The not so sunny terrace.

Gaz regaining the high point in better conditions.

15th sept.
Denis, David and I left BC at 04.00hrs for 2 days. Our aim was to fix rope to Sun Terrace, and the official start of our route Eternal Flame. We had only 5 pitches to fix, something that would normally take one day max to achieve. But because the route is now effectively in winter conditions with a lot of iced up cracks, powder snow everywhere and cold it took us until 5pm on the second day plus the help of Gaz and Pierre to achieve our objective.
The long slow slog up from BC to the Col took over 4 hours and over 1000m of height gain. Sacks pretty light, around 10Kg. I had eaten to much at BC and felt aweful – 3 dumps later and my body started to settle down !
Once we passed through the Col and got onto the fixed rope the temps went up a little. I started going up the fixed rope with only three layers on my legs (gore-tex, fleece and schoeller climbing trousers, and upper torso (base layer, merino wool, and gore-tex jacket). We got to the High point on the ropes pretty quickly. My only problem was keeping my insulin from freezing. I have two pens full of slow and fast acting insulin. I keep them in a fleece pouch which I put in a Pocket in my fleece jacket. This gets in the way of my rucksack harness, camera and all the climbing gear I need to ascend the ropes with. The glucometer (my blood tester) I wear in a fleece pouch around my neck so no probs there. On a normal day I test my blood around 10 times, which involves pricking my finger, and feeding a drop of blood onto a small 1cm long strip connected to my Accu-Chek device which is about 7cms by 3cms. The result is fast, 5 seconds, then according to the reading I eat (if too low) or inject insulin (if too High).
David led off from the High point - an horendous overhanging ice chimney full of body sized loose blocks. Denis and I were directly underneath him so very worried if he dislodged a block. This half pitch took over two hours to lead, David hanging by his ice axes, me hanging by my nerves ! By the end I was covered in powder snow and with David drenched in sweat which quickly froze – I was not sure who was in a beter state!
The next pitch was the same but shorter, except David had to exit a very tight, narrow chimney, his back resting hard against a wall running with water. This time it was his turn to get wet with water. The pitch emerged onto the true shoulder and so by 14.00hrs we were in the sun – at last .
The day was going fast and I shouted at David to watch me as I clambered onto the slabs that led to sun terace. I hit soft snow lying on granite slabs and only managed to make upward progress by compacting the snow and resting my knees on thèse placemnts and literally crawling up. Imposible to protect, with heart in my mouth, I reached the belay, my two daughters fixed firmly in my mind.
I raped off and we headed down to our tiny two man tent just below the col. This was not a pleasant night. First we had to clean out the tent which was full of betodine from a sachet left by the team, the night before. Then somehow the three of us managed to squeeze into this tiny tent, Denis staying outside till it was dark doing a gréât job of brewing up hot drinks and mugs of 2 minute noodles. The first one he produced he forgot to add the tiny satchets of flavouring in his haste to get us hot food. We soon changed this.


Pierre on a mixed pitch M5 one of the few pitches in good condition.

At 20.00hrs we did our radio call to BC. We arranged that Elisa, Piere and Gaz would come up tomorw to haul bags to Sun Terace as we continued to fix line to the Terrace. We realised things were getting very close in terms of time as we have less than 10 days to climb the whole route now. I suggested we join forces and all climb Eterrnal Flame rather than Gaz, Piere, Denis and I attempt Eternal Flame and David and Eliza try the Slovenian route. This of course still needs a big rethink. David wanted to talk this thru with Eliza at BC. He could not phone Eliza diect as her sat phone at BC had no ring tone. But he managed to send an SMS via his sat phone to a friend in Polandm, who then emailed Eliza in BC and she then phoned David. Technology!!
After loads of heavy polish we got down to the serious business of trying to sleep cramped in down, gore-tex, nylon and fleece !

16th sept.
Up at 6am, and soon we were joined by Gaz and Piere at 7am after a 4am start. Eliza had tried but soon got sick on the walk up the gully so had to go down. The guys were amazed she had even set out as she was coughing and spluttering so much.
Denis , David and I started up the fixed lines, whilst Piere and Gaz struggle with two huge haul bags conatinging two tents, sleeping bags, food and fuel . Each bag weighed around 40Kg and it took the whole day to get them up to Sun Terace –a huge effort !!
David and Denis led the last slabby pitches up to Sun Terace, Fr,6c run out covered in sleet and light snow ! Nice one Denis ! Meanwhile I waited two pitches below sorting out kit. I checked my blood sugar and found it really high – 22 mmols. I was woried as this can lead to ketoacidosis. I injected 5 units and carried on with the ropes. I started to feel really worried and felt I had to get down to a big snow belay 60m. below. I sorted the abseil ropes and rushed down. Landing on the Small ledge I tested to find I was 2mmols ! My panick attack had warned me in time. I cried out loud as I munched my way through two High5 enery bars and 3 gels. As my sugars started to rise Pierre reached me and I hugged him. The end of a nasty expérience !
Jerry enjoying the snow!

The forecast is bad now for the next 3 days so we have decided to descend.
We all got back down to BC around 21.00hrs. The end of a 20 hour day for Pierre and Gaz. We were absolutely knackered but very happy to have established camp at Sun Terace. Above the route looks fantastic and dry. Now all we need are a couple of good days and maybe we can summit.


Looking up the last pitch below the Sun Terrace

Big Day

It looks like Jerry, Denis and David are only a pitch below the sun terrace, so tomorrow we leave at 4am for a big day. All the way back up to the start of the route then a full day of hauling gear for the six of us to the sun terrace. The next day we are expecting a few more days of bad weather so it will be crucial that we get our gear to the terrace. I think that tomorrow could be a make or break day.

Gaz

Past the impasse!!

The 4am start was perfect. A fast and easy walk up the couloir and we were at the coll by 8am. A quick jumar and the still snowy slab was in view. Finally i managed to find a few foot holds out right and i set off. The pitch was a combination of ice, snow and waterfall. I managed to climb it free with an ice axe to clear the snow but it took about 3hrs for only 35m of gain. I was soaked!!
Looking down on my hardest 4b ever.

Pierre followed and tried the mixed pitch, the weather began to change and near the top he came down and with freezing feet we retreated to ABC 2 just below the coll. A long night was spent with three people in a two person tent in really cold conditions.
Using dinner to warm my feet.

The weather this morning was bad again with snow plastering the walls around us.

This mornings view!!

We waited a few hours and then returned to BC. Tomorrow Jerry and Denis will leave again at 4am and try to push through to the Sun Terrace.

gaz

Team hits impasse below Sun Terrace

We all went up three days ago to fix rope to Sun Terrace (The Shoulder) and establish a high camp there. On 11th Sept after Denis climbed a very tough Fr.6c+ wall which was running with water, he and I reached an impasse at the start of an easy 4b rock slab. Trouble was this slab was covered in snow and impossible to climb in this state. The snow was not strong enough to hold any weight. We tried every option like traversing, and jumaring old in-situ fixed rope to our left, but it seemed the only solution would be to place bolts every meter for 15 meters. We did not want to do this so we all retreated to BC allow the sun to melt the snow. We arrived back at BC around 6pm on the 11th tired, depressed and worried that we would not climb this huge and magnificent monolith. Yesterday was spent drying out kit and recovering and today at 4am Gaz, Pierre nd Eliza went up to try and work the pitch again. The short rest was needed. Pierre had two badly blistered toes, Eliza cannot feel the toes in her left foot, Gaz had a swollen knee after a rock hit him on descent, and David is sick with chest pains and cannot breath well. He is currently being treated with a course of aspirin. Because Pierre, our doctor, wanted a second opinion on David’s condition he contacted the French organization IFREMONT by satellite phone. This company offers 24 hr medical advice and support to expeditions anywhere in the world – a great facility!



Basically the whole route on Trango is in bad condition with a lot of snow on easy slabs. We need to try and reach Sun Terrace and from there the route gets a lot steeper and so hopefully no snow. The good news is that the weather forecast is fine until next Wednesday so this should allow us time to reach the shoulder. Bearing in mind the route up to the shoulder in good conditions can take as little as 3 hours!!



Denis and I are raring to go and together with David we are waiting at Base Camp with radio calls to the climbing team every 4 hours to check progress. To date my diabetes has been okay, although I am purposely keeping my blood sugar levels around 25% higher than normal so I don’t have any hypos. In order to do this I often lay awake up to 2 hours after everyone else is asleep to ensure my sugar levels are stable and not dropping too fast. If they did I could have a nighttime hypo. I share a tent with Gaz and he as well as the whole team know how to deal with a nighttime hypo. But I still don’t want to run the risk. The other night I got it completely wrong and around 22.00hrs, 2 hours after dinner, I found my blood sugar levels way too high – around 19mmols. The norm is 5mmols. So I injected more insulin. Then they dropped too low, too quickly and so I had to start eating again, even though my stomach was full. I eventually got to sleep around 02.00hrs! What I am finding is that my fast acting insulin (I take two types each day – up to 20 units of slow acting insulin, and up to 15 units of fast acting insulin) is taking a lot longer to take affect, but once it does it is much stronger than back at home. C’est la vie!

Jerry

Nice Weather Coming

Always remember which way around your gloves go!!!

The last few days have been slow. Lots of snow, walks along the glacier looking for footprints and fun trundling boulders. But at last we have a weather window on the way. Tomorrow morning we go back up to ABC and then Thurs to Sat the forecast is good. So hopefully by the end of the week we will have been to the summit of Trango.

Trango looking like a massive icicle

Another early start and it was back up the gully with more equipment. This time the 1000m ascent was a lot easier and we soon reached ABC. We pitched our tents at an altitude of around 5000m, and then pushed on up the continuation gully to Pierres high point from the previous day. 

Jerry and i dropped our kit and started the approach to the climb, the first 30m are up a steep ice gully on an old fixed line and over a jammed block. I led this not really knowing the condition of the fixed line and once at the top replaced it with some of our static. The top of the gully gives you access to the South Col. As you stand astride the col to your right you look back down the gully towards the Trango Glacier and to the left the Dunge Glacier. A 40 foot traverse on loose flakes above a steep ice shoot leads to the first belay of the Slovenian route. I fixed the static to the belay, looked up at the first pitch, down to the glacier below and took a deep breath wishing that the weather window will come sooner than predicted. With moves already in my mind from only a few minutes looking at the first pitch it was time to head down to ABC to sleep.

ABC is situated at the head of a massive gully, with room for possibly 5 tents under a huge boulder which protects you from any rockfall. We had a nice evening eating noodles, taking photos and taking in the view. The night wasnt too cold but i had made the mistake of taking only a very thin mat and i could feel every stone under me.

We awoke to a dusting of snow and after a quick breakfast it was back up the gully to the col with more gear. A quick repack and we hauled a couple of bags to to the start of the route. We have been getting forecasts from Metteo France and the next few days we are expecting snow, so all this work is in préperation for the weather window that we are expecting soon. As we finished our haul the sun was shining on the wall, so Dénis and myself geared up quickly and began to climb.

Within minutes it was snowing, but with frozen feet i led the first pitch up a well protected crack that is given 7a+ on the topo, even with the exposure, altitude and cold it only felt about E4 6a. Denis led through and at the next belay we fixed the ropes and abseiled off. By now i was shivering and couldnt really move my jaw due to the cold so i was glad of the plan to return to BC to wait for the weather to turn. Up hère it is amazing how fast you can go from being warm to being freezing. Its another world of risk and commitment to climb a free route, it has taken 12 days from leaving the UK till the climbing i did yesterday. It is a long way from the walk in to Stanage !

Last night we got the forecast again, we are expecting around a meter of snow over the next three days !! The winds up high are fast though and should stop the snow from settling on the tower. We are expecting a good weather window soon and we are ready to go, hopefully there will be no avalance risk after the snow fall.

Another excitement has taken over BC though, as last night we had snow leopards in camp. Our cook and guide saw two adults and a cub around 50m from the tents, they shone their lights but they came closer. It was only the noise of the stove that scared them off in the end. This beautiful and very rare animal has only ever been filmed once. We found their tracks in the mud by the lake this afternoon and tonight we might be lucky enough to see them.

 

Base Camp

Sept 2^nd

Another early start at 5am but this time the team were totally psyched because we knew by the end of the day we would finally have reached Base Camp and be close to our objective – Trango Tower ! We would not be disappointed even after waiting over 8 months for this day.

I had managed to collect some ice off the glacier as we apparoacged our camp last night. This i put straight into my freezer back to keep my insulin supplies cool. Insulin needs to be kept at fridge température and the +35C conditions we had been experiencing over the last few days had been freaking me out. But as we started the last day to base camp i felt much beter.

Lunch stop was a lovely rocky camp High above the main Baltor Glacier after a walk through juniper trèes, the smell of which reminded Pierre and I of Corsica.

A steep uphill hike folowed and suddenly we were on the edge of the Trango Glacier. I started getting my usual BC urge and legged it across this famous river of ice with views of Trango Tower getting stronger and larger with every step. Just as we left the glacier we were suddenly in front of our access gully, the top of which is 4800m …….there it was – Trango Tower !

5 minutes later and there was Base Camp, a beautiful setting right by  a calm glacial lake with smooth granite slabs creating an impressive back wall.

Stunning views surounded us – Uli Biaho, Great Trango, Trango Monk – walls and walls and walls of grey/orange granite. A rock climber nirvana – and our home for the next 4 weeks !

We paid and tipped the porters leaving them with a rousing chorus of Frere Jacques led by Pierre, our French Doctor. We pitched our tents and started sorting gear, only to be rudely interupted by an aweful sight – to celerbrate our arrival our Pakistan guides said that it was tradition to slaughter a goat. Our two hairy friends who had accompanied us since Skardu were split up and one was led away to killing rock. The goat was quickly sliced and diced but we were all saddened to learn a very young live kid was found inside. It is a very différant life in Pakistan and even harder in this land of rock and ice.

After our hearty goat dinner we packed our bags for tomorows carry to Advance Base on Trango and crashed out around 10pm – those who needed it full of pain killers to stop the inévitable haedaches –we were now living at 4,000m.

 

Sept 3rd

Another early start at 6am– breakfast of chappattis,  omlettes, and porridge all washed down with galons of milky tea, we were off by 6.30am

 The approach gully to Trango is pretty legendary- surounded by huge towering walls and capped wih hanging séracs – large lumps of ice that can fall at any time we ascended with caution. Around 9am a huge CRACK had us all scurying for cover as a big lump from high up on the NW face of Great Trango. I thought my number was up but in an instant realised that the few tons of snow and ice that was falling seemingly straight towrds us was dropping harmlessly into a side gully. We continued on ……. Cautiously !

We reached ABC – a huge boulder –around midday and then a really hard pullup to our final destination for today – a rock block at 5,000m just underneath the col that was the start of the technical climbing. We were all feeling the altitude by now acentuated by the fierce sunlight. It was time to drop our gear and descend to BC.