Mount Everest The Reconnaissance (1921) by Charles Howard-Bury
Chapter VIII (8): The Upper Kharta Valley and The 20,000 Foot Camp
On September 22, leaving Raeburn behind, Mallory, Bullock, Morshead, Wheeler, Wollaston and myself started off to Lakhpa La camp. We left the 20,000-foot camp in 22° of frost at four o’clock in the morning, accompanied by twenty-six coolies[*], who were divided up into four parties, each of which was properly roped. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the mountains showed up nearly as brightly as in the daytime. We rapidly descended the 200 feet from our terrace to the glacier, when we all “roped up.” The snow on the glacier was in excellent condition, and as it was frozen hard we made good progress.
Dawn overtook us on the broad flat part of the glacier, the first beams of the sun falling on the summit of Mount Everest, which lay straight in front of us, and changing the colour of the snow gradually from pink to orange, all the time with a background of deep purple sky, every detail showing up sharp and clear in the frosty air. We mounted gradually past Kartse, the white conical-shaped peak climbed by Mallory and Bullock a month ago from the Kama Valley. We wended our way without much difficulty through the ice-fall of the glacier, below some superbly fluted snow ridges that rose straight above us. Then followed a long and at times a somewhat steep climb over soft powdery snow to the top of the pass.
Even at these heights we came across tracks in the snow. We were able to pick out tracks of hares and foxes, but one that at first looked like a human foot puzzled us considerably. Our coolies[*] at once jumped to the conclusion that this must be “The Wild Man of the Snows,” to which they gave the name of Metohkangmi, “the abominable snow man” who interested the newspapers so much. On my return to civilised countries I read with interest delightful accounts of the ways and customs of this wild man whom we were supposed to have met. These tracks, which caused so much comment, were probably caused by a large “loping” grey wolf, which in the soft snow formed double tracks rather like those of a barefooted man.
Tibet, however, is not the only country where there exists a “bogey man.” In Tibet he takes the form of a hairy man who lives in the snows, and little Tibetan children who are naughty and disobedient are frightened by wonderful fairy tales that are told about him. To escape from him they must run down the hill, as then his long hair falls over his eyes and he is unable to see them. Many other such tales have they with which to strike terror into the hearts of bad boys and girls.
I reached the top of the pass (22,350 feet) by 10.30 a.m., and was rewarded by a wonderful view of Mount Everest, now only a couple of miles away. From the pass there was a steep descent of about 1,200 feet to a glacier which after many wanderings finds its way into the Rongbuk Glacier. This valley had never been thoroughly investigated by Mallory and Bullock in their visit to the Rongbuk Valley. It does not, however, actually form the main Rongbuk Glacier, but stops several miles short of it, the entrance to the valley containing this huge glacier being both small and very insignificant. The bad weather that they had experienced in the Rongbuk Valley during the latter half of their stay there had made it impossible for Mallory and Bullock to explore this valley, or see what lay at its head.
Disclaimer: This 1921 book excerpt was published prior to 1931. Under United States copyright law (specifically the 95-year rule), this work has entered the public domain and is thus free to use or republish. It is presented here as an interesting and folkloric oddity.
[*] Note on offensive terminology: This is a derogatory and offensive term that was used to refer to a low-waged laborer or indentured servant usually of Asian descent. For the purposes of historical documentation of the material, this book excerpt has been unaltered and is presented as it was previously published, retaining its original language and word usage. The derogatory term used in the book should not be used to refer to people.
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Note: The term “Abominable Snowman” was a mistranslation coined by the newspress in 1921, who popularized the story of Charles Howard-Bury purportedly finding the footprints, prior to Charles’ book being published. As Charles mentions here, it “interested the newspapers so much.”
The original phrase used by the Himalayans was “Metoh-kangmi” with “Metoh” reportedly meaning “man-bear” and “kangmi” reportedly meaning “snowman.” Therefore, it essentially meant Man-Bear Snowman. The word “Metoh” was mistranslated by newspress as meaning “filthy” or “abominable.”
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Source(s): https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/39421/pg39421-images.html
Categories: Newspapers, Abominable Snowman