Page 35 - 2020 AMA Winter

Agnew digging out tents at 5
LAST MEN ON THE MOUNTAIN
Tim King
Recently I had to revisit my records of the AMA expedition to Mt Nuptse in 1975 because David, the son
of Army mountaineer Charles Walshaw, wanted to know more about the father he never knew. This account of the last days of the climb is written as a tribute to my friend, who died shortly after the expedition ended.
Nuptse is the lowest of the three mountains that ring the Western Cwm of Everest but its South Face is one of the most difficult and dangerous in the Himalayas. Nuptse 1, the main summit, only had two ascents between 1961 and 1996 and even now it
has been climbed just 3 times – a very low score for such an accessible mountain, with climbers nowadays preferring to attempt new routes to lesser tops further along Nuptse’s East Ridge. The AMA chose Nuptse as the final precursor to an attempt on Everest in 1976. It was the last in a series of preparatory climbs that included the fourth ascent of Tirich Mir in 1969 and the second ascent (and first British ascent) of Annapurna in 1970.
I was a reserve for the climb until John Swanston the expedition doctor had to drop out. I only had alpine experience and I wondered whether I would be up to
a big peak like Nuptse but once we got going I was happy to enjoy the novelty of it all: Hong Kong, Kathmandu, the two-week walk to base camp surrounded by exotic birds, trees and flowers and of course the terrain and people of Nepal. Like others who visit for the first time I was also overwhelmed by the vast scale of the mountains. Gerry Owens, an old hand and our finest climber, said ‘just multiply the Alps by seven and you will be about right’.
Approaching rock band from 5
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