It is worse than useless to invite frost-bite by a very early start. But in any case the time cannot be spared to melt snow in the morning.
Clothing.
So long as you wear a good ‘Cawnpore’ pith helmet (topi) nothing else matters much. Sunburn will prevent you wearing too little. Some people prefer a turban. This consists of the pugari or loonghi and the koolla or conical cap affected by Mohammedans and Europeans, and round which the pugaree is worn. On a cold morning the tail of the pugaree can be wrapped round the neck. It is easy to tie—in a fashion. It is in some ways better than a pith helmet, but does not protect the eyes from glare. Shorts are very cool for marching; but beware of blisters at the back of the knees. A spine pad is necessary in the valleys, and pleasant at even the greatest altitudes.
Footgear for high climbing is still a vexed problem. You must have very heavily nailed boots for the moraines. On snow I have worn a covering of raw cowhide, hair outside over the front half of the boot. The half sole is made of stoutest canvas. The whole may be garnished with a common pair of Swiss ice-claws. Boots should be large enough for two pairs of socks to be worn. Since putties will be invariably used, stockings will only be needed for a change in the evening. No doubt for very high work some Polar footgear would be better than climbing boots.[34] Possibly ski-boots may meet the difficulty. But a piece of blanket wrapped over the whole boot and held in place with a large pair of claws, or by the boot-nails as they wear through, ought to be an efficient substitute. Swiss snow-shoes are hardly worth carrying, but on easy slopes at high altitudes they can be very useful, and I have been glad of them. Ski are probably useless, for our purpose, owing to transport difficulties.
Smoked glasses are only better than nothing; the proper colour is something between yellow and green, such as Sinclair’s ‘N.W.V.’ glasses, or their like.
Instruments.
You cannot produce a good map without sacrificing much time and energy. But apart from this, it is useful to know the heights of camps, etc. For this purpose use at your camps a boiling-point thermometer (hypsometer), specially constructed for high altitudes: you must observe the air temperature with a swing thermometer at the same time.
Also take a large (4½ inch) Watkin mountain aneroid (J. Hicks, Hatton Garden), graduated from 31 to 10 inches. Keep it permanently out of action as soon as you go above 5000 feet, and only throw it into gear when taking a reading—allowing not more than a few minutes for it to settle. Put it out of gear as soon as the reading has been made.
A reading should be taken with the Watkin whenever the hypsometer is used, as a check on both instruments. When climbing, and at the highest camp, probably only the Watkin will be used, since, even with absolute alcohol, an hour may be spent over an hypsometer observation at great heights. The Watkin must be read both on leaving camp and on returning.
The air temperature ought to be taken at each observation; but this is a refinement.