After resting (and
eating) for a few days, we felt it was time to try one of the larger
peaks, none were unclimbed but there were still many new routes to be
done. The ridges seemed a safer proposition than the faces which were
continually subject to stone fall. We liked the look of the South Ridge of
Koh i Marchech which was long, interesting... and unclimbed. The rock
appeared to be good granite, we had already reconnoitered the approach,
just the last part looked steep. From below, however, it seemed to have a
sort of zigzag of broken rocks that gave a reasonable chance of finding a
route up. For the descent, we counted on scrambling down the West face to
the top of the same glacier we would use for the approach.
This time we set
off with plenty of food and after a bivi below the snout of the glacier
soon reached the level top plateau with the ridge above us to our right.
We slept on a level spot, next to a large boulder. From here we found a way up
easy snow and rocks to the shoulder of the ridge and an yet another excellent bivi
site. The weather was perfect and the ridge looked fine, a long series of
gendarmes separated by easier angled sections, then the final pillar with
its zigzag weakness. This was definitely better than the endless load
slogging of Himalayan epics, we could have been in the Alps except the
weather was much better and there were no noisy groups of Italians or
crowded huts.
The next day was
spent working along the ridge, sometimes scrambling, sometimes roped, but
never too hard. In the evening we settled into yet another comfortable
bivi although it had to be hacked out of the frozen rubble and was not
quite up to our usual standards; my Macinnes ice axe demonstrated what it
was really made for, weight counts. A splendid sunset made up for the lack
of space..
In the morning the
problem of final pillar was resolved much as we had expected and we found
ourselves on the final icy corniced ridge. Breathing was distinctly more
difficult as we got up into thinner air and we puffed a bit up to the
summit which was itself an unstable cornice of ice and snow. We were now
in some cloud, the temperature had dropped a bit more, we had already been
climbing in duvets all the way up the ridge.
We finally arrived
at the summit, 21,200 feet, the highest we had ever been. A clear spell
enabled us to take the obligatory summit panoramas, we even had a good
view of what we thought must be Tirich Mir far to North East. Shah i Kabud
and the other peaks of the Hindu Kush, all granite and snow, way below us
the glaciers and lower still, base camp valley with its meadow (a good
nine thousand feet vertically) were all dutifully photographed before we
started to feel the cold and decided to head down.
The
descent took longer than we had thought and the easy scramble soon became
steep enough to force us to abseil. The clouds had now dispersed but we
were in the shadow and it was distinctly cool. To add a final sting in the
tail the rope got stuck. We thought of climbing up to release it but we
had both read too many mountaineering books to fall for that one, we cut
it instead with a single blow of an ice-axe, reflected a little on how
easy it had been to cut, and carried on down, hoping we wouldn’t need to
abseil again. Once again, our luck held out and we reached the glacier
safely by moonlight. It had been a very long day and we slept well.
The
next day we were back at base camp feeling pleased with ourselves, but
starting to realize that our stay would soon be coming to an end. |
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