Chris Bonington Everest Expedition 1982 - The Last Unclimbed Ridge (Part 1)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] climbers who go to the himalayas and especially to everest know the risks they take for this the highest mountain in the world is still one of the most dangerous the british expedition led by chris bonnington in the early summer of 1982 was to prove especially tragic like mallory and irvin half a century earlier two of britain's finest high altitude climbers pete boardman and joe tasker disappear high up on the tibetan side of the peak no one will ever know exactly how they died but this simple memorial left behind by their friends will stand in their memory until the ravages of ice wind and snow finally erase it [Music] the mountain has been climbed many times but it continues to exact a heavy toll indeed [Music] of those who come from distant lands to pit their skill and courage against these icy bastions one in ten never return [Music] a few weeks later the team was back in england and two of the surviving high altitude climbers chris bonnington and dick renshaw met at the london house of charlie clark the expedition doctor well the himalayas certainly i mean are very very dangerous ones just got to look at the the number of people who get killed in the himalayas and this is i suppose because of the number the scale and the size of the objective dangers in the alps the thirak walls are that much smaller the crevasses are just that much fewer the arrival of bad weather is that much less serious whereas in the himalayas it's somehow scaled up about tenfold and yet i think in one's approach to the himalaya as a mountaineer perhaps one does put blinkers on and one well must do one ignores these subjective dangers one doesn't caught risk and danger one's going climbing in there or i'm going climbing in himalayas because i love the mountains i love the challenge they present i love the whole business of trying to climb a new route and i therefore push this risk thing to one side and say well it's probably not going to happen to me once i'm on a trip i don't think about the the possibility of death or the risk risk if i just get carried away by the the task in hand i think you're right that you you do put the blinkers on and so so did pete and joe very much [Music] oh the cooperation of the chinese government meant to return after more than 40 years to the north side of the mountain the traditional approach of so many british expeditions in the 20s and 30s but in contrast this was to be one of the smallest expeditions ever mounted for an assault on everest just four climbers backed up by a doctor and a base camp manager the plan was to attempt to hit the two unclimbed ridge without the use of oxygen for the leader chris bonnington this was to be his third journey to everest but his own first attempt on the summit peach boardman was the one member of the team who had already achieved the climbers dream of standing at the world's highest point since then he and joe tusca had established one of the most successful partnerships in british mountaineering including the west wall of changabang in 1976 dick renshaw also had many climbs to his credit around the world among them a winter ascent of the north wall of the iger [Music] no less than seven previous himalayan expeditions had given charlie clark as much experience of practicing medicine at high altitude as anyone else in britain the job of base camp manager went to adrian gordon who'd been on the southwest face expedition seven years earlier [Music] lassa the forbidden city capital of tibet with the great patala palace towering above it [Music] for many centuries it was thought to be the highest building in the world the everest of all man-made structures and one of the most beautiful even today the presence of europeans is an unusual sight for many years the monastic dynasty of the dalai lamas imposed a policy of isolation for fear of seeing their culture eroded by western ideas and with the arrival of the chinese in 1950 it seemed as if the door might be closed for many generations to come but times change attitudes mellow and quite often mountaineers find frontiers open to them which remain barred to traders tourists and politicians but in those first hours charlie clark had other things on his mind when we were going up the steps of the patala what i was thinking is my god we're now at thirteen thousand feet or whatever thereabouts last there is and i felt so tired i mean i could barely put one foot in front of the other and i thought i'm gonna have to go another i don't know eight nine thousand feet higher was i gonna manage it with 400 feet of steps behind them the team entered the courtyard of the palace itself until a few years ago as much a mystery to the tibetans themselves as it was to the outside world now it has become a place of pilgrimage for hundreds upon hundreds of patient worshipers [Applause] everywhere there was a smell of rancid butter a gift for the buddha and the main source of fuel for the thousands of lamps which lit the interior with their cameras and bright anoraks they felt like intruders amongst these devoted people who appeared to live in perfect harmony with their mountain landscape without ever desiring to conquer the huge peaks surrounding them [Music] in his diary pete boardman described being moved almost to tears by the golds the intricacy and the devotion oh but now it was everest not lassa that began to occupy chris bonnington's thoughts this is the model of everest in the royal geographical society in london now everest of course is on the frontiers of tibet and nepal and the frontier actually goes up the west ridge of everest to the summit and down the south ridge across the south coal and on up lots of the second peak of everest now before the war nepal was completely closed to foreigners but tibet open at least to the british and so all the pre-war british expeditions came in from over here from the north of course they didn't get to the top and then after the war the position was reversed tibet of course was closed but nepal opened up and it was in 1953 with john hunt's british expedition that climbed up through the western comb of everest up the lotsy face to the south coal and then of course it was ed hillary and sherpa tensing that made the final push to the summit and climbed everest for the first time since then the mountain's been climbed literally dozens of times from the nepalese side and we played our own part in this in 1975 when we made the first ascent of the southwest face of everest and then just two years ago the chinese opened up tibet and mountains in china as well and of course this year it was to give us our great opportunity anyway we'll go and have a look at the northern side and we'll be able to see better from this side over here you've now got the same view that that first british everest expedition in 1921 had as they came round the north side of everest and that expedition and all the subsequent attempts before the war came up the east wrong book glacier on up to the north coal and then on up the north buttress up to a height of around about 28 000 feet and that was as far as any of those pre-war attempts got and then of course the mountain was finally climbed by the chinese using this same route on up to the top of everest but for us the challenge was the unclimbed east northeast of everest and this was the last great unclimbed ridge of the mountain on up here and on up towards the top here with the difficulties a stinging the tail right at the end at over 27 000 feet above sea level to reach everest overland from the nepal side means nearly two weeks of walking across fierce torrents and mountainous ridges passing through isolated villages which will probably never see a motor vehicle the approach from the tibetan plateau is altogether different from lassa to everest the journey takes just three days a good road built by the chinese and sturdy trucks in very capable hands would take the expedition and all their supplies right up to base camp at 17 000 feet [Music] as they reached a high pass on the road suddenly there before them was the everest massif which the tibetans call chomalumma the goddess mother of the snows this was the site for which british mountaineers had been waiting for nearly 50 years there were still some rivers to cross and a caterpillar tractor had been procured in advance by mr chen the chinese liaison officer attached to the team the river zakachu which comes down from the great glaciers above was already beginning to fall [Music] [Music] as they approached the foot of the glacier they were confronted by a tragic sight the famous rongbach monastery a landmark and a haven for all those pre-war expeditions to the mountain now stands in ruins [Music] base camp itself was another it dismal snowing the temperature was in the minus 20s and there was an icy wind gusting up to 40 knots worst of all the campsite looked like a municipal rubbish dump all around lay beer cans batteries gas cylinders and fragments of broken glass left behind by previous climbers and trekkers and for the base camp manager adrian gordon there was another problem unfortunately as far as the tibetans were concerned whatever they had been offered in return for their services wasn't enough for shortly after we got to base camp we found that they'd had light fingers and had been dipping their hands into some of the boxes and taking literally anything that they could get their hands on when we confronted them they didn't show any signs of guilt or remorse at all and in fact seemed to take it as rather of a joke so this desolate place would be the nearest thing to comfort they would experience for the next two and a half months here they would have to return after each big push up the mountain to recuperate and recover their strength as best they could climbing everest is always a matter of timing it was now the 17th of march they had arrived at base camp a month earlier than the british expedition of 1933 this meant they would be facing the last of the winter's cold and wind but they should have more clear days of high altitude climbing before the onset of the monsoon 15 miles to the south the mountain watched and waited there's one more besieging army pitched camp beneath its ramparts and prepared for the coming assault [Music] we've got the complete bundle of string over there do you think that's enough we can take i think there should be another uh complete roll of um the watchful polypot it's about all on the tent isn't it we've got all together 10 s 200 stoves those little blue ones with the sun shining once more base camp began to feel a little more like home even if it still lacked hot and cold running water [Applause] this daily chore was cheerfully undertaken by mr u bin an interpreter supplied by the chinese mountaineering association he and the liaison officer mr chen rong chang together with a cook and a driver would be taking over the running of base camp once the team moved up the mountain forwarding letters from home and keeping in touch with the outside world on every expedition of any length food becomes a major obsession it was once described on a previous climb as the sole remnant of culture the metaphor within which all dissatisfaction is expressed this time the job had fallen to charlie clark it's amazing with these rations that you never get it seem to get it right because if you remember what we did on this trip was that everybody in 1981 while we were at conga base camp i took a list of all the things people liked and disliked and i made up the rations really to please everybody and it seems fine when you arrive and then after a month or two and particularly when you get over six thousand meters or twenty thousand feet your appetite just wastes away doesn't it i think that it's partially as well i think you'd develop a kind of a less and less of a tolerance to dehydrated foods and certainly on the snow holes this time we were none of us could eat any of the freeze-dried food at all and whereas say last year on conga we'd actually put chili powders and garlic in it this time we found that even that didn't work and we ended up joining dick we all became vegetarian and i mean and even taking the things that i still think are gorgeous i mean those lovely smoked hams and salamis and cheeses uh all of which we took up to 21 000 and they tasted pretty good there to start with even those pawled and you just didn't want to just didn't want to eat anything did you in two days time they hoped to be setting out for advanced base camp at 21 000 feet for pete boardman and the others who would be trying for the summit this was a last chance to check over their equipment in comparative peace and comfort the crampons and foot fangs to which they would be entrusting their lives in the days ahead knows what it's like to be a bad man to be upset [Music] after dumping the expedition the lorries had gone the next stage of the journey would be made with the help of yaks each day the animals were expected but they failed to arrive it was already the end of march and time was slipping by but tibet cannot be hurried despite the frustration they were valuable days the team took the opportunity to relax and acclimatize then suddenly there they were four young yak herders driving their animals up the wrong buck glacier where none of them had ever set foot before negotiations were quickly completed there seemed to be an affinity between these tough tibetan mountain dwellers and the team on both sides there was an immediate liking and respect they had now been at base camp for nearly a fortnight and much would happen before they enjoyed its comforts again for joe tasker this would be the last chance for some weeks to send off a parcel of film lay a 15-mile trek up the east rongbach glacier to a site they had chosen for advanced base camp four thousand feet above [Music] everything now depended on the ability of the yak herders to coax and persuade their animals up into the wilderness of rock and ice that lay ahead it soon became clear that the yaks thoroughly dislike any change in the surface and it needed a few well-aimed stones to keep them on the move not that the herders were cruel or indifferent throughout asia the team had never seen people who took such devoted care of their animals if a yak went lame one of the herders would immediately unfasten its load and shoulder the burden himself [Applause] huge and fantastic ice pinnacles guarded the approach to advanced base camp but when after three days they finally reached the place it proved to be a bleak and bitter destination in the weeks that followed ferocious winds and sub-zero temperatures made it almost impossible to relax and the climbers coming down off the mountain preferred to retreat right down the glacier to base camp itself in order to recover their strength now for the first time they had a clear view of their objective the last great unclimbed ridge of everest in perfect visibility joe tasker set up his camera and made a slow pan along its length charting the route they would have to take instead of using tents on that exposed and windswept edge the plan was to build three snow holes before tackling the pinnacles which promised some of the most difficult climbing ever undertaken at such an altitude beyond lay the summit itself at over 29 000 feet with its pennant of clouds streaming out towards the east in one of the last recordings he was to make pete boardman describe the next phase of the climb to begin with we approach the foot of our route for the 21 500 foot cult of the rafu lower this coal is two miles away from our campsite at two miles walk across a great white featureless expanse of glacier to guide our return should the weather deteriorate and to mark the way through the dangerous crevasse zones we hammered small flags into the hard ice so from the rafale the large crevasse at the foot of the of the route we climbed and then mounted up a thousand foot ice slope to the real crest of the ridge a crest composed of hundreds of tons of ice and snow suspended above the other eastern side of the mountain little by little we are unlocking the secrets of this long unexplored ridge [Music] the snow was crisp and hard perfect for crampons and the weather seemed to be for a time they were able to savor the sheer exhilaration of climbing where no man had ever set foot before [Music] [Applause] [Music] our ridge is swept constantly by winds from tibet to the north and west and the only way our small team could find shelter was by digging a small snow cave at 22 600 feet in altitude it took many long hours laboriously chopping at the hard sugary snow until at last we'd made a hole that was big enough for all four of us to squeeze in two at one point i was shoveling a bit too enthusiastically and the shovel flew off its handle and i very nearly decapitated joe who was filming me at the time once inside the snow cave we could relax forget about the wind outside and eat and drink and recover in preparation for the next section of the ridge above us meanwhile the yaks had returned to base camp to bring up a second load of supplies fortunately for one of the animals the doctor charlie clark went with them one of the yaks had cut its hind leg on a stone sticking up from the ice and it was bleeding profusely and obviously the animal wouldn't be able to carry a load the next day and angnuru the uh yak herder beckoned to me in my first aid kit and soon i had had the bandages out and i made a sort of makeshift horseshoe out of the lid of the marmalade and strapped it on but of course adrian and i didn't spend all our time acting as a vets because our job was to keep the expedition supplied and we made the journey up to advance camp three times and it was long but it was never boring because we were really traveling through the most exhilarating country i'd ever seen [Music] it was now the 12th of april already a week had passed since the team first arrived at advanced base camp for the climbers on the ridge steep snow slopes lay ahead up to the point where they hope to build the second cave at just under 24 000 feet that day dick renshaw recorded his thoughts as he climbed we left camp one about an hour ago we're climbing on ropes of a 45 degree slope towards the side of our camp zoo this is our third day climbing along these slopes traps have been covered by spindrift during the night yeah heavy breathing this is a few more orifices [Music] is by now the weather had changed dramatically and the climbers found themselves isolated from the world and each other as the mist swirled around him the cold became intense and each step forward was a step into the unknown for a brief moment joe tasker handed over the camera to pete gordon filmed him coming up to the crest of the ridge as soon as they began to dig out the second snow cave they hit rock it would have been exhausting labor at sea level but here at 24 000 feet on a perilously exposed ridge of everest it was a herculean task for joe tasker it was the filming as much as the mountain itself which had now become a passion in all weathers he was building up a record of every stage of the climb with true tragic irony it was to become his own epitaph for the next two days they had to endure a violent storm vicious winds of up to 100 miles an hour ripped through advanced base camp clawing at the fabric of the tents movement of any kind became impossible [Music] on the third day the wind began to moderate and the climbers began to push the route forward once more they were now at 26 000 feet without oxygen every hour spent at such an altitude would mean mental and physical deterioration but each time they came down from the ridge they faced a long and laborious hall back up to their previous high point with minds numb with code each man tried to husband his strength and assess the level of acceptable danger this is the voice of joe tasker on the 22nd of april it's about at least six inches of snow and some of the crusty snow underneath normally we can just rumble across here compounds biting it just gotta watch your footing now you feel just gotta concentrate the whole time right foot left foot foot the final snow hole was hollowed out on the east side of the ridge with a view down the fearsome kanchang face of everest the strain could now be seen all too clearly in their faces after one more day of climbing chris bonnington decided they would have to go down um thanks i i have been able to see them uh you're sitting on the ridge are you over you're probably coming down tomorrow having already been to over 8 000 meters but otherwise you're quite well is that right over here the ridge ahead narrowed into a knife-edged crest of snow beyond it the way was barred by a series of rocky pinnacles stretching ahead for half a mile with painful slowness they moved towards them this would be the crux of the entire climb but within an hour the weather had changed for the worse [Music] laying fixed ropes as they went the four men moved steadily upwards fully aware of what it would mean to be caught here in another violent storm with dick renshaw and joe tasker out in front they were now at very nearly 27 000 feet higher than all but a handful of the world's mountain summits then something happened to dick renshaw i'd just climbed a very hard pitch it was about hundred feet when i felt the strange sensation down the lift left side in the body there's a left arm went down and i got rather alarmed when the left side of my face and tongue lost all sensation i told joe about it and we decided the best thing to do would be to go back down to the snow cave at count three but you didn't really think how how serious it might be did you no not at all because it was over in about 10 minutes because i mean the minute i heard about it there was very little doubt in my mind it was you know that it was really very something very sinister i mean i think what happened to you was that uh that a small blood vessel in the brain did become blocked off and this has been noted to happen on previous expeditions um in fact on the early expeditions one of the uh the gurkha officers who was with the team died of a stroke going up to advanced base camp and uh and the things that make it happen at high altitude i think principally the fact that your blood's getting much thicker because of the lack of oxygen you're making more blood cells and this makes the blood stickier and then it then it clogs up you you almost dismissed it at that stage presumably partially not to raise kind of alarms and partially was it to give yourself time to think it out because i mean you only told me the next day just how worried you were yeah well it was partly that and partly that i'd left all the useful drugs behind it in a state of near exhaustion the four climbers came down from the ridge back towards advanced base camp where adrian gordon and charlie clark were waiting for them you came into view on flat ground it was couldn't have been easier and and you look like old men you were stumbling along with a broad gate moving so so slowly and of course i think when you saw the camera you all crispened up and begun [Music] all four were suffering from severe coughs caused by the altitude and crisp

Channel: Al Phillips

Views: 23,799

Keywords: Pete Boardman, Joe Tasker, Dick Renshaw, Charlie Clarke

Id: eUZ-vWe--2c

Length: 39min 19sec (2359 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 08 2021