Abode of Snow - A History of Himalayan Exploration and Mountaineering

Published in 1955 by Rupert Hart-Davis.

Professor Mason had divided this book into six parts. He gives a general description of the Himalaya, tells of the early Jesuit travellers, and then goes on to show how the mountains and their peaks gradually came to be explored, surveyed and finally climbed. The author tells of the Army officers and others who explored the mountains following the spread of British rule up the Ganges; of the surveyors, Sir George Everest, Montgomerie, and Godwin-Austen; of the Indian Pundits who were trained to penetrate forbidden territory and bring back valuable data for the survey maps; of the urge to know more of these thrilling regions; of the problems of acclimatization, improvements in equipment and technique; of the debt owed to the Himalayan porter, without whom success is impossible.