The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, July 26, 1973, Page page nine, Image 10
BY BETTY WOODRUFF
A Buddhist prayer flag and an
inscribed stone are two items Dr.
Paul W. Blackstock brought back
from a mountain-climbing
expedition in India.
Blackstock, who said he has
been mountain climbing "for at
least 50 years", spent almost a
month in the Himalayas. "We
climbed there 15,000 foot peaks,"
Blackstock said, "generally in the
area of the Rohtang Pass."
"Most of the climbs were
straight up for 2000 feet and it was
all ice," Blackstock said. "We just
had to dig in and go up." He said
that for the climbs, the group
would start around 6 a.m. and
complete the climb around two
that afternoon. Accompanying
him were some British climbers he
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Blackstock Indi
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Across fro3
USC ROUNDHOUSE
FREE!
Super Chili Day with the purn
medium size soft drink.
(July 19-August 2)
Mountain
met after his arrival in the area.
"'There were thousands of
people going through the pass,"
Blackstock said. "Mule trains,
shepherds-as soon as possible, the
people dig out tea stalls in the snow
for the travelers. The Tibetians
who primarily frequent this area
are a sort of pilgrim people."
Blackstock carried his own
equipment in a backpack up the
t r a i I s a n d t w o
sherpas-accompanied him also
carrying equipment. -
The only major problems
Blackstock encountered was a
dislocated shoulder and dysentery.
"There is a problem that every
mountain climber has called
anoxia. As you ascend these
cates Trek Area.
"Supe
Chili I
SUPER 006
:hase of one order of French F
Climber I
heights, your body must become
acclimatized to the altitude
changes. It takes a day for every
2000 feet above 12,000, and if you
don'tacclimate, you'll die."
He said the effects of
acclimitization always included
severe headaches and nausea. "A
lot of these rich Americans who fly
in the the base of Mount Everest at
18,000 spend their
mountain-climbing time under an
oxygen tank. They just didn't
become acclimated right."
A good aspect of these
particular peaks is -that a climber
does not have to have special
permission to climb them, he said;
"The people there are very friendly
and helpful, and the villages are
extremely primitive. They're
typical Alpine villages, with maybe
four houses making up a village.
The area is almost totally
untouched by tourists because
access is so difficult."
Transportation to the area
involves a plane trip to New Delhi,
one 12-hour bus ride and one
14-hour bus ride and backpacking
the rest of the way.
"I picked the prayer flag up out
of a dump. The Tibetian refugees
put up thousands of the flags
wherever they go. They believe
that whenever the wind blows, the
prayer is repeated. Bright bits of
cloth are also sewn on the end to
help attract the gods' attention,"
he said.
A rock tablet with Hindu
inscriptions engraved on it was
found in the same area as in the
prayer flag, Black sto ck said. "I just
happened to turn it over with my
foot."
But once upon the mountain,
ge'tting down is a different
situation. "To go down on the ice,
we just sit down and slide,"
Blackstock said. "But it is a learned
technique called glissading, and
you use an ice axe for control."
The next expedition for
Blackstock will probably be the
international technique climbing
camp which he was invited to join
Russia next July.
brazier
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ries and one
ikes Ind'a
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tone and flag.
Bltackstock
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