Of course, as a writer is waiting for his manuscript to be looked over by an editor, he can’t not stop researching his project, and I recently came across another source of information that would allow me to corroborate what took place with the mountaineers while they were with Laing and while they were heading up and down the Logan massif: H. F. Lambart’s diary. The man who was second-in-command of the expedition.
Written in cursive in pencil and over 200 pages in length, it is taking me some time to read and note. I’m fascinated that it exists at all and that these digitized pages found at Library & Archives Canada were with Lambart as he struggled in one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet. That he had a pencil and paper to write with in such freezing temperature is extraordinary. I get goose bumps writing in pencil at below zero, yet he persevered in making a record of what was clearly a highly anticipated accomplishment.
One of the records I want to find is the honest truth about the difficulties in coming down from the summit of Logan, which is where the real survival story begins. Lambart’s feet were badly frostbitten and I found, in the entries as they’ve been making their descent, the crippling effect they had on him after the expedition. But I’m hoping to find more detail. Also, I’d like to know more detail about the use of camera equipment, the when and where. Lastly, I want to find out how the decision took shape to make rafts rather than boats to travel the Chitina as close to the community of McCarthy as possible. It certainly would have seen to be a romantic image, plying the waters in such a rough and rustic type of watercraft, but I don’t know yet who made the call, and how Laing was involved (as they were building them at Hubrick’s Camp, Laing’s base of operations for his biological work along the Chitina).
I will continue to peruse the pages today, hoping to complete noting the diary by end of the week.
