Blank on maps

Review: unclimbed peaks and untravelled river gorges of the eastern Himalaya, as presented in photography and prose from Nakamura Tamotsu.

Other explorers may claim to have filled in “blanks on the map”, or to challenge “the last frontier on Earth”. But when Tamotsu “Tom” Nakamura uses those stirring phrases to introduce his latest book, he has the photos to back them up. In Unclimbed Summits and Three Parallel Rivers – East of the Himalaya, Blank on Maps, he pays pictorial tribute to mountains and river gorges that few have seen who live outside these remote regions.

The first part of the book focuses mainly on unclimbed mountains in eastern Tibet, especially the hard-to-access border regions. Most of the images were taken by Nakamura himself during his forty or so expeditions to the region, with some additional contributions by other eminent alpinists and travellers. 

Would-be seekers of first ascents should be riveted by these images. Nakamura estimates that 375 peaks of significant height remain unclimbed in the regions covered by his book, about two thirds of them located in the 750 kilometre-long Nyainqentanglha range lying to the north of the main Himalayan crest.

Thanks to the photographers’ compositional skills, the chosen summits stand out on the page with a rare clarity and substantiveness. They are the kind of images that invite you to trace out a climbing line up their ridges, faces and couloirs. 

That’s no accident, since most of the photos were taken by climbers, principally Nakamura himself. To folks who have travelled in these parts, Nakamura will need no introduction, distinguished as he is by honorary memberships and acknowledgements from numerous alpine and geographical associations including a Piolets d’Or Asia Lifetime Achievement Award. For others, it may be worth mentioning that Nakamura has communed with mountains fairly intensively throughout his life.

He went up to Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo in 1953, an institution noted for its strong business and economics orientation and a storied mountaineering club. He joined the latter because, in his own words, "I thought it would be boring to go to university and not do anything. So when I thought about what to do, I played baseball in junior high school and was in the swimming club in high school, but I wasn't very good at it. So when I found out there was a mountaineering club, I decided to join without thinking too much about it, thinking that I could walk (laughs). Another reason was that I loved traveling since I was a child."

In these early years, Nakamura climbed intensively in the winter, with attendant epics: he once spent ten days in a snow hole in a bid to climb the Chinne on Tsurugi in winter and on another trip an avalanche swept him four hundred metres down the mountain. In fact, he spent so many days in the mountains that it took him an extra year at university to graduate. During that “fifth year”, he joined Yoshino Mitsuhiko and Nakamura Yukimasa in the first ascent of the Takidani Grepon in the Japan Northern Alps, a climb which several decades later your reviewer did not entirely succeed in repeating. 

After graduating in 1958, Nakamura joined Ishikawajima Heavy Industries, where a predecessor from his university mountaineering club was an accounting manager. A few years later, IHI took an enlightened view when Nakamura needed several months’ leave of absence to join Yoshizawa Ichirō’s 1961 expedition to the Andes, where they made the first ascent of Pucahirca Norte, one of the last unclimbed six-thousanders in Peru, as well as various first ascents in the Cordillera Apolobamba.

After that, career and family took precedence over expeditions. Nakamura embarked on a series of overseas postings for IHI, starting in Pakistan and working in China, Mexico and New Zealand before being assigned to Hong Kong in 1989 at the age of 55. 

The new business location was fortuitous: as Nakamura was now within reach of the eastern Himalaya, he was able to launch his first expedition the very next year. This would be the first of forty or so forays into remote, restricted and previously untravelled regions of the eastern Himalaya over the next three decades. “Getting permits from the authorities was often problematic,” he has quipped, “but not as difficult as getting permission from my wife.”

All this is by way of explaining why the images in the first part of Nakamura’s latest book should fascinate those who would follow in his bootprints. The second part has a different character. Focusing on the Three Parallel Rivers of China’s Yunnan Province – the rivers in question ultimately flow into the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween – the photos document a region of extraodinary biological and ethnic diversity. 

Featuring river landscapes, people and settlements, the photos in this section will appeal to a broad readership. It’s somewhat strange, then, that English translations seem to be lacking for some of the information in the Japanese-language captions to the images in this section. This stands in contrast to the book’s first part, where English-language captions seem, if anything, to be prioritised under the illustrations. 

None of this detracts from the book’s visual impact, which is reinforced by the excellent print quality afforded by one of Japan’s longest-standing publishers of mountain-related literature. When I had finished leafing through the book’s more than two hundred pages – most of them illustrated with photos or maps – I fell to wondering what other unique images Nakamura-san may hold in his archives, and whether he might one day publish more of them for an English-speaking readership. 

References

Tamotsu Nakamura, Unclimbed Summits and Three Parallel Rivers: East of the Himalaya, Blank on Maps, Kyoto: Nakanishiya Shuppan, April 2021, 224 pages (Japanese and English, parallel text).

"Exploring the last frontier of the eastern Himalaya”, interview with Nakamura Tamotsu on the Hitotsubashi University website, 2017 (Japanese language only).

Notes on equipment (15): "more deadly than glacier water"

Advice on alpine outfitting from the mid-1930s. 

Food.—During the early stages of an Alpine holiday, while the appetite may still require tempting, many people fall back on dainties in the shape of tinned foods; but there are signs that the popularity of preserved foods has reached a climax and is now declining. Many travellers now believe that a week or two spent on a diet of tinned food has a bad effect on the health. They are probably right, and it is a good plan to rely chiefly on fresh eatables such as meat, butter, cheese, and eggs. The condition of the last named may be tested by putting them into a bowl of water, when only the more recently laid eggs will sink to the bottom. Some epicures find that eggs are pleasanter to eat and easier to digest, if they are not cooked as hard as bricks, but are either boiled for only four minutes or not at all. They must then, of course, be carefully packed. 

Alpinists cooking up in the mid-1930s
Image by courtesy of Mechanical Advantage (see References)

Jam (tinned though it be) and other sweet foods are a useful form of nourishment for those taking violent exercise. Glucose has a higher value than sugar as a restorative after muscular fatigue, but only inferior jams are supposed to be prepared with glucose, and jam-makers do not as a rule advertise its presence in their wares. A firm such as Jackson of Piccadilly would no doubt supply jam made with a sweetening of 50 per cent glucose, if specially requested to do so.

In regard to fruit, it is better to carry dried prunes and raisins rather heavy tins of peaches and apricots preserved in syrup. The rather puny oranges sometimes found in Alpine resorts can profitably be converted into orange juice and put in a flask.

If a party are benighted they should on no account sip brandy, for each reaction that it produces lowers the vitality. A spirit flask is, nevertheless, an agreeable luxury, and when the perspiring owner merely uses the contents to dilute icy glacier water before drinking large quantities of it, the spirits will serve a useful purpose.

The Alpine climate is even healthier than that of England in some respects, but it must be remembered that it is rather easier to catch chills in the Alps than at home. Consequently it is advisable, when halting at a cheese-makers’ chalet, during a long, hot, and tiring descent, to avoid drinking large quantities of refreshingly cool milk (still less, cream), especially if a prolonged siesta is to be taken immediately afterwards. Milk in such circumstances can be more deadly than glacier water.

An exhausted and untrained man will often arrive at the top of a peak without any desire to eat, but he will probably find that his appetite for a meal will return, if he will only allow himself half an hour’s pause instead of forcing himself to eat at once. Most men find that on big expeditions intervals of three hours between meals are quite long enough. 

References

Text: Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934. 

Image: from Mechanical Advantage, John Middendorf's excellent blog on climbing technology: see Big Wall Bivouacs and "camping"part 2a.

Notes on equipment (14): "this peculiar concoction"

Advice on alpine outfitting from the mid-1930s. 

Drink.—In mountaineering the question of drink is even more important than that of food, for it is quite likely that hunger will not shew itself before a considerable period of training has elapsed, whereas thirst will come quickly enough and requires no wooing. 

The habit of drinking at every stream is to be discouraged, for it usually stimulates the craving that it is intended to allay, and it is a good rule in drinking to rely principally on what can be carried in the rucksack. 

Those who are subject to chills in throat or stomach should be cautious about drinking very cold water when they are exhausted or overheated. In these circumstances a dash of spirits added to the water may spoil the flavour but make a safer drink. Some find it agreeable to reverse the ordinary procedure of drinking and prefer red wine for the chilly dawn breakfast on the mountainside, while reserving tea for drinking during the heat of the day. The addition of wine, lemon, and sugar to tea makes a very refreshing mixture. It is worth while to know that very good tea can be made by soaking the leaves for about six hours in cold water and then straining.

A more curious drink, recommended by a climber who was consuming it when exhausted on his return to Randa from traversing the Dom and the Täschhorn, one hot day in August, was served in a jug and a bottle and consisted of hot milk and cold water, which the drinker mixed together. He claimed that this peculiar concoction was warm enough to avert chills, cool enough to be drunk with the utmost rapidity, and sufficiently unappetising to diminish an otherwise insatiable thirst.

References

Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934. 

Equipment notes (13): "young climbers in search of sensation"

Advice on alpine outfitting from the mid-1930s. 

Climbing-Irons.— Crampons, or climbing-irons, have long been popular with German and Austrian climbers. The Horeschowski, Eckenstein, Bilgeri, and Simond models all have ten points, but climbers with small feet can wear eight-point crampons if they wish. The shape of the Bilgeri model difers from the others and is the lightest. Hemp straps are the usual form of attachment and must not be buckled too tight, as hemp shrinks when it is wet. Horeschowski has designed a particularly convenient form of strap. Crampons should be fitted to the boots very accurately; Mr. Eckenstein states that they should be very carefully forged and points out that in the manufacture of them neither welding, brazing, soldering, nor riveting should be allowed.

Laurent Croux and Oscar Eckenstein demonstrate crampons in 1912
Image by courtesy of Grivel USA 

Although crampons are cumbersome, and at times even painful travelling companions, whenever they are worn they give a great sense of security. This can be appreciated if the climber will take the trouble to make the experiment of discarding his crampons while descending a steep slope of hard snow. He will be surprised to find how embarrassed his movements will at once become. It has even happened to a climber to become so hopelessly addicted to crampons that he will miss the opportunity of a good standing glissade owing to having shirked the trouble of removing them.

Pitons.—Iron pitons with rings and clasps may be bought from many of the foreign outfitters, such as Fritsch of Zurich. English mountaineers, so far, have preferred to use these implements merely for the purpose of safeguarding with a rope the descent of rocks or, similarly, for descending ice, in order to avoid step-cutting. In the Eastern Alps, however, young climbers in search of sensation sometimes use them for engineering their way up what would otherwise be unclimbable rock or ice. In the case of ice, such obstacles have to be sought for and are not easily found.

References

Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934

Equipment notes (12): "its enhanced price is prohibitive"

Advice on alpine outfitting from the mid-1930s. 

Rope.—In choosing a rope it must be understood that the method of tying the necessary knots in it will depend on whether the rope has a right- or left-handed lay. An expert in ropes may prefer to use different kinds on different occasions and to vary his knots accordingly, but the ordinary man will do well to choose one or other of the various makes and remain faithful to it; by doing so, his method of tying his knot will always be the same, and the knots few and easy to learn.

Of the best-known English ropes, the old Alpine Club rope, made of Manila hemp by Beale of Shaftesbury Avenue, has a right-hand lay; the newer Italian hemp rope known as the Frost and made by British Ropes, Ltd., is left-handed. The former of these two wears a little better, and the latter is slightly stronger. Jones & Co., of Victoria Street, Liverpool, the makers of another Alpine rope, also supply one that is lubricated to make it conveniently supple. It is not stated, however, whether the lubrication affects the durability at all.

Most ropes are troublesome to handle when new, and at first they will require moderate straining after use, in order to take the kinks out of them. There used to be a legend that a silk rope was a desirable luxury, but the manufacturer states that a silk one is not much lighter, while its breaking strain is approximately the same as for the ordinary rope. There is this fact to be noted, too, that, although the silk rope is agreeable to handle when new, it has a tendency to become pulpy as soon as it is wet. Its enhanced price is prohibitive to most mountaineers.

References

Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934. 

 

Equipment notes (11): "the device is well spoken of"

Advice on alpine outfitting from the mid-1930s.

Ice-axe.—Ice-axes have not altered notably since Dr. Claude Wilson wrote his description of the best form of axe in his book on mountaineering in 1893. He agrees with the Badminton Library that the ice-axe should balance at about 12 or 14 inches from the head; but nowadays, since shorter axes are popular, it is sufficient for an axe with a shaft only 39 inches long to balance only nine inches from the head. The best axes are to be got in Switzerland or at Chamonix from blacksmiths who specialize in making them.

Illustration from the Badminton Library: Mountaineering (1892)

The Badminton Library (1892) speaks scathingly of the man who may succeed in solving the problem of making an axe with a removable head, and recommends those who want axes without heads to use alpenstocks. But the problem has altered and, today, is not quite as stated. It is now a question of making the axe in two sections so that it can be carried in the rucksack; a great advantage, for instance, on some of the Chamonix climbs. The device has been carried out by Simond, of les Bossons, and is well spoken of. There is, in fact, no mechanical reason why the piolet démontable should be a failure.

Beale, the ropemaker in Shaftesbury Avenue, supplies the ideal contrivance for carrying the axe while rock-climbing; it was invented by Dr. Wilson and, with strong pressure buttons, works perfectly. Mr. Fynn’s patent sling, supplied by Fritsch & Co. of Zurich, comes near to it in excellence and can also be used to prevent the axe from slipping out of the hand while step-cutting. It suffers, however, from the serious defect that the sliding ring that travels along the axe-shaft requires a stop and the latter interferes with the shaft in its function of sounding for hidden crevasses. The same disadvantage also applies to the leather rings that used formerly to be nailed to the shaft to give a better grip for the hand. There is also a tendency in time for the wood of the axe-shaft to rot from damp and rust underneath the ring.

References

Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934. 

Equipment notes: (10): "the ventilation is defective"

Alpine outfitting advice from the mid-1930s

Sleeping bags – for those who wish to travel light, and yet to include in their programme some of the biggest expeditions in Alps, a sleeping-bag is all that is wanted, or blankets may be hired for the porters to carry up to the bivouac. The Tuckett sleeping-bag is lined with Jaeger wool, with mackintosh outside; it can be used as a knapsack, but is much less handy than a rucksack. It is as well to order one longer than the stock size.

"Blankets may be hired for the porters to carry up ..."
Illustration from Edward Whymper's Scrambles in the Alps

Another sleeping-bag recommended is 6 ft. 6 in. long by 2 ft. 6in. wide and is made of thin Willesden canvas lined with down; it is fitted with straps to roll up. The warmest—but, unfortunately, the heaviest—sacks are made of sheepskin. A big one made with three skins will weigh 11 lb. Mr. Smythe, on his expedition to Kamet in 1932, obtained excellent results by using two eiderdown bags one inside the other, with a waterproof bag enclosing them. In any case, whatever bag is used, a waterproof covering is required, even if it is only a mackintosh sheet.

An article that is frequently used for bivouacs by the hardy mountaineers of the Eastern Alps is the Zdarsky tent-bag. Two men are supposed to crouch in it face to face, but the ventilation is defective and cold creeps in wherever the backs or shoulders of the inmates are not protected from contact with the waterpoof material. No kind of tent-pole is supplied with it, and the occupants are supposed to fend off the covering from themselves by means of their axes.

References

Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934.