Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
brought a touch of realism to the bureaucratic procedures of the British Mountain-
eering Council.'
Doug was also very aware and understanding of Alex's nature. 'Alex was 'all out
front', forthright in his opinions on matters which concerned him and about which
he had given much thought; then again, when he was not sure of his ground he
knew when to keep quiet, to watch and learn until he was sure.'
Despite this, the two clashed on Shisha Pangma over the expedition's overall ap-
proach and fairness to all its members. To Alex it was clear that the two least ex-
perienced members of the team - Elaine Brooks and Nick Prescott - should be left
to fend for themselves while the four lead climbers - Doug, Alex, Tut Braithwaite
and Roger Baxter-Jones - got on with climbing the face. Doug appreciated that
these two members had contributed equally to the trip both in terms of personal
commitment and finances. Doug felt they should enjoy the experience and every-
one should have a chance to climb. Alex believed that any effort spent 'guiding the
other two' would greatly reduce the odds of getting up the face because too much
effort would be spent at altitudes too low to properly acclimatise. Initially Doug
did not see Alex's attitude as a risk:
'Alex had a reputation of being very abrasive and very ambitious, saying that he
wanted to achieve the status of Chris Bonington
now
, not when he was forty - and
there is nothing wrong with that, providing he could reconcile himself to the com-
petition. Problems of ambition only seem to arise when climbers seven years
younger are snapping at the heels of those in the way. There is no real difficulty
between those who are two generations apart, and with Alex I felt no great
threat.'
[4]
The expedition was hampered very early on by a lack of finance. The Chinese au-
thorities did not believe that the expedition had as little money as they declared,
despite the fact that the budget had been set out clearly in the final papers sent to
Beijing. The team found themselves being asked to pay for Land Cruisers not
trucks as they had specified, and spending nights in hotels rather than camping. A
corrupt liaison officer didn't help matters. But with a combination of stubbornness
and hard-nosed negotiating by Doug, and the support of their young expedition
interpreter, Wu, they were able to get their way.
Eventually the team found itself in Nyalam, the last town before Shisha
Pangma's south side, but with the yaks that had been ordered in a village forty
kilometres away. No one had ever approached the mountain from the south, and
Nyalam was out of bounds for the foreigners, so the local party boss had assumed
there had been a mistake on the paperwork he had been sent from Beijing. It was
eventually sorted, but at a cost in time, effort and cash as alternative yaks were
