Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
swer to what it is all about, but because they know there is no answer. It is just a
part of life that is wonderful because it is without any reason to do it.
2
There is one personal danger - better described perhaps as a danger to the per-
son - that can be explained, at least partly. When an individual becomes obsessed
with climbing, then it becomes at once the most dangerous and the most fulfilling
of all experiences. That was our mental state when we climbed Koh-i-Bandaka. We
were truly obsessed and did not let our worries about the risk temper our will.
To find a balance in life, we all hope that we can see both an entrance and an exit
to any situation and make a decision either way. For example, Brian Hall and I had
packed our sacks and were just leaving our tent to attempt the unclimbed south
face of Shivling when Brian said:
'I'm not going.'
I stopped in my tracks.
'Why?'
'Because I am still getting tunnel vision from being hit on the head on Chamlang;
it comes and goes but it's not worth the risk.'
I understood immediately. Brian still climbs like a demon, with a passion and
love that sustain him.
In base camp on Annapurna, I believe waves of fear and premonition were wash-
ing over Alex; they became one and the same thing. But in Alex's mind, the en-
trance and the exit to his decision were by the same door. Climb Annapurna, and
the fear will vanish. The way home will follow and then the next stage of his life
with Sarah. An obstacle to that plan - the south face of Annapurna - would have
been removed.
It was only one of several such obstacles. There were still a few other great un-
climbed faces on his Himalayan list to be climbed, after which a new world would
come into view; the path ahead would be level and open with all sorts of new op-
portunities.
Nick Colton believes that his 'tick list' was not entirely self-chosen, that the
routes on that list came from research into what had been done and not done. Nick
argues that climbing journals, and
Mountain
magazine in particular, were implic-
ated in stoking ambition beyond the limits of reasonable safety. I have some sym-
pathy for this argument. On the other hand, if we read books about drugs, we don't
necessarily become an addict. Good and accurate journalism provides the essential
homework that should make for a safer trip. It is still down to the individual. Alex
