Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 21
BROKEN ENGLISH
Alex and I drifted apart somewhat after the Andes for a year or so. He was en-
grossed in his job as national officer at the BMC. I spent much of the following au-
tumn and winter in New Hampshire with Choe Brooks, working as a rock-climbing
instructor for Eastern Mountain Sports and International Mountain Equipment.
John Powell was running a small building company using borrowed plant. When
not guiding, Choe and I worked for him as well and dossed on the floor of Powell's
tiny cabin in Bartlett, paying our share when we had some income. It was all hand-
to-mouth and not very satisfactory.
In January, I had an unexpected call from England saying Cumbria County
Council were trying to get hold of me to offer me a job. I had worked as a project
manager on a housing renovation scheme to make money for Peru and apparently
I had impressed them. They wanted me to take on a new role to regenerate the loc-
al economy and environment. I took the job based in the south Cumbrian town of
Millom, not far from Bank House where I had lived in the years before Bandaka.
Millom had not recovered from the closure of the iron ore mines and steel works
ten years before. I did my best to change that.
I phoned Alex as soon as I got back to England. He had spent the winter tackling
the last great challenges in the Alps and catching up on the newest routes in Scot-
land. We occasionally joined forces that winter, travelling north with Al Rouse and
Brian Hall to join Mick Geddes and friends. Alex was climbing a lot with the ex-
tremely talented Gordon Smith, and also with Terry King. His skill levels on mixed
ground and ice just seemed to keep improving.
His plan that year was to join Voytek and René Ghilini on the east face of
Dhaulagiri. Meanwhile, Al Rouse had asked me to join a large team to try the west
ridge of Everest in winter without oxygen and without any Sherpa support. I had a
chance of joining the Dhaulagiri trip, but chose Everest; the allure of something in-
credibly bold on the world's highest peak was too enticing. Alex stuck to his path of
trying the hardest faces in the best and lightest style. We had, for the time being,
moved in different directions.
I was a little jealous of Alex's chance to climb again with Voytek but, at the same
time, it was pleasing that our international network was intact and progressing.
Their climb of the east face, although they did not summit from the top of the wall,
