Thieves, Liars and Mountaineers: On the 8000 Metre Peak Circus in Pakistan's Karakoram Mountains by Mark Horrell Read Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mark Horrell
hold onto him while he modifies the route around a huge crevasse. Later, when we are roped, I have to do the same after I try to leap a crevasse only to find snow on the lip I'm jumping onto give way beneath me. Fortunately I'm able to recover, and then have to prod away with my ice axe to find an alternative safe route around the crevasse. On another occasion my right leg disappears a metre into deep snow, and in yanking it out again I pull my crampon off my boot. Fortunately Michael, who is walking behind me, spots it straight away and I'm able to stop and put it back on again before walking any distance cramponless.
All this is done during darkness under the light of our head torches. Phil is rushing us as it's more dangerous than normal, and the rapid pace coupled with no stops for a breather mean that, again, I'm exhausted before the climb has really got going. I'm thinking to myself if I have to maintain this pace on summit day, it's going to kill me.
Once through the more intensive crevasse section at the bottom of the icefall, the remainder of the climb is straightforward, and we reach Camp 1 at 8am. This time it has taken us just 5 hours. For some reason most of my crazy companions want to continue to Camp 2, but I'm more than happy to spend a night here and continue on to Camp 2 tomorrow. Michael also stays at Camp 1 because he's spent less time acclimatising than the rest of us, and Tarke also stays to keep us company. It's clear to me that I'm the least fit member of the team, though I feel I'm quite capable of climbing this mountain if I'm able to take things a little easier and complete the climb at a pace that's comfortable for me. The question is whether I'm going to be allowed to do that.
The others set off for Camp 2 at 9 o'clock. Shortly afterwards it begins to snow, but at 11.30 a break in the cloud allows us to see seven tiny figures on the snow face above us on a feature called the Banana Ridge. It looks horrendously steep from where we are, looking at the route head on.
We give the matter no further thought and fall asleep for a couple of hours. When I wake up the sun is pounding on the tent and it's sweltering inside, so I go out to have another look out across the Gasherbrum Cwm, one of the most amazing mountain settings anywhere, surrounded by six Gasherbrum Peaks, every one of them spectacular. The afternoon is restful as we listen to avalanches blasting the slopes of the mountains all around us.
In the evening we cook one of those disgusting Backpacker meals which involve adding water to a packet of freeze-dried ingredients and letting it simmer. This time we have some sort of Thai noodle soup. I pour a fairly watery soup into Michael's mug, but when I come to pour mine, a fist-sized chunk of glued-together noodle lands in my mug. There's clearly a technique to cooking these simple meals I've not grasped yet. Neither of us find the food at all tasty, and we end up burying the remainder we're quite unable to finish under snow in the porch of our tent, and agree not to tell Arian the environmental warrior.
19. Up to Camp 2 by the Banana Ridge
Monday 29 June, 2009 – Camp 2, Gasherbrum II, Pakistan
Undeterred by last night's culinary disaster, Michael and I wake up at 5am to boil water for breakfast. We decide to have a Backpacker breakfast of granola with bananas and milk. Same method as yesterday – pour hot water into the mix and stir it up – but this time it's actually quite nice, though I suppose as this one's only muesli with dried banana and powder milk, there's less either we or the manufacturers can do wrong.
At 7am Michael, Tarke and I set off for Camp 2 and the fabled Banana Ridge. It depressed me looking at this feature yesterday afternoon as we watched stationary figures hardly moving on what looked like an almost sheer snow face, but in the end it doesn't turn out to be too bad. A short walk across flat snow brings us to the point where Gasherbrum II rises abruptly
All this is done during darkness under the light of our head torches. Phil is rushing us as it's more dangerous than normal, and the rapid pace coupled with no stops for a breather mean that, again, I'm exhausted before the climb has really got going. I'm thinking to myself if I have to maintain this pace on summit day, it's going to kill me.
Once through the more intensive crevasse section at the bottom of the icefall, the remainder of the climb is straightforward, and we reach Camp 1 at 8am. This time it has taken us just 5 hours. For some reason most of my crazy companions want to continue to Camp 2, but I'm more than happy to spend a night here and continue on to Camp 2 tomorrow. Michael also stays at Camp 1 because he's spent less time acclimatising than the rest of us, and Tarke also stays to keep us company. It's clear to me that I'm the least fit member of the team, though I feel I'm quite capable of climbing this mountain if I'm able to take things a little easier and complete the climb at a pace that's comfortable for me. The question is whether I'm going to be allowed to do that.
The others set off for Camp 2 at 9 o'clock. Shortly afterwards it begins to snow, but at 11.30 a break in the cloud allows us to see seven tiny figures on the snow face above us on a feature called the Banana Ridge. It looks horrendously steep from where we are, looking at the route head on.
We give the matter no further thought and fall asleep for a couple of hours. When I wake up the sun is pounding on the tent and it's sweltering inside, so I go out to have another look out across the Gasherbrum Cwm, one of the most amazing mountain settings anywhere, surrounded by six Gasherbrum Peaks, every one of them spectacular. The afternoon is restful as we listen to avalanches blasting the slopes of the mountains all around us.
In the evening we cook one of those disgusting Backpacker meals which involve adding water to a packet of freeze-dried ingredients and letting it simmer. This time we have some sort of Thai noodle soup. I pour a fairly watery soup into Michael's mug, but when I come to pour mine, a fist-sized chunk of glued-together noodle lands in my mug. There's clearly a technique to cooking these simple meals I've not grasped yet. Neither of us find the food at all tasty, and we end up burying the remainder we're quite unable to finish under snow in the porch of our tent, and agree not to tell Arian the environmental warrior.
19. Up to Camp 2 by the Banana Ridge
Monday 29 June, 2009 – Camp 2, Gasherbrum II, Pakistan
Undeterred by last night's culinary disaster, Michael and I wake up at 5am to boil water for breakfast. We decide to have a Backpacker breakfast of granola with bananas and milk. Same method as yesterday – pour hot water into the mix and stir it up – but this time it's actually quite nice, though I suppose as this one's only muesli with dried banana and powder milk, there's less either we or the manufacturers can do wrong.
At 7am Michael, Tarke and I set off for Camp 2 and the fabled Banana Ridge. It depressed me looking at this feature yesterday afternoon as we watched stationary figures hardly moving on what looked like an almost sheer snow face, but in the end it doesn't turn out to be too bad. A short walk across flat snow brings us to the point where Gasherbrum II rises abruptly
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