Tagne 2001

Andy's Diary

Day 23 - Friday 20th July 2001

see also Dan's Diary for today

At 0330 we got dressed, put on our harnesses and began up the scree. We had decided to take an axe each and four out of our six ice screws between us. Even though there was ice on the tent the scree was not frozen together as one might have hoped. The scree turned into a rocky ridge covered in loose rock. In the Lake District, Wales or even the Alps this would have been cleared by a hundred sets of boots, but we were the first to climb this ridge. The scrambling was difficult so we roped up. We had decided not to bring nuts, they might have helped but the rock was so rotten it's unlikely.

After some difficult scrambling (and Narinder dropping his ice axe, luckily onto a rock shelf within easy reach) we gained the first snow of the glacier. We traversed the corrie above the bergschrund and began climbing to the col. The altitude slowed me down more than Narinder as he was fitter than me, and he was also born at 2000m above sea level. I asked him to wait when I needed to. The climbing was otherwise easy. The ridge to the summit had looked like less than 30 degrees from our reccy a few days earlier.

Finally we reached the col. Instead of an easy 30-degree ridge we were met by a rock wall and a horrible looking rock cum ice step. We had seen nothing to suggest we might find this. I wanted to look over the edge of the ridge and find out where we were but I knew it was corniced and there was no way I was going near the edge (a cornice is a wispy bit of snow at the top of a ridge than is formed by the wind. They look like part of the ridge from on top, but in fact there is no rock underneath and they collapse straight away under body weight). We thought this was probably the end of our attempt Narinder started smoking while we considered what to do. I said I wanted to have a better look at it so we started to walk up to it, as we got closer it looked easier. We started to climb it together, but soon thought better of it. I placed an ice screw. Narinder climbed it, placing another screw as a runner on the way up. Narinder belayed me up to the snowy ledge after the difficulty.

As I came over the edge he said 'another surprise' another ice step, similar to the first. This one proved to be easier but after it we found ourselves in a tricky position. We were standing on the ridge next to a large rectangular block. Narinder asked me if a thought it was the summit. Carrying on along the summit didn't look easy. Through the gendarmes I could see two wisps of cornices either could have been the summit. I stood and thought for a moment regaining my breath. The altimeter showed 5900m. Actually it was obvious, this was not the summit; we had to continue. We scrambled round on rock ledges and found a narrow icy gully leading up. I would have liked to lead a pitch, but clearly Narinder was more capable so I let him.

At the top of the Gully he said to me 'No more surprises'. A beautiful dome of snow at an easy angle led to a snowy summit, we realised that the cornice we no danger as there was firm ground just below. We made the easy walk to the summit together and took our summit photos.

Narinder reminded me that the major part of the job was not yet over. Most climbing fatalities occur in decent. I agreed. We descended straight off the summit to the band of rock in the southwest face. We scouted along the band of rock until we found a chimney in the rock and used it to get onto the face of snow and ice.

The face was reasonably steep and we were both a little unsure. Narinder started to belay me with a body belay between rock ledges. I was happy to do it without a belay, which was the situation effectively as he had no anchor. Even so it was tricky for quite a while and Narinder was clearly uneasy, although I got the impression he was worried that I might slip. I decided that we should do it the safe way and belay each other off ice screws. There was no real need for runners, just one really solid anchor in case someone started to slide down the slope. Eventually we got to a rock terrace. We contoured round onto some rocky steps and then continued down onto screes. We tried not to take to long and didn't stop to rest because of the risk of rock fall from the scree field. We finally made it back to the lower glacier and considered ourselves safe enough to rest. It was now that I felt I could claim a Himalayan first ascent. I told Narinder that it was my 23rd birthday and it all seemed to have worked out perfectly. This really seemed like a vindication of the whole plan. The pressure was now off as we could call the expedition a success what ever else happened.

We returned to camp 1 for a rest. I made notes on the route and we then decamped to ABC. Narinder swore the descending the screes was easier than the glacier. Foolishly I followed him and found myself trying to negotiate gravel, half frozen into the surface of the glacier. Every time I was slightly off balance my rucksack pulled me over onto the scree. I swore loudly, annoyed with myself that I had not followed my own plan and kept to the glacier, which was at least flat and predictable. Narinder seemed to have developed his scree skills from an early age and managed it much better. Alan and Steve were waiting at ABC; we pitched our tent, made some food and went to sleep. The next day we walked back down to Base Camp.