Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Two-thirds of the way down, we came to a barrier of rock around which the ice
separated and fell steeply down to the main glacier, now only 2,000 feet below. A
few abseils down the barrier led to an isolated buttress of rock with a small sum-
mit. Vertically beneath, the icefall looked like a maze of ribbon candy, but to the
right, about fifty metres away and at a forty-five-degree angle, there appeared to be
a much less broken section of the glacier and the promise of escape. We had used
the last of our rock pegs so now we hammered a warthog ice peg behind a loose
flake of rock. We backed it up with a sling around the flake.
The situation was serious. If the ice peg pulled out and the block failed when
René's weight came on to the rope, not only would he fall into a deep crevasse but
Alex and I would be left stranded. We watched in a state of tension as René gently
eased onto the double ropes and with crampons sparking on the rock, lowered
himself diagonally down until he reached the top of the first big serac. Using a
combination of pendulums and acrobatics, he managed to get to the edge of the
icefall. Alex and I gave a cheer. René hammered another ice peg into the rock and
pulled the ropes tight. Alex safely followed on the abseil-cum-Tyrolean traverse. As
I removed the large back-up sling, it occurred to me that I was probably the heav-
iest of the three of us and if the peg were to pull, I would be lost in the maze of cre-
vasses beneath. I put the fear from my head, carefully checked my connection to
the rope and gave the peg a last suspicious look. Had I been thinking, I would have
changed my figure of 8 for a configuration of karabiners to act as a brake bar. As I
dropped onto the rope, the crampon on my left leg caught in a sling hanging from
my rucksack. My leg was now contorted and locked behind me, while the figure of
8 was jammed tight in the diagonal line. I swallowed a scream, half of fear, half of
annoyance with my own stupidity, and forced myself foot by foot along the rope. It
was painfully slow, but to the other two, I must have looked extremely comical sus-
pended horizontally in space, fighting the rope, trying to prevent myself flipping
upside down and losing my rucksack. Twenty minutes later, René and Alex
dragged me up onto their stance. I felt like an amateur and a complete idiot.
When I regained my composure, I discovered the good news that from this point
a snow slope led off the glacier on the right to ledges traversing beneath the south
face, eventually joining the spur René and I had climbed up to the face two weeks
before. René untied as soon as we reached the ledges and took off to recce the
route. Less happy now we were back on rocky slabs, Alex wanted to stay roped and
we soon fell behind. By the time we reached the spur beneath the face, thick cloud
filled the Annapurna Sanctuary as it had the day before. There was no sign of René
and no possibility of finding the right way down. We had no choice but to sit and
hope it would clear.
