So would a party of 40 ascended via the North route? I can't believe that, frankly.
Thanks for all of the info.
The party of 40 later came later, a next day thing. By that time it's too late. The time to have done something is when he first went down. Before he froze. He did go alone, so maybe he was the last one headed down that day. That's not clear yet.
In that kind of temp. you have to keep moving. You can't just lay down, or you freeze. You nod out and start freezing up hard. You need the sleeping gear, which is below. Also Ox, else the body doesn't produce the heat anyway.
There really aren't parties of '40' persay... That is how many that Inglis estimated I believe that passed him.
A party of 40 up there would probably cause death for most at one time. Not a good idea. They were probably traveling in small groups of 2 to 6 at most.