Sun 3rd Dec '06 – Ice Headwall 3500 mts
By 10.00am nothing much had changed, the conditions outside were if anything windier, the rescue team still couldn’t make any progress in reaching us & had been beaten back 3 times in their attempts. Morning turned into afternoon then into late afternoon, the mood was changing from being positive on the face to privately fearing the worst as we faced a crucial & possibly fatal second night here high on one of the most exposed & inaccessible mountains on the planet. To one another we put on brave faces & stayed outwardly positive but inside some of us were getting bad vibes & the battle for real survival & our lives was beginning. I could see from Ian & Fredrik that with their vast experience they knew our situation was now very bad, the realisation that this may well the end of us was now a looming prospect & we may as well prepare for it.
Ian was still on the radio pleading….. ‘Listen, David (Hamilton) & all you guys down there. You are some of the best climbers & mountaineers in the world & you are our only hope. If you can’t get to us, you know what’s going to happen here. People are going to die! You’ve got to help us, please!’
The reply came back….. ‘Ian, we’re doing our very best but we can’t risk more lives & have a possible double tragedy. We will keep trying but for now you are unfortunately on your own’
Chilling words to here, I can tell you & they certainly got me thinking.
So what does one think about hour after hour in a situation like this?
Was I scared, frightened?
No not really & as I’ve said, you have to try to remain positive & consider have we done all we can to help our situation. But at the same time you come to realise that your chances of getting out of this are growing smaller & smaller as the hours tick away into another very cold night. So yes, you are forced to think about the bad ending that his may become. It’s not like a car crash or falling off a cliff, where you’re killed in seconds. Here it was going to take time. But how much time & how cold could you get before you drifted off into a sleep which would ultimately lead to a coma & then death?
I genuinely along with some of the team now believed that this was going to be the scenario. Why should I feel able to think any other way. There was no point in thinking, ‘No, this can’t happen to me, these things only happen to other people’! Mountain accidents & tragedies happen all the time, so why couldn’t I now be caught up in one, I wasn’t invincible, immortal or immune to such happenings & had no right to even dare that I might be. I knew all of this & that was why I was very calmly able to accept the situation I was in.
My only thoughts on this subject were for Joyce, & our 2 sons Ian & Sam. I wasn’t concerned for a moment about myself because that would only have been self pity & that was pointless. Anyway, I go on these trips knowing & prepared for the risks & dangers. Yes mountaineering can be & probably is a very selfish activity, so if you’re prepared to take the risk then you must accept the outcome. This is something I’ve always been prepared to do.
But Joyce, Ian & Sam don’t deserve this. They just don’t deserve it to be this way. I certainly wasn’t going to hide from reality. I had to think about & reconcile privately in your head about the situation, the possible fatal outcome & the consequences for my family. In the end, you accept that if it’s going to end this way then so be it. But I kept thinking that Joyce & the boys just don’t deserve this.
There is no doubt that we & all of the teams were praying for the one thing that could enable the rescue party to get us the headwall. We needed a 1.5 – 2 hr break or even easing of the raging Katabatic storm to allow the rescue team up the ice headwall but so far it just wasn’t happening. So the hours rolled on, we stayed with our private thoughts & continued to encourage one another to be positive & stay awake. At this stage sleep could have come very easily because I was very tired from the lack of it. But I was simply afraid to sleep for fear that I would never waken again & I kept telling Jon to check me & not allow me to drift off. Sometime about 19.00 hrs we sensed a change in the wind direction & a slight easing in its intensity, followed by a raise in temperature as the sun seemed to penetrate the slim tent covering that we had over us. Anxiously Ian radioed this to the team down below at the base of he headwall & hope inside the shelter lifted momentarily. Down below it wasn’t quite as good & they still couldn’t take the risk of moving up. First 10, then 20, 30 mins went by as we urged them into action & our hopes drifting away. Eventually the call came through that Martin & Olaf were on their way up. The collective sigh & roar inside the shelter was nearly enough to lift it right off us as we clasped our hands & turned our eyes to heaven in a silent yet relieved ‘thank you’.
But they hadn’t reached us yet & it would take 1.5 hrs or more to do so during which time the wind kicked in again & we feared that they may be turned back. This was the longest hour or more in my life & we all sat silent, waiting, waiting & praying. But we had work to do & needed to be ready to move as soon as the team arrived. We could not afford to be faffing around outside in the prevailing conditions that we were hopefully about to encounter.
Please don’t turn back, Martin & Olaf, please keep coming! Keep on coming up to us, please! We tried to listen for them above the roar of the wind tearing away at our flimsy shelter but could hear nothing. We dared not even breathe out load.
'Hello, Hello!'
Did we hear something outside?
Instantly, 5 hearts suddenly stopped dead, but only for a moment. Then ‘thump, thump, thump’ as they pounded back to life with massive energy from the realisation that we had all heard something outside & what we had heard were the calls of Martin & Olaf to us. This time the roar that went up could have started an avalanche but we cared not a bit, because we now had a chance of getting out of here, alive. My rucksack had already been repacked & within 10 minutes we were out, being roped up & ready to move off. We ditched a lot of group gear from our packs in order to reduce the weight to be carried down in our weakened state. Bloody hell! The conditions out here were much worse than we had imagined, the wind was still incredibly strong & within minutes our outer clothing had frozen solid. Visibility was still poor but manageable & we all just wanted to get out of here. Our time in the freezer zone was, it now appeared to be coming to an end soon. We were by no means out of the danger zone yet & had to concentrate hard on crampon placement for quite sometime yet. But we were going to make it & the tears flowed as we made our way downwards to safety. It was now about 21.00 hrs.
About 1 hr or more later we arrived at the bottom of the headwall where the Swedes had a tent set up & 5 of the guides including David Hamilton were also on hand armed with hot drinks & snack bars. It was quite an emotional scene as we hugged & clung to our rescuers & shed a few tears of relief. We still had about 1.5 hrs to trek to camp but we were able to do so without the burden of our rucksacks because the support team that arrived offered to take them on sleds which they had drawn up. As we trekked downwards we were able to look back at the angry monster of the headwall that had held us captive & it did indeed seem angry because it was once again enveloped in a dark swirling tempest of driving winds & spindrift, whilst where we now were was relatively calm in comparison. Thank you dear God for whatever deal you struck with Antarctica’s Mother Nature that allowed us mere mortals to walk free once again.
Ian led us into camp 1 to be greeted by one of the IMG teams who had volunteered to stay there & assist us if & when we were to arrive. Good men all of them because they could have opted for the relative comfort of VBC which was still some hours down below us but would not be reached by us in our condition tonight. This I believe was part of the rescue ‘deal’ & we were to find out that there was still some discomfort to come in the days ahead, but nothing compared to what we had already experienced. Ian was truly exhausted & on his last legs & as we hugged & shared tears together I said to him, ‘Thank you Ian & always remember this… Ian Barker always brings his men home & don’t you ever forget that. Thank you!’
All was calm around us here but we could see the devastation that the Katabatics had caused here in the past 2 days. The entire glacier surface had been stripped of the 30cm of loose lying snow & blown to heaven knows where. As we settled into tents loaned to us by ALE, little did we know of the imminent return of the fearful Katabatics that would once again pin us down here at camp 1 for a further 2 days. Within an hour of getting into a warm sleeping bag loaned to me by Eric, the winds struck with their mighty power to serve on us a warning that this was Mother Nature’s back yard we were playing in & that She would decide when we would be free to leave this now desolate place. We discovered that 2 days of this battering was part of the freedom deal & we accepted that gladly for it was a mild discomfort to go through when we had the knowledge that we were safe & all of our lives spared. What was another 2 days without any nourishment, apart from a few bars & hot drinks! I was in a one-man tent on my own & on the first day I left the tent just once to relieve the boredom & survey my surroundings, but I didn’t stay out long because it was truly wild out there. Mother Nature may have agreed to set us free but it seemed like the Katabatics didn’t agree with the deal & now wanted to have their say & battered us relentlessly making sleep impossible. Which meant another 2 days without sleep but this was certainly better than the eternal sleep that we had faced just a few short hours ago.
I managed to phone Joyce on the satellite phone after I got down & it was once again an emotional relief to hear her voice. Simon Lowe from Jagged-Globe had phoned & informed her in a very considerate & compassionate manner about the problem whilst it was still unfolding but thankfully I think she didn’t quite realise just how bad things were for & this was probably a good thing.
Ian was still on the radio pleading….. ‘Listen, David (Hamilton) & all you guys down there. You are some of the best climbers & mountaineers in the world & you are our only hope. If you can’t get to us, you know what’s going to happen here. People are going to die! You’ve got to help us, please!’
The reply came back….. ‘Ian, we’re doing our very best but we can’t risk more lives & have a possible double tragedy. We will keep trying but for now you are unfortunately on your own’
Chilling words to here, I can tell you & they certainly got me thinking.
So what does one think about hour after hour in a situation like this?
Was I scared, frightened?
No not really & as I’ve said, you have to try to remain positive & consider have we done all we can to help our situation. But at the same time you come to realise that your chances of getting out of this are growing smaller & smaller as the hours tick away into another very cold night. So yes, you are forced to think about the bad ending that his may become. It’s not like a car crash or falling off a cliff, where you’re killed in seconds. Here it was going to take time. But how much time & how cold could you get before you drifted off into a sleep which would ultimately lead to a coma & then death?
I genuinely along with some of the team now believed that this was going to be the scenario. Why should I feel able to think any other way. There was no point in thinking, ‘No, this can’t happen to me, these things only happen to other people’! Mountain accidents & tragedies happen all the time, so why couldn’t I now be caught up in one, I wasn’t invincible, immortal or immune to such happenings & had no right to even dare that I might be. I knew all of this & that was why I was very calmly able to accept the situation I was in.
My only thoughts on this subject were for Joyce, & our 2 sons Ian & Sam. I wasn’t concerned for a moment about myself because that would only have been self pity & that was pointless. Anyway, I go on these trips knowing & prepared for the risks & dangers. Yes mountaineering can be & probably is a very selfish activity, so if you’re prepared to take the risk then you must accept the outcome. This is something I’ve always been prepared to do.
But Joyce, Ian & Sam don’t deserve this. They just don’t deserve it to be this way. I certainly wasn’t going to hide from reality. I had to think about & reconcile privately in your head about the situation, the possible fatal outcome & the consequences for my family. In the end, you accept that if it’s going to end this way then so be it. But I kept thinking that Joyce & the boys just don’t deserve this.
There is no doubt that we & all of the teams were praying for the one thing that could enable the rescue party to get us the headwall. We needed a 1.5 – 2 hr break or even easing of the raging Katabatic storm to allow the rescue team up the ice headwall but so far it just wasn’t happening. So the hours rolled on, we stayed with our private thoughts & continued to encourage one another to be positive & stay awake. At this stage sleep could have come very easily because I was very tired from the lack of it. But I was simply afraid to sleep for fear that I would never waken again & I kept telling Jon to check me & not allow me to drift off. Sometime about 19.00 hrs we sensed a change in the wind direction & a slight easing in its intensity, followed by a raise in temperature as the sun seemed to penetrate the slim tent covering that we had over us. Anxiously Ian radioed this to the team down below at the base of he headwall & hope inside the shelter lifted momentarily. Down below it wasn’t quite as good & they still couldn’t take the risk of moving up. First 10, then 20, 30 mins went by as we urged them into action & our hopes drifting away. Eventually the call came through that Martin & Olaf were on their way up. The collective sigh & roar inside the shelter was nearly enough to lift it right off us as we clasped our hands & turned our eyes to heaven in a silent yet relieved ‘thank you’.
But they hadn’t reached us yet & it would take 1.5 hrs or more to do so during which time the wind kicked in again & we feared that they may be turned back. This was the longest hour or more in my life & we all sat silent, waiting, waiting & praying. But we had work to do & needed to be ready to move as soon as the team arrived. We could not afford to be faffing around outside in the prevailing conditions that we were hopefully about to encounter.
Please don’t turn back, Martin & Olaf, please keep coming! Keep on coming up to us, please! We tried to listen for them above the roar of the wind tearing away at our flimsy shelter but could hear nothing. We dared not even breathe out load.
'Hello, Hello!'
Did we hear something outside?
Instantly, 5 hearts suddenly stopped dead, but only for a moment. Then ‘thump, thump, thump’ as they pounded back to life with massive energy from the realisation that we had all heard something outside & what we had heard were the calls of Martin & Olaf to us. This time the roar that went up could have started an avalanche but we cared not a bit, because we now had a chance of getting out of here, alive. My rucksack had already been repacked & within 10 minutes we were out, being roped up & ready to move off. We ditched a lot of group gear from our packs in order to reduce the weight to be carried down in our weakened state. Bloody hell! The conditions out here were much worse than we had imagined, the wind was still incredibly strong & within minutes our outer clothing had frozen solid. Visibility was still poor but manageable & we all just wanted to get out of here. Our time in the freezer zone was, it now appeared to be coming to an end soon. We were by no means out of the danger zone yet & had to concentrate hard on crampon placement for quite sometime yet. But we were going to make it & the tears flowed as we made our way downwards to safety. It was now about 21.00 hrs.
About 1 hr or more later we arrived at the bottom of the headwall where the Swedes had a tent set up & 5 of the guides including David Hamilton were also on hand armed with hot drinks & snack bars. It was quite an emotional scene as we hugged & clung to our rescuers & shed a few tears of relief. We still had about 1.5 hrs to trek to camp but we were able to do so without the burden of our rucksacks because the support team that arrived offered to take them on sleds which they had drawn up. As we trekked downwards we were able to look back at the angry monster of the headwall that had held us captive & it did indeed seem angry because it was once again enveloped in a dark swirling tempest of driving winds & spindrift, whilst where we now were was relatively calm in comparison. Thank you dear God for whatever deal you struck with Antarctica’s Mother Nature that allowed us mere mortals to walk free once again.
Ian led us into camp 1 to be greeted by one of the IMG teams who had volunteered to stay there & assist us if & when we were to arrive. Good men all of them because they could have opted for the relative comfort of VBC which was still some hours down below us but would not be reached by us in our condition tonight. This I believe was part of the rescue ‘deal’ & we were to find out that there was still some discomfort to come in the days ahead, but nothing compared to what we had already experienced. Ian was truly exhausted & on his last legs & as we hugged & shared tears together I said to him, ‘Thank you Ian & always remember this… Ian Barker always brings his men home & don’t you ever forget that. Thank you!’
All was calm around us here but we could see the devastation that the Katabatics had caused here in the past 2 days. The entire glacier surface had been stripped of the 30cm of loose lying snow & blown to heaven knows where. As we settled into tents loaned to us by ALE, little did we know of the imminent return of the fearful Katabatics that would once again pin us down here at camp 1 for a further 2 days. Within an hour of getting into a warm sleeping bag loaned to me by Eric, the winds struck with their mighty power to serve on us a warning that this was Mother Nature’s back yard we were playing in & that She would decide when we would be free to leave this now desolate place. We discovered that 2 days of this battering was part of the freedom deal & we accepted that gladly for it was a mild discomfort to go through when we had the knowledge that we were safe & all of our lives spared. What was another 2 days without any nourishment, apart from a few bars & hot drinks! I was in a one-man tent on my own & on the first day I left the tent just once to relieve the boredom & survey my surroundings, but I didn’t stay out long because it was truly wild out there. Mother Nature may have agreed to set us free but it seemed like the Katabatics didn’t agree with the deal & now wanted to have their say & battered us relentlessly making sleep impossible. Which meant another 2 days without sleep but this was certainly better than the eternal sleep that we had faced just a few short hours ago.
I managed to phone Joyce on the satellite phone after I got down & it was once again an emotional relief to hear her voice. Simon Lowe from Jagged-Globe had phoned & informed her in a very considerate & compassionate manner about the problem whilst it was still unfolding but thankfully I think she didn’t quite realise just how bad things were for & this was probably a good thing.
posted by Kevin Dempsey at
2:11 PM
