On August 21 I moved back to my base camp at the glacier snout, again trying for a station at the corner—and failing. I had not done nearly as much as I wanted to do; but there seemed to be no end to the bad weather, and only a month or a bit more remained in which to map the whole of the East side of the mountain: and I had heard from Colonel Bury that there would be a considerable amount of work on that side. Originally, I had hoped not only to return to the bridge over the Rā Chu to complete the work in the Kyetrāk Valley, but also to take several stations in the valleys running North from the 23,000-foot group North of Everest. But again apart from shortage of time, the weather made it out of the question, and I went through to Khārta, via the Doya La, arriving there on August 27.
The change in scenery immediately one crosses the Doya La is most marked, both as regards rock and vegetation. The former—mostly gneiss—is far more rugged and interesting, and there is infinitely more of the latter. The Headquarters camp at Khārta, in a little poplar grove, was pleasant indeed after the bleak, uninteresting Rongbuk Valley; and I thoroughly enjoyed my five days there, developing and printing; busy days, but very different from lying on one's back on the sharp boulders of the Rongbuk moraines. Mallory, Bullock and Morshead were in Khārta when I arrived; Colonel Bury and Wollaston returned from their excursion to the Popti La soon after, and Raeburn arrived on September 1. It was a great treat to me to be able to “swap lies” with so many people, after two months almost wholly alone!
On September 3 Morshead and I started up the Khārta Chu in the wake of Mallory and Bullock, who had gone up to get the “bundobust” for the final fling going. As usual, bad weather dogged my footsteps, and although the weather while I was in Khārta had been glorious, Morshead and I spent seven days in taking two very indifferent stations in the lower part of the Khārta Valley, before joining the remainder of the expedition at the “Advanced Base” on September 11. A further eight days were spent there, waiting for the weather; but in that time I was able to get two very useful stations, one on either side of the valley.
On September 19 I moved up to “No. 1 Camp” with Mallory, Bullock and Morshead; and shared the fortunes of the rest of the Expedition as far as Kampa Dzong on the way back to Darjeeling, where Raeburn, Heron and I left Headquarters to return to Darjeeling via Lāchen and the Teesta Valley. I was delighted to get into the “final push,” and enjoyed the few days' change from surveying to climbing, enormously; except that I felt the cold very much in my feet, and had it not been for Mallory's good offices—he rubbed my feet for a solid hour after we came down from Chang La—I feel sure that the result might have been much more serious than the slight discomfort I afterwards experienced.
I took three stations in the neighbourhood of No. 1 Camp—one on either side of the Khārta Glacier, and one at 22,300 feet on the “Lhakpa La.” This was on snow, with my instrument resting on, and steadied by, bags of “tsampa”; which proved to be a most excellent substitute for rock!
On September 26 I crossed with Colonel Bury and Wollaston to the Kāma Valley; unfortunately, we only had two clear days there, and I had to leave it without covering as much ground as I should have liked, though—as usual—I spent my days in snowstorms, hoping for breaks in the clouds.
The return to Darjeeling via the Serpo La, Lāchen, and the Teesta Valley, made a pleasant change from the Phāri route; but again bad weather spoiled our views, and we saw nothing at all of Kanchenjunga and its neighbours. Raeburn went in by the usual road via Gangtok; Heron and I followed the river—an excellent route in spite of the prevalence of leeches—and reached Pashok on October 19. Heron went on to Darjeeling, a further 18 miles, the same day. I followed on the 20th.
I enjoyed the Expedition and my work with it, thoroughly; but in my opinion, Tibet, at any rate that portion of it in which we were, is a place to have been, rather than one to go to!