Thieves, Liars and Mountaineers

by Mark Horrell

  The Finnish mountaineer Veikka Gustafsson and Jagged Globe leader David Hamilton join us for afternoon tea. Veikka is here to climb Gasherbrum I, and if he's successful it will be his 14 th and final 8000 metre peak, putting him into a select group of less than twenty climbers. We discuss the various weather forecasts available to us, which no longer seem to be correlating. The popular consensus seems to be that there may be one or two fine days ahead of us, but there will be a lot of new snow arriving on 6 th , and then clear weather afterwards. G2 is dangerously avalanche prone above Camp 2 after new snow, and Phil knows this only too well after he watched a group of German mountaineers trigger an avalanche there two years ago, killing two members of their party and effectively closing the mountain. There therefore doesn't seem to be much point budging from Base Camp onto G2 until the 7 th at the earliest.

  “But that still means we could potentially summit on the 10 th or 11 th ,” says Phil. “We could go straight from Base Camp to Camp 2 like we did the other day. You were all strong enough to be able to do that.”

  I don't know whether he's trying to show off to Veikka or David, but there are a few smirks around the table, and before any of us say anything he decides to qualify his statement.

  “Actually we did it, but everyone was f---ed.”

  We talk about the possibility of getting the route fixed on G1 while we wait for a weather window on G2. It's a steeper mountain than G2 and thus not as avalanche prone. David and Phil have been beavering away in meetings with other groups at Base Camp trying to get contributions for the rope fixing, and Phil now thinks they have enough rope to fix virtually the whole of G1. David has summited G1 before, and Veikka has been within 50 metres of the summit, so they discuss options. Veikka doesn't need the fixed ropes, but it seems he may be happy to wait for our Sherpas to go up there first and break the trail (I guess you don't climb all the 8000 metre peaks without knowing how to conserve your energy). Serap Jangbu is of course equally keen to get up there to complete one of his three remaining 8000 metre peaks.

  West face of Gasherbrum I

  One of David's team members called Paul has decided to go home because he's frustrated by their lack of progress on G2. It's a surprise because he's their strongest climber and has already summited Everest. They still have plenty of time left, and when the weather closes in like this there's no alternative but to be patient and wait at Base Camp for a summit opportunity.

  “And Ali's gone home because of his frozen dick,” says Phil.

  This has been a common talking point and always drawers roars of laughter every time it's mentioned, poor Ali.

  “Ah, but that's a good reason for going home,” I reply.

  Nobody's really sure the Ali story is true apart from Arian, who is adamant Ali told him explicitly about his frozen member.

  “But you still haven't found out how he did it,” says Gordon.

  “Well, you build a snow woman and try to shag it, what do you expect?” replies David.

  At dinner one of our Sherpas, Pasang Lama, tells me about his ascent of K2 last year, on the night of a tragedy which killed a great many climbers. On August 1 st , 2008, 11 climbers died after a large serac above a feature called the Bottleneck Couloir collapsed, sweeping away the fixed ropes placed for the safety of inexperienced climbers. Pasang lost his ice axe, and his friend Chiring Dorje descended the couloir with Pasang attached to his harness. They were with a Korean team, three of whom died along with one of their Sherpas. It's clear he found the whole experience very traumatic, and he concludes by saying that K2 isn't a mountain anyone should attempt unless they're able to get themselves down. The same ought to be true for any mountain, but of course, it isn't. Having abseiled down the Banana Ridge on Gasherbrum II using fixed ropes, it would certainly have been an exceedingly risky business for me to descend that section without the security of the fixed rope, knowing that a slight slip could have sent me tumbling 500 metres to the Gasherbrum Cwm. I certainly wouldn't risk climbing the mountain without fixed ropes. Fortunately, in terms of objective danger the ascent of G2 is much safer than that of K2. Climbers have previously described the ascent of the Bottleneck Couloir, where the risk of falling ice is ever-present, as playing Russian Roulette. This is why I would describe K2 as a suicide mountain – even a very experienced climber has to take great risk, and is at the mercy of factors beyond his control. You wouldn't catch me having a go at it, not on your nelly.

  23. Arrival of the jetstream

  Friday 3 July, 2009 – Gasherbrum Base Camp, Pakistan

  Day 3 of doing nothing. There are about four different weather forecasts being circulated around camp, from Bracknell, Innsbruck, Berne, and somewhere in America. They all tally with each other, but not with conditions on the ground. It continues to snow all day today, and we think this is going to persist until the 6 th , when conditions will improve. It will then need a couple of days for the snow to consolidate before we make any further progress on G2. More of a concern is the jetstream, which we've been told will hang around the Karakoram range until the 13 th . This brings ridiculously high winds which will flatten any campsite, blow climbers off mountains, and create very cold temperatures making frostbite a virtual certainty. If this is true then we won't be making any summit attempt for at least ten days. The question is whether it's worth climbing up to the higher camps if we're only going to have to come down again. On the other hand, it's hard to see that languishing at Base Camp doing nothing for ten days is going to help much, either. It's frustrating, but this is the world of high altitude mountaineering.

  I spend most of today playing cards. Gorgan is getting very excitable and competitive over our games. Most people are frustrated that there's not enough sun to generate the solar power to enable them to check emails. In fact, I seem to be the only person in camp who couldn't care less if I don't read a single email until the expedition finishes.

  24. Ever-changing plans

  Saturday 4 July, 2009 – Gasherbrum Base Camp, Pakistan

  As it continues to snow and we while away the time at Base Camp reading and playing cards, every day brings new weather reports and adjustments to our plans. At lunchtime Phil explains that we may switch our resources from Gasherbrum II to Gasherbrum I, as it's a steeper mountain and does not require as long a period of time for the snow to consolidate and be safe from avalanches. Then, later in the afternoon after further meetings with other teams and new forecasts, he is favouring G2 again. At lunchtime we learn there is only enough rope to fix the Japanese Couloir on G1, but by mid-afternoon there is enough to fix the whole mountain. I'm certainly happier about tackling G2 first, as I feel much more confident about it. G1 is a bonus peak for me: it may yet prove too technically difficult, and I certainly don't wish to risk my life on steeper sections where there is no fixed rope. I imagine I'd feel under much more pressure to attempt these sections if G1 were to become our main objective.

  We now need several fine days to consolidate the snow on G2, and then four reasonable days to reach the summit. Another issue is the jetstream. We can't climb in it, but it will help us by blowing some of the fresh snow off the mountain and compacting the snow underneath to make it less avalanche prone. It's due to hit both mountains between the 9 th and 13 th , so Phil is now looking at the 15 th as a possible summit day on G2. The weather has been hard on us, but the one good thing in our favour is that we still have plenty of time, and can afford to be patient.

  At dinner Phil tells us about the avalanche on G2 two years ago.

  “I brought a load up to G2 and was heading back down again when the German team decided to head up to Camp 3 anyway, even after we'd told them it wasn't safe. I remember looking up and seeing Dirk their leader doing this.” He makes a tugging gesture with his right hand. I look across at Gordon and see a glimmer light up in his eye, but before he has a chance to make some wise crack about masturbation, Phil clarifies his statement. “He's tugging on the fixed rope to try and pull it out of the snow. Suddenly it's lik
e the whole slope above Camp 2 comes loose. I'm descending the couloir at the time – we didn't use the Banana Ridge in '07 – and the avalanche comes over my head, and I can see two German climbers fly past me waving their arms and legs. They're completely buried by the snow and we never find their bodies.”

  The avalanche was huge, and the area above Camp 2 became a technical rock climb rather than a steep trudge through snow. This ruled out any further attempts on Gasherbrum II that year because nobody had the necessary technical equipment, such as rock pitons, to carry out a rock climb of this scale. Expedition teams therefore switched over to Gasherbrum I if they had permits, or simply went home, and this is one of the reasons why Phil has decided to get permits for both mountains this year.

  “I hope no stupid c---s trigger an avalanche this year,” Phil murmurs.

  It's US Independence Day today. Phil, as a Brit who has lived in New York for over twenty years, is the nearest thing we have to an American in our team, so Gordon decides to serenade him with bagpipes. This involves holding his nose and karate chopping his throat while humming Star Spangled Banner. Slightly eccentric.

  25. Watching the winds on Gasherbrum II

  Sunday 5 July, 2009 – Gasherbrum Base Camp, Pakistan

  The wind hammers on the tent for some hours around midnight – I can hear it through my ear plugs – but I remain warm and comfortable inside my thick down sleeping bag. By morning there's been a fresh deposit of snow on the ground, the thickest since we arrived here in Base Camp. Gorgan and Philippe had been intending to go up to Camp 1 this morning, but they're still here at breakfast.

  By 8 o'clock it's a fine morning, however, and I resolve to walk up the moraine to try and get the view of Gasherbrum II up the South Gasherbrum Icefall that we're lacking from Base Camp. Every time I've tried this journey so far, I've been thwarted by low clouds in the Gasherbrum Cwm, so this morning I set off straight after breakfast with Ian and Michael. Ian takes the safer undulating route up and over each moraine hump, but I decide to look for a flatter, more direct route breaking trail through thick snow to the left of the moraine. I need to be a little more careful on this route, as I need to distinguish snow from glacier and look out for crevasses. After twenty minutes or so Philippe, armed with his trekking pole for probing away in front of him, overtakes me and takes over the lead. Eventually after a few close encounters with crevasses, one of which swallows the whole of Michael's leg, Philippe stops at a spot looking right up the icefall. Although the sky is cloudless, the fresh snowfall is evaporating off the mountains, obscuring Gasherbrum IV, but even with a slight haze around them the view of G3 and G2 is fantastic. We can see the whole of the route up the latter from just below the Banana Ridge to the summit. The slopes look dangerously overloaded with snow, and a cloud plume on the top half of the summit pyramid is the telltale sign that it's being battered by the fierce winds of the jetstream. Despite the apparent fine weather down here at Base Camp, now is still not the time to attempt climbing G2.

  Lenticular cloud batters the summit of Gasherbrum I

  The weather remains fine for the rest of the day, but we need a few more of these to make the mountain safe again. We also need the jetstream to move off the summit. Our patient vigil must continue.

  26. The virtues of patience

  Monday 6 July, 2009 – Gasherbrum Base Camp, Pakistan

  A second day of fine weather. After breakfast Michael, Ian and I set off down the moraine through the rest of Base Camp in the direction of Concordia. Tents are strung out quite a long way and it takes us nearly half an hour to pass the last of them as we climb up and down mounds of moraine on our way out. My plan is to see if there's a way across the Abruzzi Glacier on moraine to the foot of Chogolisa, a dominant triangular shaped mountain rising above Base Camp at the point where the glacier turns a corner on its way back to Concordia. It's a mountain with a rich mountaineering history, being the place where the great Austrian mountaineer Hermann Buhl – the only person to make a first ascent of an 8000m peak solo when he climbed Nanga Parbat in 1953 – fell and lost his life just two weeks after making the first ascent of Broad Peak. The answer to my question is probably positive – there does appear to be a line of grey humps crossing over the glacier to the mountain's base – but after an hour of walking Chogolisa has disappeared into cloud and we're still not at the corner. We turn around and head back. I'm kind of thinking I still have plenty of spare days to come back here if I want to.

  Back at our base camp Gorgan is entertaining three people from other expedition teams in the dining tent. He tries to kid me that we're leaving for the icefall tomorrow, but I don't believe him. Of all of us he's by far the most restless and believes we should be making forays up the mountain rather than sitting around Base Camp waiting for a weather window. The rest of us are much more patient. With all the snow that has fallen in the last week, we couldn't possibly have gone above Camp 2 on Gasherbrum II, and I'd far rather wait in comfort down here than in a haring blizzard high up. Although the weather forecasts change a little every day, they've generally been accurate, and two things will halt our progress no matter what: lots of snow and the jetstream. We still have time on our side. We're now waiting to see how much snow gets deposited on the 9 th , when another dump is predicted.

  In the afternoon Phil comes running out of his tent with perhaps the most positive news we've had for a few days. His business partner Jamie McGuinness, whose data has so far been accurate, has emailed to say there looks to be a weather window beginning on the 12 th . We're keeping our fingers crossed that our patience will be rewarded. In the meantime most of us have decided to go up to Camp 1 tomorrow just to stretch our legs and keep acclimatised. This will be my first bit of serious exercise since I came down from Camp 2 on the 30 th , a week ago.

  Ian is concerned about his 101 year old grandmother, who fell and broke her arm while we were in Skardu. He has sent her an email, called her on Arian's satellite phone, and has now decided to make her a home-made get well card, which he has sent back to Askole with some returning climbers in the hope they can post it in Skardu or Islamabad.

  “Did you just send her a card?” Gordon asks in sinister tones while he is slowly dealing out a round of cards. “My grandmother always prefers cash … and she gets very upset if we don't give her enough … she's a sweet lady … except when she's been drinking …”

  Sometimes our Canadian friend can be a bit creepy.

  27. A leg stretch up to Camp 1

  Tuesday 7 July, 2009 – Camp 1, Gasherbrum Cwm, Pakistan

  A 5am start from Base Camp just as it's becoming light. Phil, Ian, Gordon, Arian, Michael and I make good time through the icefall in conditions that are extremely pleasant. It looks like it's going to be another beautiful day. The sky is clear but the sun is hidden behind Gasherbrum I as we make our way up, so we climb in shadow. Although it's cold, movement keeps us warm, and the sun's rays touch the top of Chogolisa and Baltoro Kangri behind us.

  About halfway up I rope up with Arian and Michael, and Arian, leading, keeps up a steady but comfortable pace as sunlight radiates across the line of jagged teeth that is G5, G4, G3 and G2 directly ahead of us. We remain in shadow until we're nearly at the top of the cwm, and this time we make it to Camp 1 in just 4¼ hours. More encouraging than this is that for the first time in three ascents I manage to reach Camp 1 and I'm not completely knackered.

  Figures on the glacier, with Gasherbrums V, IV, III and II up ahead

  It's 9.30 when we arrive and the sky remains clear till shortly after midday. Our tents have been surrounded by a metre of snow, so we spend some time digging them out while Phil and Gordon head over to the lower slopes of Gasherbrum II to assess the avalanche risk. I'm no avalanche expert myself, but I can tell as I dig out our tents that the snow has not consolidated yet – the snow sits easily in light slabs one on top of another as I shovel away. When Phil and Gordon return from digging a pit at the bottom of the south face, they confirm that it will need at least a
nother 24 hours of consolidation. We're still keeping our fingers crossed there's no more heavy snow, or we may have to abandon our attempt on G2 and switch to G1.

  At 1pm Phil, Gordon and Ian head back down to Base Camp, but Arian, Michael and I have decided to take it easy and spend another night up here at Camp 1 before descending again tomorrow morning, giving us an extra night of acclimatisation at nearly 6000m. We all seem to be in good physical shape for a summit attempt now – it's such a shame about the weather.

  We only have a single stove at Camp 1, so later in the afternoon Arian crowds into the tent with Michael and I, and risking a new brand of freeze dried expedition food this time, we enjoy a surprisingly tasty meal of soup, chapatti with cheese, and chicken and rice, washed down with plenty of coffee.

  28. Kidnapping the cook

  Wednesday 8 July, 2009 – Gasherbrum Base Camp, Pakistan

  I'm woken up at 5am by Arian shouting from the neighbouring tent, “It was minus 18 last night!”

  I look at my watch, but it reads just -8º C, which seems more like par for the course. It's been -7º C at a similar time in the morning at Base Camp, which is 850 metres lower and consequently some five degrees warmer (you can usually reckon a drop of six degrees Celsius per 1000 metres of altitude gained). I'm getting used to the cold temperatures now. It's next to impossible to put on boots, harness and crampons and go for an early morning slash without ending up with freezing fingers. Usually I clear this discomfort quickly after I've put on my big down mitts and begun walking, but it's another crystal clear morning and I'd like to be able to take photos, so I take a chance with my small leather Marmot gloves.