A Polish Expedition to the High Andes

Abstract

OR several years Polish mountaineers had been anxious to go farther afield than the Tatra and the Alps, and especially to gain experience of high altitudes. And we naturally preferred a region that had been little explored. After some consideration we chose the Andes of the Argentine as the field of our first distant expedition of the Climbing Club, which is a branch of the Tatra Society. The Polish Mountaineering and Scientific Expedition was prepared and organized principally by the Tatra Society of Poland, assisted by official bodies such as the University of Warsaw, the Polish Overseas League, etc., and by private initiative of the members of the expedition. Some difficulty was encountered at first in assembling a group of men who would not only be experienced alpinists and would pass the severe physical tests, but who also were capable of carrying out the necessary scientific work. Finally six members were chosen, and the party, consisting of Messrs. K. Narkiewicz-Jodko, leader of the expedition; S. W. Daszynski, geologist; J. K. Dorawski, doctor; A. Karpinski, meteorologist; S. Osiecki, in charge of cinema work; and W. Ostrowski, photographer; left Poland at the beginning of November 1933. The programme included the exploration of the hitherto little-known group of mountains called the Cordillera de la Ramada in the Province of San Juan, and climbing all the principal peaks of that region. A second objective was to climb the Aconcagua by a new route, if possible. The scientific work consisted of: (i) mapping the unexplored and littleknown parts of the covered territory; (2) geological exploration, mainly investigating the tectonics and stratigraphy, palaeontology, and petrology of the region; (3) meteorological observation, such as temperatures, atmospheric pressures, humidity, the cooling capacity of the air, and its relation to altitude, wind directions and velocities, clouds, etc.; (4) research on the influence of high altitude upon the heart, blood pressure, and respiration, and qualitative and quantitative changes of red and white blood corpuscles. During the sea voyage from England to Buenos Aires and back a study of the intensity of cosmic rays in relation to geographical latitude. Results of the above studies will be published in due time. During the expedition some I2,000 feet of standard film were exposed to record all activities and over 2000 photographs were taken.