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The 1906 Scientific
Climbing
Here you read the
adventure of the Rwenzori climbing in 1906 as it really
happended, written by Roberto Mantovani on elements
and findings gathered from the original report from
the Duke.
The historical photos of this section are from
the original photograghs taken by Vittorio Sella, now
preserved at the Museum of the Mountain in Turin and
Sella Foundation in Biella. We thank the above institutions
for giving us the consession of using these important
photographic materials.
A great,
new mountaineering expedition
The first Ascents.
On the highest peaks
of the Rwenzori
Frenetic activity
The results of the
Expeditions
The Duke and his two guides, Cesar Ollier and Joseph
Petigax.
A great, new mountaineering
expedition
In April 1905, Luigi Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Abruzzi,
returns from an extremely long sea voyage. Seven years
before he climbed St Elias. In 1899, he explored the
arctic pole with dogs and sledges, the beginning of
frost bite in his hands obliged him to give up the last
part of the expedition. Not content with the venturing
remotest corners of the world, the Duke continues to
plan new explorations. It was with this state of mind
that the Duke chose to climb the mountainous massive
of the Rwenzori.
Luigi Amedeo gathers all necessary available information,
chooses his companions, prepares materials and equipment
with the help also of cameras and topographic instruments
in order to measure the heights of the various peaks.
Geophysical, meteorological and magnetic studies were
also to be carried out. The scientist of the expedition
would further the geological and glacial knowledge of
the region, without forgetting the flora and fauna of
the mountain zone.
In the end, Luigi Amedeo of Savoy's team was made up
Captain Umberto Cagni who, with Lieutenant
Edoardo Winspeare, is to assist the Duke with
geographical observations; the photographer
Vittorio Sella and his assistant Erminio
Botta; Dr Alessandro Roccati,
director of the geomineralogical laboratory of Turin
Polytechnic, entrusted with geological and mineralogical
research; Major Achille Cavalli Molinelli,
naval doctor, who, among other things, has the task
of collaborating with Roccati in the collection of zoological
and botanical specimens.
Then there is the group of Alpine guides who are fundamental
for the mountaineering part of the expedition: Josef
Petigax, a tried climbing companion of the
Duke's (he took part in the expeditions to the pole
and St Elias); Cesar Ollier and then
the porters Josef Brocherel and Laurent
Petigax, all from Courmayer. Lastly there is
Igino Igini, Luigi Amedeo's cook. On April
16th 1906, the Duke and the members of the expedition
left the port of Naples aboard the German made boat
Bergemeisteir and reached Mombasa on the 3rd of may.
On the 4th, they boarded a train of the recently newly
built railway and after 940 kilometres, they reached
Port Florence in Kisumu, on Lake Victoria. The Winifred,
one of the three steam boats on regular service between
the ports of the Lake.
People along the railwayline. Photo taken by
Vittoria Sella
On May 7th, the Winifred docks in the bay of Entebbe,
The expedition is received by the governor of Uganda
but on the 15th, the expedition is ready to depart to
Fort Portal a locality 290 kilometres away. During the
march, the line of men, formed of porters of the Buganda
race and groups of Swahili, stretches out for half a
kilometre.
The Caravan of Baganda Porters from Entebbe
to Fort Portal (V.Sella)
On May 25th the expedition crosses the boundary of the
Western province and three days later is on the hills
north of Kaibo, which make a watershed between Lakes
Albert and Edward. There the icy peaks of the Rwenzori
appear for the first time. They are seventy kilometres
away and seem suspended in the air above a layer of
fog and mist. An unforgettable sight.
At last on May 29th, the expedition reaches Fort Portal,
at an altitude 1535 metres; the last British outpost
before the great mountains. It is a barracks for the
native soldiers and in all fifteen Europeans among officers
officials with their families and missionaries.
During a brief stop, Luigi Amedeo meets Reverend Fisher,
pioneer of the Rwenzori, and the English Mountaineer
Wollaston, who has briefly separated from the British
Museum team to greet the head of the Italian expedition.
It is not difficult to imagine that both men gave the
Duke precious information about Mobuku valley.
Having dismissed a large number of porters, the expedition
starts walking again on June 1st towards the slopes
of Rwenzori. In seven days the group expects to get
to the 3798 metres of Bujungolo, their future base camp.
Two days later the
caravan enters Mobuku Valley. Slowly the vegetation
and countryside begin to change. Here and there the
first lobelias appear with lots of dracaena palms; in
the background great sparkling snow fields, crests and
high peaks tower over everything.
At Bihunga camp at altitude 1920, their equipment is
changed: their light clothes are substituted by jackets
and trousers more suitable for the mountain. Part of
the baggage is left in a hut built by the British Museum’s
expedition and many porters descend to Butanka, a village
half way between Mobuku Valley and Fort Portal, where
they will wait to be called for the return trip.
The last part of the approach stage of the march is
through forest; not a very hospitable environment but
one that is rich in fantastic back-drops. On June 5th
on the left side of the great valley gulley of Mobuku
and right in front of Nakitawa camp, at 2652 metres,
the group discover Kichuchu Valley, never noted by preceding
explorers, which seems to lead into the heart of the
range.
The next day the porters
are changed. The Buganda, men of the lowlands, are half
substituted by a local group of Bakonjo, more used to
move in the impervious and slippery terrain. The upper
part of Mobuku Valley reveals itself as being “one
of the most extraordinary sights of the whole journey”.
It is formed by three great terraces one above the other,
separated by cliffs two to three hundred metres high.
Each terrace is saturated with stagnant water and the
scenery is incredible. “Trunks and branches are
entirely covered with a thick layer of mosses which
hang down in long beards from all the branches; they
enlarge and fill out the knots in the wood making the
plants appear strangely distorted; swollen; laden with
tumours; struck by an enormous greenish or yellow-red
leprosy. There are no leaves except on the highest branches,
but the forest is dark due to the dense intertwining
of trunks and boughs. The ground has disappeared under
the countless trunks of dead trees, heaped one on top
of the other: those exposed to the air are covered in
slippery and slimy mosses; those having lain for years
and years in the deep holes are blackened and nude,
not mouldy or rotten at all. No forest is as horrid
or as strange as this one […]”.
On June 7th fifty
four days after departing, the Duke and his companions
arrive at Bujungolo, “a real eagle’s nest,
3798 metres high and 800 above Kichuchu”. A wild,
harsh place reached by the cold, biting breath from
the glaciers, which make one think “of anything
rather than the Equator or the centre of Africa”.
The next morning after a night spent in a bivouac, preparations
for building the base camp in the lee of a great, damp,
overhanging cliff begin. A long, demanding and difficult
job due to the limited amount of level ground and also
because a few metres from the great rock, the mountain
falls to the valley with a slope covered in mud, moss
and tree heathers. The only solution is to fell trees
and construct a platform capable of holding the tents.
Meanwhile Cagni, still convalescent left Entebbe two
days ago on a forced march to join his companions.
Top
Lobelias groundsel and heathers in Bujuku valley.
Photo by Vittorio Sella
The first Ascents
On the morning of June 9th while work on the construction
of the base camp is proceeding fast and furiously, Luigi
Amedeo, the guides from Aosta Valley, Erminio Botta
and five Bakonjo porters go up to the head of Mobuku
Valley. They touch the point where Grauer had camped
a few months previously, at altitude 4.032, then proceed
along the edges of the Mobuku glacier. In the afternoon
at 4.349 metres, in dense fog the only tent available
is pitched: it will be camp 1. Only the Duke, Joseph
Petigax, Ollier and Brocherel remain to sleep up there.
Before dawn the group descends onto the glacier and
immediately climbs up towards the most low-lying point
on the crest, near the rocky crag which Grauer had named
Edward Peak in January. Fortunately visibility is good
and from the first glance the topography of the group
begins to reveal its secrets. To the south the eastern
portion of Kiyanja (Mount Baker) appears; to the west
the central group (Mount Stanley) shows four distinct
peaks joined in pairs; to the north Speke (Johnson’s
Duwoni) peeps through. And further away another two
snow capped peaks stand out to the right of Speke. All
at once old queries are answered and aquired certainties
are dashed. It is obvious that the terminal crest of
Mobuku Valley does not form the watershed of the range.
Besides, neither the main group, which includes the
highest peaks nor Speke have anything to do with the
valley gulley of Mobuku, which was thought to contain
the most extensive glaciers in the Rwenzori.
At half past six in the morning Luigi Amedeo and his
guides start walking again in a westerly direction,
towards the highest peak of Kiyanja (Mount Baker). The
group climbs on hard snow, keeping to the right hand
side of the ridge. At 8 o’clock they reach the
4829 metre summit which will be called Semper peak.
Then they continue along the ridge toward the south,
aiming at the highest summit of the group. At quarter
past nine, in the thickest fog, the Duke of Abruzzi,
Joseph Petigax, Ollier and Brocherel arrive at Edward
Peak, 4873 metres, “formed of rocks entirely covered
with glittering crystals, in the shape of vitreous efflorescences”.
Hoping for the fog to lift, the group wait on the summit
for four hours. And not in vain because the mountaineers
are given a wonderful view to the south and the discovery
of another mountain group with several small glaciers
(later it will be called Luigi di Savoia).
At one o’clock the party return back along the
same path and are at camp 1 again by mid afternoon where
Sella, Botta, Brocherel and six African porters have
just finished erecting a second tent and got the cameras
ready.
On June 11th while the Duke’s team returns to
Bujungolo camp, Sella and his companions climb first
to the pass and then to King Edward Peak with the idea
of taking some beautiful landscape photographs. The
weather is terrible but finally, in the early afternoon,
it clears. Next morning Sella, Botta and Brocherel are
again on the pass and climb to Moore Peak (4654m); an
easy climb but made treacherous by the ice. It is snowing
on the peak and unfortunately the camera cannot be used.
On returning to the pass the roped party meet Dr Roccati
and a guide. By now it is snowing heavily everywhere,
and only Botta and Sella have the courage to pass the
night in the tent, insisting on remaining at high altitude
in the hope of good weather. However next day they too
are obliged to return to Bujungolo.
Semper peak on Mount Baker. Photo by Vittorio
Sella
Continue
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Frenetic
activity
The results of the
Expeditions
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