Nanda Devi: Mr. Hugh Ruttledge, with the guide, Emile Rey, of Courmayeur and six Sherpa porters spent the early part of the summer of 1932 in an attempt to reach the summit of this, the highest mountain in the British Empire, but obtained only a fifteen-minute glimpse of his objective. The party tried to approach by way of the Sunderdhunga valley and the col at its head but were stopped by a sheer 6,000-foot avalanche-swept wall of rock and ice. Ascending the Pindari valley, they attempted the ascent of a 21,624-foot peak at its head to obtain a view of Nanda Devi, and from a point about 3,000 feet below the top of this peak obtained a brief glimpse of the object of their quest through the clouds.