Younghusband, lecturing at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, on the Mount Everest Expedition, recalled that it was sent out to find the easiest way by which the mountain could be ascended, and the expedition undoubtedly did find, at any rate, a feasible way.
in planning this year's expedition, he said, they had been able to go full steam ahead with photographs before them, and with maps, which gave them a knowledge of what the expedition would have to do and where it would have to go. It would be composed of a climbing party of eight, two of whom would be in. reserve. Two members of that party would be others of the Indian Army, accustomed to dealing with Himalayan peoples,"and able to look after the welfare of the coolies. General Bruce, who had a_ wide Himalayan experience, would not climb with the party, but would generally father the whole expedition. The expedition would start at the end of this month by far the best equipped mountain expedition ever sent out from any country, and would set out from Dar-jeding at the end of March. One difficulty it would encounter would be that of breathing. It there were frightful wind they would not attempt the ascent. They would go out early in the season so as arrive early in June, just before the monsoon broke. The cold would not be excessive, though the heat would be great.
Till last year no European had been within 60 miles of the mountain itself, and even Tibetans did not go within 20 or 30 miles of it. This time last year, when making plans, they had no maps to go on, and did not know exactly what the mountain was like. They had very good photographs, taken from a distance of 90 to 100 miles, and showing that from the north there was a ridge which offered a promise of approach, but how the mountain could be approached close up to that ridge was not known at all. It was therefore decided that a whole season would have to be devoted to the preliminary work of exploring round the mountain and ascertaining the easiest way for a party the following year. The object of last year's expedition was not to ascend the mountain, but to prepare the way for an attempt to reach the summit by a properly organized party this year. The lecturer sketched the course taken by last year's party, and mentioned that at one point the snow was so cold that their feet were attacked by frostbite, while at the same time the sun was very hot, and they were getting sunstroke in the head. (Laughter.)
The way they discovered was a comparatively easy way. There were no irregular cliffs to cause rear delay. It was about 23,000 above sea level, and had a rise of 5,000 ft. in a distance of 8,000 ft.,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.