Kongur by Chris Bonington

Author:Chris Bonington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vertebrate Publishing
Published: 2020-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

We had planned that day to try to find a better route into the Koksel Basin than the one up the Koksel Icefall that Michael and I had forced with such difficulty the previous year but the snow was so deep we decided to postpone it for a day. The weather was certainly giving the scientists a lot of problems. It was important for them to be able to take our heart rates (ECGs), blood pressure and blood samples as soon as possible after reaching Base Camp. They were also anxious to put us through the exercise tests. It is one thing to do this in a comfortably heated laboratory, quite another in sub-zero temperatures in a draughty tent. They had problems with all the electrical equipment: batteries would not work, Edward Williams had the centrifuge in bits trying to find a fault, and it was very painful for us, and even difficult for them, getting blood from our veins.

Even more serious, though, was the flu epidemic that was beginning to creep through the camp. Jim Milledge had felt ill when he arrived at the Karakol Lakes a few days before. He had probably picked up a virus infection while waiting for the plane in Urumchi. David Wilson was the first to catch it, getting a severe cold, and Al Rouse had been forced to abandon the ascent of Trekkers’ Peak, he felt so ill. David Newbigging was the next to go down, with a painfully sore throat. It was all he could do to stagger back to the Karakol Lakes on the 3 June, which was the day the trekking party had to set off to return to Peking. We had thoroughly enjoyed having them with us, for they had given our company an interesting, broader dimension, but the very fact that it was now just the team at Base Camp, each person with his own specific role, focused our attention on the mountain. We knew the real purpose of our expedition was about to begin.

That same morning Joe Tasker and I were going to try to find a route up the glacier to the left, or north, of the Rognon Peak, which we hoped would lead into the Koksel Basin. We had already observed from below that the glacier itself was very straightforward and the only question was whether there was an easy route down from the col at its head into the Koksel Basin. Jim Curran, accompanied by David Wilson, was also going to come up with us to film our exploration. It was a wonderful cloudless morning and Joe and I gained height easily for about an hour. Then the moraine ridge merged with the mountainside and we had no choice but to drop down to the glacier. The going remained easy, for the glacier floor was level and seemingly free of crevasses. We didn’t bother to rope up, each walking at his own pace. We were now at about 5,000 metres and I had to stop for a few minutes to relieve myself.

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