Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the eerie groans and sharp cracks from the melting ice-mass, weeping as it retreated
beneath the fierce heat of summer.
The best map we'd been able to buy of the area was a 1:250 000 sheet - one
centimetre of the map showed 2.5 kilometres of the ground - and this made nav-
igation sketchy and haphazardous. We wanted to cross the huge ridge before us,
but we weren't sure if and where we would be able to do so. By a combination of
visual sightings and guesswork, we followed the glacier to its very peak, and then
climbed upwards onto a steep rocky scree slope bounded by the solid, near vertical
walls of the mountains. We climbed steadily for hours, curving away from the bulk
of the glacier and around to the left until a snowy saddle came into view to our
right.
'Over there. Tim, mate! Look! Woohoo! That must be it. Yes! We've found it!'
Tim took one look and dug in his heels.
'No way, mate. I don't reckon that's it. And if it is then there's no way I'm going
to climb it, anyway. That scree chute leading up to the top is way too steep!'
'Huh?' Tim wasn't usually like this. He'd been fine with the heights on Mount
Elbrus the year before, and the stories he'd told me of his risky mountaineering
feats in the United Kingdom and Eastern Europe had been enough to make my
blood run cold.
'What do you mean it's too steep, mate? That only looks a little steeper than
what we're on now.'
'Bullshit, Chris!' Tim
really
didn't like the look of that saddle. 'If those rocks
are anywhere near as loose as they are here, then it'd be impossible to climb.'
'Okay then, mate,' I agreed, still uncertain. 'We'll keep on going round here
then and see if we can find another pass a little further along. But if we can't, then
that one there definitely looks like
one
way across, so maybe we could at least have
a look at it on our way back. Right?'
We kept on climbing, still curling round as we hugged the rock wall on our left,
the scree slope getting steeper and steeper. Every footstep slid backwards, and al-
though there was no real danger of falling, we had to work hard to make progress.
Eventually, a saddle came into view. The climb up to it was extremely steep and
the loose rocks were becoming dangerous.
It was a long, long way down when I looked back between my legs to see Tim a
little way below me taking off his pack and bracing himself against a boulder.
'What's up, mate?' I called.
'It's too steep, Chris. I just don't feel safe.'
