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Tagne 2001 |
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Dan's DiaryDay 28 - Wednesday 25th July 2001
My alarm went off at 4:45am. I lay there for a bit waiting, waiting for what I don't know. Jon's alarm soon went off and Alan could be heard moving around outside. I fumbled around in the dark tent and got dressed. I went outside; daylight was beginning to show. Thick, low cloud filled the valley. I was unsure whether the day should go ahead as planned or whether we should go back to bed. Five minutes later Alan popped out and said we should continue as planned. Jon lit the stoves and got them going while got water from the river for our tea and porridge. While Jon cooked the porridge and Alan made the tea I packed the things I needed to take up to camp one. The tea was drunk, the porridge eaten and the pans cleaned. I took the group food and left the others to argue over who carried the ropes, stoves and tents. Andy and Steve debated over who should carry the GPS. By 6:57am I had crammed every thing that I could into my rucksack and tied what was left onto the outside. We left Advanced Base Camp and walked through the moraine pile, weaving up and around the large blocks. We crossed the river, which was low and easily jumped across. Alan was a bit hesitant at finding the right place to cross, but soon joined us safe and dry on the other side. We scrambled across another large pile of moraine passing up and around a boulder the size of a detached house before dropping down onto a broad flood plain. The flood plain was covered with rounded boulders cemented together by dark grey silt. We walked across the plain, close to the river, which was inclined at a low angle.
The air was still crisp and cool. The cloud had started to thin but was still low, hugging the sides of the valley. At the far end the river had eroded the bottom of the scree slope, forming a steep river cliff on our side of the valley. We were forced to climb up the high bank onto the scree. We stopped for a breather halfway as the sun started to rise above the valley and poke through a hole in the cloud. Sun cream was applied and oatmeal bars eaten as our shoulders recovered from the weight they'd been carrying. We soon got going again over large rocks near the foot of the scree slope, before dropping back down to beside the river.
Another large inclined plain littered with rounded boulders was crossed. Braided stream channels containing trickles of water weaved endlessly across the plain, joining the main channel, which split the plain in two. Another rest was taken on the far side of the plain, before heading up onto another pile of scree. We crossed a stream, jumping from boulder to boulder and then ascended a broad ridge of scree up the valley side, away from the river. My rucksack was beginning to feel heavy, the straps digging into my hips and shoulders. I would have done anything to have been able to take another rest but I knew I must keep on going. The gradient of the scree slope increased slightly and our pace slowed dramatically as our lungs fought for more oxygen. Numerous short stops were taken. I waited for Steve who was struggling and lagging behind. We caught up with the others near the top of the scree slope, when they stopped for a rest.
We headed over the top of the scree slope towards the glacier. On reaching the ice Jon and Alan continued. Andy and Steve stopped for a rest on the last of the rocks that sat on stools of ice while I put on my salopettes, the wrong way round at first. I replaced my sun hat with a woolly hat and got out my glacier glasses. I had been squinting my eyes all the way up the scree as something was making them hurt painfully. I started off up the ice slope following the tracks made by Andy and Steve who were halfway up the slope. The ice was granular and crunchy on top, but hard underneath. Running water had carved channels out of the ice from the millimetre scale to the metre scale. The word had obviously got around, for it was not just the scree that tried to eat my walking pole: the ice started to do it as well.
On reaching the top of the slope I found the others waiting and resting. I urged them to keep on going, which they did. I kept walking at the back with Steve taking frequent stops as and when he needed them. Jon, Alan and Andy went off up the glacier at their own pace. Steve was struggling with a combination of the weight he was carrying, the altitude and his cough. I was more than glad of the frequent stops and although the ice toadstools were a devil to walk across they made excellent seats. I could see Jon and Andy resting in the distance while Alan had continued. Steve and I managed to struggle on to the spot where Jon and Andy had stopped. Just before we reached them, they got up and headed towards Alan who had his rucksack on the ice and was getting a tent out. Steve and I sat down on the last of the ice toadstools and had a long rest watching Jon and Andy arrive at the spot where Alan was and help him put up the tents.
By the time we had arrived at 12:30pm the first Quasar was being pegged out. There was a big debate over who was to be in which tent, so I set about measuring the width of everyone's shoulders using some cord. I had wanted to measure the size of people's bellies but a lack of co-operation forced me into measuring shoulder width. Alan and Steve had the widest shoulders so they got to share one tent, while Jon, Andy and I crammed in the second. The second quasar was erected and then Alan and Steve retreated to their tent for a rest. Jon and I battled to get the pegs to stay in. No sooner had we gone round the tent and hammered them all in and they had popped out again. We hit them with snow stakes and even replaced the pegs with the snow stakes but nothing seemed much good. I sorted out my clothing and equipment, and unpacked the group food from my rucksack. A Jewson bag started to slide down the almost-flat glacier, mobilised by the thin film of water that lay on top of the ice. Jon emptied his polythene bag and tried to go bum-sliding, but the surface was too soft for his weight. It started to snow but the sun still shone. The wind blew up the glacier and made it feel much colder than it really was. I eventually got my stuff sorted and put it under the shelter of the flysheet before retreating inside the tent where Andy and Jon lay under their down sleeping bags. It was 2pm. I ate all my roti and cheese, and followed them with a cereal bar. Andy discovered why his alarm had failed to go off earlier that morning. He had set it for 4:45pm not 4:45am, despite the watch being in 24 hour mode. I drifted in and out of various levels of consciousness for the next few hours.
At 3:45pm Jon and Andy got up and started to sort out dinner. They gathered the stoves, pots and matches and put water from the icy streams on to boil. I got out the tent and collected the food that we would eat. There was no wind now, but with the descending sun it was noticeably colder. With only two pots, each pot serving two people, I decided to cook for two people at a time, couscous in one pot and soup in the other. Jon and Andy ate the first meal at 4:35pm while I set about boiling more water. Andy ate his meal in the tent. He was very lethargic, and said he wasn't feeling well. By 5pm I had Alan and Steve's meal cooked and they emerged from their tents to eat it. Some hail and snow threatened to interrupt proceedings but it didn't come to much and the sun soon returned. Lots of small rock falls had been heard throughout the afternoon cascading down the sheer cliffs on to the southern edge of the glacier. Alan showed us the faces in the rock and we could see that he hadn't been hallucinating after all. He just had a vivid imagination! I had forgotten to bring a spoon up from advanced Base Camp so I borrowed Alan's. I ate my couscous and peanuts with my French onion soup, which was bit of a let down and repeated on me for the rest of the evening. Custard and dried apricots followed for dessert. Strange noises emerged from our tent. There was only Andy inside (we thought), so it must be him (we hoped). Steve and Alan retreated to their tent while I made hot chocolate for the morning and put it in my thermos flask. The flask immediately warmed up, melting the ice on which it was standing, causing it to slide. Luckily I caught it before it toppled and spilled its contents. Andy emerged briefly to fill up his water bottle. I was last to retreat into the tent at 7pm, after the cooking things had been cleaned and put away. I said to the others "This is as near as dammit a new altitude record....for all of us that haven't been higher". I had suddenly remembered that Alan and Steve had been higher when they had looked at the peak and Andy had got higher when he had climbed Tagne. I hastened to add the last sentence before Jon or Andy could point how wrong I was. I spent many minute faffing and getting into my sleeping bag. Room was precious and I needed more than was available. Jon, Andy and I managed to play cards with what little room was available. The French onion soup tried to come up more than it would go down. Andy went to relieve himself at 7:50pm wearing the least number of clothes he had ever done on the glacier. I took a photo of him and said we would send the photo to Anna McCormack with a note saying "anything you can do I can do better". I lay down with my watch and socks dangling mesmerisingly above my head.
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© Copyright Steve Jolly 2001. |
