Pisang and Chulu West

Fall 97, a bunch of us attempt some peaks. Although there were some riotous times, success eluded us...

... Then the commercial season (read serious play time) began in earnest. The last day possible there were 2 late bookings, Andy 'Chicks*' Emms, an English guy who proved to be so keen and such good value that he came to the Khumbu as well, and Jolee, an American who provided entertainment with her negative attitude on life. The less said the better... Also along was Reid 'pill-popping' Tiley, an intensive care nurse (whose medical knowledge was of great value) and keen climber who, together with Andy acted as our technical consultants, Richard 'numbers' Minson who added lodge bills quicker than you could read them, Brett, a real nice quiet kiwi, Steady Ron Stutter and Helen 'ani (nun)' Mitchell. She trekked in with Gyalgen, a retired thawa, or student lama, who, it finally emerged over a few too many drinks with Helen, was kicked out for rather too regular chang consumption. Apparently that is for the seniors only! Helen and Gyalgen made quite a pair being the same stature (petite) and semi-shaven heads and the wholesome amusing outlooks on life.

Everyone trekked in independently and we assembled at Ghyaru, the last village before Pisang base camp. We used a full crew for base camp support, so we had a kitchen tent that doubled as a dining tent. With two last minute additions it might have been better to have a real dining tent as well, but the crew, loaded to the gunwales, had already left. No tables and chairs, only some cushion-sized carpets and of course a cook to churn out custard (Chuda's famous concrete) and other delicacies. Lots of good healthy food. A crack team of porters carried in everyone's climbing gear and acted a high altitude porters and dogsbodies.

Pisang base camp is quite a jump from Ghyaru so we stayed 2 nights there but took a load of gear up to high camp as an acclimatization day hike. Summit day dawned "a bag o' shite" but we still had a crack. Helen, who had been gasping a little at night, almost immediately came down with real although relatively minor HAPE - high altitude pulmonary edema, which was ably spotted by Ron who was climbing beside her at the time. Luckily she could still move under her own steam so Nima and Ron assisted her down to base camp where she recovered quickly.

The terrain was more challenging than expected and the weather steadily worsened. By the time we reached the 45 degree summit snow slope it was snowing with powder avalanches, no go climbing conditions. So reluctantly we headed back to discover that the ravens had stolen a 4 litre MSR water bag with 2 litres of water in it. Bizarrely they left the honey and golden syrup alone. Conditions had deteriorated to the extent that we had to rope down a couple of sections. The status of Bill O'Connor's 'Trekking Peaks of Nepal' guide book began its downward descent. The description mentioned none of the difficulties even getting to the alternative high camp we encountered.

We had planned that Pisang be basically an acclimatization warm-up and although we hoped to summit, Chulu West would be the focus, so nobody was particularly disappointed that we didn't summit. Originally we had allowed for two possible summit attempts but instead had used the extra day as acclimatization.

The same team, now considerably stronger at altitude, headed to Chulu West base camp. Here we met a Peregrine group that, despite having 4 high altitude sherpas (trailbreakers), had failed even to get to 6000m due to little strength at altitude and perhaps not enough time.

At base camp Helen, a fiercely determined woman, refused to believe that she might get pulmonary edema again so, in the interests of her and everyone else's safety, she wasn't allowed higher than camp 1. According to two doctors on the spot and other readings (and the experience that Ron's wife was having) it was very likely that she would suffer again, and in all probability worse than before. Naturally she was disappointed and elected to abandon us at this point to head over the Thorung La pass.

Ron also had to leave us since his wife had just been evacuated from a lodge near where we were with pulmonary oedema. It is generally accepted that if you have had serious problems previously, they will come back to haunt you, and they did.

So a smaller team headed up for Chulu West. We established a high camp at around 5600m and then the next morning fluffed around. We were unsure how far the Peregrine group had broken trail so we set off late intending to break trail and perhaps attempt the summit, if possible. 2pm found us completely clouded in and although the guide book gave the peak a altitude of 6220m, our altimeters were reading 6350m. Clearly something was wrong. So half the team decided to descend. Andy, Nima and I continued up briefly. I stopped - there was nothing in front of me. Was this the summit? Nope, a vague shape to the left revealed that I had walked to the end of a serac. Walking the plank is not my idea of fun so we got out of there, disappointed. In fact the peak is 6419m high. We had enough time to have a second shot, but much to my regret, everyone elected to abandon the climb. It was left to the hardcore team to regain our dignity on Chulu Far East...

Huuh. Here we were all set in position, route scouted and all, and it started snowing. it stopped a metre and day later... Some seasons are like that.

* Chicks - you can't live with them and you can't shoot emm... and other less than repeatable philosophical utterances.