Tagne 2001

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Dan's Diary

Day 31 - Saturday 28th July 2001

Walking up the valley towards Pt.5800

It was 5am when my alarm went off. I didn't want to get up, so I lay there until I heard movement from Andy's tent. In a moment my apathy had vanished. I got dressed and started sorting out my equipment. I emptied my side of the tent, putting my things outside. I made two piles, one of things to leave at ABC and one of items to take up to Camp 1. I sorted out the food we'd need for the next few days and added this to the growing pile of things I needed to carry.

At 6am Andy was ready to leave. He left me his tent to carry and headed off up through the pile of moraine and scree. I put all the things I was leaving behind in a polythene bag and left it in my tent. I sorted out enough food for our return to ABC and set it aside. With time ticking by, I threw everything that would go into my rucksack and tied anything else onto the outside.

I finally left advanced Base Camp at 7am. I followed the scree slopes around the large pile of moraine. The uphill was hard work and I had to take it easy with my heavy rucksack. It wasn't long before I found a large boulder and sat on it to take the weight of my rucksack off my shoulders. I had only been going twenty minutes. I knew then it was going to be a hard morning, but I was in no rush. The only reason for an early start was to avoid the midday sun.

Pt.5800 above the foot of the South Tagne Glacier

It took me a while to force myself to leave the boulder I was sat on, but I did and carried up through the moraine. The moraine pile went on far longer than I had remembered. I thought this was probably because I was going much slower and I began to get frustrated. Then the river came into view; the sight I'd wanted to see ten minutes previously. The river marked the end of the moraine and I knew that from there it was a steady climb up to the glacier. I descended to the river and crossed the small stream with a big jump. The boulder I had taken off from collapsed, causing me to fall short and get a slightly wet foot. I walked up the boulder-strewn flood plain cursing myself. At the upstream end of the flood plain I followed the by-now well-walked route up the left-hand side of the river. Progress was slow, and I took many frequent stops just to get the weight off my shoulders. Slowly but surely the huge snout of the glacier that filled the valley got closer and closer. Andy could be seen high above the snout, making his way to the rocky buttress in the centre of the glacier, which would be our home for the night. I had a final long push to the foot of the glacier, safe in the knowledge that I could have a long rest while I put my crampons on and sorted my things out. The last few boulders were covered in a film of ice causing me to slip and trip my way up. I was relieved to reach the snout of the glacier. The muddy silt mounds had melted and as I trod in them I sunk up to my ankles, getting dark grey sludge over my boots. I stood their momentarily wondering what to do. I wanted to be close to the glacier so I that didn't blunt my crampons walking over the rock, but on the other hand I didn't want to put my rucksack down and get it covered in silt. I ended up retreating to a large rock and balancing my rucksack against it, so only the bottom got muddy. I had a breather before eating jelly and biscuits. I hadn't packed well and had to empty half my rucksack to find my gaiters. I put my crampons on as pebbles and boulders fell out the soft river cliff behind me adding to rocks in the stream channel. I put my things back in my rucksack. Despite putting back less than I had taken out I still couldn't fit everything back in, so my helmet got added to the outside. I stood up and swung my rucksack onto my back. The added weight caused me to sink three inches into the soft glacial mud.

Looking back towards ABC from the South Tagne Glacier

I started my ascent of the glacial snout at 9:38am. I had long given up catching Andy up and so could take it nice and easy, although I knew I shouldn't really take my rucksack off again as I would get wet and muddy from the thawing ice. Step by step I ascended the steep ice snout, concentrating only on taking the next step. After twenty minutes I had climbed the snout and was approaching the flat section of glacier above it. My shoulders won their battle and I was forced to dump my rucksack on the ice and take a rest.

I got going again at 10:07am, for I soon got cold. The early morning sun had been clouded over and a cool wind blew through my fleece. I crossed the plateau of ice molehills and jumped the streams that flowed across the surface of the ice. Some twenty minutes later and I had reached the foot of the ice slope, which ran up and around to the back of the rocky buttress. I made my way to an over-sized rock sitting on a mushroom of ice, where I sat down to rest. Again I soon got cold and was forced to continue. Andy shouted down from the top of the rocky buttress as I zigzagged my way up the icy slope. I so desperately wanted to stop and remove my rucksack. My back was screaming at me that it had had enough. But in one final push I made it to the top at 11:05am and collapsed in a heap on the rock thoroughly exhausted, having removed my crampons on the glacier. I soon started to get cold from the strengthening wind. I put some warmer clothes on but was quite happy to sit and rest. Andy lay on the rocks sheltering from the wind, occasionally engaging in a conversation. After half an hour or so we got up and wandered around looking for a place to pitch our tent. There was nowhere ideal, so we had to pick the best there was: a sheltered sloping patch. We cleared away the large rocks and put the inner up. Andy went and got his Thermarest to see how flat the pitch really was while I prevented it from blowing away. Once we had removed a few more rocks from under the tent, we put the outer up and attached the guy ropes to large rocks. It was hard work and very quickly I became light headed. I had to stop and take a rest between fastening each guy.

Andy dozes on the rock buttress

We were finally ready to get into the tent at 12:30pm. I unpacked my things and ate a lunch of dry roasted peanuts, oatmeal bars and sweets. I changed the film in my camera and had a general sort out before lying down and taking a rest.

It was 4:30pm the next time I looked at my watch. I retied my prussik loops. At 5pm Andy got out and lit the stove, while I put some water in my water bottle and packed for the following day. When the water was boiling, I added the Oxo and then the couscous to it. We ate this mix with diced cheese and pepperami. Andy's pepperami had gone off, probably as a result of the packaging being punctured, so he had to get another one. Fortunately he noticed after only one mouthful. Golden vegetable soup was cooked and drank afterwards. I made a hot drink for the morning while Andy retreated to his sleeping bag to try and warm up. I had my down jacket with me and was glad I had brought it. I joined Andy at 6:45pm.