Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I was surprised how much work the often-indolent Alex managed to do for the
expedition in the time remaining to us. His Scottish winter and Alpine reputation
stood him in good stead with equipment manufacturers like Rohan. I had been
totally unaware of his work with them testing and developing gear. Alex arranged
for the British contingent to have their latest salopettes and jackets, which he had
helped them develop as part of their specialist clothing. These were of a tough yet
warm stretch material and proved to be perfect for the dry mountains of Afgh-
anistan, with its relatively stable weather.
[1]
Alex also had friends among retailers, most notably Brian Cropper, who ran the
YHA shop in Manchester. So, when I phoned Zawada to explain the last minute
changes of personnel, I was also able to report that we would be bringing a selec-
tion of the latest ice screws and pegs, compliments of Brian, and a selection of
high-altitude freeze-dried meals from Mountain House, compliments of Eastern
Mountain Sports in New Hampshire.
[2]
It was a rush, and a time of uncertainty. A few days before we left, Alex arrived
with John Syrett to help with the final packing. We then piled everything into his
van and drove down to his family home in Letchmore Heath. On the last call to Po-
land, Zawada told me that he had managed to change dozens of bits of paper in
triplicate to get visas sorted in Eastern Europe and Afghanistan. One question he
asked several times was: 'How many dollars are you bringing?'
'Plenty, Andrez - around $5,000.'
'Can you bring more? That is not enough for so many people. We have difficult
plans to achieve and the trip may last many months.'
'I'll try Andrez, but we're just climbers.'
What Zawada didn't tell me was that he had been denied permission by the Rus-
sians to travel by train across the Soviet Union. He was desperate to get more
money together to pay for flights or else the whole expedition might have to shift
at the last minute to the less expensive Pamirs or Caucasus. I approached Barclays
out of the blue knowing that Chris Bonington had been successful with them in the
past. When they found out that we were seeking more money with only a few days
to go, both our patron and Dennis Gray rang me to express their displeasure. What
was I thinking? It was totally naive to think that a bank would at such short notice
bail out a group of relatively unknown climbers, even if it was one of the few East-
West expeditions during the Cold War.
I rang the members of the team to say we had to dig deep and beg or borrow as
much as we could to contribute personally to the trip. In the end, we managed to
scrape together another £1,000.
It would have to do.
