Page 15 - AMA Summer 2024

HIGH ALTITUDE ›
21ST CENTURY FINALE
FAlan Hinkes OBE
amed Yorkshire mountaineer Alan Hinkes OBE was the first British climber to summit all the world’s 8000m peaks. In the first part of this two-part article, Alan describes the trials and tribulations
encountered in the snow and ice of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri.
Over the last two decades of the twentieth century, I summited eleven of the fourteen 8000m mountains. Shisha Pangma was my first 8000m peak in 1987 and I climbed it via a new route, Alpine Style, with an American mate Steve Untch. We were part of Jerzy Kukuczka’s Polish Expedition. Not only was this my first but also Kukuczka’s fourteenth. He became the second person after Rienhold Messner to summit all fourteen 8000ers. We had a celebration for Jerzy in basecamp, but I did not plan to do all fourteen mountains at this point. It seemed like a far-fetched goal. Only two people had achieved this feat in 1987, more, twelve astronauts had stood on the moon. It was not until 1996 when I had submitted eight, that I decided to go for the remaining six. Three more were climbed by 1999 and this century I had only three left to summit, Annapurna (8091m), Dhaulagiri (8167m) and Kangchenjunga (8586m).
My first success was in 2002 with Annapurna, the tenth highest and least climbed of all fourteen, even though it was the first 8000er to be climbed by the French in 1950. It has a reputation as an extremely dangerous avalanche prone mountain. In 2002 only about 100 people had climbed it and nearly 60 had been killed. Psychologically, it seemed that I had a 60 percent chance of getting the chop once I left basecamp. Truly a death zone.
To minimise my exposure to the risk of avalanches I made a lightweight fast, two-man ascent of a new route on the left-hand side of the North Face. This was steeper and only marginally less avalanche prone than the French route up the middle of the face. Reaching a high bivouac at 7000m, we set off just after midnight on 6th May up the final 1100m. The last section is a steepish rocky couloir, and I reached the top around midday quickly followed by Funurbu, my Nepalese climbing partner.
This was the first British ascent for 32 years. The last two Brits on top were Don Whillans and Dougal Haston in 1970. Just before them Henry Day & Gerry Owens made the first British ascent on an AMA expedition. I took a summit photo holding a picture of my daughter Fiona as the weather began closing in for the afternoon, fresh snow falling and accumulating on the slopes. My sense of achievement on the summit was mixed with anxiety about the deteriorating weather and snow conditions.
The descent developed into a minor epic, in a white out, and it was 4pm before we reached our bivy at 7000m. We had taken 16 hours for the round trip. It was the next day before we reached the safety
of basecamp. I had climbed Annapurna in a record 19 days from Kathmandu, trekking into basecamp and continuing to the summit. Usually, an 8000m peak would take 30 or more days from Kathmandu, allowing for acclimatisation & bad weather rests.
I am not superstitious, so was not concerned or felt unlucky about Dhaulagiri being my thirteenth 8000er. All are dangerous and I try to minimise the risk by acclimatising well and waiting until my inner senses tell me the time is right. This means a coordination of weather, snow and ice conditions, rock fall and my mental and physical state. I always remind myself: no mountain is worth a life. Coming back is a success. The summit is only a bonus.
In April 2004 I reached Dhaulagiri basecamp just in time for a 10-day spell of severe weather, which held me back for nearly 2 weeks. Once again, I was attempting a minimalist, two-man lightweight Alpine style push on the mountain with Pasang Gelu, a good friend and Nepalese climbing mate. Pasang and I left basecamp on the 14th May hoping the conditions would improve for a summit bid. There was heavy, fresh snow covering hard steep icy slopes high up the mountain, making climbing conditions difficult and dangerous. I reckoned we did not have much chance of success because the deep snow would be very debilitating to plough a way through as well as being highly avalanche prone.
We left basecamp at 5am to avoid the afternoon sun and storms – both unpleasant in different ways. The heat from the sun saps your energy and drive as there is no shade on the exposed snow and ice. The storms batter your body, the wind wears you out and exposure is a real risk. Not far above basecamp, the route is often strafed by rocks, like incoming mortar rounds as it traverses under a loose 800m high rock face. I wore
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