An early morning approach of Annapurna IV.
Wondering what happened to Ben Clark and friends? Well, here's the latest udate from Ben Clark, Josh Butson and Tim Clarke, whose plan is to summit and ski down Annapurna IV. The three are posting blogs and audio dispatches on their website.
"Himalayan climbing is challenging,
pioneering in this great range is an even more daunting proposition.
The mountain has spoken to us, it is all around us, it is inside of us
as we melt and drink it to sustain ourselves. This is the awareness and
connection I come here for. It is not what everyone wants and feels.
It has been a few days since the last
e-mail dispatch and we are alive and better than ever, without the
summit. The three of us made a deliberate and exhausting foray onto the
upper flanks of the mountain reaching deep within ourselves and high
onto the peak. Sometimes the rewards of climbing mountains are reached
well below the summit and for our enthusiastic teammate Tim Clarke,
this is the case.
Upon reaching camp one at 17,700 feet we were
exhausted. The climb had been a difficult series of long steep
skintracks–tracks laid moving uphill on our skis–on a 30 to 35 degree
slope of shoulder-deep and wet, corn snow. It felt like entering hell
uninvited. This track then led to a 45 degree slope of avalanche debris
that we quickly climbed to the broad shelf where we made our home for
two nights. Tim began coughing.
Laying awake for much of the night with
what must have felt like a wool covered throat, Tim was having a
rougher time than Josh or myself. We elected to wait a day there to see
if conditions improved–they did! Upon the morning of the 10th we began
moving upward at a steady clip with a frazzled Tim. I’ve been through
this before as a guide, a climber and a friend…you know when it is
over. I dropped off 26,788 feet Dahualigiri under similarly inexplicable
circumstances in my early twenties. Tim is so great a friend and
supportive teammate that he confidently told both of us what we already
knew..it was time for him to go down.
Josh and I both know Tim is stronger than
any other teammate we could have come here with and most importantly, he
is wise and a hell of a good guy. Folks, if you discover cancer before
it spreads you can often save a life. The same is true here, if you
discover that it isn’t for you, better to send off healthy. I have had
many friends melt off the alpine roster over the years for many
reasons. I’m truly psyched for the adventures Tim and I have already
had and the future ones we will have on smaller peaks.
We descended in style, armed with even
better knowledge than before. Oh baby did we enjoy the turns down that
terrible, deep face. It was like waterskiing through three feet of corn and
sugary-textured snow; staying up meant going fast."
Add your comments...