Lee Harrison Climbing

I had slept badly. It was my first night at altitude and I had a headache. Neither of us had an alarm which meant I was constantly checking my watch throughout the night in paranoia of oversleeping. My water bottle, which I was using as a pillow, also leaked shortly after midnight wetting my sleeping bag and my gloves. All-in-all it had not been a great night for me. Trekking towards the NE face of Mont Blanc du Tacal with Dent du Géant in the distance We were camped beneath the northwest face of Mont Blanc du Tacal in anticipation of climbing the 55° steep, 600m long Jager couloir. We did not rise until 5am and were slow preparing. Luckily my gloves had dried else I may have declined to climb today for fear of my fingers, which have poor circulation following a frostbite injury, being poorly insulated from the conditions. The sun had long since risen by the time we were at the bottom of the couloir. It was a beautiful morning with barely a cloud in the sky and we were looking...

I rose at 4.30am and prepared myself for my first Himalayan ascent. We had camped at approximately 4600m beneath Rupal Peak, which lies on the south side of the Rupal Valley. The climb to our base camp had afforded us some spectacular views of the Rupal Face and Mazeno Ridge of Nanga Parbat to our North. Today I would try and climb Rupal Peak together with a couple of Frenchmen called Nicolas and Vincent that I had met in Tashkurgan, China. With virtually no climbing experience between us we would be guided by Abdul Bari Rana of Lost Horizons Tours , and Ali, a local high altitude porter from the Tarashing valley. Rupal Peak in the evening shadow of Nanga Parbat Rupal Peak base camp (c.4600m) We left camp at 5.30am. After crossing a short boulder section we were onto glacier. Nicolas and Vincent were slipping on their backsides every few seconds and I hit the deck once as well. Bari suggested we don crampons, which Nicolas and Vincent promptly ...