Many thanks for your contribution to my fundraising to Maggie's. So far, I've raised £2,120 and hopefully this will qualify for £500 matched funding through the HBOS Foundation.

Unfortunately, due to continual bad weather we weren't able to make the summit of Khan Tengri but when we finally got on the mountain after a number of false starts we were able to reach Camp 3 at 5,800m, where we spent an interesting night. In addition to the bad weather, the experience was a massive step up in terms of scale and steepness for both Mark and me and we had to concentrate on every step. We learned some important lessons on how to operate in a high altitude environment (melting ice for water was a constant concern and forcing yourself to eat despite a lack of appetite was vital) and how to be patient when you're straining at the leash to get on the mountain.

We decided that we would need to hire a guide when we arrived at base camp beacuse there was massive avalanche risk between Camp 1 and 2 on the Semienovski Glacier (in addition to the huge number of crevasses) and we agreed afterwards that without the detailed local route knowledge we would have beeen horribly exposed. This decision was justified by the night we spent at Camp 2 where we heard at least 15 avalanches in our locality over a 12 hour period. Even in the relative safety of the Camp we were not out of danger as a Czech climber the week before had his tent struck by a large ice fall that would have killed him had he been inside. We were both affected by the altitude - it took me 5 hours to ascend the 500m between Camp 2 and Camp 3. It was a case of taking 20 steps and then stopping for however long it took to get my breath back (up to 5 minutes) before attempting another 20 steps. The poor weather meant that we were unable to follow the acclimitisation program of climbing to Camp 3, decscending to base camp and then reascending.

The descent from Camp 3 to base camp should have taken 4 hours, however there were a couple of abseils that were unplanned and in conjunction with some horizontal snow coming down the Semienovski Glacier this caused us to slow down and we got back to base camp after 7 hours.

Overall, the trip was fantastic and has certainly fired my enthusiasm for planning my next expedition. However, I may be looking for a new tent mate as Mark had an unfortunate 'follow through' in his sleeping bag, but the less said about that the better.

Many thanks again for your support. I will be producing an expedition report in due course and if anyone wants a copy please give me a shout.

Ricky

This article was posted on 18-Sep-2006, 12:48 by Hugh Barrow.