| GIS For the Top of the World
An American expedition team attempts to conquer Mount Everest and solve a 71-year old mystery using GIS, GPS and orthophotography
By William Doak The grandson of George Mallory, the Englishman who attempted to scale the world's highest peak "because it was there" in 1921, was part of an American expedition that returned this year to Mount Everest. Using MicroStation Field on a Dell notebook computer and a hand-held Trimble GPS unit, the team hoped to discover clues to a mystery that has engrossed mountaineers for 71 years: did the elder Mallory, who vanished near the summit in 1924, ever reach it?
The first men known to have succeeded, 35 years later, were Sir Edmund Hillary, a New Zealander, and a Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay. Of all who have tried, only one in five have attained the summit, and one out of 10 climbers (over 100) have died trying. George Mallory was in the first expedition to try, and he was one of the first to die, but were he and his climbing partner, Andrew Irvine, the first to conquer the summit? If the cameras they were thought to be carrying can be recovered, their film may prove that the mountain was conquered in 1924.
The 1995 expedition team prepared a GIS system to help search for Mallory's camera, as well as to plan routes to the summit, to record the precise route taken, to record the location of debris left by climbers, to record the location of geological samples requested by MIT, and possibly to find their way back to base camp after a blizzard.
The first expedition to use GIS on Mount Everest had some successes and some disappointments caused by the cold and bad weather, but early in the expedition they benefited from the GIS system in a way they had not anticipated.
The climbers knew that winds well over 100 miles per hour lash the higher slopes of the mountain most of the day, subsiding enough for climbing only a few hours a day. Paper maps would be impossible to use in such winds. But they did not expect high winds at their base camp at 17,500 feet.
Nevertheless, winds of 70 to 80 miles per hour struck the base camp during the first week of the expedition. Despite having tied a fishing net over it, the team's communications tent was blown away.
All their papers were lost. Had their maps been on paper, they would have been shredded and blown down the glacier. Fortunately, their maps were in the notebook computer, which was recovered undamaged. A New View of Mount Everest
Steve Reneker-between Everest expeditions, the IS director at the Eastern Municipal Water District in San Jacinto, Calif.-was also the technology coordinator for the 1995 American Mount Everest Expedition. He used an innovative combination of GIS information to help plan the location of the base camp, intermediate camps, and the climbing route to the summit.
Positioning of the camps and the routes can mean less (or more) gear carried, effort required, and trash left behind. One of the most important factors is the nature of the terrain over which the climbers pass, snow generally being preferable to rock. The climbers could make better time on snow since they wear crampons, or climbing spikes, on their boots. Given the memorial nature of the climb, the team also wanted to use Mallory's original camp sites as much as possible.
As raw data for the GIS, Reneker started with a topographical map of the mountain and an aerial photograph of the summit area. The topographical map, created by Dr. Bradford Washburn of the Boston Museum of Science, is the standard relied upon by almost all Mount Everest expeditions. Recently, with the help of the Swiss government, Dr. Washburn produced a composite orthophoto of the area surrounding the summit.
The map and the orthophoto each provide important information in planning the camps and climbing routes. The map shows elevations, distances, and gross geographical features of the mountain. The photograph shows smaller features and the composition of the terrain: snow, glacial flows of ice, and rock.
The map and the orthophoto were scanned into a MicroStation Field file as a courtesy by CorDax, the Water District's MicroStationVAR in southern California. The map and the photo were assigned different levels, and CorDax put additional contours on the photograph. Both images were tied to grid systems based on latitude, longitude, and a coordinate system used by the government of India. The coordinates matched those that would be read from the GPS unit, so that they could be entered directly into the MicroStation Field file. GIS Meets Mount Everest
The "official" height of the summit of Mount Everest was for years 8,848 meters (29,028 feet) above sea level. Recent measurements by satellite showed it somewhat higher: 8,872 m (29,118 ft) and defended its title against its rival in the Karakoram Range of northern India, K2, which stands at 8,616.3 m (28,250 ft).
Climbers do not strap on their oxygen tanks at the foot of the mountain and climb directly to the top. An assault on the summit is attempted only after weeks of shorter climbs from a base camp. The shorter climbs condition the climbers to the altitude, help determine the best route up the mountain, help the climbers memorize the route, and allow the expedition to establish intermediate base camps along the route to the summit.
The 1995 American Expedition established its base camp on the site of George Mallory's base camp, at an elevation of 17,500 feet. They set up an advanced base camp at 21,000 feet and intermediate camps at 18,000, 19,000, 20,000, 24,000, 25,500, and 27,000 feet on the north face of Everest.
The notebook stayed at the base camp, and every evening, after it was warmed to about 40 degrees, the team used it to review the day's climb and to plan the next day's climb. Using MicroStation Field, Reneker could zoom in on details of the digital orthographic photo to determine the terrain. He found that viewing the orthographic map as an overlay on the photograph was particularly helpful.
The hand-held GPS unit went along on the climbs, and the coordinates of various points along the route could be taken and stored in the unit's memory. Each night, the team compared the actual route they had taken with the route they had planned to take and established a plan for the next day's climb. It also provided a boost in morale on overcast days. Reneker could enter the coordinates and show the expedition exactly where they were in China. Chips Off the Old Block
The Boston Museum of Science and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology requested that the expedition collect geological samples at 17 specific sites on Everest. Everest is a comparatively young mountain, mainly composed of limestone and not significantly eroded. Perhaps this is why the academicians had no qualms about exposing the true age of the mountain the Chinese call "Goddess Mother of the Snows."
In anticipation of documenting the location of collected samples, CorDax created a separate geological level in the MicroStation Field file. To reduce the amount of drawing necessary on the climb, CorDax also created a variety of symbols that could be used to mark locations simply by clicking on the screen. Precise documentation of the collection locations would be guaranteed by recording their coordinates with the GPS unit.
Bad weather barred the climbers' access to some locations. The climbers also found that carrying softball-sized chunks of the mountain about was not conducive to an easy and safe climb. Ultimately, the GPS unit's batteries could not stand the extreme cold, and some of the sample locations had to be recorded "manually" in the MicroStation Field file. Nevertheless, the expedition returned with five well-documented specimens. The digitally recorded information was useful when they returned, since Dr. Washburn requested that Reneker plot this information onto his digital orthophoto for use in his current studies. With Traffic Comes Litter
We usually think of litter as a roadside problem. But just as exploration of space has left a belt of space garbage orbiting the planet, the almost equally inhospitable heights of Mount Everest have terrible pockets of trash left by climbers.
Although the route to the summit is rarely congested, more climbers reached the summit of Everest in the first six months of 1992 than had since Hillary's climb in 1953. Over 360 people have attained the summit, and many more have gotten close.
In the final ascent, even with oxygen, climbers advance only a few paces between five-minute rests. Those who approach the summit usually have no desire to make the climb harder by carrying empty oxygen cylinders, camp stoves, or anything else that isn't absolutely necessary. The result is a lot of very well-preserved refuse scattered by a variety of expeditions. Although it can be interesting as evidence of previous expeditions, it's an eyesore in an otherwise unspoiled environment.
Reneker's expedition was careful not to leave any trash behind. This environmental consciousness was helped along by the precise planning done with the GIS system, so the situation was not made worse. And by accurately locating the jettisoned gear of previous expeditions with the GPS unit and MicroStation Field, the Himalayan Foundation can efficiently plan climbs by Sherpas to remove it. The Mystery Unsolved
The honor of being the first in the expedition to reach the summit was reserved for Mallory's grandson, also named George. However, the expedition was unsuccessful in gathering any evidence of the ill-fated climb of 1924. Efforts to search for campsites, field notes, and Mallory's camera were hampered by high winds, as well as a desire to reach the summit. (He did come across two bodies who were known to be much more recent fatalities.)
Had Reneker come upon artifacts of the climb, he was prepared to record it in his GIS system. CorDax had created a layer for recording the location of artifacts and had even created a number of symbols to indicate their nature. Reneker often used the annotation tools of MicroStation Field to describe conditions at certain locations, but not to describe artifacts of the 1924 climb.
If GIS becomes a standard tool for exploring the mountain, each expedition should be able to add to the data gathered by those before. Each expedition could have more detailed information on routes, campsites, and terrain, as well as archeological evidence.
The secret of Mallory's fate, preserved in the cold and rarefied atmosphere of Mount Everest, someday may be revealed. But for now, like Everest itself, the mystery is still there. What better reason for another expedition? About the Author:
William Doak is a senior technical writer at Bentley Systems Inc. in Exton, Pa. He may be reached at 610-458-5000 or via e-mail at [email protected] Back |
