Continued Exhaustion on Pisang

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  Manang, Nepal
Tuesday, October 28, 2008

As we began our ascent, we walked on a steep ridge.  To the left was snow that descended a couple of thousand feet, and to the right was a rock face descending likewise very steeply.  At the time we didn't recognize our situation as it was completely dark.  It was only on our return that we became fully cognizant of the reality.

For the next couple of hours we continued the ascent.  It seemed as if just as one challenge was overcome an even more difficult challenge lay before us.  It was with a great sense of relief that the first hint of dawn began to make itself felt.  Behind us lay the Annapurna massif, huge and daunting, while in front of us was the constancy of Pisang.  As the sun began to make itself felt the temperatures began to rise -- perhaps to above zero by midmorning. 

Shortly we came to a very large sheet of smooth shale rock ascending steeply to our left, and plummeting away to our right.  The portion we had to take on was around 200 yards that seemed as steep as anything I've ever attempted.  We would find out later in the day that it was on this rock face that ten German climbers were killed a few years ago as one after the other other dragged a whole team down the mountain.

Gyalzen stopped us after a few minutes and had us wait as he climbed up by himself to fix ropes up the face.  When he was done, each of the three of us went up one at a time:  crampons digging into the shale, and using the implements we had to scoot our way up the side. 

As we continued our ascent, we walked on a steep ridge.  To the left was snow that descended a couple of thousand feet, and to the right was a rock face descending likewise very steeply.  At the time we didn't recognize our situation as it was completely dark.  It was only on our return that we became fully cognizant of the reality.

For the next couple of hours we continued the ascent.  It seemed as if just as one challenge was overcome an even more difficult challenge lay before us.  It was with a great sense of relief that the very first hint of dawn began to make itself felt.  Behind us lay the Annapurna massif, huge and daunting, while in front of us was the constancy of Pisang.  As the sun began to make itself felt the temperatures began to rise -- perhaps to above zero by midmorning. 

Shortly we came to a very large sheet of smooth shale rock ascending steeply to our left, and plummeting away to our right.  The portion we had to take on was around 200 yards that seemed as steep as anything I've ever attempted.  We would find out later in the day that it was on this sheet that ten German climbers were killed a few years ago as one after the other other dragged a whole team down the mountain.

Gyalzen stopped us after a few minutes and had us wait as he climbed up by himself to fix ropes up the face.  When he was done, each of the three of us went up one at a time:  crampons digging into the shale, and using the implements we had to scoot our way up the side, hanging on for dear lifeas we pulled our way up.

There was a sense of great relief as we reached the top.  The trouble was that as before with each success lay a new challenge.  And we were now confronted with a large rock mass we had to climb.  It actually wasn't that difficult but we were in a decidedly weakened condition due to the cold, the effort expended, and the anxiety around climbing the face.  And, of course, there was the altitude.  We were now at an altitude of around 19,000 feet.

At this point one of the group suggested he could not go on any more.  On further reflection he said he could and we trudged up further.  All that seemed to lay between us and the summit was an hour up some rock, another hour through some steep snow, and a final steep rock.  The worst was certainly behind us.

But we realized we had already expended too much energy and had come to the end of ourselves.  Each step up meant having to also take one step down.  We had a team meeting and Gyalzeng suggested we turn around.  We were in agreement -- we felt we could make it to the top, but were also quite certain that all of us would never make it down again. 

And so we turned around.  Barry was likely in the worst condition, with all the symptoms of altitude sickness.  Then it was me -- completely exhausted and facing a lot of the same symptoms.  Only Joe was really ready to go on.  We headed down painfully.  The going was difficult and dangerous, but we eventually reached our camp.  Barry was in an almost delirious state, I could not go on. 

We made the decision to go all the way down to Pisang -- meaning a one day descent of almost 9,000 feet -- from a high that day of 19,000 to 10,200.  It was one of the most brutal and difficult exercises of my life.  We met up with Luke, who had improved markedly, and the rest of our team of porters and Phurba.

Luke told us that while we were on the mountain that the group back at camp had become so concerned at not seeing us on the mountain that they became fearful.  In response they strung Buddhist prayer flags on the mountain. 

All for now. 

Sorry for the formatting probs....

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