Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A shadow moved towards the hole gaining substance as it grew closer to the
opening where the snow-bridge thinned. I screamed for Alex to go back. The shad-
ow stopped, moved slightly one way, then the other and then retreated beyond the
illuminated roof above me. I breathed easier. Just as I was getting really cold,
three heavy tugs on the rope told me it was time to prusik. My slings were already
attached. Once the rope came taut, it cut through the ceiling above like a cheese
wire, eventually halting where it met ice. I swung off and up, cutting a hole out at
the top. Alex was sitting just around the corner of a big serac in which he had
placed two solid ice screws for my escape from the hole.
'That must have been exciting.' Then he gave me a weary grin that said 'don't do
that again.' I didn't ask how I had fallen thirty feet when the ropes should have
been tight between us.
'Did you hear me shout?'
'I think so but it was like something from a drum. Anyway, I soon saw what
needed doing.'
'No more please God. Let's go.'
We wound our way down the glacier with a tight rope between us. My nerves
were still sparking. At the bivvy, there was a note from Choe and Terry saying, 'if
you read this, you're lucky bastards because you're alive.' More importantly, they
had left food and a stove that functioned perfectly. We slept contentedly and were
back in Huaraz to celebrate by late evening next day.
1. Peru was in a state of near revolution while we were there. We were too naive and ill-informed to appreciate that things could go very wrong any
moment, but we were caught up in riots in Lima on the way home and had to stay overnight in a store with steel shutters. Tut and Choe had just
come back from climbing Alpamayo. As they got off the bus, Tut said he heard firecrackers going off. Wondering what the celebration was, he
looked across the square to see a crowd of panicked children running in all directions. There was a teacher's strike on and their pupils had joined
in. The army opened fire on the crowd, killing several teachers and pupils. It all went back to normal within hours and the streets were again full
of tourists as if nothing had happened.
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