Kingdoms of Experience by Andrew Greig

Author:Andrew Greig [Andrew Greig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847677402
Publisher: Canongate Books
Published: 2009-03-07T05:00:00+00:00

Now the atmosphere at ABC was one of strong, coherent purpose, of non-competitive co-operation among the Old Farts. Mal was quite different up there, more actively engaged. Listening, asking questions – can C2 be improved, how’s your head, what do the Rock Buttresses look like? – frowning at the ground, smoking. An unstated sense of rivalry with the Boy Racers was an incentive for both teams, each trying to cap the progress of the other. Chris and Mal had formed a strong partnership – watching the one lanky figure and the other more thickset one set off across the glacier, I mentally nicknamed them ‘the Spider and the Fly’. Chris would return hoarse, whispering and grey, sit for an hour in the Mess Tent in what seemed to be a coma of suspended animation – but he always found fresh energy and commitment the next morning. He and Mal had started sharing a tent at ABC while Liz moved out – this caused much ribald comment, but was indicative of the closeness they felt necessary.

Danny Lewis was revealing himself as something of a star. Unlike Kurt and Julie, he was now very much part of the Expedition. He earned many Brownie points from the times he spent cooking, brewing and washing up. We teased him a great deal, but increasingly appreciated his boundless humour and good-will as he stumbled about the tent grinning, knocking things over, laughing. His effort in carrying a load to CB’s was an achievement for a 19-year-old rock climber with no winter experience who had never been higher than 4,000 metres before.

Andy Nisbet and Urs had emerged as a strong team; the unlikely combination of the chortling Swiss and the reserved Aberdonian worked out well. Mal was delighted that his gamble on Andy’s ability to acclimatize had paid off – as it had with Allen Fyffe. That counter-balanced disappointment over Bob and Nick, and Sandy’s set back. There was still uncertainty as to how high Andy could go. But he’d find out soon enough, because Mal decided that with more than a third of our loads now up at C2, it was time to push out the route further, over the Rock Buttresses.

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