perm filename EVERES.NS[ESS,JMC]5 blob sn#254262 filedate 1976-12-26 generic text, type C, neo UTF8
COMMENT āŠ—   VALID 00005 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	n047  1353  26 Jul 76
C00049 00003	***************
C00115 00004	
C00172 00005	**********
C00223 ENDMK
CāŠ—;
n047  1353  26 Jul 76
 
BC-BECK COLUMN 2tales 1000
    (Editor's Note: The following Special Features material
is for use by subscribers to Marilyn Beck's column, or by
special arrangement.)
MARILYN BECK'S HOLYWOOD
FOR RELEASE: JULY 27
Show Business in the News
 
TELEVISION DOESN'T LOOK
SO BAD TO DAVID CARRADINE
 
SPECIAL EVEREST EXPEDITION
COVERAGE PLANNED BY CBS
 
By MARILYN BECK
....
    THE REAL WORLD: CBS' coverage of the American Bicentennial
Everest expedition should be something special to see - because
the team's assault on the world's tallest mountain is being
planned as something special, indeed. The mountain-climbing
group includes several doctors, and part of their mission
will be compiling data on the psychological effects such
an ordeal has on those who attempt it.
    Ed Goren, coproducer of the coverage which CBS will bring
to viewers in three 10-minutes preliminary reports (the first
to air August 14), plus an hour-long special, points out
that as the 11-member team sets off for Nepal on Saturday
(7-24), they were a happy, close-knit group. Yet, when the
climb mountain actually gets under way,
adverse conditions can bring personality clashes and a breakdown
of the happy team concept.
    Effects of such stress is one of the things Dr. Dee Crouch
intends to study during the three-month adventure - and he
will supply his findings to NASA. He tells me that other
explorers of Everest - with its extraordinary winds, subzero
temperatures, and lack of oxygen - have experienced the same
psychological problems that many of our astronauts have suffered.
Thus far, no one's sure exactly why.
    ''They come home, and there's great depression, and a high
incidence of diorce,'' says Crouch. ''We do know that extended
exposure to extremely high altitudes does affect the brain
- and we're hoping to come back with findings about the whys
and wherefores of such effects.
***************


a223  1204  29 Jul 76
AM-EVEREST, BJT, SUB, a215, 50
KATMANDU TO HOME TOWN, SUB for 4th graf: in 1953.
    The U.S. bicentennial expedition came about by chance. Phillip
Trimble, a 38-year-old State Department lawyer from Springfield, Ohio,
and leader of the team, had been thinking of scaling a 24,000-foot
peak in the Himalayas when he learned last December from a friend in
Nepal that the French had canceled their 1976 option to climb Mt.
Everest.
    At first, 5th graf.
    
1456pED 07-29
***************


a217  1124  29 Jul 76
AM-Everest, Bjt - 2 Takes, 460-640
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - An American Bicentennial expedition has
arrived in this mountain kingdom to attempt the ond American
conquest of Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak. If successful, the
climbers could put the first American women and the first
husband-and-wife team on the peak.
    The climbers are now in their final days of organizing and packing
14 tons of food, clothing and equipment before setting out on the
175-mile trek to the base camp at 29,028-foot Everest, known in Nepal
as Chomolungama, goddess mother of the earth.
    The 11 climbers will be the first Americans to tackle the mountain
since the successful 1963 United States expedition. Five members of
that group reached the peak first scaled by Sir Edmund Hillary of New
Zealand and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
    The U.S. Bicentennial expedition came about by chance. Phillip
Trimble, a 38-year-old State Department lawyer and leader of the team,
had been thinking of scaling a 24,000-foot peak in the Himalayas when
he lerned last December from a friend in Nepal that the French had
canceled their 1976 option to climb ,t. Everest.
    At first, Trimble said, he just chuckled at the thought, but then,
discussing it with his climbing friends, the idea of taking over the
French option proved irresistible.
    Normally two or three years are needed to organize an expedition for
Everest. This one was pulled together in less than seven months.
    Another unusual aspect of the expedition is its relatively small
size. The 1963 team had 20 members.
    Almost all members of the Bicentennial team are close friends.
Three, including Trimble, are Harvard Law School classmates.
    The team includes two women. Arlene Blum, a 31-year-old biochemist 
on the faculty of Stanford University, and Barbara Roach, 31, a
modern dance teacher from Boulder, Colo., hope to become the first
American women to climb Everest.
    And if Gerald Roach, Barbara's husband, reaches the summit too, the
couple will be the first husband-and-wife team at the top.
    The climbers will attempt the popular South Col route pioneered by
Hillary and Tenzing. But they will be battling their way up the
mountain during the difficult postmonsoon season with its shorter days
and bitter winds. The summit attempts are scheduled for the first
days of October when a ''window'' of generally clear weather is
expected.
    A Japanese team in on season.
    Altogether 54 climbers have reached the top of Mt. Everest,
identified in 1852 as the world's highest peak and named for the first
surveyor-general of India, Sir George Everest.
    Among successful climbers were two women, Junko Tabei of Japan who
made it in May 1975 and a Tibetan woman member of a Chinese expedition
that reached the top a few days after the Japanese.
    More
    
1423pED 07-29
 - - - - - -

a306  2028  29 Jul 76
AM-Everest, Correction, a217, 50
KATMANDU, to correct that these are first Americans on Everest since
1963, sub for 3rd graf: The 11 . . . in 1953.
 
    The 11 climbers will be the first Americans to tackle the mountain
since the unsuccessful 1971 International Everest Expedition headed by
Austrian Norman Deryenfurth. However, five members of a 1963 United
States expedition reached the peak first scaled by Sir Edmund Hillary
of New Zealand and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay in 1953.k
    The U.S. bicentennial, 4th graf
    
2327pED 07-29
***************

a218  1127  29 Jul 76
AM-Everest, Bjt, 1st add, 180
KATMANDU add: Japanese.
    Trimble dreams of putting all 11 members of his team on the summit,
which would be yet another first in Everest's history.
    But for the moment, recalling these last frantic months filled with
20-hour days of planning and work, he's just happy the group has made
it at least as far as Katmandu.
    ''No one can ever appreciate the tremendous problems in organizing
an Everest expedition,'' Trimble said.
    The final permit for the climb was received only in March. Within
weeks, tons of food and equipment had to be assembled, along with 200
tanks of oxygen, vital to any Everest assault.
    The supplies had to be sent by air freight to Nepal, adding enormous
expense to an already costly proposition.
    Expenses are now well into six figures, and team members have had to
take out loans and invest their own money since wealthy benefactors
with a sense of adventure are in short supply. Mt. Everest has been
climbed already, hasn't it?
    ''People who say that have absolutely no understanding of
mountaineering, the motivation, the worth of such an experience'' said
Trimble. ''How can you say 'no' to Everest?''
    
1427pED 07-29
***************

a061  0441  03 Aug 76
PM-Everest, 420
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - The American Bicentennial Everest Expedition
set out today on its journey to the top of the world.
    Eleven climbers with backpacks, umbrellas and box lunches piled into
Land Rovers, vans and buses. They were accompanied by half a dozen
wives and friends, four Sherpa guides, and U.S. Ambassador Marquita
Maytag in shorts, white knee-socks and an expedition tee-shirt.
    Their first stop was Lamosangu, 52 miles away. There they were to
shift to the standard means of mountain transport - their feet - to
complete the 140 miles to their base camp on 29,028-foot Mt. Everest,
the highest mountain in the world.
    ''I am here because I love to hike and I wish the group well,'' said
the ambassador, who planned to trek with the group for a few miles.
''I do worry about them. I just hope they have thought of everything.
But I am very proud, too.''
    ''Let us get away from civilization. Let us go to the mountain,''
said Dan Emmett, 36, of Los Angeles, one of the chief organizers of
the expedition, who insisted on going on despite the pain of a recent
slipped 3sk.
    The climbers and 150 porters will march through river valleys,
terraced hillside ridges and pine forests toward the massive peaks of
the Himalayas.
    Camping under the trees, in pastures where yaks graze, in mountain
villages and on monastery grounds, the expedition hopes to reach the
base camp at 17,500 feet in about three weeks.
    The last few days in Katmandu were spent in repacking, getting
trekking permits and customs clearance for equipment and shopping for
such forgotten items as maps of Mt. Everest, sheets for sleeping bags
and umbrellas to guard against the monsoon rains.
    It is the first visit to Nepal for all but two of the American
members of the expedition so sightseeing tours were arranged.
    At the temples of Pashupatinath, where marching bands filled the
square, the climbers watched Buddhist monks in saffron-colored robes
throw bits of grain and flowers into a fire in a ceremony ''to avert a
national disaster.''
    Phillip Trimble, the expedition's 38-year-old leader from
Springfield, Ohio, ate a traditional farewell dinner with a group of
expedition.
Sherpas, the mountain men essential to the success of any Everest
    Everest was first conquered in 1953 by a British expedition which
put Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and the Sherpa guide Tenzing
Norgay on the summit. There was a successful American expedition in
1963.
    
0742aED 08-03
***************

exhausted climbers feasted on their first dinner on the trail -
chicken noodle soup and rice with chunks of ham and pineapple.
    ''The rain doesn't bother me because I was psyched up for it,'' said
Gerry Roach of Boulder, Colo. ''I knew it was going to rain every day
of this march. I'm having a ball. This is like a three-ring circus.
Nothing to do but take pictures.''
    Nibbling on a mixture of candy, nuts and raisins and drinking
mountain water laced with lemon flavoring and iodine, the hikers
passed tiny villages of thatched-roof and stone houses and fields of
yellow and red dahlias, and climbed up narrow rock trails dotted with
lavender orchid-shaped flowers.
    Each sets his or her own pace so that the more energetic, like
Roach, reached camp in about 3 1/2 hours. Emmett stayed right up in
front, even though strapped in a back brace, the result of a recent
slipped disc. The last of the porters, carrying 60-pound loads,
trickled in after about eight hours.
    The rain stopped when camp was set up on the side of a hill, with
cows as neighbors. Clouds wisped over the lush hills, slashed by
waterfalls and terraced with bright green rice paddies and yellow
fields of corn.
    Some of the group went down to the rushing river to bathe as
Nepalese children in tattered clothes stared and giggled at this
strange collection of travelers heading for Everest.
    
1649pED 08-06
***************

a048  0250  12 Aug 76
PM-Everest, Bjt, 2 takes, 440-820
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    KABRE, Nepal (AP) - The days on the trail to Everest are falling
into a routine for the members of the American Bicentennial Everest
Expedition.
    At 5:30 a.m., as the night's deluge tapers into a drizzle, there is
a banging of pans to waken the campers scattered about in nine tents.
    They must pack up and gulp down breakfast - any combination of such
items as oatmeal, eggs, sausage chunks, peanut butter and tea - and
be on the trail by 7 o'clock.
    Nearly 200 porters carrying at least 60 pounds each scramble for the
lead, looking from a distance like overburdened ants.
    Then the dozen American climbers and their friends toting lighter
loads join the caravan.
    The day's hike is always up and down and mostly wet, whether it
rains or not, for the trail crosses irrigation ditches, trickling
streams and rushing rivers.
    The hikers nibble lunch along the way and after four to seven hours
reach their next camp, where hot milky tea awaits them.
    Dinner, with rice a constant item on the menu, is served at 5:30. By
7, it is almost dark, and the climbers try to sleep.
    It is the monsoon season in Nepal, and daily rain is usual. But the
hour at which it falls varies. When it is sunny, the heat is almost
unbearable. Whenait rains, the trails, wide enough for only one to
pass, are treacherously slippery.
    But the American climbers are pleased.
    ''It's a lot easier than I thought it would be,'' said Phil Trimble
of Washington, the leader of the expedition. ''There's not too much
up and down; the walking days are short, and the countryside is very
beautiful.''
    In fact, there is considerable up and down on this 140-mile trip to
the expedition's base camp, which is expected to take three weeks. In
four days of trekking, the hikers have gone from 2,500 feet above sea
level up to 8,200 feet, then down to 2,950 feet, and back up to the
village of Kabre at 6,025 feet.
    The trail is often busy with Nepalese villagers coming the other
way. Except for the children, they seem generally disinterested in
this odd group, decked out in t-shirts emblazoned with the ABEE -
American Bicentennial Everest Expedition - insignia, an advertisement
for herbal teas or ''George McGovern for President.''
    The Nepalese women are usually bent over under loads of grass in
baskets with head straps. They wear a tiny gold hoop in the nose as
well as a small jewel above one nostril and gold earrings as large and
ornate as military decorations in the upper part of the ears. They
dress in print blouses and long, brightly-colored print skirts and
sometimes look aghast at the hiking shorts on the American women.
    MORE
    
0551aED 08-12
***************

a049  0257  12 Aug 76
PM-Everest, Bjt - 1st add, 380
KABRE: American women.
    Gerry Roach of Boulder, Colo., one of the strongest climbers in the
expedition, likes to race ahead of everyone and scramble up the rocks
with a rousing shout.
    Rick Ridgeway of Malibu, Calif., finally changed from his rubber
thong sandals into the sneakers that most of the other climbers were
wearing. Another hard charger, he is inclined to dive in to cool off
when a stream is reached.
    The TV film crew is an integral part of the expedition and is always
ahead, positioning itself to get the best angles on the trekkers
coming round the bend with their umbrellas or bobbing across the
wobbly suspension bridges.
    The joke among the climbers is just how high up the mountain chief
cameraman Mike Hoover of Kelly, Wyo., will dare to call out, ''Let's
do that again.''
    When Drs. Dee Crouch of Boulder and Chris Chandler of Seattle held
sick call in the village of Kirantichhap, dozens of ailing and curious
gathered, including some of the expedition's porters.
    ''This is medical school in 20 minutes,'' said Crouch, ''every
disease from A to Z. A lot of casual aches could be anything from
getting out of carrying our bags to cancer.''
    One tooth definitely had to be pulled. The cameras rolled. Crouch
tugged mightily, and the tooth was free.
    ''Now put it back in and pull it out again,'' directed Hoover as the
patient spat blood. Couch performed as directed, shaking his head.
    Dinner was served that night in the middle of the village under a
sacred pipal tree where marriages are performed. The climbers ate the
goat that was purchased on the trail after some difficult and
unsuccessful price bargaining by one of the chief Sherpa guides.
    Sometimes camp is pitched in a cow field where the dung looks like
shiny flat rocks, sometimes near a stream where the weary hikers scrub
up and feel almost civilized again.
    Barbara Roach, one of the two women who hope to reach the top of Mt.
Everest, does graceful dance exercises after coming into camp. Other
climbers retire to shady corners to write in their diaries, smoke, or
prattle with the children who gather around.
    When it is not raining, all the wet clothes are spread on bushes and
stones and around the fields to dry. But they never dry. It starts to
rain again.
    
0558aED 08-12
***************

a071  0603  14 Aug 76
PM-Everest Climbers, Adv 18--3 takes, 480-1,290
$adv 18
For release Wed., Aug. 18
    (AP correspondent Jurate Kazickas is trekking along with an American
team of men and women who will attempt to scale Mt. Everest. In this
dispatch, Ms. Kazickas sketches each of the climbers.)
    ---
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    ON THE TRAIL TO EVEREST, Nepal (AP) - The 12 members of the American
Bicentennial Everest Expedition are as varied as the  different
shapes and sizes of the boots they hope will get them to the top of
the world's highest mountain.
    The 10 men and two women are experienced climbers with mountain
conquests ranging from North America's highest, Mt. McKinley, to
previously unclimbed ridges in the Peruvian Andes and perilous faces
of the Alps.
    The group now heading for the 29,028-foot peak of Mt. Everest
includes two doctors, three lawyers, a dancer, a computer scientist, a
pilot, a shipwright. There are Ph.Ds, summa cum laude graduates, a
carpenter, a sky diver. Their ages range from 27 to 38.
    ''The most important key to the success of this expedition,'' said
Phillip Trimble, the expedition leader and old man of the group, ''is
how everyone will get along. There has to be a level of tolerance.
There is no room for big egos. It is a total team effort.''
    The nucleus of the expedition, which was mostly organized in the
short space of only four months after permission to climb was received
in March, is a group of five climbing friends-Trimble, Dan Emmett,
Frank Morgan, Hans Bruyntjes and Arlene Blumb-which expanded to 11 to
include mountaineers with more technical experience. An American
living in Nepal was recently added to complete the team.
    ''The success or failure of this expedition is not defined by
whether or not we get to the top,'' said Trimble. ''What I want most
is for everyone to remember a happy experience. We want to give it the
maximum effort and make it a trip we are proud of.''
    Trimble heads the legal affairs section of the U.S. State Department
in Washington. A father of two, a Harvard Law School honors graduate
and a Fulbright scholar, Trimble, 38, can more easily be pictured in
his tent reading the paperback copy of ''War and Peace'' he brought
along than slogging his way up the mountain.
    But he said, ''Climbing is a chance to do something that's a total
contrast to my professional life.''
    -Dan Emmett, 36, a Beverly Hills, Calif., lawyer in the real estate
business, married with two children, remembered the first mention of
Everest.
    ''I told Trimble he was a fool to consider it, that it was not in
the realm of reason and that of course we should go. We're
mountaineers and it's the highest mountain, the ultimate challenge.
It's a great goal to strive for. Sure there are a lot more important
things to do in life, but what an opportunity!''
    Frank Morgan, a native of Sacramento, Calif., is another Harvard Law
School graduate like his two friends and now practices international
corporate law in Jakarta, Indonesia. He is a bachelor who turned 38
on Sept. 8.
    ''I like the iea of a shared adventure like this. It's an intense
experience. The totality of your existence is involved with these
people for such a long period of time,'' said Morgan.
    MORE
    
0903aED 08-14
***************

a073  0613  14 Aug 76
PM-Everest Climbers, Adv 18--1st add, 420
$adv 18
For release WED Aug. 18
ON THE TRAIL TO EVEREST: said Morgan.
 
    -Hans Bruyntjes, a 28-year-old former carpenter from The
Netherlands, has the self-assurance of a man who's climbed some of the
most difficult peak faces on the Alps. He said he'd rather be
climbing sheer rock walls than the snow and ice of Everest and when he
first heard about the climb, he hesitated three weeks before
accepting.
    ''It's dangerous, that's why, he said. ''On Everest you know you're
going to risk a lot. It's a totally different mountain that involves
80 per cent endurance and 20 per cent experience. I think it'll be
the hardest thing I'll ever do.''
    -Arlene Blum, 31, is a chemistry professor from Menlo Park, Calif.,
who started climbing while a student in college in Oregon.
    ''It was like discovering religion,'' she said. ''Suddenly I knew
that I belonged on top of a mountain.'' She organized the first
all-women climb of Mt. McKinley in 1970 and has climbed peaks in Peru,
Ethiopia and Kashmir. She has climbed higher than anyone else in this
expedition-to a height of 23,700 feet in Afghanistan.
    For this climb, Ms. Blum, who prefers Ms. to Miss, is putting off
reporting to her teaching job at Wellesley College in Massachusetts
until January.
    -Mrs. Barbara Roach, who is making this trip with her husband,
Gerald, is 32 and the first woman to climb Mt. Foraker in Alaska and
the only woman to climb the south face of Chacraraju in Peru. In
regular life she is a dancer ans ays she is probably happier at that
than climbing mountains, which she starting doing 10 years ago with
her husband.
    But Mrs. Roach said: ''Actually the two interests go together
nicely. I use my dance exercises to train for rock climbing. Both
involve balance, strength and control, and stability.''
    -Gerard Roach, 32, a former peace Corps volunteer in India, now a
scientist with the National Center for atmospheric Research, living in
Boulder, Colo., has climbed eight of the 10 highest peaks in North
America and has been around the world twice on climbing trips with his
wife.
    ''Mountains are my life,'' said Roach. ''You have to have the fire,
that gut desire to get to the top. It's instinctive with me. And I'm
physically prepared for the toughest thing I've done in my life.''
    -Rick Ridgeway of Malibu Calif., who at 27 is the youngest and
smallest member of the team. He has three steel pins in his leg, which
he broke last October while climbing in Yosemite. A shipwright and
now a freelance writer who hopes to write a book about Nepal's Sherpas
guides, Ridgeway has day dreamed about Everest in the past but always
dismissed it as an unlikely possibility. ''It's a real ego trip to be
here now,'' he said.
    MORE
    
0914aED 08-14
***************

a075  0625  14 Aug 76
PM-Everest Climbers, Adv 18-2nd add, 390
 $ADV 18
For release Wed., Aug. 18
ON THE TRAIL TO EVEREST: he said.
    -Chris Chandler is 23, a divorced father of three, and a doctor with
West Seattle General Hospital in Washington. He has made numerous
first ascents and blazed new routes on peaks in Nroth America and
Peru.
    Everest for him is ''a neat adventure. In one way, it's just another
peak, but then there is that certain mystique about the place. And
like any other mountain, if I don't have to kill myself, I'd like to
get to the top. It would still be a good trip, an adventure, if I
don't make it.''
    -Dee crouch, an emergency medical doctor in Boulder, brought along
more than 400 pounds of medical supplies on the mountain to treat
everything from hemorrhoids to broken limbs. He also is conducting
some cognitive tests, to be followed up over the next few years, to
determine the possibility of brain damage from the effects of high
altitude.
    The summit is not that important to me,'' said Crouch, 33, father of
two sons. ''It has not been my life-long goal to climb mt. Everest.
Yes, I would like to get to the top but my first purpose is to care
for the people on the mountain.''
    -Robert Cormack, 30, is a pilot, the owner of a rooming house in
Boulder, and an occasional physics tutor when he is not scrambling up
mountains. When Gerry Roach proposed that he join the Abe, Cormack
said he wasn't sure he really wanted to go. ''I figured it would be
one big hassle....but then I decided yes-it was a once in a lifetime
opportunity.
    ''Getting to the summit is my goal but I'm not prepared to die or
lose my toes and fingers for it.''
    -Joe reinhard. 32, from New Lenox, Ill., is a cultural
anthropologist who has been living in Nepal for the last five years
and is fluent in Nepali. ''Everest has been on my mind ever since I
got here so I jumped at the opportunity to join the expedition But I
try not to think about being able to climb it,'' said REinhard. As
advance base camp manager, he figures his chances of getting an
opportunity to reach the summit are small. He is responsible for
working with the Sherpas and porters is getting clothing, food and
equipment to the higher camps.
    An expert sky diver and Scuba diver, whose first mountain conquest
was Europe's highest, Mt. Blanc, Reinhard sees Everest as another
learning experience. ''At the end, I want the team to say they're glad
that I came along.''
    End ADV WED, Aug. 18, Sent Aug. 14.
    
0925aED 08-14
***************

a206  0902  14 Aug 76
AM-Everest, Bjt, 460
    EDITOR'S NOTE - The writer of this dispatch is hiking along in the
Himalayan foothills with a U.S. mountain-climbing team which hopes to
scale Mt. Everest as an American Bicentennial venture.
    ---    
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    BHAKANJE, Nepal (AP) - Moving slowly up the wooded trail, with a big
red pack and a black umbrella to ward off the rain and sometimes the
sun, Dr. Dee Crouch, a member of the American Bicentennial Everest
Expedition, is a walking experiment.
    He wants to find out if it is true mountain climbers suffer
emotional upsets and depression when they come down from the peaks.
    A small tape recorder is strapped to his body. Three protruding
wires are attached to three white discs taped to his chest.
    The Boulder, Colo., physician, and Dr. Chris Chandler of Seattle are
conducting a scientific study. Crouch makes tape recordings of his
own heartbeat and respiratory rate to compare later with tapes of
himself and other climbers high up on Mt. Everest.
    ''There really have not been any significant cardiovascular studies
made above 24,000 feet,'' said Crouch, explaining the reason for this
experiment. Mt. Everest is 29,028 feet.
    The tapes pick up irregular heart beats or breathing patterns.
Crouch is keeping a log book of his daily activities. There is also a
button he can activate to note on the tape when there has been
unusual stress activity.
    Besides this experiment, Crouch will be testing others in the
12-member team to determine the physiological and psychological
effects of high altitude. Two women are in the climbing group.
    ''There has been some speculation that there can be permanent brain
damage as a result of living at high altitudes for any extended
period of time,'' he said.
    ''Because of the loss of oxygen - hypoxia - general mental functions
are impaired, color vision goes, fine motor functions are affected
and the ability to do reasoning problems decreases.''
    Crouch has already tested four of the climbers from the Boulder area
for their skill in those various functions and plans to test them
again upon their return from Everest in November, and then again one
year and two years later.
    Crouch also gave the climbers a standard personality test.
    ''It has also been observed that climbers suffer a certain degree of
depression, emotional upsets, divorces, and job changes after a climb
like Everest,'' said Crouch. ''I'd like to collect some data to
verify that and compare the data with national averages concerning
such changes among a comparable group of people.''
    James T. Lester, a clinical psychologist who acompanied the 1963
American Everest expedition, and who now works with the Navy in
Boston, is still going over data he collected back then.
    In a recent interview, he recalled that several of his fellow
expedition members were divorced and experienced depression later.
    
1202pED 08-14
***************

 
EVEREST CLEAN-UP
 
    A student ''clean-up trek'' to the base of Mount Everest
in Nepal is being planned for Feb. 18-March 21 next year
by Mountain Travel Inc., 1398 Solano Avenue, Albany, Calif.
94706. The trip is one of eight treks the agency has projected
for the first half of next year to Nepal, the home of eight
of the world's 10 highest mountains. The clean-up trek, Mountain
Travel says, is being offered below cost to students and
others under 35 ''who are strong, energetic and willing to
make a contribution to the preservation of Nepal's delicate
mountain environment.''
    ''The increase in the number of trekkers in the Himalayas,
combined with the increasing number of major expeditions
on Munt Everest,'' according to Mountain Travel, ''has created
an unfortunate problem: trash and litter in Shangri-La.''
(MORE)
 
    
0824 0055aed
***************

n097  2202  23 Aug 76
 
w york; shangri-La.''
    Two clean-up efforts were undertaken at Everest this year
- one by Mountain Travel and the other by Evergreen College
in Olympia, Wash. The trek next February, according to the
company, will be ''a real working trek, with fewer Sherpas
and porters, and the participants will be expected to carry
their own gear and engage in a variety of tasks from picking
up accumulated litter to digging disposal sites for debris.''
    Says a spokesman for Mountain Travel: ''We hope by offering
this kind of trek to focus attention on the need for all
trekkers and climbers not to abuse the sanctity of mountain
environments.'' The inclusive cost, including round-trip
air fare between New York and Katmandu, is $1,691.

a080  0653  27 Aug 76
PM-Everest, 180
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - The American Bicentennial Everest ELISHED A BASE CAMP FO-
R ITS ATTEMPT TO SCALE THE  1/4&,? 1/4-+FOOT
MOUNTAIN, THE Nepalese Foreign Ministry said today.
    A spokesman told reporters the ministry had received word from the
expedition that the base camp, reached Thursday, is on the west bank
of the Khumbu glacier at an elevation of 18,000 feet.
    The 12-member team led by Phillip R. Tremble, 38, of Washington,
D.C., left Katmandu three weeks ago to hike to the mountain, the
world's highest.
    Before leaving Katmandu, Trimble said his party would try to reach
the top of Everest by the end of September or early October.
    From the base camp the Americans will begin their actual climb. They
first will have to negotiate a route along a treacherous icefall -
which has claimed the lives of about a dozen men in the past - on
their way to Camp No. 1 at 20,200 feet.
    John E. Brietefbach, 27, of Jackson, Wyo., a member of the first
American Everest expedition, was killed on March 23, 1963, while
making the route on the icefall.
    
0956aED 08-27
***************


a226  1122  31 Aug 76
AM-Everest Bjt, 490
    EDITOR'S NOTE: This dispatch, carried to Katmandu by special runner,
was written Aug. 18 by AP Correspondent Jurate Kazickas, who is
accompanying the 12-member U.S. Bicentennial Everest Expedition
through preparations to scale the world's highest peak. Since then the
climbers have established a base camp on the Khumbu glacier for its
assault on Everest.
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    NAMCHE BAZAR, Nepal (AP) - For a few Everest hopefuls, Namche Bazar
provided the first glimpse of the mountain they had come to climb.
    But for most members of the American Bicentennial Everest
Expedition, three days in this Sherpa trading town meant shopping,
sleep and hot showers.
    ''At first I wasn't sure it was really Everest I was looking at,''
said Bob Cormack of Boulder, Colo., who had climbed to the top of the
hill overlooking camp one early morning hoping to see the 29,028-foot
mountain.
    ''I started looking for the familiar features and sure enough -
there was Everest.''
    ''Looks pretty good,'' said Chris Chandler of Seattle, staring at
the pyramid of snow etched sharply above the massive Nuptselhotse Wass
surrounded by a billowing mass of clouds.
    A few expedition members ran up to the ridge for a look, but by 7
o'clock Everest had been swallowed by the monsoon clouds that so far
on the march to base camp have obscured most of the Himalaya peaks.
    ''We've just exchanged the warm rain for the cold rain,'' sighed
Arlene Blum of Menlo Park, Calif. Every afternoon of the three days
the climbers stayed in Namche, a gentle, but steady, chilly rain fell.
    Expedition leader Phillip R. Trimble, 38, of Washington, D.C.,
stayed off a sprained ankle and lay in his tent, reading a cultural
history of Nepal while a tape recorder played Beethoven's string
quartets.
    The climbers made the 10-minute hike into town several times a day
to gather at the home of Pasang Kami, the Sherpa base camp manager,
and sort out their clothing and supplies for the mountain. They
finished the repacking with glasses of chang, the local rice beer.
    Last-minute purchases included prayer flags recommended by the Lama
of Roongbuk. Frank Morgan, a lawyer practicing in Jakarta, and Chris
Chandler bought Nepali boots of felt, leather and wool for about $6.
Others bargained for necklaces of coral and turquoise and went for a
lunch of fried noodles at the Himalaya Hotel, where the nightly rate
is about 50 cents.
    The ultimate luxury after two weeks on the trail was the hot shower,
the result of an interesting arrangement of rubber tubes from the
upstairs window of a house to a small shelter with an overhead faucet.
It worked and was available for about 40 cents.
    Barbara and Gerry Roach of Boulder hiked to the Japanese Everest
View Hotel, now closed until October. They almost lost each other in
the fog as Gerry bounded ahead, pacing himself with watch and
altimeter.
    Dr. Dee Crouch of Boulder made a trip to Kunde to the hospital
founded 10 years ago by Sir Edmund Hillary. There he met with Dr. Rob
Riley and his wife Leigh, of Christchurch, New Zealand, and discussed
procedures in case any expedition member has an accident on Everest.
    By the end of three days, most of the climbers were restless to hit
the trail again. From Namche Bazar at 11,300 feet to the base camp at
nearly 18,000 feet acclimatization could be a problem, so the trek
was to be gradual with a two-day stop at Pheriche (13,900 feet).
    
1420pED 08-31
 - - - - - -

a249  1323  31 Aug 76
AM-Everest, Bjt, Sub, a226, 30
NAMCHE BAZAR, to specify Nuptse and Lhotse peaks sub 5th graf: A few
. . . Himalaya peaks.
    ''Looks pretty good,'' said Chris Chandler of Seattle, staring at
the pyramid of snow etched sharply above the Nuptse and Lhotse peaks
surrounded by a billowing mass of clouds.
    A few 6th graf
    
1627pED 08-31
***************

a075  0554  03 Sep 76
PM-Everest, 230
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - The American Bicentennial Everest Expedition
has crossed the dangerous Khumbu icefall in its attempt to climb the
world's highest mountain and set up Camp 1, according to a radio
message received today from the base camp.
    The message said the expedition crossed the icefall and set up the
camp Thursday at an elevation of 19,400 feet, 800 feet below the Camp
1 site of the first American Everest expedition in 1963.
    A CBS television cameraman fell 50 feet on the crevasse-laced
glacier during the ascent but was reported unhurt. He was identified
as Jonathan T. Wright, 24, of Aspen, Colo.
    A dozen men have died crossing the mile-long icefall, including John
M. Breitenbach, 27, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., a member of the first
American expedition.
    The 12-member team set up a base camp at 18,000 feet Aug. 25 and
began work the following day on finding a route through the Khumbu
icefall.
    The expedition, led by Phil Trimble, 38, of Washington, D.C., plans
to pitch five more camps in preparation for the final assault on Mt.
Everest's 29,028-foot summit by early October.
    The climbers will have to cover about 3 1/2 to 4 miles between Camp 1
and Camp 2. Although there is some danger of crevasses and avalanches,
the route is not considered very difficult and has claimed no lives.
    
0853aED 09-03
***************

a059  0320  04 Sep 76
PM-Everest, 150
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - The American Bicentennial Everest Expedition
temporarily has lost one of its 12 members. Mrs. Barbara Roach was
flown here today from the Everest base for treatment of a toothache
that has been nagging her for two weeks.
    ''I had my teeth checked before I left home. It's crazy,'' said the
31-year-old climber from Boulder, Colo.
    She plans to return by helicopter to the 18,000-foot-high Everest
base camp early next week to rejoin the expedition, whose members plan
to reach Mt. Everest's 29,028-summit by early October.
    Mrs. Roach, whose husband Gerard remained on the mountain, said the
team's morale was ''good and high.''
    Four Americans and four Sherpa guides crossed the dangerous Khumbu
icefall on Thursday without serious trouble and established Camp No. 1
at 19,400 feet. Five more camps will be established before the final
assault on the world's highest peak.
    
0620aED 09-04
***************

a205  0958  06 Sep 76
AM-Everest Climb, Bjt - 2 Takes, 440-600
    Editor's Note: AP Correspondent Jurate Kazickas is on the trail to
Mt. Everest with a 12-member American team that hopes to conquer the
world's highest mountain. This dispatch was written last Tuesday and
hand-carried down the mountain to Katmandu, Nepal.
    ---    
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    EVEREST BASE CAMP (AP) - After 23 days of hiking higher and higher,
until trees and flowers were replaced by rocks and ice, the American
Bicentennial Everest Expedition has reached the staging base for its
climb of the world's highest mountain.
    Just hours away from the base camp, located at 17,500 feet, the
monsoon rain that had continually soaked the 12 climbers, television
camera crew and friends turned to a driving, sleeting snow.
    The grim silence of the hike through the barren terrain was
interrupted only by the jangling of the bells on the yaks as they
trudged by, loaded down with tables, chairs and boxes of climbing
gear.
    Near the base camp, weird ice shapes loomed suddenly out of the
rocks and gravel - huge glacial blocks resembling fins of giant
sharks, enormous candle drippings, taut sails of giant clippers.
    The base camp looked like an abandoned granite quarry. It was not
much more than a vast rubble of rocks, a dismal place with a few tents
perched precariously on top of the boulders.
    ''After trudging for 6 1/2 hours with my ankle hurting badly, sliding
and slipping over the ice, it was with a mixture of resentment and
relief that I saw base camp,'' said expedition leader Philip Trimble
of Washington, D.C. Trimble sprained his ankle two weeks ago.
    The next morning, after a snowfall during the night, the day dawned
sparkling bright and clear. All around the mountains shone like
glossy pyramids.
    Right in front of the tents was a gigantic cascade of snow and ice
blocks - the Khumbu icefall and the gentle, sloping west shoulder of
Mt. Everest.
    ''This is the first morning worth getting up for,'' said Hans
Bruyntjes of Holland, gazing at the icefall, where 12 men have died
trying to make the mile-long, crevasse-laden crossing which begins the
climb.
    The Sherpa guides held a special ceremony to Meyu Long Sama, the
goddess of Everest, for good fortune. Before a small altar that is
kept constantly burning with fragrant branches, they placed a huge
platter of pastries, candies and dried fruits.
    The Sherpas filled their canteens with rice wine and dabbed them
with butter. Throwing bits of rice into the fire, they chanted and
cheered, waving red, blue, green and yellow prayer flags over the
smoke and pushed against each other to breathe from the sacred fire.
    More
    
1258pED 09-06
 - - - - - -

a236  1254  06 Sep 76
AM-Everest Climb, Correction, a205-206, 50
EVEREST BASE CAMP: To fix name of photographer, sub next-to-last
graf, sent as 4th graf a206:
    (Editor's Note: The expedition sent a radio message Friday saying it
had crossed the dangerous icefall and set up a camp at an elevation
of 19,400 feet. A CBS television cameraman - Jonathan T. Wright, 24,
of Aspen, Colo. - fell 50 feet during the crossing but was not hurt,
the message said.
    (The expedition, last graf
    
1554pED 09-06
***************

a206  1002  06 Sep 76
AM-Everest Climb, Bjt - lst Add, 160
EVEREST BASE CAMP: sacred fire.
    Expedition members spent the morning sorting out high-altitude gear.
Dr. Dee Crouch organized a tent full of medical supplies and hung out
a yellow cloth reading:
    ''Khumbu Community Hospital - hours by appointment, no maternity
services, shirt and shoes must be worn. Bank America welcome. We
reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.''
    That night there was the occasional crashing sound of avalanches
from the surrounding mountain and one ominous creaking groan as the
crevass under the camp stretched a little.
    ---    
    (Editors' Note: The expedition sent a radio message Friday saying it
had crossed the dangerous icefall and set up a camp at an elevation
of 19,400 feet. A CBS television cameraman - Jonathan T. Writher, 24,
of Aspen, Colo. - fell 50 feet during the crossing but was not hurt,
the message said.
    (The expedition will set up five more camps before making the final
assault on Mt. Everest's 29,028-foot summit by early October.)
    
1302pED 09-06
***************

a087  0708  08 Sep 76
PM-Everest, 330
By BINAYA GURUACHARYA
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - The American Bicentennial Everest Expedition
has established its second camp at 21,000 feet, the base camp
reported to Nepal's Foreign Ministry by radio today.
    The message said the camp was pitched Tuesday on the top of the
western Cwm - the Welsh name for the high valley given by early
British explorers of the Everest region.
    The camp was set up by Frank Morgan, 37, Dee Crouch, 33, Gerry
Roach, 32, and Dan Emmett, 36, assisted by Sherpa guides.
    The 12-member expedition led by Phil Trimble, 38, of Washington,
D.C., is using the camp as its advance base camp for the attempt on
Everest, the world's highest mountain at 29,028 feet.
    The camp is between Mt. Lhotsen, 27,890 feet, and Nuptse, 25,850
feet, Mt. Everest's two sister peaks.
    From there, the Americans will climb up through the Lhotse face on
their way to the south col, jumping off place for the assault on
Everest.
    Gerry Roach's wife Barbara, also a member of the expedition, left
Katmandu today to rejoin the climbing party after treatment for a
toothache. Mrs. Roach, 32, of Boulder, Colo., took a helicopter to
Syangboche at 12,800 feet, from where she will have to climb about 15
miles to reach what she calls ''my aim'' on Everest.
    It should take her about six days to reach the base camp.
    ''I would be walking slowly to make sure that I get acclimatized
again,'' said Mrs. Roach, who went into Katmandu Saturday.
    Two women are in the expedition. Both Mrs. Roach and Arlene Blum,
31, of Berkeley, Calif., want to be the first American woman to climb
Everest. Mrs. Roach rejected the idea of the two women climbing
together, saying she prefers to climb with her husband.
    ''I prefer to go with him because I trust him the most,'' she said.
''We would like to be the first husband and wife on the summit.''
    Two other women, a Japanese and a Tibetan, have already stood on the
top of Everest.
    
1009aED 09-08
***************

a091  0737  14 Sep 76
PM-Everest, 110
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Continuous heavy snow on Mt. Everest for the
last four days has halted the American Bicentennial Everest
Expedition, the Nepalese Foreign Ministry reported today.
    But a message from the expedition's base camp said the Americans and
their Sherpa porters were ''safe and in good physical condition.''
    The expedition established its third camp Friday, one day behind
schedule, at 23,000 feet, 6,028 feet below the summit of the world's
tallest mountain.
    The climbers have to pitch three more camps before making the final
assault on the peak. Until the snowstorm, they had hoped to make the
summit attempt between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2.
    
1037aED 09-14
***************

a024  0010  15 Sep 76
PM-Everest, Bjt, 2 takes, 450-730
    EDITOR'S NOTE: This dispatch was written on Sept. 5 and brought down
from Mt. Everest by messenger.
    ---
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    EVEREST BASE CAMP (AP) - The American Bicentennial Everest
Expedition, like other such groups before it, is having its share of
tensions and minor problems.
    Inevitable personality clashes are made more severe by close-in
living under tough and dangerous conditions for as long as two months.
    The expedition has been together now for more than six weeks. There
are 11 American climbers, including two women, and a Dutchman; a
five-man camera crew, which started out as seven; a woman journalist
and until a few days ago three friends.
    Persons showing up a few minutes after the gong sounds for meals
sometimesfind nowhere to sit or no more tasty yakburgers.
    ''Look around, there are 11 superfluous people here,'' said Gerry
Roach of Boulder, Colo., one evening.
    ''If we didn't have all these extra people we'd only need half as
many sherpas (Nepalese guides and porters), half as much food, half as
much oxygen. The whole thing would be that much simpler.''
    Although CBS Sports paid the expedition $40,000 for exclusive TV
coverage of the climb, the film crew has been the target of most of
the talk about extraneous people on the climb.
    Some climbers objected to being asked to repeat actions the film
crew missed. They wondered aloud how far up the mountain they would be
asked to make such repeats.
    Some worried that the camera crew's zeal in getting good footage
would interfere with the climbers' summit attempts. They argued there
were not enough sherpas or oxygen for a camera crew to be near the
summit at the crucial times. CBS later paid for extra sherpas and
found available oxygen.
    Some climbers made a point of avoiding a party the CBS men arranged
in Pheriche with dancing around a bonfire.
    An amicable meeting was held during the approach march to ease the
tensions but only a few days ago at the base camp, Arlene Blum of
Menlo Park, Cal., said: ''It is repugnant to me to be on a mountain
with a number of people whose only job is to record the action.''
    Chief cameraman Mike Hoover assured her that in case of an accident
his men would put down their cameras to help.
    ''There's no conflict of interest. The film suffers,'' he said.
    But Ms. Blum, who prefers the feminist designation, did not look
convinced.
    Phil Trimble, the expedition leader from Washington, D.C., thought
the three-week approach march over 148 miles of Nepalese countryside
would be a time for the climbers to get to know each other better and
to start working as a team.
    But instead of different tentmates each night and walking along the
trail with a different group each day, the expedition members
separated into the same pairings most days.
    MORE
    
0310aED 09-15
***************

a025  0016  15 Sep 76
PM-Everest, Bjt, 1st Add, 280
EVEREST BASE CAMP: most days.
    After dinner there was rarely any socializing, and the pairs or
trios would retreat into their tents by 7 o'clock, saying they were
tired.
    ''I just don't get the feeling that this is a team,'' said Hans
Bruyntjes, the Dutch member of the expedition, after a meeting one
night at the base camp.
    ''It's just a couple of people who happen to be together. I have
less confidence in this group than when I started. I want to know who
I'm going to be paired up with. It's dangerous up there and this is
my life. There are some people I have a lot less confidence in than
others. And confidence is something that grows and we have to work
into it.''
    His forceful, spontaneous outburst stunned Trimble and the rest of
the group, but it did not seem to mobilize any sort of new
togetherness.
    Days later Bruyntjes and another climber got into an angry shouting
match, each challenging the other's ability and ancestry. Insults
mounted until Trimble, a man of considerable calm, patience and wit,
interrupted and suggested that the two not climb together for a few
days.
    The hostility did not last long, and the two climbed up the Khumbu
ice fall two days later. But not on the same rope.
    There have been no major problems with the sherpas. They seem quite
pleased with their equipment, which is the same as the Americans',
from big red down parkas to pocket flashlights.
    A group of porters hired in Namche Bazar protested that their wages
were too low, but they were appeased by a pair of army jungle boots
for each of them.
    
0315aED 09-15
***************

a092  0627  17 Sep 76
PM-Himalayan Death,80
URGENT
    NEW DELHI, India (AP) - The daughter of a famed American mountain
climber, who named her for the Nanda Devi peak in the Himalayas, has
died while trying to scale the mountain with him, the Indian
Mountaineering Foundation announced today.
    Nanda Devi Unsoeld, 22, of Olympia, Wash., succumbed to ''acute high
altitude sickness'' on Sept. 8, the foundation said.
    She died on an expedition led by her father, William F. Unsoeld, to
the 25,645-foot peak about 210 miles northeast of New Delhi.
    More
    
0927aED 09-17
 - - - - - -

a096  0700  17 Sep 76
PM-Himalayan Death, 1st Add,a092
NEW DELHI add: New Delhi.
    Unsoeld and another American in 1963 were the first Americans to
climb Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak, and the first ever to
climb it by the western ridge. Their climb came 10 years after Sir
Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa Tenzing Norkay first
conquered the mountain.
    Unsoeld first saw Nanda Devi peak while touring India in 1948 as a
student. Touched by its beauty, he vowed to name his first daughter
after the mountain.
    Nanda Devi Unsoeld began climbing when she was 14, and this year she
was a full-fledged member of her father's latest expedition, which
coincided, but had no connection with, the American Bicentennial
Everest Expedition.
    ''I feel a very close relationship with Nanda Devi,'' she told
reporters on July 6, three days before the expedition left for the
peak.
    ''I cannot describe it, but there is something within me about this
mountain ever since I was born.''
    She died, according to the announcement, while at the expedition's
fourth camp at a height of 23,616 feet, about 2,000 feet below the
summit she had hoped to reach.
    
1000aED 09-17
***************

a092  0627  17 Sep 76
PM-Himalayan Death,80
URGENT
    NEW DELHI, India (AP) - The daughter of a famed American mountain
climber, who named her for the Nanda Devi peak in the Himalayas, has
died while trying to scale the mountain with him, the Indian
Mountaineering Foundation announced today.
    Nanda Devi Unsoeld, 22, of Olympia, Wash., succumbed to ''acute high
altitude sickness'' on Sept. 8, the foundation said.
    She died on an expedition led by her father, William F. Unsoeld, to
the 25,645-foot peak about 210 miles northeast of New Delhi.
    More
    
0927aED 09-17
 - - - - - -

a096  0700  17 Sep 76
PM-Himalayan Death, 1st Add,a092
NEW DELHI add: New Delhi.
    Unsoeld and another American in 1963 were the first Americans to
climb Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak, and the first ever to
climb it by the western ridge. Their climb came 10 years after Sir
Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa Tenzing Norkay first
conquered the mountain.
    Unsoeld first saw Nanda Devi peak while touring India in 1948 as a
student. Touched by its beauty, he vowed to name his first daughter
after the mountain.
    Nanda Devi Unsoeld began climbing when she was 14, and this year she
was a full-fledged member of her father's latest expedition, which
coincided, but had no connection with, the American Bicentennial
Everest Expedition.
    ''I feel a very close relationship with Nanda Devi,'' she told
reporters on July 6, three days before the expedition left for the
peak.
    ''I cannot describe it, but there is something within me about this
mountain ever since I was born.''
    She died, according to the announcement, while at the expedition's
fourth camp at a height of 23,616 feet, about 2,000 feet below the
summit she had hoped to reach.
    
1000aED 09-17
 - - - - - -

a099  0710  17 Sep 76
PM-Himalayan Death, 2nd Add, a096, 200
NEW DELHI add: reach.
    Miss Unsoeld came to India in 1974 but was not allowed to go to the
Nanda Devi that year because the peak, which is on the border of
Chinese-ruled Tibet, was then closed to foreigners.
    This year her father received the necessary permission and hoped to
lead an Indo-American expedition to the summit over the unconquered
northwest face.
    Nanda Devi peak was first climbed in 1964 and the feat has been
repeated subsequently, but always by the less difficult southwest
face.
    Miss Unsoeld was a student at Evergreen State College at Olympia.
    She said in an interview two months ago: ''I have been brought up in
the mountains. I have lived a third of my life in Nepal and am
familiar with the Himalayas. The mountains will always be a part of my
life.''
    But she said she had no plans to make mountaineering a career.
    ''I feel it is a form of escapism,'' she said. ''It is easy to turn
your eyes away from the social problems of the world and concentrate
on yourself in mountains.
    ''It is good for a short period, but if you feel involved with
social problems, you cannot like that kind of thing for long.''
    There was no immediate word when Unsoeld and other members of the
expedition would return to Delhi.
    
1010aED 09-17
 - - - - - -

a120  0852  17 Sep 76
PM-Himalayan Death, Correction, a092, 30
NEW DELHI to correct date from 1964 to 1936 sub following for 15th
graf:
    Nanda Devi peak was first climbed in 1936 and the feat has been
repeated subsequently, but always by the less difficult southwest
face.
    Miss Unsoeld, 16th graf.
    
1151aED 09-17
***************

a005  2205  17 Sep 76
PM-Everest, 390
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Seven members of the American Bicentennial
Everest Expedition reopened a route back to their base camp along the
treacherous Khumbu icefall after being cut off by a six-day
snowstorm, U.S. Embassy officials reported.
    They identified the climbers as Gerard Roach, Dee Crouch, Dan
Emmett, Frank Morgan, Joe Reinhard, Robert Cormac and CBS Sports
cameraman Jonathan Wright.
    The actual climbing team numbers 12, including two women.
    Roach was quoted by the officials Friday as saying by radio
telephone from the base camp that the snow stopped Thursday ''and the
weather really began to improve.''
    The snowstorm, which began Saturday, covered the trail the climbers
had cut on and above the icefall.
    ''On Wednesday large avalanches came down in between Camp 1 at
19,000 feet and Camp 2 at 21,000 feet,'' Roach said. ''We had several
feet of snow.''
    The Khumbu icefall is a steep, three-mile-long, slow-moving river of
hunks of ice, some as big as a four-story building. The area is
honeycombed with deep crevasses, and avalanches are frequent. Most
fatalities in climbing Everest have occurred at the icefall.
    At the base camp Roach rejoined his wife, Barbara, one of the women
on the climbing team. She had left for Katmandu for treatment of a
toothache and returned Wednesday.
    A U.S. Embassy official said that after resting this weekend, most
of the mountaineers will resume their climb toward the 29,028-foot
summit of Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak.
    The official said the expedition leader, Phil Trimble, 38, of
Washington, D.C., is staying at Camp 1 and hopes to move up to Camp 2
Saturday.
    The day before the snowstorm hit, the team had set up their camp at
23,000 feet. The expedition still must pitch three more camps before
making their actual assault on the peak, which they had hoped to
reach by Oct. 2.
    The embassy official said that Arlene Blum, 31, the other woman on
the climb; Dr. Chris Chandler, a physician; Hans Bruyntjes, and Rick
Ridgeway moved up to Camp 2 from Camp 1 when the snow stopped
Thursday.
    ''Some of them might go up to reoccupy the third camp,'' the
official said.
    
0105aED 09-18
***************

a226  1119  18 Sep 76
AM-Nanda Devi, 270
    NEW DELHI, India (AP) - Nanda Devi Unsoeld has been buried on the
Himalayan peak for which she was named.
    In the tradition of mountaineering, the remains of the 22-year-coed
from Olympia, Wash., are being left behind on Nanda Devi Peak
following her death last week of acute high altitude sickness.
    ''It was the wish of her father that she be buried there,'' said a
spokesman for the Indian Mountaineering Foundation.
    He said famed mountaineer William F. Unsoeld and other members of an
Indo-American expedition to the 25,645-foot Nanda Devi Peak attended
a memorial service on the slopes of the mountain.
    Nanda Devi died at an altitude of 24,000 feet on Sept. 8, a week
after some members of the expedition reached the summit through the
previously unconquered North Ridge route.
    The Indian Mountaineering Foundation said it did not yet have the
identiies of the 12 members of the expedition who reached the summit.
    Unsoeld was a member of the American xpedition that in 1963 reached
the top of Mt. Everest, at 29,028 feet the world's tallest peak.
    As a student touring India in 1948, Unsoeld was so impressed with
the beauty of Nanda Devi Peak that he promised to name his first
daughter after it.
    The daughter was born in 1954, and she was named Nanda Devi.
    ''I feel a very close relationship with Nanda Devi,'' she said in
New Delhi in July shortly before leaving for the peak. ''I can't
describe it, but there is something within me about this mountain ever
since I was born.''
    
1418pED 09-18
***************

a225  1108  20 Sep 76
AM-Nanda Devi, Bjt, 2 Takes, 440-770
By MYRON L. BELKIND
Associated Press Writer
    NEW DELHI, India (AP) - ''I am going to die.''
    These were the last words of 22-year-old American mountaineer Nanda
Devi Unsoeld before she died on the Himalayan peak for which she was
named, her father said Monday.
    ''She was stricken suddenly, without warning,'' said William F.
Unsoeld, himself a life-long mountaineer who conquered Mt. Everest,
the world's tallest peak, with an American expedition in 1963.
    Recalling his daughter's last moments 24,000 feet up Nanda Devi peak
on the Indo-Tibetan border Sept. 8, Unsoeld said in an interview:
    ''In a matter of moments she became unconscious. We tried mouth to
mouth resuscitation, other emergency methods. But there was no
response.
    ''Within 15 minutes, her lips were cold and we knew life had
departed. We made exhortations begging her not to leave. We continued
resuscitation for 15 more minutes. But there was no response from her
pupils, and we knew we had lost her.''
    Her death ended the Indo-American expedition which Miss Unsoeld had
first conceived two years ago, and which her father had organized,
just a few hours climb and less than 2,000 feet from the 25,645-foot
summit.
    With Unsoeld at the expedition's fourth high altitude camp when his
daughter died were two other climbers, Andy Harvard of Hampden,
Conn., and Peter Lev of Wilson, Wyoming.
    The four had hoped to reach the summit through the treacherous north
ridge route first conquered on Sept. 1 by three other members of the
expedition, Louis Reichardt of Boston, Mass., and John Roskelley and
Dr. James States, both of Spokane, Washington.
    The expedition was to be the fulfillment of a life-long dream for
Unsoeld, who first saw Nanda Devi peak while touring India in 1949.
    ''I was so struck by its beauty that I realized I needed to get
married to have a daughter that I hoped would be beautiful enough to
name after Nanda Devi,'' said Unsoeld, 50, now a member of the faculty
at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash.
    Unsoeld married in 1951, and Nanda Devi, the second of four
children, was born in 1954.
    She began mountain climbing when she was 14 and her dream, like that
of her father, was to reach the summit of Nanda Devi peak.
    Together with Harvard and Lev she reached the 24,000-foot last camp
on Sept. 3 and her father joined the group Sept. 6, a day before the
scheduled assault on the summit.
    ''She was enormously happy to see me, since we had counted on
climbing together,'' Unsoeld said.
    ''We had prepared to go to the summit on Sept. 7 but the weather was
bad and instead we spent the day trying to hydrate ourselves, adding
cocoa and tea to snow that we melted on a small gas stove.
    More
    
1409pED 09-20
 - - - - - -

a226  1110  20 Sep 76
AM-Nanda Devi, Bjt, Correction, a225, 40
NEW DELHI to correct town from Hampden to Hamden, sub following for
7th graf:
    With Unsoeld at the expedition's fourth high altitude camp when his
daughter died were two other climbers, Andy Harvard of Hamden, Conn.,
and Peter Lev of Wilson, Wyoming.
    The four, 8th graf.
    
1410pED 09-20
***************

a065  0404  20 Sep 76
PM-Everest, 190
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Arlene Blum of Menlo Park, Cal., one of the
two women members of the American Bicentennial Everest Expedition, is
ill on the world's highest mountain, a Nepalese liaison officer with
the expedition reported today.
    The radio message to the Foreign Ministry said the 31-year-old
biochemist became ill at the expedition's Camp Two, at 21,000 feet,
and ''was trying to descend down to base camp,'' which is at 17,000
feet.
    The message did not say what Miss Blum's illness was.
    A Foreign Ministry spokesman said he heard a member of the CBS
television crew with the expedition, Peter White, became ill at Camp
One, which is at 19,400 feet, and was also on his way to the base
camp.
    An official at the U.S. Embassy said he talked by radio Sunday with
the base camp and that a member of the expedition told him White
''was not feeling well. But he did not tell me about Miss Blum.''
    Other members of the expedition were reported trying to make their
way along the face of Mt. Lhotse to the South Col, the takeoff point
for the final assault on the 29,028-foot summit of Everest.
    
0704aED 09-20
 - - - - - -

a096  0659  20 Sep 76
PM-Everest, 1st Ld, a065, 240
By BIAYA GURUACHARYA
Associated Press Writer
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Arlene Blum of Menlo Park, Calif., one of the
two women members of the American Bicentennial Everest Expedition, is
ill on the world's highest mountain, a Nepalese liaison officer with
the expedition reported today.
    At the same time, U.S. Embassy officials said four other members of
the expedition had reestablished Camp Three at 23,000 feet and had
set out to pitch the fourth camp. The third camp on the Lhotse face
was wrecked in a heavy snowstorm and blizzard Sept. 11-16.
    The radio message to the Foreign Ministry about Miss Blum said the
31-year-old biochemist became ill at Camp Two, at 21,000 feet, and
''was trying to descend down to base camp,'' which is at 17,000 feet.
The message did not say what her illness was.
    Another woman mountain climber, 22-year-old Nanda Devi Unsoeld of
Olympia, Wash., died last week of what was described as ''acute high
altitude sickness'' while trying to climb the Himalayan peak for which
she was named 440 miles northwest of Everest.
    Miss Unsoeld's father, Willam F. Unsoeld, was leading an expedition
to the 25,645-foot Nanda Devi peak by a new route over its northwest
face. Unsoeld in 1963 became one of the first two Americans to climb
Everest.
    The American Embassy officials said Everest Expedition members Dr.
Chris Chandler, 27, Hans Bruyntjes, 28, Rick Ridgeway, 26, and Joseph
Reinhart, 32, set up new tents Sunday to replace the damaged tents at
Camp Three. They said the fourth camp is to be pitched at about
25,000 feet.
    A Foreign 4th graf
    
0959aED 09-20
 - - - - - -

a101  0722  20 Sep 76
PM-Everest, 2nd Ld, a096-a065, 120
By BIAYA GURUACHARYA
Associated Press Writer
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Arlene Blum of Menlo Park, Calif., one of the
two women members of the American Bicentennial Everest Expedition, is
ill with dysentery on the world's highest mountain, a Nepalese
Foreign Ministry spokesman reported today.
    At the same time, U.S. Embassy officials said four other members of
the expedition had reestablished Camp Three at 23,000 feet and had
set out to pitch the fourth camp. The third camp on the Lhotse face
was wrecked in a snowstorm and blizzard Sept. 11-16.
    A radio message to the Foreign Ministry about Miss Blum said the
31-year-old biochemist became ill at Camp Two, at 21,000 feet. The
ministry spokesman first said she was trying to descend to base camp
at 17,000 feet but later said her condition was not serious and she
was still at the second camp.
    Another woman 4th graf
    
1022aED 09-20
***************

a076  0604  22 Sep 76
PM-Everest, 220
By BINAYA GURUACHARYA
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Climber Arlene Blum has recovered completely
from the dysentery she suffered at 21,000-foot Camp 2 on Mt. Everest,
a U.S. Embassy official said today.
    ''Arlene's problem seems to have gone away,'' the official said,
adding that she went up to Camp 3 at 23,000 feet Tuesday and returned
to Camp 2 in the afternoon.
    The 31-year-old biochemist from Menlo Park, Calif., was accompanied
by the leader of the 12-member American Bicentennial Everest
Expedition, Phil Trimble, 38, of Washington, D.C., on the trip to Camp
3.
    Meanwhile, another woman member of the expedition, Mrs. Barbara
Roach, 32, of Boulder, Colo., and her husband, Gerard, 33, were
preparing to start the climb from base camp. Scheduled to leave them
were Frank Morgan, 38, and Dr. Dee Crouch, 33.
    CBS cameraman Peter White, 40, of Santa Monica, Calif., who was
brought down to base camp Monday from Camp One at 19,400 feet
suffering from altitude sickness, ''looked good now,'' the base camp
reported.
    ''Everybody was healthy and happy,'' Dan Emmett, 36, of Beverly
Hills, Calif., said by radiotelephone.
    The weather has improved on the 29,028-foot Everest and ''we had the
nicest day we ever had here'' Tuesday, Emmett said. 
    
0905aED 09-22
***************

a002  0235  26 Sep 76
BC-Everest, 210
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Five Sherpa guides of the American
Bicentennial Everest Expedition set up Camp 4 Saturday at 24,500 feet,
just 4,528 feet below the peak of the world's highest mountain, the
Nepal Foreign Ministry said.
    The ministry, which has been receiving radio reports from the
expedition's base camp, said none of the 12 American climbers in the
group had reached the new camp by Sunday morning.
    After spending the night at Camp 4, the Sherpas - Ang Phurba Pasang
Norbu, Ang Nima, Katetsering and Lhakpa Gyaltzen - started to make a
trail leading toward the South Col, the jumping-off point for the
final days of the assault on Mt. Everest's summit, the ministry said.
    The expedition's schedule calls for them to establish two more camps
on the way to the summit. Because of bad weather, the climbers are
about 10 days behind their original tentative timetable, and it is now
believed the earliest they can reach the summit is Oct. 10.
    The weather on the mountain Sunday was described as ''fine and
clear.'' Strong winds had prevented the guides from setting up the
fourth camp for two days, the ministry said.
    The American climbers, including two women, are led by Phil Trimble,
38, of Washington, D.C.
    They were all said to be in good physical condition, the ministry
reported.
    
0535aED 09-26
**********

a055  0330  27 Sep 76
PM-Everest, 290
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    EVEREST BASE CAMP, Nepal (AP) - The leader of the American
Bicentennial Everest Expedition has selected two teams of five
climbers each to try for the mountain's 29,028-foot summit.
    One member could be the first American woman to scale the world's
highest peak.
    Expedition chief Phil Trimble said Sunday that the first group to
attempt the summit climb would consist of five men - Gerry Roach, Dr.
Dee Crouch, Dan Emmett, Bob Cormack and Sherpa guide Ang Phurpa.
    In the second team would be Chris Chandler, Rick Ridgeway, Frank
Morgan, Hans Burynttjes and Arlene Blum.
    Weather permitting, summit attempts are scheduled for Oct. 7 and 9.
    The Nepalese Foreign Ministry reported in the capital of Katmandu
today that light snow began falling on Mt. Everest Sunday night.
    Trimble, in the tradition of self-sacrificing expedition leaders,
has listed himself as an alternate for either team.
    The second woman on the 12-member expedition, Roach's wife, Barbara,
has had some difficulty with the altitude. If she feels well enough,
however, she will replace Cormack on the first team, Trimble said.
    ''I tried to be as fair as possible, but any selection is inevitably
unfair to somebody,'' he added. ''Either team could go first, or is
not better than the other. I tried to make them strong in balance so
that independently either could make the summit.''
    Sherpas led by Ang Phurpa and not using oxygen will make the trail
to camp 5 on the South Col, the 26,200-foot jumping-off point for the
summit. Meanwhile, the climbers, except for Trimble and Joe Reinhard,
advance base manager, will return to the base camp to rest up for the
summit push.
    The farthest the expedition had reached by the weekend was camp 4 at
24,50 feet.
    
0631aED 09-27
**********


a216  1113  01 Oct 76
AM-Everest, Bjt, 490
Following is a delayed dispatch from the American Everest Expedition.
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    EVEREST BASE CAMP (AP) - A woman who has a chance of becoming the
first American female on top of Mt. Everest would prefer the
distinction of being the first wife to stand next to her husband on
the mountaintop.
    ''There's no way I would climb that mountain without Gerry. I just
don't have that desire for the top without him,'' said Barbara Roach,
who with her husband is a member of the American Bicentennial Everest
Expedition, now moving toward the top of the world's highest peak.
    In contrast to Arlene Blum, the other woman climber in the 12-member
expedition, Mrs. Roach has often said she cares more that her husband
make it to the top.
    Ms. Blum, who prefers that designation, has made clear she wants to
make it to the top but says she doesn't care which woman is first.
She became very ill one night from a reaction to medication she was
taking for amoebic dysentery and is not completely recovered.
    (The expedition is making steady progress toward the 29,028-foot
summit. Four camps have been set up above Base Camp, and five Sherpa
guides were expected to make a route to the fifth Friday or Saturday.
Camp 5, on the South Col at 26,200 feet, will be the jumping-off
point for the summit.
    (''All the route-making jobs have already been done,'' expedition
member Dan Emmett said Friday. With favorable weather conditions,
summit attempts could begin next week.)
    Mrs. Roach, a 32-year-old dance teacher and performer from Boulder,
Colo., said the most important thing in her life is her husband.
''Everest has been his lifelong dream. And I want to do all that I can
to help him achieve that dream.
    ''As for me, you have to have that gut level desire, really want to
get to the top. I don't know if I have that yet. If I don't make it,
I'll survive very easily.''
    She recently returned to base camp after nearly two weeks' absence
for treatment of a tooth ache and sore throat, and she has been having
difficulty becoming accustomed to the high altitude again.
    During that time, Gerry, 33, was busy putting in routes between
camps high on the mountain. Last week, he came down to spend a few
days of rest at base camp and on Sept. 22, the Roaches and several
other climbers moved up the mountain.
    ''He calls the shots. I just follow,'' said Mrs. Roach, who has been
climbing with her husband for 10 years.
    Roach is conceded by almost all expedition members to be the
strongest climber and the man most hungry for the summit.
    ''It's harder I think being in the first summit team since you have
to break trail,'' said Roach. ''I just want to get up there fast. I'd
rather not go to the summit than be with someone who goes slowly.''
    He also says he will do ''whatever is necessary to the limits of my
physical ability to give her a better chance for the summit.''
    ''He'd only do that if it didn't hurt his own chances to get to the
top,'' said a knowing Mrs. Roach.
    The 5-foot-2 Mrs. Roach is a capable climber. She saved her 6-foot-2
husband's life by pulling him out of a crevasse in Canada in 1973.
    The Roaches are among five climbers named by expedition leader Phil
Trimble to the first team to try for the summit, though Trimble has
indicated the makeup of the teams can change depending on weather,
climbers' health and who has had sufficient rest.
    
1416pED 10-01
**********


a091  0826  07 Oct 76
PM-Everest, 220
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Three climbers of the American Bicentennial
Everest Expedition set up Camp 6 today 1,528 feet below the summit of
Mt. Everest and planned to make the final assault Friday on the
world's tallest peak.
    Dr. Chris Chandler, 28, a physician from Vashon, Wash., Robert
Cormack, 30, of Boulder, Colo., and Sherpa guide Ang Phurba climbed
more than five hours and 1,300 vertical feet to the final camp, where
they will spend the night before attacking the 29,028-foot summit,
the Nepalese Foreign Ministry said.
    The ministry is in touch with the expedition base camp by radio.
    The ministry said eight Sherpas and CBS televison cameraman Mike
Hoover, 33, of Jackson, Wyo., apparently were still at Camp 5. The
Sherpas were to carry equipment up to Camp 6 and Hoover was to film
the climb as far as Camp 6.
    Weather conditions appeared favorable - it was clear with little
wind.
    Earlier Associated Press Writer Jurate Kazickas reported from the
base camp that if all goes as scheduled Chandler, Cormack and Phurba
will begin their day Friday by waking at 3 a.m.
    They will melt snow to make soup and hot chocolate, then a few hours
later strap on their 50-pound packs and head for the summit.
    At Camp 5, three more climbers - Gerry Roach, 33, of Boulder; Rick
Ridgeway, of Malibu, Calif., and Hans Brujntes, 26, of Utrecht, the
Netherlands - by then will be getting ready for their chance at the
summit two days later.
    
1126aED 10-07
**********

a063  0445  08 Oct 76
PM-Everest Woman, 350
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    EVEREST BASE CAMP, Nepal (AP) - ''If climbing were as important to
me as dancing, I could have done it,'' says Barbara Roach, one of the
two female members of the American Bicentennial Everest Expedition.
    But now she's resigned to staying behind while her husband, Gerry,
joins five other expedition members in attempting to reach the summit
of the world's tallest mountain.
    An initial three-person team was expected to try for the summit
today, while Roach was part of a second team slated to undertake the
final stretch of the climb on Saturday.
    ''Perhaps if I can push I shall go farther, but the desire is not
clear,'' said Mrs. Roach, a modern dance teacher from Boulder, Colo.,
as she sat on the rocks at base camp.
    If she had reached the 29,028-foot summit, she would have been the
first American women to get to the peak of Everest, and the couple
would have been the first husband and wife to make it to the top.
    Hiking up to the 21,300-foot high advance base two weeks ago, Mrs.
Roach soon began to feel the effects of the altitude.
    She realized that her balance was off in a near-crisis when trying
to walk across a swaying ladder bridge over a huge crevasse with a
30-pound pack on her back.
    Every day she was at the advance base, Mrs. Roach said she felt
nauseous, had terrible headaches and lost her appetite.
    Mrs. Roach, 32, noted that ''I do feel myself getting weaker and
weaker. And if you are not strong enough with at least some reserve,
climbing the mountain is suicidal and dangerous to others.''
    She has repeatedly said she cares more for her husband's success on
the mountain then her own.
    ''It is his dream, his mountain. I know I can't keep up his pace and
I don't want to slow him down,'' Mrs. Roach said. ''I would have
liked to be able to go to the top with Gerry, but it is more important
to me that he make it.''
    Chances also were slim that the expedition's second woman, Arlene
Blum, would have an opportunity to try for the summit. She was not
selected for one of the two summit teams and it is doubtful there will
be a third.
    
0745aED 10-08
**********

a075  0627  08 Oct 76
PM-Everest Summit, 140
URGENT
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Two American climbers and their Sherpa guide
set out today on the final leg of their attempt to conquer Mt.
Everest, the U.S. Embassy reported.
    The Foreign Ministry said that at 12:45 p.m. local time (3:05 a.m.
EDT) two members of the team crossed the 28,750-foot-high South
Summit, 278 vertical feet below the peak of the world's tallest
mountain.
    Then they were covered by a thick cloud, and people below following
their progress with binoculars could no longer track them, the
ministry said.
    The assault team of the American Bicentennial Everest Expedition
consisted of Dr. Chris Chandler, 28, a physician from Vashon, Wash.;
Bob Cormack, 30, a glider pilot from Boulder, Colo., and guide Ang
Phurba, 27.
    More
    
0927aED 10-08
**********

a076  0647  08 Oct 76
PM-Everest, 1st Add, a075, 450
KATMANDU, Nepal: Phurba, 27.
    They would be the second American team to scale the 29,028-foot
peak. The other successful American expedition was in 1963. A 1971
American attempt failed. Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa
guide Tenzing Norgay were the first to conquer Everest, in 1953.
    It appeared that neither Barbara Roach nor Arlene Blum, who had
hoped to become the first American women to scale Mt. Everest, would
have a chance at the summit. A Japanese, Junko Tabei, is the only
woman to have reached the summit from the Nepal side.
    The assault team's schedule had called for them to awake at 3 a.m.
in their tents at 27,500-foot-high Camp 6, melt snow for a breakfast
of soup and hot chocolate, then a few hours later strap their 50-pound
packs to their backs and begin the climb to the 29,028-foot summit.
    The embassy, in radio contact with expedition member Dan Emmett at
the 12-member group's base camp, said the team left at 7:30 a.m.,
about one hour later than planned. Emmett gave no reason for the
delay.
    He said the weather was clear and sunny - ''One of the best days we
have (had), but we were a bit worried about the wind.''
    Mike Hoover, a CBS television cameraman following the climb, radioed
to the base camp from the South Col, at 26,200 feet, on Thursday that
they were having ''heavy winds . . . up to 50 miles an hour.''
    Hoover had been scheduled to accompany the summit team up to Camp 6,
but an American Embassy official said the expedition members said
they did not have enough oxygen.
    A second summit team - Gerry Roach, 33, of Boulder, Colo., Rick
Ridgeway, 27, of Malibu, Calif., and Hans Bruyntjes, 29, of the
Netherlands - was still in Camp 4 at 24,500 feet, the embassy official
said.
    The second team was scheduled go up to the South Col today ''but
they did not move, primarily because the Sherpas, who assisted the
first summit team in establishing Camp 6, have been exhausted. So the
second summit team did not have the Sherpa support,'' the official
said.
    According to available information here, the second summit bid will
now take place either Monday or Tuesday, instead of Sunday, as
originally planned.
    The ''ABEE,'' as its members called it, began its 140-mile hike to
Everest from Katmandu Aug. 3. A six-day snowstorm ruined their
original timetable, which called for a final assault between Sept. 30
and Oct. 2.
    At the base camp, expedition member Frank Morgan said by radio that
''it has been noticeably cold on the mountain. The thermometer
recorded 15 to 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit at night in Camp 2, at
21,000 feet.''
    Only one other American expedition has made it to Everest's summit,
in 1963. A 1971 American attempt failed.
    
0947aED 10-08
**********

a085  0734  08 Oct 76
PM-Everest, 2nd Ld, a075, 170
    Eds: The following leads notes that guide is no longer with team.
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Two American climbers neared the summit of
Mt. Everest today on the final leg of the U.S. Bicentennial attempt to
conquer the world's tallest mountain, officials reported.
    Dr. Chris Chandler of Vashon, Wash., and Bob Cormack of Boulder,
Colo., were inching their way up the final yards toward the
29,028-foot peak without their Sherpa guide, Ang Phurba, who dropped
back because his oxygen cylinder malfunctioned, the Foreign Ministry
here said.
    Observers below using binoculars saw Chandler, a 28-year-old
physician, and Cormack, a 30-year-old glider pilot, crossing the
dangerous ''Hillary Step'' just short of the summit at 2:30 p.m. local
time - 5:30 a.m. EDT. Then they were obscured by thick clouds.
    The steep pitch, named after Everest's first conqueror, is
considered the last obstacle to the top.
    An hour and 65 minutes earlier, they had been spotted at the South
Summit, 278 vertical feet below the peak.
    Chandler and Cormack, part of the Amerian Bicentennial Everest
Expedition, would be the second American team to scale the mountain.
The other successful Americn expedition was in 1963. A 1971 American
attempt failed. Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa guide
Tenzing Norgay conquered the summit in 1953.
    It appeared, 6th graf
    
1035aED 10-08
**********


a242  1340  08 Oct 76
AM-Everest, Bjt - 2 takes, 500-600
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Dr. Chris Chandler and Bob Cormack neared the
''Top of the World'' Friday on the last leg of their attempt to
become the first Americans in 13 years to reach the summit of Mt.
Everest.
    But as they moved toward the 29,028-foot peak, clouds moved in,
obscuring the view of observers below.
    ''We have every reason to believe they were going on,'' said a
spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, which was in radio contact with the
base camp of the American Bicentennial Everest Expedition.
    The 28-year-old physician and the 30-year-old glider pilot, the
expedition's lead climbers, were last spotted after crossing the
dangerous ''Hillary Step'' just short of the 29,028-foot summit at
3:30 p.m. local time (6:30 a.m. EDT) Friday, officials here said.
    The Hillary Step, named after Everest's first conquerer, is
considered the last obstacle to the top.
    The ''two little figures'' watched through binoculars by observers
at the 19,000-foot level had stopped for about 30 minutes after
crossing the steep pitch, an embassy spokesman said.
    ''It could have been either for rest or to have a bite before going
up the last crucial stage of the climb,'' he said.
    Several hours later the view was still blocked by clouds.
    Chandler, of Vashon, Wash., and Cormack, of Boulder, Colo., climbed
the final leg Friday - 1,528 vertical feet from their last camp -
without their Sherpa guide, Ang Phurba, 27, who had to drop back
because of a malfunctioning oxygen cylinder, officials said.
    Their oxygen tanks, necessary at that altitude, have twice the
capacity of tanks carried on previous expeditions, the embassy
spokesman said.
    On May 1, 1963, James W. Whittaker and Sherpa guide Nawang Gombu
scaled the peak in the only previous successful American expedition.
Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay were
the first to conquer Everest, in 1953.
    Neither of the two women in the Bicentennial expedition, which its
12 members dubbed ''ABEE,'' was included in the two summit-assault
teams.
    Barbara Roach and Arlene Blum had hoped to become the first American
women atop Everest. A Japanese and a Chinese woman have accomplished
the feat.
    The second summit team - Gerry Roach, 33, of Boulder, Colo., Rick
Ridgeway, 27, of Malibu, Calif., and Hans Bruyntjes, 29, of the
Netherlands - were scheduled to make their try for the peak Monday or
Tuesday.
    Chandler and Cormack set out from 27,500-foot-high Camp 6 at 7:30
a.m., about an hour behind schedule. Their plans had called for them
to awake at 3 a.m. in their tents, melt snow for a breakfast of soup
and hot chocolate, then a few hours later strap their 50-pound packs
to their backs and begin the last climb.
    The base camp radioed officials here that the weather on Everest was
clear and sunny Friday. ''One of the best days we have (had), but we
were a bit worried about the wind,'' they quoted expedition member
Dan Emmett as saying.
    MORE
    
1641pED 10-08
**********

a248  1411  08 Oct 76
AM-Everest, Bjt - 1st Add, 100
KATMANDU, Nepal: as saying.
    Mike Hoover, a CBS television cameraman following the climb, radioed
to the base camp on Thursday from the South Col, at 26,200 feet, that
they were experiencing ''heavy winds . . . up to 50 miles an hour.''
    At the base camp, expedition member Frank Morgan said by radio that
''it has been noticeably cold on the mountain. The thermometer
recorded 15 to 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit at night in Camp 2, at
21,000 feet,'' officials here reported.
    The ABEE began its 140-mile hike to Everest from Katmandu on Aug. 3.
A six-day snowstorm ruined their original timetable, which called for
a final assault between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2.
    
1711pED 10-08
**********

a037  0131  09 Oct 76
PM-Everest, Bjt, 360
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Two members of the American Bicentennial
Everest Expedition are on the last leg of their assault on the world's
highest mountain, in a bid to become the first Americans to conquer
the 29,028-foot Mt. Everest in 13 years.
    Dr. Chris Chandler and Bob Cormack were last spotted Friday after
crossing the dangerous ''Hillary Step,'' the last big obstacle before
the peak. The two stopped to rest or eat for about 30 minutes after
crossing the steep pitch, then clouds moved in, obscuring the view of
observers below.
    Later, communications problems between the United States and
Katmandu delayed further reports.
    ''We have every reason to believe they were going on,'' a spokesman
for the U.S. Embassy here said Friday. The Embassy is in radio
contact with the expedition's base camp.
    Chandler, 28, a physician from Vashon, Wash, and Cormack, 30, of
Boulder, Colo., are the lead climbers of the expedition. They set out
Friday morning from the 27,500-foot Camp 6. The last leg, 1,528
vertical feet from the camp, was made without their Sherpa guide, Ang
Phurba, 27. Phurba had to drop back because of a malfunctioning
oxygen cylinder, officials said.
    The only previous successful American Everest expedition was in
1963, when James W. Whittaker and Sherpa guide Nawang Gombu scaled the
peak. Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa guide Tenzing
Norgay were the first to conquer the mountain in 1953.
    A second summit team was scheduled to try for the peak Monday or
Tuesday. That will consist of Gerry Roach, 33, of Boulder, Colo., Rick
Ridgeway, 27, of Malibu, Calif., and Hans Bruyntjes, 29, of The
Netherlands.
    Neither of the two women in the expedition, Barbara Roach and Arlene
Blum, was included in the assault teams. They had hoped to become the
first American women to climb the mountain. A Japanese and a Chinese
woman have made it to the top.
    The Bicentennial expedition set out on the 140-mile hike to Everest
from here on Aug. 3. A six-day snowstorm wrecked the original
timetable, which called for a final assault between Sept. 30 and Oct.
2.
    
0431aED 10-09
**********

a052  0242  09 Oct 76
PM-Everest, 1st Ld, a037, 120
URGENT
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Two members of the American Bicentennial
Everest Expedition have made it to the top of the world's highest
mountain, the Foreign Ministry said today.
    Dr. Chris Chandler, 28, of Seattle, and Bob Cormack, 30, of Boulder,
Colo., reached the top of Mt. Everest late Friday afternoon and
returned to Camp 5 today, the ministry said.
    The climbers followed the traditional southeast ridge route
pioneered by the first conquerors of the 19,028-foot mountain, Sir
Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide, in 1953.
    The two climbers spent about 30 minutes on the summit before
descending to Camp 6 at the 27,500-foot level, the ministry said. They
spent the night there before heading back to the next camp.
    MORE
    
0543aED 10-09
**********

a056  0306  09 Oct 76
Everest, 1st Ld - 1st Add, a052-037, Writethru, 450
KATMANDU: next camp.
    Chandler and Cormack had left Camp 6 about 7:30 Friday morning for
the last 1,528-vertical-foot stretch. Observers lost sight of them
after they crossed the last main obstacle, the dangerous ''Hillary
Step,'' because of clouds. Communications problems delayed reports
from Katmandu for a time.
    The ministry said it took the two climbers about nine hours to make
it to the top. Their Sherpa guide, Ang Phurba, 27, did not accompany
them because of a malfunctioning oxygen cylinder, officials said.
    This is the second conquest of Everest by Americans. The only
previous successful American expedition was in 1963, when James W.
Whittaker and Sherpa guide Nawang Gombu scaled the peak.
    Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay
were the first to conquer the mountain in 1953.
    With the success of Chandler and Cormack, the select club of Everest
summiters now include 53 men and two women. One Sherpa has climbed
Everest twice.
    A Japanese woman, Mrs. Junko Tabei, and a Tibetan, Mrs. Phanthog,
reached the top in May, 1975, from the south through Nepal and from
the north col in Tibet.
    A second summit team from the Bicentennial expedition is scheduled
to try for the peak Monday or Tuesday. That will consist of Gerry
Roach, 33, of Boulder, Colo., Rick Ridgeway, 27, of Malibu, Calif.,
and Hans Bruyntjes, 29, of The Netherlands.
    Neither of the two women in the expedition, Barbara Roach and Arlene
Blum, was included in the assault teams. They had hoped to become the
first American women to climb the mountain. A Japanese and a Chinese
woman have made it to the top.
    The Bicentennial expedition set out on the 140-mile hike to Everest
from here on Aug. 3. A six-day snowstorm wrecked the original
timetable, which called for a final assault between Sept. 30 and Oct.
2.
    Chandler is a doctor on the staff of the West Seattle General
Hospital in Washington State and a divorced father of three children.
His past climbing experience includes the blazing of new routes on
peaks in North America and the Andes in Peru.
    As he set out with the team in August, Dr. Chandler said about
Everest: ''In one way it's just another peak, but then there is that
certain mystique about the place. And like any other mountain, if I
don't have to kill myself, I'd like to get to the top. It would still
be a good trip, an adventure, if I don't make it.''
    Cormack owns a rooming house in Boulder, Colo. He also is a pilot
and occasional tutor of physics.
    Cormack said at the outset of the expedition in August: ''Getting to
the summit is my goal, but I'm not prepared to die or lose my toes
and fingers for it.''
    
0607aED 10-09
**********

a057  0307  09 Oct 76
PM-Advisory,
    Eds: PM-Everest 1st Ld A052 and A056 together are Everest 1st Ld
writethru.
    The AP
    
0608aED 10-09
**********

a058  0309  09 Oct 76
PM-Everest, 1st Ld-Correction, a052, 30
KATMANDU: to fix height of mountain, sub for 3rd graf: ministry said.
    The climbers followed the traditional southeast ridge route
pioneered by the first conquerors of the 29,028-foot mountain, Sir
Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide in 1953.
    The two, 4th graf
    
0609aED 10-09
**********

a062  0341  09 Oct 76
PM-Everest, Bjt, 2d Ld, a052-056, 270
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Two members of the American Bicentennial
Everest Expedition have conquered the world's highest mountain, but
didn't bring the flags they were to plant on the frozen summit, the
Foreign Ministry said today.
    Dr. Chris Chandler, 28, of Seattle, Wash., and Bob Cormack, 30, of
Boulder, Colorado, reached the top of the 29,028-foot Mt. Everest late
Friday afternoon, the ministry said.
    The ministry said it was told by radio that both the United States
and Nepalese flags were in the pack of Sherpa guide Ang Phurba, who
dropped out before the last leg because of problems with his oxygen
equipment.
    The two climbers spent about 30 minutes on the summit before
descending to Camp 6 at the 27,500-foot level, the ministry said. They
spent the night there before heading back to the next camp.
    Both men were reported in excellent health and were expected to
reach the base camp at 21,000 feet late this afternoon.
    The climbers followed the traditional southeast ridge route
pioneered by the first conquerors of the mountain, Sir Edmund Hillary
and his Sherpa guide, in 1953.
    Chandler and Cormack had left Camp 6 about 7:30 Friday morning for
the last 1,528-vertical-foot stretch. Observers lost sight of them
after they crossed the last main obstacle, the dangerous ''Hillary
Step,'' because of clouds.
    The ministry said it took the two climbers about nine hours to make
it to the top.
    This is the second conquest of Everest by Americans. The only
previous successful American expedition was in 1963, when James W.
Whittaker and Sherpa guide Nawang Gombu scaled the peak.
    With the, 9th graf, sent as 5th in a056
    
0641aED 10-09
**********

a067  0410  09 Oct 76
PM-Everest, Bjt, 3rd Ld - Writethru, 420-590
Eds: The following 3rd Ld Writethru includes all material moved
previously as a037-a052-a056
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Two members of the American Bicentennial
Everest Expedition have conquered the world's highest mountain, but
forgot the flags they were to plant on the frozen summit, the Foreign
Ministry said today.
    Dr. Chris Chandler, 28, of Seattle, Wash., and Bob Cormack, 30, of
Boulder, Colorado, reached the top of the 29,028-foot Mt. Everest late
Friday afternoon, the ministry said.
    The ministry said it was told by radio that both the U.S. and
Nepalese flags were in the pack of Sherpa guide Ang Phurba, who
dropped out before the last leg because of problems with his oxygen
equipment.
    The two climbers spent about 30 minutes on the summit before
descending to Camp 6 at the 27,500-foot level, the ministry said. They
spent the night there before heading back to the next camp.
    Both men were reported in excellent health and were expected to
reach the base camp at 21,000 feet late this afternoon.
    The climbers followed the traditional southeast ridge route
pioneered by the first conquerors of the mountain, Sir Edmund Hillary
and his Sherpa guide, in 1953.
    Chandler and Cormack had left Camp 6 about 7:30 Friday morning for
the last 1,528-vertical-foot stretch. Observers lost sight of them
after they crossed the last main obstacle, the dangerous ''Hillary
Step,'' because of clouds.
    The ministry said it took the two climbers about nine hours to make
it to the top.
    This is the second conquest of Everest by Americans. The only
previous successful American expedition was in 1963, when James W.
Whittaker and Sherpa guide Nawang Gombu scaled the peak.
    With the success of Chandler and Cormack, the select club of Everest
summiters now include 53 men and two women. One Sherpa has cimbed
Everest twice.
    A Japanese woman, Mrs. Junko Tabei, and a Tibetan, Mrs. Phanthog,
reached the top in May, 1975, from the south through Nepal and from
the north col in Tibet.
    A second summit team from the Bicentennial expedition is scheduled
to try for the peak Monday or Tuesday. That will consist of Gerry
Roach, 33, of Boulder, Colo., Rick Ridgeway, 27, of Malibu, Calif.,
and Hans Bruyntjes, 29, of The Netherlands.
    Neither of the two women in the expedition, Barbara Roach and Arlene
Blum, was included in the assault teams. They had hoped to become the
first American women to climb the mountain. A Japanese and a Chinese
woman have made it to the top.
    MORE
    
0711aED 10-09
**********

a068  0414  09 Oct 76
PM-Everest, Bjt, 3rd Ld - 1st Add, 170
KATMANDU: the top.
    The Bicentennial expedition set out on the 140-mile hike to Everest
from here on Aug. 3. A six-day snowstorm wrecked the original
timetable, which called for a final assault between Sept. 30 and Oct.
2.
    Chandler is a doctor on the staff of the West Seattle General
Hospital in Washington State and a divorced father of three children.
His past climbing experience includes the blazing of new routes on
peaks in North America and the Andes in Peru.
    As he set out with the team in August, Dr. Chandler said about
Everest: ''In one way it's just another peak, but then there is that
certain mystique about the place. And like any other mountain, if I
don't have to kill myself, I'd like to get to the top. It would still
be a good trip, an adventure, if I don't make it.''
    Cormack owns a rooming house in Boulder, Colo. He also is a pilot
and occasional tutor of physics.
    Cormack said at the outset of the expedition in August: ''Getting to
the summit is my goal, but I'm not prepared to die or lose my toes
and fingers for it.''
    
0714aED 10-09
**********

a070  0422  09 Oct 76
PM-Everesy Facts, 160
By The Associated Press
    Here are some facts and figures about Mt. Everest:
    LOCATION - On the border of Nepal and Tibet.
    HEIGHT - 29,028 feet, the world's highest mountain.
    TOTAL CONQUERORS BEFORE THIS - 40 men and 2 women.
    FIRST CONQUERORS - Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa
guide Tenzing Norgay, on May 29, 1953.
    FIRST AMERICAN CONQUEROR - James W. Whittaker of Seattle, Wash.,
with Sherpa guide Nawang Gombu, on May 1, 1963.
    FIRST WOMAN CONQUEROR - Mrs. Junko Tabei, then 35, of Japan, on May
16, 1975. (China announced that a woman from Tibet was in a 12-member
Chinese team to reach the summit from the Tibet side on May 27,
1975.)
    LAST PREVIOUS CLIMB - Sgt. J. H. Stokes and Sgt. M. P. Lane of the
British army, on May 16, 1976.
    DEATHS - Recorded toll of 34. (According to Polish sources but not
confirmed by the U.S.S.R., 40 Soviet climbers were killed on an
expedition in December 1952, the Guinness Book of World Records says.)
    
0722aED 10-09
**********

a077  0516  09 Oct 76
PM-Everest Facts, Correction, a4960, 10
UNDATED: To fix total number of Everest conquerors previous to two
Americans, sub for 4th graf: highest mountain.
    TOTAL CONQUERORS BEFORE THIS - 51 men and 2 women.
FIRST CONQUERORS, 5th graf
    
0816aED 10-09
**********


a220  1046  09 Oct 76
AM-Everest, Bjt - 2 Takes, 450-910
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    EVEREST BASE CAMP, Nepal (AP) - Two members of the American
Bicentennial Everest Expedition have scaled the world's highest
mountain, but strong winds Saturday put a summit attempt by additional
climbers in doubt.
    Word that Dr. Chris Chandler, 28, of Seattle, Wash., and Bob
Cormack, 30, of Boulder, Colo., had reached the peak of the
29,028-foot mountain on Friday ended a night of anxiety at the base
camp.
    The two men were seen climbing into a cloud that obscured the summit
Friday afternoon. At noon Saturday watchers at Camp 5, perched on the
mountain at 26,200 feet and the next to last stop on the way to the
summit, reported the two men were seen climbing slowly down to the
camp. Winds were reported in excess of 100 miles an hour.
    At 1:30 p.m. local time a more detailed report from Camp 5 said the
two triumphant climbers had reached the summit Friday afternoon, were
strong, and had not suffered frost bite.
    Expedition leader Phillip Trimble, 38, a State Department lawyer in
Washington D.C., declared:
    ''It is difficult to express in words my pride and my relief that
they are all right. It is a great moment for the expedition.''
    Dan Emmett, another expedition member, said: ''This is by far and
away the happiest moment of the expedition. The odds were building
against them. The strong wind, the 18-hour day, a cold night out -
they are a couple of pretty strong Americans.''
    A three-man team left Camp 4 for another summit attempt, but whether
the climbers would continue on beyond Camp 5 was still to be decided.
Weather on the mountain was reported clear and sunny, but the winds
were described as unbearable.
    Gerry Roach, 33, of Boulder, Colo., said on leaving Camp 4, ''Our
going to the summit depends on those guys being perfectly okay and the
wind, our food and our oxygen supply.''
    Climbing with Roach were Rick Ridgeway, 27, of Malibu, Calif., and
Hans Bruyntjes, 28, of the Netherlands, the only non-American on the
12-member expedition, other than the Sherpa guides and bearers.
    The summit success was reported by radio to the Nepalese Foreign
Ministry in Katmandu, which made the first public announcement.
    The ministry said the two flags which the climbers had planned to
plant on the frozen summit had been left behind in the pack of Sherpa
guide Ang Phurba, who dropped out before the last leg because of
problems with his oxygen equipment.
    The ministry said Chandler and Cormack spent about 30 minutes on the
top of the mountain before climbing down to Camp 6 at 27,500 feet
where they spent the night.
    The climbers followed the traditional southeast ridge route to the
peak taken by the first conquerors of the mountain, Sir Edmund Hillary
and his Sherpa guide, Tensing Norgay, in 1953.
    MORE
    
1346pED 10-09
**********

a221  1055  09 Oct 76
AM-Everest, Bjt, 1st Add, 460
EVEREST BASE CAMP add: in 1953.
    Chandler and Cormack bring to 55 the number of persons who have
scaled Everest. One Sherpa has climbed the mountain twice, and two of
the successful climbers were women - Mrs. Junko Tabei of Japan and a
Tibetian woman, Mrs. Phanthog, who reached the top on separate
expeditions in May 1975.
    Two women members of the bicentennial expedition hoped to become the
first American women to climb Everest, but were not picked for either
summit team so far. Barbara Roach, 32, wife of Gerry, had trouble
acclimatizing to the altitude, and Arlene Blum, 31, of Menlo Park,
Calif., was last reported suffering from a stomach ailment.
    Chandler and Cormack were the first Americans to climb Everest since
the first successful American expedition in 1963 which brought five
men to the top of the world and made James W. Whittaker of Seattle,
Wash., the first American to conquer the mountain.
    The bicentennial expedition is only the third to reach the top of
Everest in the postmonsoon season first opened to foreigners by
Nepalese authorities in the early 1950s. The other postmonsoon
successes were by a Japanese team in 1973 and a British expedition in
1975. Five other postmonsoon expeditions failed.
    The 10 other successful Everest expeditions were all accomplished in
the premonsoon season.
    The bicentennial expedition came about by chance. Trimble, a native
of Springfield, Ohio, was considering scaling a 24,000-foot peak in
the Himalayas when he learned last December from a friend in Nepal
that the French had dropped their 1976 option to climb Everest.
    After discussing the project with mountain-climbing friends, Trimble
picked up the French option with only seven months to get the
expedition organized. Most Everest expeditions take two to three years
of organization and planning.
    The climbers left Katmandu for the 140-mile hike to Everest on Aug.
3. A six-day snowstorm on the mountain delayed their orginal schedule
which had foreseen a summit attempt between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2.
    Chandler, an emergency room physician at West Seattle General
Hospital and divorced father of three children, said before starting
out for Everest: ''In one way it's just another peak, but then there
is that certain mystique about the place.''
    On leave from his hospital for the Everest expedition, Chandler
planned medical observation of the effects of high altitude on
respiratory and pulmonary systems.
    As well as being a climber, Cormack is also a stunt pilot and was
rated as a ''very good'' by his instructor who said the 6 foot 3
mathematician had won the second International Aerobatic Club
competition he entered. He owns a rooming house in Boulder and
occasionally tutors in physics. Looking forward to the Everest trip he
said, ''Getting to the summit is my goal, but I'm not prepared to die
or lose my tos and fingers for it.''
    
1356pED 10-09
**********

a260  1512  09 Oct 76
AM-Everest, Sub, a220, 40
EVEREST BASE CAMP: To add nationalities of flags, sub 12th graf: The
ministry . . . oxygen equipment.
    The ministry said the American and Nepalese flags, which the
climbers had planned to plant on the frozen summit, had been left
behind in the pack of Sherpa guide Ang Phurba. The guide dropped out
before the last leg because of pborlems with his oxygen equipment.
The ministey, 13th graf
    
1813pED 10-09
**********

a011  0717  10 Oct 76
BC-Everest, 200
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - The American Bicentennial Everest Expedition
abandoned Sunday further attempts on the world's highest mountain
after putting two members on the 29,028-foot summit, base camp
reported to the Nepalese Foreign Ministry.
    A ministry spokesman said Phil Trimble, 38, leader of the 12-member
expedition, made the decision after consulting with the three men
preparing for the next attempt.
    Gerry Roach, 33, Rick Ridgeway, 26, and Hans Bruyntjes, 29, were to
have made the second summit attempt Sunday.
    They were reported waiting at Camp 4 at 24,500 feet.
    According to information available in Katmandu, most of the
expedition members have gone down to Camp 2 at 21,000 feet, where
Trimble was staying.
    ''They were scheduled to descend to base camp Monday,'' the ministry
spokesman said.
    The spokesman said the two who reached the summit, Dr. Chris
Chandler and Bob Cormack, were ''in good physical condition.'' They
were also to descend to base camp Monday from Camp 2.
    
1018aED 10-10
**********

a211  0930  10 Oct 76
AM-Everest, Bjt, 360
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    EVEREST BASE CAMP, Nepal (AP) - High winds and numbing cold on the
upper reaches of Mt. Everest forced the American Bicentennial
expedition Sunday to abandon plans to put a second team of climbers
atop the 29,028-foot summit.
    Dr. Chris Chandler and Robert Cormack reached the summit Friday
afternoon and by Sunday had descended to Camp 2, an advance camp at
21,000 feet.
    Almost a mile farther up the mountain at Camp 4, the second team -
Gerry Roach, 33, of Boulder, Colo., Rick Ridgeway, 26, of Malibu,
Calif., and Hans Bruyntjes, 29, of the Netherlands - received word
from expedition leader Phil Trimble that the planned second assault
was being scrapped.
    ''We have decided to abandon the mountain,'' Trimble said from Camp
2, where he was overseeing the far-flung operation. ''It's very windy
and cold and the weather seems to be getting worse. A second summit
attempt is not worth the risks it would entail.''
    Winds in excess of 100 miles an hour were reported Saturday at
26,000 feet and above. Overnight temperatures in recent days have
dipped to 20 below zero Fahrenheit on the upper slopes.
    Chandler, 28, a physician from Seattle, Wash., and Cormack, a
30-year-old pilot and sometimes physics teacher from Boulder, Colo.,
were reported in good physical condition at Camp 2.
    (The Nepal Foreign Ministry in Katmandu said Mike Hoover, 33, a CBS
television cameraman who followed the expedition up to 26,200 feet,
was reported ailing. The exact nature and seriousness of his illness
was not known in Katmandu. He had descended to Camp 2 by Sunday.)
    The American Bicentennial Everest Expedition (ABEE) had hoped to put
10 of its 12 climbers on the summit, but the two teams were reduced
to three climbers each because the group did not have enough Sherpa
guides and bearers to carry equipment loads to the highest camps.
    The third member of the Chandler-Cormack team, Sherpa guide Ang
Phurba, was forced to drop back to Camp 4 because of a faulty
regulator on his oxygen tank.
    Except for the three second-team climbers, the expedition members
were either here or at Camp 2 Sunday. Those at Camp 2 were scheduled
to descend to base camp Monday.
    
1231pED 10-10
**********

a052  0254  11 Oct 76
PM-Everest, 330
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    EVEREST BASE CAMP, Nepal (AP) - Members of the American Bicentennial
Everest Expedition headed back to base camp today after
100-mile-per-hour winds and numbing cold forced cancellation of an
attempt to put a second team on top of the world's tallest mountain.
    Dr. Chris Chandler and Robert Cormack made it to the 29,028-foot
summit Friday afternoon, but expedition leader Phil Trimble decided
Sunday to call off an assault by the three-man second team.
    ''We have decided to abandon the mountain,'' Trimble said from Camp
2, at 21,000 feet. ''It's very windy and cold and the weather seems
to be getting worse. A second summit attempt is not worth the risks it
would entail.''
    Winds of more than 100 miles were reported above 26,000 feet, with
temperatures dropping to 20 below zero Fahrenheit.
    The second team - Gerry Roach, 33, of Boulder, Colo.; Rick Ridgeway,
26, of Malibu, Calif.; and Hans Bruyntjes of The Netherlands - were
at Camp 4, at 24,500 feet. They had been scheduled to make the attempt
today or Tuesday, but instead will head for Camp 2.
    The other nine American climbers were already back at the base camp
or on their way down from Camp 2.
    Chandler, 28, a physician from Seattle, and Cormack, 30, a pilot and
physics teacher from Boulder, Colo., were reported in good condition.
    (The Nepalese Foreign Ministry in Katmandu reported that CBS
television cameraman Mike Hoover, 32, was ill, but the nature and
seriousness of his illness was not known.
    (Hoover had followed the climbers up to 26,200 feet and was back at
Camp 2 on Sunday.)
    The expedition originally planned to put 10 of its 12 members on top
of the mountain but had to cut back to two three-man teams because it
did not have enough Sherpa guides and bearers to get all the
equipment up to the highest camps.
    Sherpa guide Ang Phurba was the third member of the Chandler-Cormack
team but had to drop back to Camp 4 because of a faulty regulator on
his oxygen tank.
    
0555aED 10-11

a059  0408  12 Oct 76
PM-Everest, 200
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - All members of the American Bicentennial
Everest Expedition have arrived safely at their base camp after
calling off plans to put a second climbing team on top of the world's
highest mountain, an American Embassy official said today.
    The official, who spoke to the base camp by radio, said the last
Sherpa guide who accompanied the climbers arrived at the base camp
this morning.
    The official said he did not speak with the two men who climbed to
the summit, Dr. Chris Chandler and Robert Cormack, because they were
having a ''big breakfast'' and did not come to the radio.
    Chandler, 28, of Seattle, and Cormack, 30, of Boulder, Colo., made
it to the 29,028-foot summit Friday afternoon. Expedition leader Phil
Trimble called off an attempt by the second team because the
temperature had dropped to 20 degrees below zero and there were winds
of more than 100 miles an hour.
    ''A second summit attempt is not worth the risks it would entail,''
he said.
    The second team climbed to 24,500 feet. The members of the team were
Gerry Roach, 33, of Boulder; Rick Ridgeway, 26, of Malibu, Calif.;
and Hans Bruyntjes of The Netherlands.
    
0709aED 10-12
**********

n540  0505  12 Oct 76
The following Bartlett column is copyrighted and for use only
by newspapers that have arranged for its publication with Field
Newspaper Syndicate. Any other use is prohibited.
Release Wednesday, October 13
(Transmitted 10-12)
News Focus: No More Disparagements
BY CHARLES BARTLETT
WASHINGTON     - The ascent by two young Americans to the peak
of Mount Everest may help to dispel the discouragement being
spread by Jimmy Carter's assertions that the United States
is no longer strong or respected in the world.
    Carter's disparagements echo past campaigns as well as the
self-doubts which many American felt at the end of the Johnson
years. They are reminders of the gap between John Kennedy's promise
to rebuild American prestige and the emotionally divided state
in which the Democrats left the country eight years later.
    ''On the whole the United States is in a much healthier
condition than the rest of the free world,'' the noted British
political scientist, Max Beloff, said last winter. ''I feel much
more optimistic every time I cross the Atlantic. At this moment,
it's true, Americans are passing through a period of
self-examination and self-criticism. It's a sort of trauma which
I hope will end very quickly because most of it is
totally unnecessary.''
    Carter's bleak view undoubtedly derives from his political
dilemma. Americans are in a more cheerful mood this fall than
they have been in any presidential campaign since 1960. Carter
hears from his political analysts that there is no massive urge
to push him into office because the voters, while still wary
of government, are increasingly optimistic about the way things
are going. He is told they can be persuaded to vote a change of
leadership, but they certainly aren't looking for sharp changes.
    In scratching for issues, Carter risks a further discovery that
the public is no longer receptive to rhetoric which puts in doubt
the nation's standing in the world. Sensitivities linger from the
bruising experience in Southeast Asia. People have put
foreign policy at the bottom of their list of concerns and they
are anxious to be reassured that the nation is playing a wise and
proper hand abroad. They want a chance to relish the
blessing of peace.
    Moreover, Carter's rhetoric is not justified by the record. Faced
with a Communist world bent on allotting more resources to civilian
usage and a free world made less secure by energy costs and
inflation, the Ford administration has been aggressively agile
and adept. The uncertainties abroad were created by Congress's
erratic stands, not by Ford's even, open ways.
    A weak President would have left the nation floundering in its
self-indulgent use of energy, a ready target for blackmail from
abroad in those days when reliance on oil imports would exceed
the domestic production. Congress would, after all, have been
happy to participate in creating this vulnerability.
    But Ford took strong stands to assert the stern realities
against the political inclination to placate the consumer at the
expense of the future. He tugged and pulled Congress into
slow, reluctant agreement with his premise that energy price
rises are the best hope of stimulating conservation and obtaining
new supplies. Whether the President next winter is Ford or Carter,
virtually all the Ford program, including natural gas
deregulation, is almost certain to be enacted.
    This readiness on the part of the Ford administration to tackle
the energy crisis and inflation lent credibility to its
efforts to secure cooperation in the West on monetary reform and
other crucial adjustments. Its potential for leadership was
enlarged by its skill at becoming trusted as an intermediary
in the standoff between Egypt and Israel. Its cautious
approach to understandings with the Soviets quited the
fears about detente.
    Carter makes the situation seem much grimmer than it is.
When John Kennedy campaigned he used to say he was going to
''make a great nation greater.'' But Carter talks as if he were
battling for control of a rampant mess. His political
strategy is intruding on the citizens' enjoyment of their
blessings and the progress they have made against the problems.
(Release Wednesday, October 13)
hb    (End Bartlett) 10-12
 

a229  1223  12 Oct 76
AM-Everest, Bjt, 2 Takes, 470-760
Wirephoto NY28
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    (Editors Note: Associated Press Writer Jurate Kazickas accompanied
the American Bicentennial Everest Expedition to the climbers' base
camp. Here is her report on the experiences of the two who reached the
top.)
    EVEREST BASE CAMP, Nepal (AP) - When Bob Cormack finally got to the
summit of Mt. Everest, he looked around to the edge of the world
while hurricane winds howled and said to himself: ''I better get the
hell out of here.''
    Something similar passed through the mind of Chris Chandler as he,
too, skirted 10,000-foot drops and reached the top last Friday.
    ''The winds were over 100 miles per hour and we could hardly stand
up, It was late in the afternoon. I asked myself what am I doing
here,'' Chandler said.
    Chandler, 28, of Seattle, Wash., and Cormack, 30, of Boulder, Colo.,
said they were too concerned with survival to spend much time on the
summit savoring the triumph of the U.S. Bicentennial Everest
Expedition..
    ''It was a crumby day to climb Everest,'' Cormack said. The wind was
so strong, he said, that on the way up he had to squat down for a few
minutes every 10 steps.
    The two men, roped about 100 feet apart, were helped up the steep
Hillary Step just below the summit by a fixed rope they found left
over from another expedition. ''If either of us had made a mistake it
would have been all over because there were 10,000-foot drops on
either side,'' said Chandler.
    Exhausted and cold, the two nevertheless spent half an hour on the
summit at 29,028 feet taking pictures and gazing down into the clouds
over Nepal and on to the plains of Tibet.
    ''Here I am on the summit of Everest,'' Cormak remembered thinking.
''I could hardly believe it.''
    The two set out from Camp 6 at an elevation of 27,450 feet with
Sherpa Ang Phurba at about 7:30 on Friday morning.
    Within an hour Ang Phurba was forced to turn back because of a
frozen oxygen regulator.
    ''It was so late by then, that I thought it was hardly worth the
effort to try for the summit,'' said Cormack.
    But when the two reached the south summit, just 278 feet short of
the top, at about 1 o'clock, Cormack thought, ''Wow, we're going to
make it.''
    They had not anticipated, however, the debilitating effects of
working at that altitude, even with oxygen.
    The plan was to lave at the south summit one of the two bottles of
oxygen they were carrying and to pick it up on the return trip.
    Taking off their mittens to remove the pack, warming up their hands,
removing the oxygen bottle and getting packed up again took almost an
hour. Then Chandler had some problems with his oxygen mask and that
took another 30 minutes. And then there was a pause to nibble some
candy, nuts, and raisins and drink a lot of lemonade.
    ''From the south summit on the wind really began to howl.'' said
Cormack.
    MORE
    
1525pED 10-12
**********

a230  1229  12 Oct 76
AM-Everest, Bjt, 1st Add, 290
EVEREST BASE CAMP add: Cormack.
    It took the two men 35 minutes to climb the famous Hillary Step, a
very steep 70 foot pitch named for Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand,
who together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was the first to scale
Everest.
    The climbers had picked 4 p.m. as the hour they would turn back no
matter where they were, but by then the summit was just 50 feet away.
    ''It was nearly the end of my endurance,'' said Cormack. ''The wind
was blowing so hard I could not stand up. I had to squat every few
minutes and then take 10 steps and sit down again.''
    Then they saw the tripod with tattered remnants of flags left by the
Chinese expedition in 1975. ''We knew we had made it,'' said Chandler
who described the summit as a tiny 2-feet by 2-feet area.
    The men left no flag on the summit. The United States flag was in
Cormack's pocket, but he said it was just too cold and complicated to
get it out.
    Chandler's romanticism proved more compelling than patriotism. He
managed to tie to the tripod his girl friend's green scarf containing
rice blessed by a lama.
    ''What am I doing here? I have to get out of here,'' Chandler then
said to himself.
    And Cormack too was seized by a strong drive to get off the
mountain, ''I was in such a hurry to get down that nothing seemed
difficult any more.''
    The men descended in darkness, reaching Camp 6 at 7:30 p.m.
    The next morning Cormack and Chandler made it down to Camp 5 without
oxygen, stumbling and falling every few steps from exhaustion.
Chandler finally crawled on his hands and knees to the welcome tent.
    ''I never experienced anything like that in my life and don't plan
to ever again,'' he said.
    
1530pED 10-12
**********
a216  0951  16 Oct 76
AM-Everest, Bjt - 2 takes, 450-940
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    EVEREST BASE CAMP, Nepal (AP) - For those members of the American
Bicentennial expedition who did not make it to the summit of Mt.
Everest, the 10-week trip was everything from a ''bust'' to a great
adventure. In some cases, ''never again'' was the final word.
    Two men, Bob Cormack and Chris Chandler, made it to the top of the
world - at 29,028 feet - on Oct. 8. Ten other members of the
expedition, including two women, had to be content with personal
achievements at various high altitudes and the knowledge that whatever
they did - help finance and organize equipment, or make the route
between the high camps - was essential to the success of the climb.
    (Cormack and expedition leader Phil Trimble reached Katmandu early
Saturday after their climb down from Everest. The other team members
were expected to arrive in Katmandu Sunday.
    (Cormack told a news conference he was looking forward to his first
hot bath in more than a month, then planned to look around the
Nepalese capital. Cormack, who is from Boulder, Colo., added that his
next climbing will be on ''a small, pleasant mountain - I mean the
Rockies through Colorado.''
    (Trimble, a State Department lawyer from Washington, said he hoped
to return to the Himalayas to climb another mountain. He mentioned Cho
Oyu, a 26,750-foot peak in the Everest region. It claimed the lives
of two women climbers and two Sherpa guides in 1959.)
    Among the expedition members denied the summit, Gerry Roach of
Boulder, Colo., felt the denial most keenly. He had dreamed of
climbing Everest since he was a child and it was desperately important
to him to make the top.
    ''That's what climbing is all about,'' he said.
    Throughout the trip, the strong, vitamin-popping 33-year-old
mathematician was considered the No. 1 contender for the summit. He
had been slotted for the first team, when, the day before leaving the
advance base for the top, he became slightly ill and decided he'd be
at maximum strength if he waited for two days and went on the second
three-man team.
    He and the others never got a chance to go because of the lack of
support from Sherpa carriers and the bitter, windy weather, and
because when it looked as if Chandler and Cormack may have been
stranded on the mountain, the second team unselfishly gave up rest and
preparations for the summit to go up to Camp 5 on a possible rescue
mission.
    ''I'm very disappointed I didn't go to the top,'' said Roach,
packing his gear to go home. ''For me, the trip was a bust. The
Everest experience means nothing to me without he summit. At best, it
was a neutral experience, a nice vacation. It's better than sitting
at a desk in Boulder.''
    MORE
    
1254pED 10-16
**********

a217  1000  16 Oct 76
AM-Everest, Bjt - 1st Add, 490
    EVEREST BASE CAMP: in Boulder.''
    Rick Ridgeway of Malibu, Calif., had a spot on that second team that
never got a chance for the summit.
    ''I don't feel as bad as I thought I might,'' said Ridgeway. ''Sure
I'm disappointed. But I was so worried about Chris and Bob that when
I knew they were alive I felt so wonderful that the other feelings
didn't matter.
    ''I feel a part of me was up there because we all put so much effort
into going up there,'' said Ridgeway, coughing badly from bronchitis.
''This mountain has taken more out of me than any other climb. I've
had a lot of adventures in my life but this is right up there on
top.''
    The third member of the second team, Hans Bruyntjes, might have been
the first Dutchman on Everest. He was the only non-American on the
12-member expedition.
    ''It's a pity I didn't have a chance because I know I could have
made it,'' said Bruyntjes. ''But it was a great experience being with
all those people. I won't forget it. But no, never again. I've had my
experience. And it's enough for me to be part of a successful
expedition.''
    Frank Morgan, a lawyer living in Jakarta, Indonesia, walked one day
to Camp 5 on the South Col at 26,200 feet.
    ''That was far enough for me,'' said Morgan. ''I think I had peaked
psychologically by then. It was very satisfying to look down into
Tibet. I'm not disappointed I didn't get to the summit. It's dangerous
up there.''
    Dr. Dee Crouch, of Boulder, Colo., who also went as far as the Col,
was disappointed, too, about the summit but shrugged and said, ''I'll
forget about it in a month. I doubt if I'll want to go on another big
expedition. But then, that's what I said after the last one.''
    Barbara Roach knew she would never get to the summit weeks ago when
she came down from Advance Base suffering from altitude sickness. All
she ever really cared about was that husband Gerry make it to the
top. She cried the day she learned he would not.
    Arlene Blum is a little angry. Once Mrs. Roach backed out, it was
Ms. Blum alone who had the chance of becoming the first American woman
on the summit of Everest.
    A 31-year-old chemistry professor who prefers the feminist
designation, Ms. Blum feels she was practically ignored when it came
time for summit team decisions. Her only hope was that she be
considered for a third team.
    When it was obvious that there would not even be a second team, Ms.
Blum lobbied for the opportunity to at least get to the South Col.
    ''It's such a historic place. I know I could have made it that
far,'' said Ms. Blum, who did not get higher than Camp 4 at about
24,500 feet. ''It wouldn't have hurt anyone to let me go to the Col
but no, I was told I couldn't go. I strongly suspect male chauvinism.
Perhaps, an American all-woman team will climb Everest one day.''
    Nevertheless, she looks back on the Everest trip as ''something that
I will remember all my life. It was a great experience.''
    
1303pED 10-16
**********

n461  0653  18 Oct 76
Attention: Feature editors.
 
By SANDRA PESMEN
(c) 1976 Chicago Daily News (Oct. 18)
    Chicago - At last Dr. Pete Hackett is on the way back
to his outpost in the vast mountain wilderness of the Hihalayas,
where once again he'll tend to the peasants, their yaks and his
research project on a disease called mountain sickness.
    For about a year, this 28-year-old Chicagoan was the only medical
person available to the people, the yaks and the visiting
mountain-climbing tourists in his area of Nepal.
    And that tiny country - about the size of Wisconsin and tucked
between India and Tibet - boasts 11 million people, most of whom
suffer from tuberculosis, dysentery or trichinosis.
    The people there don't face as much starvation and ogerpopulation
as people do in India,'' Hackett said. ''But then, that may be
because they have an infant mortality rate of 50 per cent, and life
expectancy is 38.''
    He is paid nothing for this work.
    This dedicated young doctor, who graudatedfrom the
Unive
sity of Illinois Medical College in 1973, chose an internship
at San Francisco General Hospital so that he could be near
the mountains of Yosemite.
    ''I fell in love with mountains when I was 10 and my grandparents
took me on a trip to Colorado,'' Hackett said. ''there is pure joy
in being on top of the world. There are very few people who ever
come close to that.'' Hackett got to Nepal in a very roundazout
way. After his intership, he had mixed feelings about moving
into a medical practice.
    ''I'm the oldest of 10 boys, and our father is a general practitioner,''
he explained. ''But I felt as though I'd had it with medical school
then, so I went up to Yosemite and worked with a helicopter rescue
-mission crew. While I was doing that, I met some people who ran a company
called Mountain Travel. They organized mountain-climbing tours
in the Himalayas, and since they needed a doctor to send on their
tours, they offered to take me along with all expenses paid.
I couldn't wait to go.''
    The original plan was for Hackett to go on a 25-day tour of the
Himalayas. ''I liked it so much I stayed seven months.
I hooked up with other later Mountain Travel tours and hiked about
15,000 miles,'' he eaid.
    It was during this time that Hackett was asked to join the
Himalayan Rescue Assn., and soon afterward he established a small
clinic in a yak herder's hut.
    ''Soon I was treating people in nearby rural villages, and they
brought their yaks to me too, because the animals are so valuable
to them. I often helped the yaks in difficult births,'' he said,
smiling. ''Last year I treated 510 Sherpas, or local people,
and 430 tourists. We estimate that about 3,000 tourists come to
Mt. Everest each year, and about 50 per cent of them seem to get
some form of a high-altitude illness called mountain sickness.''
    This disease, distinguished by a heacache that doesn't go away,
nausea, shortness of breath and lack of co-ordination, also is
being seen with greater frequency now in the mountain ranges of the
United States where people ski.
    ''That's because people ascend to high altitudes too quickly,''
Hackett said. ''If you're going to ski at Vail, you should stop
in Denver for a night, or at least stay in your hotel and rest
for 24 hours before you go out on the slopes.'' He added that the first
emergency treatment for someone who feels the symptoms is to descend
immediately.
    Hackett returned to Chicago 10 months ago to pay some medical-school
debts; to raise money for a new, larger clinic in Nepal by
giving slide lectures, and to work with Dr. Drumhon Rennie, of
Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, who is a pioneer in the
field of mountain sickness.
    But Hackett can't stay away from the Himalayas and longer.
    ''There' something very special about treating these villagers,''
he continued. ''When they call me in the middle of the night
to tend to a very sick child or a very sick yak, and I go, they
are very grateful. And if the patient dies, they apologize for having
asked me to treat a patient who died.
    ''When a patient comes in off the road with an obvious heart
attack, I treat him differently than I would in the States,''
Hackett said. ''Here we would place him in a coronary unit, give
him an electrocardiogram and intensive ca
e, and expect him to live
a good long time afterward. But in Nepal I can only give that patient
carotid artery massage, which is rubbing the artery in his neck,
and some medicine to relax his heart and slow the beat...then, when he
has rested a few minutes I send him back out into the road.
    ''If he can live another few hours, or perhaps another few
days, I have given him some time he wouldn't tave had otterwise.''
    Hackett also plans to continue his research on mountain
sickness when he returns to Nepal.
rl    (ENDIT PESMEN) 10-18
**********
    ''At 18,000 feet, you're roughly half as smart as you are
at sea level,'' reported Dr. Dee Crouch, a doctor with the
American Bicentennial Expedition to Mt. Everest, in Hong
Kong Friday. Dr. Crouch, who was on his way home to Boulder,
Colo., said he was studying the effect of high altitude on
the human brain. He said he had no proof that it can cause
permanent brain damage but, he acknowledged, ''The lore is
that you don't come back from the mountain as smart as when
you go up.''
(MORE)
    
1022 2115ped
**********

a235  1208  23 Oct 76
AM-Everest Climbers, 470
By BINAYA GURUACHARYA
Associated Press Writer
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - The newest conquerers of Mt. Everest met the
first man to climb the world's highest mountain Saturday, and the
talk was more about schools and hospitals and losing weight than about
lofty peaks.
    After his meeting here with Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand, Bob
Cormack, 30, of Boulder, Colo., said, ''We did not particularly talk
about the American Bicentennial Everest Expedition, and he did not
inquire about our climb.''
    Dr. Chris Chandler, 28, of Seattle, Wash., and Cormack became the
54th and 55th persons to scale the 29,028-foot peak on Oct. 8 as part
of the 12-member American expedition. They followed the route over
the southeast ridge pioneered by Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing
Norgay in 1953.
    ''When I said I lost 30 pounds on the mountain,'' Chandler recalled,
''Hillary told me that he had also lost 30 pounds.''
    ''In fact,'' Chandler said, ''we did not discuss mountaineering so
much. He is interested in many things besides climbing. He mostly
talked about his schools and the hospital he built in the
Sherpaland.''
    Cormack described Hillary as ''a nice guy.'' Chandler added, ''He is
very big and he was very reserved at first. However, he likes to talk
after a while.''
    Asked to compare their achievement with that of Hillary, Chandler
said, ''There is a big difference. The climb was completely unknown
when he did it. And we did not do a new road or anything.''
    The tall, hefty Hillary spends several months each year in Nepal. He
plans to visit the two hospitals and some of the 17 schools he helped
establish for the Sherpas.
    He is also involved in making adventure films and last year his
autobiography ''Nothing Venture, Nothing Win'' was published.
    In an interview before his meeting with the American climbers,
Hillary said the races between different nations to climb Everest had
reached a ''ridiculous stage.''
    ''Why beat our brains out (for Everest) when there are so many other
beautiful mountains to climb?'' he asked.
    He also regretted that Everest expeditions had become so
''colossal.''
    ''The more people there are involved in the group - climbers,
Sherpas, camera crews - then the relationship between the individual
and the mountain is changed.''
    He noted that the Sherpas often end up doing all the work.
    Members of the American Bicentennial Expedition have complained that
they were doing too little load carrying and climbing. Hans Bruyntjes
of Holland, the only non-American member of the expedition, figured
that of the 45 days on the mountain, only five were spent climbing.
    ''What's the point of going up the mountain if you're going to stay
in your sleeping bag?'' Hillary asked. ''In those days (1953), every
member was giving all he had every day.''
    
1510pED 10-23
**********

a075  0558  25 Oct 76
PM-Four Killed, 200
    NEW DELHI, Inndi (AP) - Three mountain climbers from California and
one from Mexico were killed nine days ago while trying to climb Mt.
Dunagiri in the Himalayas, the Indian Mountaineering Foundation said
today.
    A spokesman for the foundation said the dead men were Graham N.
Stephenson of Los Angeles, John J. Baruch of Pacific Palisades9indian-Tibetan b-
order.
    The spokesman said they were killed Oct. 16 but that no further
details were available.
    The expedition left New Delhi on Sept. 22, according to the
foundation.
    Dunagiri is located in the Indian Himalayas near Mt. Nanda Devi,
site of another American mountaineering tragedy last month. Nanda Devi
Unsoeld, 22, of Olympia, Wash., who had been named for the peak, died
Sept. 8 on the mountain while she was climbing with her father, Mt.
Everest conquerer Willi Unsoeld. The young woman succumbed after
climbing to 24,000 feet on the 25,645-foot peak.
    
0901aED 10-25
**********