Now or Never?

Mount Everest is still there to be climbed, its 29,610-ft.* summit a standing challenge to all hardy mountain fighters, who cannot abide the thought of an unconquered peak. Twice in 1924, once in 1933 and again last May, pairs of climbers have struggled to within a scant 1,000 ft. of its top, but no one has made it all the way and lived to come down again (TIME, March 31 et seq.).

One climber who got within a bare 900 ft. of the goal last spring was on his way up Everest again last week. With five other Swiss Alpinists, Raymond Lambert was somewhere on the mountain's massive southern face. His party had approached Everest from Nepal, the only country through which climbers from the free world may pass, now that Tibet is barred to them by its Chinese Communist overlords. The Swiss are now setting up a string of base camps, assembling supplies of food, rope, sleeping bags, clothing and fuel. They are thrusting their lifeline ever higher to a last outpost from which Lambert and one companion will try the final dash. The Swiss party's big hope for success this time is based on their improved "third lung" breathing equipment. Last May Lambert and his Nepalese guide had to quit because they were forced to halt every few steps and laboriously adjust their oxygen flow. The new apparatus is lighter, will give the climbers a steady oxygen supply, rarely needs adjustment.

Ordinarily, no climbers would be eager to tackle Everest in the shortening, ever colder days of autumn. But the Swiss have no choice: Nepal's government will honor their entry permit only until year's end. Moreover Nepal, under pressure from the spy-conscious Chinese Reds, has announced that it will give passage to only one more group of climbers, a British party now planning an assault on Everest late next spring, the traditional season for climbing.

Even now, winter is creeping down the Himalayas and, with it, a rumor is snowballing from the north. A big Soviet party is said to be getting set for a try at Everest next spring by the easier northern-face route, through Tibet.

* The most recent figure, reported last spring by Swiss climbers.

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