corner. First they climbed the crack from directly below. They were roped, but the route turned out to be only moderately difficult. They reached the hanging mass in two pitches. As they approached, it became increasingly obvious and it was hanging there, not resting on a ledge, but it was impossible to see what was keeping it in position. Since it blocked their passage, they were forced to traverse left, whence they could scrutinise it carefully. Now they saw that it was the nose portion of the Mercator, but still they were unable to determine how it was supported. It seemed, said Emmerson afterwards, as if it were stuck on the corner. It must have weighed about three tons and was a constant menace to the men working below.

They descended the crack and then climbed out rightwards to the crest of the ridge by way of a snow-covered slab. This was hard enough for them to have to use a rope on it. After about eighty feet they came to the ridge at a place where the angle eased. A little higher they found some spars, and then they came on the track the wing-tip had made. A practicable traverse had been formed, with new snow banked above a hard ledge scraped out by the broken wing. They followed the ledge until the way was blocked by a projecting rock which was crowned with engine wreckage. Beyond this obstacle they could see the nose portion in the top of the crack. From this vantage point they saw that the snow-covered mass was the Mercator's cockpit which was hanging by cables from the forward turret. This, in turn, was impaled by its two guns which were stuck into the crack like pins, and from which the whole mass depended.

They decided that it was stuck so securely as not to present any danger, at least not until more snow fell to add to the weight on the gun barrels and cables.

The following day the main body of the team was withdrawn but six remained at the request of the Americans who wanted support and advice on the mountain. The Americans and British worked well together. although the R.A.F. had regarded the Air Police on their mules with good-natured amusement, they made allowances for their inexperience; and they were full of admiration for the investigating officers and in particular for one, Bob Garrison: "a good jovial old chap on the team's side.

The most important outcome of these two Turkish crashes was the decision that the Nicosia team should receive specialised training for the type of work involved. The Mercator and the Tudor crashed in January and April respectively, and at high altitudes. To a mountaineer the face that comparative novices should have been able to work competently under these extreme winter conditions is as noteworthy as the achievements of the experts who formed the climbing parties.

After the Mercator crash it was decided that the team should hold exercises in Turkey. Of course, they went out on exercise every weekend in common with the other teams, but there is no winter climbing in Cyprus, only seasonal ski-ing. They could learn their rock-climbing and their rescue work in Cyprus - in fact, everything but winter climbing. This was the great deficiency, particularly since when aircraft crash in mountains, it is usually in bad weather. So the Turkish exercises began.

In the nine months following the Mercator crash they returned twice to the Taurus, for two weeks at a time, basing their operations on Erciyas Dag, 12,848 feet. Individual and less official expeditions were encouraged. Emmerson had already visited the Taurus in 1959, and, in November 1960, six team members returned to climb and map the area. And this last fact, and that of Emmerson being held in high esteem by Nicosia, accounts for the prevalence of English nomenclature in the Taurus. For here, among the wolves and the bears and the eagles, are Jack's Bowl, Jack's Cairn, Jack's Valley; the type of monument which, if the truth were known, many team members would prefer to their medals. Continue To Chapter 6