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International 2002 Muztag Ata
Expedition
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Part
Two
August
7th found us on a six-hour bus journey to the road
head nearest base camp. We first stopped about one
hour out of the city at a small town to buy bread and
some provisions for the trip, and also visited the
local mosque which is in the guide book as a must see
place. The rest of the journey was along the Suxabe
River with numerous breaks in the road. The work
crews were doing their best to fix these river related
problems, along with one’s brought about by streams
that only flow in the afternoon once the snow melts in
the surrounding mountain range. Lots of work going on
that just seems to be swept away by the raging river
along with the afternoon flowing side streams. (More
about this ride when we attempt to return to Kashgar
after the climb.) We ate our fill at the restaurant
at Karakul Lake, and the lake is really picturesque
and a drawing point for not only foreign tourists but
also for the Han Chinese too. Having Muztag Ata just
south of the lake makes for some stunning views.
By the afternoon we reached
Subash (3800m/12,500 ft), and there we met the camels
and camel drivers who would arrange for the
transportation of all of our gear to base camp. (To
smell one of these camels anywhere near you is an
experience one never forgets. Lets just say the smell
is “pungent”.) Most people try to hurry on up to Base
Camp at 4400 m/ 14,500ft, but we decided that the best
acclimatization plan was to camp there at the road
head for the evening while the camels took our gear to
the camp under the watchful eye of the liaison officer
Hassan. It was a good plan and we put our small tents
up right beside the river and had a very relaxing and
pleasant late afternoon and evening. We did this as
we watched Hassan and the camels walk off into the
distance. (We subsequently learned at base camp that
many climbers had arrived there too quickly, had tried
to then ascend to Camp One, and were then never
successful afterward because of this early set back.)
A local family (grandfather, grandmother, wife, and
young child) from their yurt offered us tea and bread,
which we repaid in yuan (8 yuan equals one U.S.
dollar), and then asked us in for dinner. This was a
real highlight of the trip, and the older gentleman of
the family made sure we were welcome and proceeded to
“talk” with me for the better part of the evening,
with me not comprehending anything he said. We shared
a large melon that we had picked up in town before
leaving, and also made sure to offer them some drinks
we had before the grandfather started to play a banjo
like instrument and began to sing. (You don’t get
these sorts of experiences everyday!) Before the
night was out the group and I got some yuan together
and paid the family a nice gift, and the older man’s
eyes lit up when it equaled $20 US! (I should add
here that the Father of the family was working in base
camp as a donkey herder.)
The photographs of the trip
really are impressive when putting the area noted
above in perspective, especially the local graveyard
in front of the town, and all of that framed with the
mountain behind. Its one of my favorite pictures
along with the one of Karakul Lake with Muztag Ata in
the background, and also in the mountain reflection in
the water of the lake.
After a very restful nights
sleep along the stream (I love camping beside the
water) we packed up our tents and personal gear and
began the hike up to base camp, which started among
the sand and rocks in a desert setting after leaving
the stream. Within an hour we had reached the last
dwelling in the area, with no one home, and began a
steady ascent on a well-worn path. Since we had no
camels, donkeys, or horses, to jump on to cross the
raging stream that was flowing out of the Tergam Bulak
glacier, some of us proceeded to hunt for a safe
crossing, while others just plowed through it with
their boots on. After a little “bush whacking” up
stream along the boulders some of us found a good
hopping across point among some rocks and safely
negotiated the crossing with dry feet and boots.
About two hours of uphill hiking after this found us
at base camp, which was a quite crowded with many
tents in a field of boulders and grass placed at the
foot of the first ridge on the mountain. Among the
local marmots (large gopher type animals) were German
climbers, some Spanish, Austrians, a small group of
Japanese, some more Spanish, two groups of Italians
(to include our friends from the bus), and some Han
Chinese. It seemed pretty crowded at first sight, but
the crowd generally dwindled as time went on, since
many groups seemed to leave early on as the weather
was not that favorable for climbing up high. (i.e.
The deep snow, cold temperatures, and high winds, made
climbing an uncomfortable undertaking.)
The search for some good tent
sites for all of us took some time, but fortunately we
found some where we could put all of the tents
together in a well protected area away from the wind.
(The Chinese had put up many tents for their
“scientific expedition”, although little evidence was
around concerning any scientific work, and most of
their efforts seemed centered around making room and
accommodation for climbers who wished to pay for a
formal and pre-set-up base camp.) Once settled in
with our personal tents we then moved to our “cook
tent”, which to be honest had already been established
by our liaison officer and the local cook he had
arranged for. Our cook turned out to be excellent,
once we asked him to be easy on the grease after the
first few meals, and the usual well stocked dinner
commenced. Dinner at base camp usually consisted of
tea or instant coffee, nuts, crackers, and then
several dishes of vegetables (brought in from Subash
via camel) and “mystery” meats (perhaps mutton, yak,
dog,…) , and all that served with large amounts of
rice or noodles. (i.e. lots of carbohydrates) The
climbing association had also transported with the
camels enough beer and soda so that each of us could
have one a night at dinner if we so wished. (Pretty
good setting to drink a beer or soda at sunset!)
The “latrine” for the area
were two holes (“men’s” and “women’s”) dug in the
ground and surrounded by some steel plates. The
problem was that human feces had long ago filled in
both holes, with a huge pile atop the holes. (The
local camel & donkey men, and the liaison officers for
the expeditions, all used local rocks as privacy areas
for their toilet stops.) We soon took the action,
since it was impossible to use the “latrine”, to dig
our own toilet/latrine hole. That meant an hour or so
with a pick and shovel digging in the rocky ground to
excavate a large enough hole to accommodate our stay
there until later in August. It was good to have some
privacy without dealing with the stench of the
official latrine. (Yes, even in the cold of the area
you could still easily smell the official latrine,
while at least the cold temperature kept the flies and
gnats to a minimum during the warmer afternoons.)
Arrival at this altitude of
4400 meters (14,500 feet) also meant some had
headaches and/or general lassitude, and that meant the
day after arrival at base camp was one for relaxing,
sleeping, and hydrating, not to mention the organizing
for the next days trip to Camp One at 5400 m/17,700
ft. After looking through my large two duffels of
climbing gear and clothing, and putting the preferred
items into my climbing pack, we then assisted with
making up loads of gear and food that the donkeys
would carry up to Camp One. It was great to have the
assist of the donkeys, since on the next day they
carried up most of the tents, stoves, fuel, and food,
after which we would carry up that gear to the higher
camps and use.
During the early morning of
August 10th we ate our breakfast and then started up
the first ridge that led all the way to Camp One.
Early on it was not hard going, with grass and a
glacial stream making it a perfect area for the
numerous marmots around. (Some people used the marmot
holes for toilet receptacles, all the while fearing
the appearance of the animal!) Higher up the route
started on scree rocks (loose and fractured small
rocks) before topping off with the snow line right
where the camp is usually placed. The place has a few
small areas where people can make a level tent site,
and some people were just getting ready to descend
with their gear, and thus we were able to use their
tent sites. (One of the Austrian climbers had an
obvious birth defect with his hands, which was an
inspiring note that even with that disability he was
able to ascend and descend the mountain.) It was good
to get some hard exercise at a higher altitude, and
the route that had taken us three hours to ascend took
only 90 minutes to descend. Then it was off to the
cook tent for another large meal from our expert local
cook.
We used the following day as a
“rest day” and hiked around the local area, got clean,
and generally prepared for some nights up at Camp One
and above it. I enjoyed the exercise and along with
just seeing what the surrounding countryside looked
like. The other people in the camp were very good
people and it was nice to say hello to them, and to
see what they had been doing on the mountain before we
had arrived. We also made sure to have an early
night, since we always tried to get up at 6 a.m. at
base camp. This worked out well since we could then
be on our way upward at 7:30 a.m. before the weather
became unsettled later in the day, as was the usual
pattern.
With our provisions already up
on the mountain, and our tents already in place, we
enjoyed the hike up the mountain on August 12th to
Camp One. Its always easier the second time up
higher, although a few people carried much too much
personal gear up the trail on this day. Once there we
got settled into our two man tents, melted snow for
drinking water and for making the meals (noodles or
adding boiled water to the pre-prepared meals), and
generally relaxed and continued the acclimatization
process. As usual I was a little eager to get higher,
so in the afternoon I took a stroll up higher on the
hill to where the Chinese and Italians were camped,
and a bit beyond. It was good to finally have my
climbing boots on, to be up on the snow and ice, and
of course good to say hello to the Italians that we
knew from our trip to the mountain. The weather was
not great, and the whole afternoon it snowed or
sleeted, with some accumulation during the afternoon
and evening. Unfortunately one fellow climber of the
group, the other American, had developed a serious and
large blister on his foot during the hike up, and
quickly descended to try and get it administered to.
The fortunate thing was that he and the Malaysian were
Doctors, so both could consult together and think of
the best way to get it healed quickly.
The weather even got worse the
next day, and heavy snow fall continued throughout the
day up high and down low into the valley and the
neighboring mountains. Many teams descended this day,
while we stayed at camp hoping for a break in the
weather the next day. We tried to keep occupied by
making the tents more secure during the storm,
cleaning the snow off the tents, while also doing some
housekeeping inside the tents. (We were all good at
keeping our garbage collected, while other teams
seemed to throw their trash just outside their
tents.) The plan had been to carry some loads of
tents, food, and fuel up towards Camp Two at 6100m
(20,000 ft) on this day, but those plans were quickly
being foiled by the weather. (By August 27th we would
have to leave base camp for Kashgar and home, so every
day counted while on the mountain.) At the very least
we were getting better acclimated while at the camp,
and finally took a little jaunt 150 meters above base
camp to test the snow conditions, and to also check on
the areas with crevasses.
After the long day in camp the
weather the next day was actually worse, with even
heavier snow, so after first light we packed up our
personal gear for the descent and began a laborious
task of breaking trail down through deep snow towards
base camp. At first it was not easy to find the
“trail”, since you could not see very far in a white
out (heavy snowfall and low clouds), but soon we found
our way along the ridge and got down into a much
thinner snowfall altitude. (A friend has a nice
picture of me starting down from Camp One with the
tents covered in snow.) Hassan had even hiked up the
ridge a bit to say hello in his sneakers, and we were
glad to see him and to arrive in base camp none too
weary or wet. Even this camp had taken a heavy
beating, since a few cook tents had lost the battle to
stay upright in the heavy and wet snowfall, and the
metal frames had buckled.
We used 15 August as a rest
day and cleaned up our clothing and ourselves before
sitting down to figure out how to continue climbing on
the mountain in the poor weather, and with the time
getting near when we would have to leave for Kashgar.
It was decided to go up to Camp One on the following
day to check on our tents and gear, while also
preparing to set up Camp Two in the days ahead, and
then continue higher up if at all possible. So that
night we were all set to go with our climbing packs
full with our high altitude clothing and gear, and
settled down to an excellent meal.
The next day found us safely
up at Camp One after several hours of upward hiking
and then trail breaking in several inches of snow with
our trekking boots. The weather was not perfect on
this day, with occasional periods of snow and sleet,
but certainly good enough for this upward move. It
was disheartening though to see some people moving up
higher in crampons when conditions did not warrant
that sort of gear. (The crampons just make you drop
deeper into the snow with every step versus uses
snowshoes or skis.) No wonder these Germans looked
so tired. The night was long and uncomfortable, since
three of us were crammed into a two-man tent, and I
was the only one without a “humongous” (very large)
sleeping bag and pad, and thus I got the smallest
space! (I learned way back in 1989 in Pakistan on
Broad Peak with a small French team to travel as light
as possible to conserve energy for higher up.)
Finally, and I say “finally”
since it felt so long to have been on the mountain
without really getting higher, we moved some tents and
supplies up to Camp Two at 6100 meters (20,000 feet).
That meant carrying heavy packs up through the deep
snow just above Camp One and then through some seracs
(rather large blocks of snow and ice), before then
working around and over a large crevasse.
(Fortunately the first team over this crevasse early
in the season had put a rope across this area, which
made for a safer journey.) Once through this area was
a long and steep slope that got steeper with deeper
snow near its top. It seemed forever before we
reached the top of this slope where most would put up
Camp Two. After a short rest we then moved even
higher and made our camp in a wind-protected bowl
where the Chinese had dug some rather large holes
(scientific work?) and made a camp. It took us about
an hour, after everyone had made it up there, to dig
out and tramp out a platform for the tents. (You must
protect the tents from the constant wind along with
the gusts by making these protected sites, while also
securing them with guide ropes and snow stakes all
around them and at the ends.) Then it was time to
descend and we made it down in good order in approx.
two hours after taking over four hours to ascend.
Once back at the tents we used the remainder of the
day to re-hydrate, eat, and to organize our gear for
the move upward the next day, weather permitting.
Unfortunately during this
first trip up to Camp Two Dan re-injured his heel and
thus he was forced to descend to base camp to
recuperate. Since there was no more time for the heel
to heal, and to then re-ascend with us, he made it out
to the road head while we were up on the mountain and
returned to Kashgar, and then home, on his own.
Now came the important trip
back up to Camp Two, and the establishment of this
firm base for the move up to Camp Three at 6800 meters
(22,300 feet). So on 18 August we found ourselves
breaking trail upward through deep snow to regain our
highpoint from the previous day. It was actually
easier this time around, and we had company with a
Russian friend on the Italian team who just wanted to
come up one time and see where Camp Two was situated.
It made a change from the usual slogging upward, and
it was nice to have someone new on the team for at
least this day. This time we knew the route and
carried in our packs some gear for Camp Three and for
hopefully the summit attempt in the next few days. Of
course more snow fell during the afternoon, but we
were getting use to that. We were also getting use to
being cramped into small tents, which changed a bit
here at the higher camp with a slightly larger tent.
Once there at camp I found two Italians using our tent
as there’s, which is not quite true sporting
behavior. (i.e. They had not bothered to carry their
own tent up, so used anyone else’s that had one
there.) Once the Italians vacated the premises we
reset the tents and made ready for the continuing
snowfall, which quickly covered everyone’s tracks in
the snow.
The nights are long and cold
up high, and its always helpful if one goes to the
“bathroom” before the Sun drops down and it really
gets cold. So we try to make out a toilet area, along
with then making a different area where we get snow
for melting for drinks and the meals. It was good to
keep everything organized. A few of us also used old
plastic drinking bottles for pee bottles during the
long nights in our sleeping bags.
Dawn the next day found
everything covered in several inches of new snow, but
the sky was semi-clear and the wind was not high or
gusting. So with the conditions looking stable, or as
stable as usual, we geared up and started our trip
higher to Camp Three. I was my usual impatient self
on this day and worked my way up the slope through
deep snow while waiting for the others to follow. It
was good to get out and about, and I crisscrossed the
upper slope to gain a higher snow shelf. Once there
we met a Norwegian fellow, who was on the Italian
team, and he had suffered a cold night and also had
suffered some bad frostbite on his toes and was
descending. Once up on this plateau the leader and I
started up the higher slopes, and when the snow got
too deep we changed into snowshoes and waded through
the new snow that way. Once up higher we found the
Camp Three that the Germans and some Italians had
established, and rested there before the Sun turned to
clouds and snow fell once again. On this slope I
found a new talent, and that is going to the toilet
and bending down for that with snowshoes still on my
climbing boots. It made for a precarious perch, but
fortunately the job got done successfully and not on
my snowshoes. Once up this slope we found the higher
Italians camp of one tent, and soon knuckled down to
building our own tent platform and area. That meant
more digging and tramping in the snow. Before long
the rest of the group arrived and we were able to
establish this camp with five of us in two tents, and
of course three people in the two-man tent that I was
in. (I am always such a lucky fellow, not.)
Once up at this higher camp
some Germans dropped in and made a camp of their own
just down from us in the driving snow. They dug for a
long time and made quite a hole for the one tent they
put in, and then they descended. The three Italians
that had ascended to this area the day before then
descended from the summit on skis, and it was good to
see and hear that they were all right. With being so
cooped up in the small tent meant very little movement
when cooking from the one end of the tent, although we
tried very hard to really re-hydrate as best as we
could. I do not like being cramped up, and my
four-bedroom house on one acre of wooded land attests
to that!
Dawn found the inside of the
tent covered in frozen condensation (hoar frost) from
our breath, so any movement showered the occupants
with snow and ice. It was not entirely pleasant but
one for which you expect every morning. We slowly got
ourselves situated and ready for the ascent, except
for the Aussie who had difficulty in getting his
clothing and boots on. Unfortunately this would
result in frostbite to his fingers, which went all the
way up to the second knuckle on all of them, but we
would not know of this until the next day.
A Spanish fellow had skied up
and said hello that morning, so one of my tent mates
and I started up to at least follow his tracks in the
deep snow with our snowshoes. The Spaniard took a
different line then we thought was wise, so I then
began making tracks upward to the slope and then
crossed over to his tracks higher up. Once there we
all took a break for liquids and a candy bar and then
continued up. On this final steeper slope the
Spaniard took a break and re-heated his toes by
rubbing them, and I took the lead again for this final
bash up this slope to the higher summit plateau, which
loomed up ahead. It seemed to take forever to get up
there, and though we wanted to stay together we slowly
broke up in very small groups as we reached the
plateau. Once part way there the leader took over the
trail breaking duties in the deep snow, and we
frequently took rests and gasped for breath while bent
over with fatigue. Small flags on light bamboo poles,
called “pickets”, showed the way in the deepening
gloom and snow, and finally the small rocks that mark
the summit loomed up ahead. The Scot leader and I
congratulated each other before I began the descent,
and met our two ascending teammates and congratulated
them and the two Spaniards who were also ascending.
(A Spanish lady had also started up, later than us,
and was now making it to the summit with our lower
down teammates.) My plan was to descend to Camp
Three, and then continue on down to Camp Two to free
up space at Camp Three for my tent mates.
I quickly lost altitude on the
trail we had made on the ascent as the other fellows
stayed at the summit to take pictures, but the
worsening weather prevented any good panorama’s. Once
down on the lower slopes it actually became harder in
the deep snow to descend, since snowshoes are not
meant as great tools to actually go downhill. (Small
“teeth” on the bottoms help in the ascent and somewhat
on the descent, but do not work well when actually
sideways on a slope.) Before long I was in a
“whiteout” and snow with clouds/fog were making it
difficult to keep on the trail or to see the pickets.
Even with goggles on it was difficult to make out
anything. This reminded me of the Ukrainian who had
disappeared earlier in the season during a storm,
which probably meant he had become disoriented and
fell off the slope or ridge. So I kept the pace
deliberate once down the major portion of the slope,
but still found myself too low on the ridge. That
meant climbing back up to the last “trail” or picket I
had seen, which I was loath to do, but which I had to
do. Once back up in the right area I waited a while
for my teammates, and we then continue with the
descent along with the Spaniards. For a while I was
as lost as anyone could be, but being patient and
waiting for my friends was the right thing to do, and
it also coincided with better weather where we could
actually see the tents! More descending was through
some pretty deep snow, since our trail or tracks from
the ascent had quickly been covered over by the snow.
Once back at the tent I
started to melt some snow on the stoves for drinks for
my friends who were still descending, and for the
Aussie who had been sleeping after he returned to the
tents after his failed summit bid. It was good to
finally be down off the upper slopes and out of the
continuing snowstorms. The bad part was staying
another night at this very cramped tent site and tent,
since the oncoming darkness prohibited my descent to
Camp Two to make more room for the others. We
re-hydrated as best we could, and nibbled a little
food, before bedding down for a cold and cramped
night.
I don’t remember much about
this night except finally getting awake once dawn came
for the new day, and once again getting showered with
frost from the inside of the tent. Every movement
meant more frost on you before you could get fully
dressed. Before long I was one of the first outside
of the tents, and we quickly tried to get the gear
packed away so we could take the tents down. The
chill in the air and the wind made us continually blow
on our hands to try and keep our fingers warm. No one
else was there except for the German tent from the day
before, and the Italian tent site had quickly
disappeared with the newly fallen snow of the last two
days.
We then began a long morning
of descending, and first came down the slope towards
where some other groups had placed their Camp Three.
We met up with a small German group who had been on
the mountain for weeks, and they were finally getting
up above Camp Three. Unfortunately all three of them
were in crampons, which meant they had no way to not
sink into the very deep snow. (I presume they all had
decided not to bring skis or snowshoes on this
expedition.) They briefly listened to our story of
our summit success, with one fellow turning back to
their tents right away, and two others trying to
ascend for at least a little while to look at the
upper slopes. (We heard later in base camp that none
of them had made it to the summit.) Before long the
Sun came out and it was good to get warm, although it
was slightly too warm for those we then saw leaving
Camp Two later in the morning for their ascent up to
the Camp Three area. So down we trudged with all of
our gear on our backs, with some taking a none too
safe trip across some crevasses, before we all were
above the snow slope to Camp Two. By then we had
talked with several of the groups that were heading
up, and tried to give them some advice concerning the
upper slopes along with the weather. Fortunately we
arrived in good shape at Camp Two and our Malaysian
friend had stayed there until that morning to keep our
tents safe from those who wished to “borrow” it or its
contents for the night. (The Chinese expedition team
members were getting known on the mountain as quite
liberal with their visits to other people’s tents and
the provisions that were inside. To be fair to them
some teams were using them as porters up to Camp Two,
so perhaps some of the gear that was disappearing on
the mountain was the result of some
misunderstandings.)
It was too bad we had missed
our friend that morning, and we decided to stay at the
Camp Two this evening to rest, eat, and prepare for a
very long and tiring trip down to Camp One. I mean
this because we had carried a lot of gear to Camp Two,
and then up to Camp Three, and with one carry downhill
we would have to carry it all down in one big push.
You may think it was easy going downhill, which is
true, but all the gear on our backs meant every step
downward usually meant dropping down into the snow
even farther than you would wish to keep your balance,
and this was even with snowshoes keeping you from
truly plunge stepping down into the very deep snow.
At least this relatively short day of down climbing to
Camp Two allowed us plenty of rest, time to pack, and
time to melt snow and ice to drink and to make meals
from. It was also a good resting place since the
larger tents here gave us plenty of elbow-room.
The bad part of this day was
in finding that our Australian team member had
developed worse frostbite on summit day, when he had
turned back early, than any of us had thought. Each
finger was frostbitten down to the second knuckle,
which is serious and makes for great difficulty in
handling anything like zippers or buttons. (i.e. The
fingers get large blisters on them.)
Dawn on August 22nd found us
clearing out of this camp as quickly as possible in
cold temperatures and heavy gusts of wind, which made
taking the tents down a “cold finger” exercise. One
of the guys helped the Aussie down as quick as he
could go, with heavy packs on, while the rest of us
took everything that was left and started to make our
way down the long and steep slope toward the major
crevasse in our path. After lots of stumbling and
falling down in our snowshoes we were down this slope
and took off our packs for a rest. The weather
continued its on and off again snow showers, and we
thought of those higher up who might be trying for the
summit this day or tomorrow. (We found out later that
most stayed in their tents at Camp Three the next day,
due to the wind and cold, and tried to go up the
following day.) Then we crossed over the crevasse on
the short snow bridge, which I almost stumbled across,
and then began the roundabout route through the maze
of the seracs. I was very glad once we had gotten
through this area, which sometimes was in deep snow
and at other times meant going over slippery ice in
the snowshoes. One final rest stop took place at our
high point from the one day of route checking out of
Camp One a week or two ago, and then it was more
plunge-like stepping and sliding around a final deep
snow area before we got down to Camp One.
By this time Camp One was
largely abandoned, since most groups had either been
successful and left or just plain had left.
Fortunately Hassan had guessed right and donkey men
and three donkeys were heading up the trail towards us
as we arrived at this camp. At least we had time to
take off our climbing clothes and boots before they
arrived, along with taking down all three tents that
we had left there. Once this was all done the donkeys
and men had arrived, and we helped them understand how
many loads we had for them before the three of us
began the slippery scree descent down to base camp and
our home there.
In about 90 minutes we finally
made it down to base camp and a fine and happy
reception by Hassan along with our camp cook. How
happy we were to finally be down the mountain in one
piece, along with being successful. It is usually one
of the happiest moments during the trips and during my
life! Before we knew it we all jumped across the
final stream before the tents, and we all clambered
into the mess tent for refreshments and something to
eat. Its amazing that after all the time on the
mountain, and the little food we had had, that our
stomachs had grown small and thus before long we were
too full to almost walk! But walk we did back to our
base camp tents, and some well earned time horizontal
into our sleeping bags before at late supper at 7 p.m.
Some of us took naps or just
had a nice clean up in the glacial stream before the
yell for dinner and once again we had as much as we
could eat and/or drink. It was a happy evening
together, and all the teams that were still there
dropped by to say hello and to offer their
congratulations. During dinner we all told “tall”
stories about summit day, and especially about the
snowstorm on the way down. Then it was time for a
long and restful sleep, and I don’t think many of us
got up until way past the usual breakfast call the
next day, which felt really good. The other Yank with
the bad heel had gone home while we were on the
mountain, so this one night even meant I had a whole
tent to myself. Life never seemed so good!
The following day was one for
getting our gear organized for the camel loads down to
the road head, along with airing and drying out the
tents we had had for higher up the mountain. It was
nice to have a cup of tea in one’s hand, get some Sun,
and to generally get everything ready and right for us
to leave. To make this happen Hassan ran (walked
really fast) down to the road head this day and got in
touch with the camel fellows, and this was how one
“reserved” the camels for the next day. (No phones up
to base camp, and the satellite phones continued not
to work here.) He was so excited that he returned to
base camp later that day and had time to share our
final meal there with us, along with a celebration
with the cook. The cook continued to excel with his
meals and fixings, and he even sang an emotional song
of parting before the night was out. (Little did we
know at the beginning of the trip that his wife had
been sick when he had been forced to leave to keep the
reservation to be our cook for this expedition.)
Another long and
restful night found us wide awake at dawn for the trip
down, and before long we were all ready for the
fellows to load their camels. (They had arrived that
evening from the road head.) The breakfast had been
very quick, which meant we had plenty of time to
dismantle first our tents, and then also the cook
tent. While we were busy the big German group was
getting ready to leave, along with a smaller Spanish
group. (Two of the Spaniards had been to the top with
us on summit day.) It took a while for the camel
drivers to load the camels, since the camels first
have to kneel and then stay down while they are being
loaded, and while more stuff than you can ever believe
is loaded onto them. So after waiting for all this we
finally headed down the trail on August 24th, with us
having been at or above base camp since the 8th of
August. All too quickly we lost altitude while
following the trail, and the views of the route above
Camp One were great. The sky was so clear this
morning you could even make out the trail to Camp Two
and then above that for a little ways. It was fun
going over the route with each other and remembering
the experiences up there. Our only true obstacle this
day was the stream crossing, and we all bounded over
it with little trouble since it was still in the
morning and the glacial melt had not really started
for this day. Then we were down to the first
encampment for the locals and met a man before
continuing over the broken and rocky ground. We then
retraced our steps from August 8th past the local
cemetery and over the stream before stopping and
resting alongside the stream and the local’s yurt.
It was good to be
down so low and feel the warmth from the air, and to
lie down on the grass and enjoy the stream/river
flowing beside us. The locals swarmed all over us to
sell things before realizing we had been there before
and were not interested in any purchases. I then
shared a can of coke, which I had squirreled away for
the trip down, with the local man who had invited us
into his yurt for dinner the night we had visited here
before. It was good then to break bread with the
family and to have tea with them as we waited for the
slow camels to catch-up with us. As we waited the
Spanish group also arrived as two trucks arrived and
then a bus. Since we did not want to wait for every
group to get down off the mountain (the Germans had
not even started to leave camp yet), we loaded our
gear and ourselves on one of the small trucks and
proceeded down to the lake for a late lunch. By that
time our bus arrived and met up with it at the lake as
we relaxed there for a big lunch and for some great
pictures of the lake and us there in its reflection.
So by about 2-3 p.m. we started down the road
alongside the river on what we thought would be a
6-hour ride back to Kashgar, or at least we thought
that at the time. I guess I should also add that the
bus driver was less than an eager fellow this day,
since we thought the night before he may have drunk
too much and had a nasty headache/hang-over. (He kept
stopping the bus to wash his face with cold water from
the mountain streams.)
As we descended we
had to slow and then stop for several breaks in the
road and the workers that were helping fix them, and
to re-pave them. Then we broke out to what we thought
was easy ground, and there came the real breaks in the
road from the snow melted water gushing down from the
mountains higher up. The first major break resulted
in the work gangs changing the flow of the mountain
stream, which enabled them to fix the break in the
road, and our driver expertly got through the area
before we re-boarded the bus. (Before that a small
truck had become wedged in the road, and the locals
pushed it out.) Then after we thought the worst was
really behind us the real major obstruction was just
up ahead. During major rains the year before the
waters had unseated the original bridge and had washed
it downstream, alongside the broken bridge section
there were also the remains of a vehicle that seemed
to have been caught there. As we turned the corner we
at least saw a major earth shovel at work attempting
to fix the problem with a major stream that was
flowing, with a jeep caught in the middle of the
torrent. Slowly the shovel operator fixed the worst
parts of the break, with the shovel in the middle of
the water, and as the local headman/engineer directed
him how to fix it all. The vehicles started to
re-cross the stream, with varying degrees of success.
(This also included many buses, since Lake Karakul is
a major tourist spot of this area, so lots of tourists
were waiting with us to cross this section.) All too
soon buses and trucks were getting stuck in the
stream, but fortunately the locals and workers were
able to push and pull the stuck vehicles through.
Then it was our turn and we jumped on to the bus as it
miraculously made it through this stream and back on
to the main road. (Fortunately the water level had
started to drop since the Sun was down and it was
starting to get cold again there and up in the
mountains!)
So in gathering
darkness we along with everyone else started the long
descent down into the local valley, with headlights as
far as the eye could see from all the vehicles that
could now get past the roadblock. Since everyone was
tired, especially the driver, we stopped along the
road for a late dinner. We had stopped at the same
place on the way up, so it was nice to stop and relax
and have some refreshment along with some bread and
then kebabs. The Spanish climbing group and bus also
stopped and we drank to them before we headed off and
down into Kashgar proper. After about nine hours we
finally reached Kashgar and the Seman Hotel and
unpacked the bus before finally getting to our rooms
around midnight.
It was great to get
there, since with the problems on the road we were
thinking we might have to spend the night there before
the mountain streams stopped flowing and we could
continue onward. The next best thing about that day
was finally getting a real hot shower and getting all
the dirt and grime off since we had left there on 7
August. What a wonderful feeling to get into bed with
clean sheets and a clean body, and a night of
interrupted sleep. Not to mention a real bathroom
where one did not have to find a rock to squat
behind! Getting back to the hotel meant also picking
up our city clothes that we had left in storage, which
were nice and clean for our return.
We had not only
wanted to return to Kashgar early to get clean and
some rest, but also because the next day was the
Sunday market, which was famous in the area for its
wide assortment of trade goods from all around the
region. It was to live up to its legend.
So on Sunday morning
we all got up and ate a leisurely breakfast of rice
porridge and half boiled eggs, which to be honest I
never ate and instead found some bread and munched on
that along with drinking some unsweetened tea. Then
it was time to head towards the market, which we did
in an old horse drawn cart that barely moved faster
than a walk but gave us some fun and time to
sightsee. After that we walked past the melon market,
full to overflowing with vendor after vendor, before
reaching the enclosed market. (There was a glut of
melons during this season, and we regularly bought one
for the whole group to eat.) Once inside this large
enclosure it was elbow to elbow with the
locals/Kirghiz who were selling and buying about
anything you can imagine, and at very cheap prices to
us. I think we all enjoyed just seeing what they had
available, along with getting out and about in the
city. (People who know me will understand how much I
dislike crowds, but I made an exception for this day
and really enjoyed it all.) At least the area was
covered in wide tarps, which kept the hot Sun off
everyone while also allowing the breeze in to cool the
area. Later on I bought some local caps to give to my
Mother and some friends before we all exited the
bazaar for some refreshment and some fresher air.
Just down the street
there were plenty of stalls for sitting down and
eating, and we let Hassan pick the best one. The
“menu” consisted of hard bread along with rice balls
and meat steamed in a mixture of dough. The meat that
they used for this mixture came from three slabs of
beef that hung right there in the market place, and
which attracted large numbers of flies, bees, and
hornets. (I stayed well away from the meat and away
from the food!) The food stalls all attracted these
flying creatures, and they like the “candy” stalls the
best! Right beside our “restaurant” was a place
selling cool drinks, which consisted of water, ice,
and some sugar-flavored potion, which turned out to be
pretty good tasting and very cheap. We stayed here a
while so one of the team could return to the market
and by some bed comforters for his family. During that
time we did not order any food so the owner started
yelling something at us and threw us out. (Heaven
only knows what he was yelling.) One of the fellows
then returned to the hotel in a taxi since his stomach
was misbehaving, and the rest of us walked along the
road before seeing some “barber shops” and stopped
there. It was also good to get out of the Sun and
heat.
We all then got
haircuts and shaves from two if not three different
shops (we would have waited forever if five of us
waited at one place), and it was a great feeling to
get your face massaged several times before the barber
would shave you three separate times. Not to mention
the hair cuts with somewhat dull scissors. Right
across from us were “restaurants” which served some
food, while also attracting customers with TV screens
that displayed western type videos and other violent
shows.
Hassan also took some
time during this day to find some gloves for the
Aussie teammate with the frostbite on his fingers, and
the gloves could keep the blistered fingers from
getting dirt on them. The one thing to be careful
with frostbite is the blisters and getting them
broken, and then getting the damaged area infected.
Fortunately we had the proper drugs to help fight off
infection, along with some bandages if the blisters
broke and started to seep fluid.
After this was more
walking and we passed by some French tourists whom we
had met on the road back from Lake Karakul, and it was
funny to be all clean and presentable versus our looks
when returning from the mountains just the day
before. We also had a nice tea break up in a very
dirty place that at least had lots to eat, along with
some cake for desert that was not all that bad. (The
place use to be a department type store, and they kept
the garbage stacked up in one end of the place.) Then
it was back to the hotel for some rest and clean up
from the haircuts and shaves, and the dust, before a
light meal in the evening. I also tried to write
several postcards to family and friends this night
before falling fast asleep.
The first stop after
breakfast this next day (26 August), before the day
got hot, was to the Kashgar Mountaineering Association
(Hassan’s brothers place) for a friendly visit. Our
expedition leader needed to settle accounts for the
transportation with Keyoum, and it was nice to chat a
while with him about the results from all the
expeditions during the season. (Not many had been
successful on Muztag Ata because of the bad weather.)
Keyoum also very kindly gave both of us pendants from
the association, and I repaid the kindness with one of
my Seven Summit postcards from 1997. (The postcard
highlights all the dates of the Seven Summit climbs,
and on the front places those climbs on a flat globe
presentation.) The pendant now hangs proudly on my
wall at work.
I then took a walk
back to the hotel, but first off visited a local
military sales shop with another
translator/interpreter that Keyoum had working for the
association. I found some Chinese army caps and
emblems that I liked and the translator then proceeded
to haggle with the owner, who had found what I wanted
beside his bed in the very rear of the shop. (Most
locals seemed to buy the clothes and sneakers from the
shop, versus what I was interested in.) After some
loud negotiation the owner wanted something like the
Chinese equivalent (“yuan”) of two U.S. dollars, and I
gave him five dollars after a little more
negotiation. I was probably way overpaying him, and
he surely wanted to give me change back, but I could
not help from giving him something extra for the
articles that I had been looking for in town.
Another stop was in
the local “supermarket”, where a separate individual
who uses the store as their own place of business
administers every row of goods. It was interesting to
see several rows of the same goods, but available from
different owners. I bought some Chinese flags while
browsing through the store, before then getting back
to the hotel for lunch. We then ate lunch at a place
on the sidewalk that offered kebabs and bread along
with soda’s and beer. We ate our fill, and of course
later that evening after supper at a major restaurant
yours truly got quite sick very suddenly. So much for
eating kebabs along the sidewalk, and then overeating
at a fancy place too.
The next day was one
of more exploring the town/city and enjoying the
mornings before the warmer and sometimes hot
afternoons. Of course “hot” is relative after being
up in the mountains for several weeks and getting use
to the colder temperatures there. It was just nice to
walk around a bit, and some of us treated ourselves to
a pastry or two at a nice looking dessert store. (No,
I did not get sick after eating there!) The rest of
the day was then making sure we were all cleaned up
and prepared to leave the next day on the train.
Hassan had kindly found a local laundry for us, so we
used it to clean our climbing and traveling clothes,
and thus start off back home all clean and tidy.
We also had a nice
look at the old Russian Consulate area of the hotel,
and it was interesting how well preserved the place
was, and how guests use to be treated after the turn
of the century. Hassan asked the owners to let us
walk through the place, and they had quickly given
their okay. Most of the main and newer hotel was
taken up with Japanese and Chinese tourists who stayed
in the city for a couple of days sightseeing before
traveling south to Karakul Lake for a look see, and
then usually returned to Urumqi and then Beijing.
The 28th of August
started off nice and relaxed before we needed to get
to the train station in the afternoon to catch the
24-hour train to Urumqi. (Most locals use the train
or buses to get around, and they also use the “hard
seat” as the cheapest form of travel.) We made out
first mistake by not getting to the train station in
plenty of time to load our bags and us on the one and
only first class car. When we did arrive
thirty-minutes before departure time there was
pandemonium at the nice newer type train station, and
we were lucky to get through the small doors and
through the crush of people, then through security
where they x-rayed the bags, to then get through more
small doors with our big climbing bags to then the
proper car on the train in the mass of people. Then
the car “stewardess” would not let us take all of our
bags into the first class compartment, which meant
some of us then hustled down to the end of the train
and the one and only freight car to load them on
there. Of course first they had to open those doors
and then argue with Hassan about why the first class
car would not let us put our bags on there. As time
for departure quickly approached I ran back to the
main car, got my ticket, and ran back to the freight
car to officially load the bags on. The doors quickly
closed as the train started to move, and I waved
goodbye to the team leader (staying on for some
trekking), along with Hassan. (Hassan needed to catch
a train shortly to attend University in the eastern
part of the country, but had not bought a ticket
yet.) The “fun” was only starting for us.
Once the train
started the lady in the freight car then tabulated our
charges for the bags that were sitting in a very empty
car, and one that smelled badly of old fish. Once
that was done, and all the while they “talked” with me
like I understood Chinese, one of the ladies was to
accompany me forward to the first class car so we
could pay these charges and get a receipt. Thankfully
the guys had taken my climbing pack so I could run
back to the freight car, since very shortly I was to
find out how cramped and full the “hard seat” cars
were. It must first be explained that on Chinese
trains there are “hard seats”, which are the cheapest
fare, “soft seats” which are the next cheapest, “hard
bed” where you actually get a bunk but no privacy, and
the “soft bed” (first class) where there are four
bunks in the small room, a solid and lockable door,
and decent toilet for the whole car. (The toilets are
generally locked in the other cars so passengers won’t
hide from the ticket ladies, thus most people go to
toilet in the area that connects the cars to each
other. Easy for guys but less easy for the women.)
It was an unbelievable sea of humanity in the hard
seat cars, and I literally had to push my way through
these two cars just to get close to the soft seat
cars. It was like sardines in a can, with people and
their luggage packed wall to wall, and this got worse
as the train continued to stop and take on more
passengers. Yikes. Thank the Lord we were in the one
decent car on the train. After getting through the
soft seat cars without too much trouble I then stopped
in the “dining car” for a drink, and did not visit
there again during the train ride. (This dining car
was not too clean, and people smoked heavily there, so
I stayed away and then drank and ate things we had
thought to bring on the train with us.) Once I got to
our compartment the ticket lady was waiting for us to
pay the freight bill, and I still don’t know how she
passed me as I worked my way forward through most of
the cars on the train. Of course my buddies were
wondering what had taken me so long to reach their/our
car. (Later on they took a peek at the hard seat
area, and then stayed well away from it.)
After that adventure
through the cars on the train I washed up, and changed
T-shirts, before relaxing in our tiny four-bunk
compartment, or in the even tinier hallway. I was not
pleased to be enclosed in such a small place, but felt
thankful that it was not worse. The view was not too
interesting, since it was mostly sand and desert, and
at least our car was air-conditioned. So we tried to
play some card games as people walked back and forth
among the cars on the train, although the doors
connecting us to the “back” of the train were locked
to keep the hard seat and soft seat people from
migrating up in class on the train. (Just opening a
window made one realize how uncomfortable the other
parts of the train were this day.) Thankfully the Sun
started to go down, and thus we could go to bed in our
bunks and sleep away most of the evening and morning.
There were plenty of stops for the train during this
journey, which tended to wake you up before you could
fall back asleep.
The new day found us
out of the desert and up in altitude among the forests
and rivers, which at least made watching out the
window interesting. That is what we did until the
train arrived at Urumqi on time and about twenty-four
hours after we had departed Kashgar. We then spent
some time back at the freight car getting our bags
(one guy kept yelling at me to get off the car, but we
had to retrieve our bags). Once that was done we
moved our bags towards the exit, and shortly the guys
waiting to meet us there arrived and helped us get our
bags and us down to the local transport (taxi and
truck) for the ride to the hotel. Here is where we
met the Director of the Xinjiang Mountaineering
Association (aka CMA or XARA), who was Du Xiao Fan.
He helped us check into a very nice hotel, waited for
us to shower off the train ride dirt, and then had a
very large meal prepared for our dinner. The place
was very nice, although we had no time to walk around
and explore the city. That night was our last meal
with our Aussie climbing partner. After this he began
a two week holiday in China the next day, even though
his frostbitten fingers were hurting him.
Arriving just in time
for the train had taught us a lesson, and we arrived
very early for the 6 a.m. flight from Urumqi to
Bishkek. It was good to not be rushed and we checked
in and got all of our processing for this flight done
well before the mass of people arrived for this
flight. It was also my last use of a “squat toilet”
at the airport, which is a hole in the floor, a bucket
of water to “flush” the toilet with a scoop, and
another bucket to put the used toilet paper in.
Thankfully I had remembered to bring my own toilet
paper, since none is provided, and we were then ready
to board the plane for Bishkek. It was amazing to see
what people carried on to the plane, especially in
this day and age, and China Xinjiang Airlines allowed
huge carry on bags in the compartment along with
stacks of vegetables and other food items.
In comparison to the
24 hours on the train from Kashgar to Urumqi the plane
took less than two hours to get us to Bishkek, and it
was nice to be at an airport we knew from our previous
arrival there from London. The passport and customs
guys even seemed to remember us, and got us all
together before approving our arrival into the country
and letting our bags go through customs without
inspection.
The Russian fellow (Sergei)
who had taken care of us before upon arrival and then
to the Chinese border greeted us at the airport and
helped whisk us out of there, and away from the
“porters” trying to grab our bags. We then took a bus
into town and stopped at one of the nicest hotels in
town, which is called the “Pinara” and is a Turkish
joint venture with the local government. We all took
a shower before then relaxing beside the pool for a
leisurely lunch of “club sandwiches” and beer, and the
sandwich at least resembled what it should be! Then
it was off to visit the local “Frunze” museum (named
after a Russian general, and the city use to be named
Frunze before it separated from the Soviet Union and
changed its name to Bishkek, as noted previously). It
was a run-down place, but interesting, and we then
proceeded to walk around the city to just see what was
there. We bought a birthday cake for the South
African team member, since it was his birthday, and
enjoyed the cake in the hotel lobby when we got back
there. Supper was at the “American Pub”, which was
downtown, and we ate our fill of sort-of Mexican food
before returning to the hotel for a long nights
sleep.
The last day of the
month, 31 August, found us sleeping in and then
enjoying a grand buffet breakfast at the hotel. Since
it’s a Turkish joint venture there were several types
of Turkish food available at the buffet table, and I
could recognize some of them from my year in Turkey
way back in 1973-74. It was good to relax and have a
meal like this before then taking a cab down to the
local bazaar. It was kind of a disappointment
compared to the Kashgar Sunday market, and we tried to
enjoy walking around and seeing what was available
before walking downtown to see a parade. We believed
the people were celebrating an anniversary of the
Kyrgyzstan independence, and also that it was the year
of “Mountaineering”. It was interesting to see all
the people out for the occasion, and we also got to
see where the American University was located. Then
it was back to the hotel for some more packing for our
departure the next day.
The baggage allowance
on the British Airways flight back to London was 23
kilograms (approx 50 pounds) a person, and that meant
many of us had to really pare down what we had in our
very large climbing bags. The reported overweight
charge was something like $30 US for each kilo over
the limit, so we were very eager to get below that.
It meant I had to jettison numerous old/used climbing
articles, and gave them to the people who had assisted
us in our travels there in Kyrgyzstan.
The afternoon was
spent walking around a park that was about an hour out
of town by vehicle, and the local trekking agency took
us out there for us to see how people enjoy their
weekends in the outdoors. The place was called “Ala
Archa Canyon”, and it had some lovely mountains along
with some streams. We walked around it for a couple
of hours and enjoyed being outside in the woods versus
all the traveling we had recently done. It was also
interesting to see the local memorial up in the
mountains to those that had died climbing in the
region. Then it was back to the hotel for an early
night since we had an early flight out of Bishkek.
The alarm rang at 2
a.m. and we were on the road to the airport an hour
later and at the airport by 4 a.m. for the flight two
hours later. After paying the $10 US for the pleasure
of using the airport we checked in and were generally
at the weight limit. The lady was very nice and
checked us in and just made us pay for the bag that
contained some people’s snowshoes. Then we relaxed in
the lobby just past passport control, and had some tea
that we bought to use up our local money, soms.
The plane only left
thirty minutes late, at 6:30 a.m., and it was onto to
Baku for three and a half hours. We quickly got
refueled at Baku and then began the six-hour flight to
London. I do not remember much about these flights,
except being bored enough to watch the movie
“Spiderman” four times in a row. (There were no
English books that I could find in Bishkek for this
flight, and I had already shared and given away the
books I had taken for the trip and climb.) I think I
can recite the words to the movie almost verbatim.
The last hour of
these type flights is usually the hardest on my butt,
and none too soon we were in London. At least this
time there were more than a couple passport officials,
and we were all quickly through passport control and
down to get our bags. The bags came out quickly and
their loved ones then met the London based climbers.
It was nice to see my friends happy. I then waited
for a bus to take me to my hotel, and the bus I took
went past the hotel on the first pass, and I had to
wait for another round (30 minutes) of hotel stops
before finally arriving there. At least my favorite
Formula One driver was winning a race when I turned on
the telly (TV), and I watched that as I called my
Mother to report a safe arrival in London. After
watching the race I took an hour-long bath, ordered
room service (the privileges one gets used to!), and
promptly took a nap. I woke up and watched a US
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