The team on the summit of Kongur (7,719m)
L to R: Alan Rouse, Pete Boardman, Chris Bonington and Joe Tasker.
© Chris Bonington Picture Library
In November 1980, Joe set off for Everest as part of an Expedition organised by Al Rouse, to try and make a winter ascent of the mountains West Ridge. It was an all-star team including The Burgess Twins, Paul Nunn, Brian Hall, John Porter and Pete Thexton.
The climbers encountered very harsh weather conditions; gale force winds and freezing temperatures, that quickly took a toll on the team and gradually almost everyone was either exhausted or ill. Joe together with Adrian Burgess did reach 24,000ft on the route but by that time virtually the whole team was exhausted and a general retreat was made. Joe describes vividly the brutal, cold conditions on this expedition in his book “Everest the Cruel Way”.
In “The Burgess Book of Lies”, Adrian Burgess describes being on the mountain with Joe:
“Joe had so much willpower. Just to camp out at those elevations was horrendous, let alone put in a day’s work. He was a very modest person in my company; later when he wrote about his experiences in his book ‘Everest the Cruel Way’ he often chided himself for his laziness. He once wrote about staring across to the North Ridge – scene of early British attempts on Everest – and feeling honoured to be part of the history of the mountains in the company of Mallory and Irvine, who had disappeared somewhere high on the mountain. A strange twist of fate finally bonded him to the mountain when he too, disappeared the very next year, on the North Northeast Ridge, with his fate also unknown. I’m proud to have shared a few moments with him.”
The expedition took a huge physical toll on the team members, and Joe returned having lost a great deal of weight. Al Rouse had lost two stone and when the two of them went to Kongur later that year, neither had fully recovered physically.
While Joe was away on Everest, Pete and Hilary were visiting the Ganesh Himal, where Pete was leading a trekking group. Pete’s Mum also went on the trip described by Hilary as a “wonderful experience but very cold with fresh snow in places, and very challenging for walkers.” After this trip Pete was working at ISM (International School of Mountaineering), while Hilary worked in a local hospital. Hilary recalls the early months of 1981 with much enjoyment of learning to ski off piste, and doing long ski mountaineering trips in the Alps. “It’s amazing we weren’t killed then as our skiing had little finesse!”
After the reconnaissance trip to China the previous year with Al Rouse and Michael Ward, Chris Bonington was eager to return and attempt an ascent of Kongur. The team consisted of Chris himself, Al Rouse, Pete and Joe, Jim Curran, Michael Ward and Charlie Clarke. A very good description of this expedition was written by Jim Curran in his biography of Chris and part of it is reproduced here:
“The climb itself was a protracted affair, hampered by constant spells of bad weather with high winds and, being so much further north of the Karakoram/Himalaya ranges, bitter cold. The first attempt foundered on a knife-edged ridge leading to the summit pyramid, the difficulty of which had indeed been grossly underestimated, even ignored, during the recce. When eventually success came it was only after spending four nights stormbound at the far end of the knife edged ridge, bivouacked into tiny one-man slots that became known as snow coffins. Running out of food and gas, most teams would have given up, but when the weather cleared they pushed on to the top, where they had yet another bivouac while they ensued that they really had reached the highest of three possible summits before a long and dangerous descent.
Peter Boardman dislodged a rock abseiling down from the summit, which hit him a glancing blow on the head and knocked him out. He was only saved from sliding off the end of the rope by his glove jamming the rope in the karabiner brake system he was using to abseil with.
Michael Ward and I waited in support at Advance Base and had nearly given them up for lost before we spotted four, minute dots on a snowline high above. On their return late that evening Mike and I were the first to hear their story. Chris thought that the climbing on the summit day was very reminiscent of the North Face of The Matterhorn, even of the Eiger in winter. I couldn’t help but be moved by the state of exhaustion they were all in. Chris’s face and beard were caked with icicles and frozen snot. Al’s voice was reduced to the merest whisper and Joe Tasker was alarmingly thin and pinched. Only Pete, despite his blood-caked hair, seemed still to be strong and have something left in reserve. He had obviously been the strongest throughout the whole expedition and had done a lot of the trail-breaking. Al and to a certain extent Joe, hadn’t performed very well; both had been on a winter expedition to the West Ridge of Everest only a few months earlier and had returned emaciated and very tired. Al had led this protracted and unsuccessful venture and I wondered if he had ever really recovered. Chris himself, at forty-seven, had performed extremely well, conserving his energy and pacing himself well. Considering that only a few weeks previously we were worried, not just that he wouldn’t be able to climb, but that his life itself could be in danger, it was an astonishing performance, particularly to spend so much time above 7000 metres where physical determination is rapid.
The ascent of Kongur has never really had the acclaim it deserved, partly for the reasons mentioned earlier but also because it was perceived as being a traditional expedition, which was actually very unfair as the medical objectives were totally separate from the climbing. In fact very few peaks the height of Kongur have been climbed alpine-style at the first attempt by such a small team; the nearest comparison would be Broad Peak (8047 metres), climbed by the Austrians Schmuck, Winterstreller, Diemberger and Buhl, though even this outstanding ascent wasn’t the first attempt. Kongur was, without splitting hairs, as genuine an alpine style ascent as one could wish for, even the route taken on the second attempt was different, sot here was very little ground covered twice.”
Joe set his camera up on the summit of Kongur to take a photograph of the four of them. I have always felt how poignant this photograph is, for within five years, only Chris remained alive.
Steve Dean
Further reading if you are interested…
Kongur, China’s Elusive Summit’ by Chris Bonington
Here, There and Everywhere by Jim Curran
Everest the Cruel Way by Joe Tasker
The Burgess Book of Lies by Adrian & Alan Burgess