annapurna 3

thoughts &
suggestions
1988
2 and 4
2010
 This I think was the stumbling block in 2010?
The main problem in the autumn is the fact that there is a substantial river run-
ning under the scree but quite close to the surface in places making the central
part in particular rather unstable ...
if I remember correctly we fixed a handrail for the porters at this point.
The upper photo shows the porters crossing and the lower one looking back after
the first recce ... figure on the skyline indicates scale.
The section after the landslip is initially easy but after a couple of hours the route
finding becomes decidedly awkward eventually leading up toward fairly imposing
cliffs. A path round the foot of these is tenuous and in fact we had to build cairns
with which to convince our porters that people had been over before. A slip here
would not be funny ... we lost one barrel which was rescued by a couple of the
lads a couple of days later (an outstanding effort).
 On the upper photo figures can be seen exiting this section onto a flat and
spectacular campsite. Although of course nothing like it ... the big towering
slabby cliffs above and the spectacular drops below add to an atmosphere that
we all likened to that of the Eiger north wall. A strange and imposing place.
The picture below shows the gorge which we never saw into in the seven or
eight weeks we were in the area ... apparently tried by a Polish party in the
early ‘80’s as a route in! Bad move I think!
 Our cook died from pulmonary oedema here ... no way to lose height for two days
... I backtracked half way back down into the jungle to meet up with (Dr) Iain Tat-
tersal who had stayed on in Kathmandu to see his medical kit through customs ...
despite an heroic sprint back by Tat ... I at least was acclimatised ... the lad was
dead when we got back. He is buried here ... adding I suppose to its oppressive
atmosphere. The pic below shows a rock shelter just below the col ... which even
in the autumn had snow on it. The col itself is flat and in cloud could be awkward to
navigate across.
 The upper picture looks across to A3 from high on the Machapuchare ridge
...somewhat above the col.
The lower looks down into the valley where we had base camp. To the best of
my memory it was about 3500 ft down and I suspect that radio reception even
by sat phone could be very awkward.
 Upper pic looking toward ABC from BC and the lower looking toward BC from
ABC. I have a feeling that if you use a helicopter to get in that you may not be
able to call one in to evacuate you should the need arise in which case the route
finding on the Pokhara side of the Machapuchare ridge could do for you... un-
less you had prior knowledge. The section of grass seen to the left of the bam-
boo wand in the upper picture was the only place where we used fixed ropes on
the entire trip .... steep greasy and with a fast flowing glacial river waiting for any
slips!
Back in 1988 we were a young and
relatively unheard of team... only
Mal having any significant repu-
tation in the Himalaya ... We got
nowhere on this trip (though history
now counts getting to BC as quite a
reasonable achievement!) because
approaching the ridge was impos-
sible due to constant heavy
avalanche action.

If you succeed on the ridge then

getting off the hill will be a huge
challenge...and it is possible that
down climbing the ridge may be the
easiest way ... though it is a long
way from the summit.
These photos show the alternative
... the A3/A4 ridge ... again as you
will see in the next few pics it is a
long way from the summit but once
down on to the obvious col in the
upper picture should be relatively
straight forward ... as indicated on
the next page.
 You probably know all this so apologies for teaching grannies to suck eggs.
But from the north descent does not get any easier as can be seen from these
pictures ... indeed I think it would have to be a pretty desperate throw of the dice
to want to navigate this ... particularly in bad weather ... and then you are three
days (minimum) from Pokhara ... depending on how much you can negotiate a
jeep for on the new road on the other side of the Thorong La.
 My Interest now?
Look at the photo below ... virtually all the ground between where the photo was taken
and the foot of the big ridge on A4 is unexplored ... As far as I know no one has even
looked into the upper part of the gorge which feeds the Seti Khola.
Have stravaiged round these hills pretty thoroughly and would be very interested in filling
in this blank in my own knowledge and indeed on the map!
Happy to provide further photos if you wish ... tho’ cant ... for the moment ... lay my hands
on the ones that show various of us running away from avalanches ....that said ... the
upper picture which sits above my desk is of a huge one which should have taken Tat and
I out ... and sorry lads ... but it would have taken anyone on the first 300m of the ridge out
as well! Its an interesting place.