Trip Reports

Tharpu Chuli - October 2019

View from high camp
Trip Report

Written by Leader Simon Verspeak, November 2019

The Annapurna Sanctuary has been described to me as one of the great cathedrals of mountaineering so I was pretty excited to be heading there this autumn. The team assembled initially in London Heathrow and then was completed by the addition of a couple of members in Kathmandu. This was a fairly unique team comprising of 7 gentleman mountaineers who were veterans of both life and numerous expeditions so it was a real privilege to lead them. We flew down to the balmy heat of Pokhara before setting off into the humid jungly fringes of the Annapurna Conservation Area. Our first objective was the popular view point of Poon Hill. This is a trek in it's own right and at 3210m takes several days of uphill effort from a starting point the height of Snowdon! To our surprise possibly the coldest night we experienced was our camp on the northern slopes before our early predawn rise to walk to the top and witness the sunrise above not one but two Himalayan 8000ers, Dhaulagiri and Annapurna. Standing on top the talk was of Herzog's famous book describing the first ascent of Annapurna in 1950. The day following was fairly tough lots of typical Nepali up and down and steps! Shortly though we had traversed into the valley of the Mhodi Khola and the entrance to the Sanctuary. The impressive Machupuchare had been present above us for many days but if anything got more and more so as we got closer. 

Pretty soon the air got cooler and we left the tree line behind. Turning the corner up towards Annapurna base camp our peak came into view together with the looming vast south face of Annapurna 1. Talk to turned to stories of Boningtons team struggling in 1970. Above the basecamp we had swapped from eating the dinner our competent cook team had created in comfortable lodges to the sparser delights of our own mess tent. Somehow the card games of Monopoly Deal were getting more vicious as the temperatures tumbled and we became like a family contesting Christmas boardgame supremacy. In the background Paul had also been practising his banjo skills. 

After a brief stay for acclimatisation and some training on fixed line systems, it was all too soon to get down to the real business of the expedition; crossing the moraines and rock covered glacier to get to Tharpu Chuli base camp. The route didn't look obvious but thankfully was overally long and we suddenly found ourselves detached from the trekkers and off on our own adventure. The following day we ascended to high camp which has to be one of the finest spots to sleep anywhere. As the afternoon progressed cloud rolled into the deep valley below but high up in the sunshine we were in the rarefied atmosphere watching from on high until the stars appeared. 

My least favourite part of alpinism is the early start of summit day but somehow the excitement won through and every one was keen to be going. We climbed initially up moraine to reach the glacier and roped up. It was cold but not so cold we couldn't appreciate the well frozen snow beneath our feet not collapsing as our crampons crunched in. The previous day our Sherpas had fixed the lines we needed to ascend the steep headwall, off the glacier and onto the summit ridge now tantalisingly close above our heads. 

As we reached the fixed lines, the sky was just lighting up and we took a moment to saviour the place we were in. Clipping in our Sirdar Dawa was infront. Suddenly as he reached the steepest section, rocks ripped down the line of ascent thankfully only causing a rip to his trouser leg and not to skin. I fired up to check. The sight confronting me was not what I wanted, a section of the gully was dry and the rocks were delicately balanced. This was fair from ideal and I quickly evaluated the situation and decided it wasn't safe enough for upward progress. Our ascent was over....

The strangest thing though; morale was skyhigh. Our team had worked well, bonded and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity for time out in the most sensational of mountain areas. I guess whoever said mountaineering isn't about summit's was right!

Thanks to Ian, Mike, Paul, Lawrence, Jerry, Andy and Dewi for a great expedition

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