr. H. Richter, doctor and reporter to the German press; U. Wieland, meteorologist and oxygen-engineer; Harold Hoerlin, mountaineer and photographer; F. S. Smythe, reporter to the English press; George Wood Johnson and J. S. Hannah, of the Himalayan Club, who served as mountaineers and transport-officers; Marcel Kurz, mountaineer and topographer, and Charles Duvanel, film-camera operator, both from Switzerland. Erwin Schneider, the young Austrian mountaineer and geological assistant, made up the group. Four peaks of over 7000m, or 23,000 feet, were climbed to their summits. These were Jonsong (24,473 feet), Nepal (23,470 feet), Dodang Nyima (23,623 feet), and Ramthang (23,311 feet). The International Himalayan Expedition (or I.H.E.) also ascended five lower peaks, viz., one of 20,014 feet and one of 20,424 feet, above Pangperma; the 'Mouse' (20,539 feet) between Kangbachen and Ramthang peaks; a peak (alt. c. 21,350 feet) between Kellas' Saddle and Jonsong peak; and the Kang peak (18,735 feet). Scientific observations were as important as mountaineering. They included geology, morphology, glaciology, topography, meteorology, climatology and physiology. Frank Smythe wrote 'We went to Kangchenjunga in response not to the dictates of science, but in obedience to that indefinable urge men call adventure.' The expedition set out to climb the world's third-highest mountain, Kangchenjunga. As yet unclimbed, a number of attempts had been made on the peak, including two in the previous year. 'The Kangchenjunga Adventure' records Frank Smythe's attempts as part of the international team to reach the summit, how a deadly avalanche, which killed one of the sherpas, brought an end to their climb, and how they turned their attentions instead to Jonsong Peak, which offered a more appealing alternative to risky assaults on the greatest peaks.
Estimate:
***
Price:
***
Category:
Unclassified