Thieves, Liars and Mountaineers: On the 8000 Metre Peak Circus in Pakistan's Karakoram Mountains by Mark Horrell Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Mark Horrell
sufficiently acclimatised this won't be a problem – he's a good deal younger and fitter than most of us, after all.
17. Base Camp politics
Saturday 27 June, 2009 – Gasherbrum Base Camp, Pakistan
Another day of patiently waiting down in Base Camp, and another day of fine weather. It surely can't last. We've received news that a weather front will arrive across the Karakoram on July 1 st . This will give us time to make another foray up the mountain, to Camp 2 this time, before returning to Base Camp to sit out any bad weather it may bring. This means a night start tonight. Given the last time, the majority favour a 3am start up the icefall, and this has been agreed.
I pass the time today reading a little bit, doing some washing, and playing cards in the dining tent with Ian, Michael, Arian and Gordon, interrupted by a little bit of Base Camp politics, when a small Canadian group arrives and tries pitching their tents on the moraine just below us. An argument kicks off which is witnessed by our cook Ashad.
“I give you f---ers five minutes to move your f------ tents,” a member of the international team they have tried to camp beside is reported as saying.
This is the same team, containing members from the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Brazil, who complained that Gordon's tent was pitched too close to their water source. This team is intending to climb the less popular mountains G3 and G4, and the general feeling around Base Camp is that there may be an element of snobbery at play here. The team feels themselves separate from the rest of the teams here to climb the more commercial peaks of G1 and G2, who are all cooperating towards the same objective. It all seems very petty: after all, this is only a very narrow section of moraine on a glacier, and no one expedition team can claim ownership of any particular patch. The new arrivals come and ask Phil if they can camp beside us. They're only a small team with two clients, a leader and a couple of high altitude porters, and Phil is more than happy. After all, we're expecting a huge group of 20 Iranian climbers to arrive any day who need to find a space in Base Camp alongside the rest of us, and we would all far rather have this much smaller team camping next to us instead. Even so, the Canadian team still has to trudge up to the army camp beyond us to obtain permission from the Pakistan Army before they camp here.
Gasherbrums IV (7925m), III (7952m) and II (8035m)
On a sorrier note, his frozen penis combined with a spot of stomach trouble has meant that Ali the Iranian who trekked in with us has decided to go home after just 7 days at Base Camp, and having climbed no higher than Camp 1. We're all very sorry for him, though when the survival of ones frozen member is at stake, it is always well to remember that the mountain will still be here next year while the appendage may not. I'm sure Ali has made the right decision.
18. Knackered again on the climb to Camp 1
Sunday 28 June, 2009 – Camp 1, Gasherbrum Cwm, Pakistan
At 1.30am I hear snow pattering on the roof of my tent, but by 2am it's finished. This is good news; if the weather forecast is correct and there's a storm coming over on July 1 st , we can't afford another rest day at Base Camp if we're to make our foray up to Camp 2 and back down again before it hits us.
By 3am seven of us are on our way back up the icefall: myself, Ian, Phil, Michael, Arian, Gordon and Tarke. In fact, it's incredibly mild, and this causes problems in the early part of the climb. Streams of meltwater are flowing off the glacier and Phil ends up freezing his leg by putting his foot through thin ice into one of them. Crevasses are widening and snow bridges melting. I'm glad Phil is leading as there would be a high chance of ending up in a crevasse. We start unroped because the route is extremely fiddly up and down pressure ridges and around seracs. Phil nearly goes through a snow bridge and Ian and I have to
17. Base Camp politics
Saturday 27 June, 2009 – Gasherbrum Base Camp, Pakistan
Another day of patiently waiting down in Base Camp, and another day of fine weather. It surely can't last. We've received news that a weather front will arrive across the Karakoram on July 1 st . This will give us time to make another foray up the mountain, to Camp 2 this time, before returning to Base Camp to sit out any bad weather it may bring. This means a night start tonight. Given the last time, the majority favour a 3am start up the icefall, and this has been agreed.
I pass the time today reading a little bit, doing some washing, and playing cards in the dining tent with Ian, Michael, Arian and Gordon, interrupted by a little bit of Base Camp politics, when a small Canadian group arrives and tries pitching their tents on the moraine just below us. An argument kicks off which is witnessed by our cook Ashad.
“I give you f---ers five minutes to move your f------ tents,” a member of the international team they have tried to camp beside is reported as saying.
This is the same team, containing members from the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Brazil, who complained that Gordon's tent was pitched too close to their water source. This team is intending to climb the less popular mountains G3 and G4, and the general feeling around Base Camp is that there may be an element of snobbery at play here. The team feels themselves separate from the rest of the teams here to climb the more commercial peaks of G1 and G2, who are all cooperating towards the same objective. It all seems very petty: after all, this is only a very narrow section of moraine on a glacier, and no one expedition team can claim ownership of any particular patch. The new arrivals come and ask Phil if they can camp beside us. They're only a small team with two clients, a leader and a couple of high altitude porters, and Phil is more than happy. After all, we're expecting a huge group of 20 Iranian climbers to arrive any day who need to find a space in Base Camp alongside the rest of us, and we would all far rather have this much smaller team camping next to us instead. Even so, the Canadian team still has to trudge up to the army camp beyond us to obtain permission from the Pakistan Army before they camp here.
Gasherbrums IV (7925m), III (7952m) and II (8035m)
On a sorrier note, his frozen penis combined with a spot of stomach trouble has meant that Ali the Iranian who trekked in with us has decided to go home after just 7 days at Base Camp, and having climbed no higher than Camp 1. We're all very sorry for him, though when the survival of ones frozen member is at stake, it is always well to remember that the mountain will still be here next year while the appendage may not. I'm sure Ali has made the right decision.
18. Knackered again on the climb to Camp 1
Sunday 28 June, 2009 – Camp 1, Gasherbrum Cwm, Pakistan
At 1.30am I hear snow pattering on the roof of my tent, but by 2am it's finished. This is good news; if the weather forecast is correct and there's a storm coming over on July 1 st , we can't afford another rest day at Base Camp if we're to make our foray up to Camp 2 and back down again before it hits us.
By 3am seven of us are on our way back up the icefall: myself, Ian, Phil, Michael, Arian, Gordon and Tarke. In fact, it's incredibly mild, and this causes problems in the early part of the climb. Streams of meltwater are flowing off the glacier and Phil ends up freezing his leg by putting his foot through thin ice into one of them. Crevasses are widening and snow bridges melting. I'm glad Phil is leading as there would be a high chance of ending up in a crevasse. We start unroped because the route is extremely fiddly up and down pressure ridges and around seracs. Phil nearly goes through a snow bridge and Ian and I have to
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