Tangra Tower: Living in the Spirit of.....
ast year when my good buddy, climbing partner & fellow adventurer “thee Cory Hall” passed awayL in a tragic climbing accident whilst on a motorbike-Pan-American climbing odyssey: I knew a memorial expedition with friend (and also Cory-partner), Max “the bear” Fisher was in order. Cory was, and still is, an inspiration to many, not only in his impressive climbing career, but also in his care-free, fun loving, and adventurous life style.
Cory Hall spinning Buddhist prayer wheels in Ladhak, India
© James Monypenny
The granite spires of
Pakistan have been a long held dream, for Cory and myself: and I wanted to
forge an uncompromising line, in good style, up a remote, untouched spire, in a
rarely visited valley. Tangra tower fitted the bill perfectly. After months of
research, fundraising and preparation; the stage was set for a true adventure.
Why 
not learn to ride a bike in India?
not learn to ride a bike in India?
© James Monypenny
Early in September we
met in the chaos & humidity of Delhi, bought royal Enfield motorbikes,
and learnt to ride in the deep end. After three days of dodging traffic and
cows through the foothills of the Himalaya we reached the Pakistan-India
boarder. Try as we might, we were unable to bribe the bikes into Pakistan, and
continued by public transport, up the infamous Karakoram highway.
In Skardu we bought
supplies for a one month stay in the Khane valley. Entering the valley the
psych was running high, surrounded by alpine & big wall objectives,
with so much to choose from. However fate had other plans. After a reccy on our
first day, we spent the next 9 days pinned at base camp whilst around a foot of
snow fell, and I suffered badly with Gardia.
Serac climbing on twin peak 2
© James Monypenny
On day 10, only
partly recovered, we moved our heavy big-wall kit into the base of tangra,
however we were going to need allot more sun to melt all the fresh powder on
the lower slabs. Instead, we opted to acclimatize on the alpine-style objective
of “twin peak 2”. The endless trail breaking through knee deep snow finally
gave way to some great ice climbing. Taking the short-cut straight up serracs
yielded good ice and less slog. A huge spindrift avalanche ripping down the
tasty-looking chimney we were aiming for meant we had re-think, and romped-up
an alternative couloir. We were initially slowed by powder snow sat on brittle
ice and loose rock slow, then after a few hundred meters we re-joined our line,
and were rewarded by 400 meters of excellent ice conditions.
Max following on the lower serac pitches
© James Monypenny
In hindsight, after
moving together for so long, and Max mentioning his fatigue, it was unwise not
to take a break and refuel at this point. Pushing onward, we reached around
150m from the summit. However Max was done, unused to the altitude and
un-acclimatized, a deep fatigue had set in. Our rap-down through the night went
reasonably well, and we stumbled back to our advanced camp after 20hours on the
go.
Just after the bergschrund
© James Monypenny
The following day
high pressure arrived, and we enjoyed blue skies on the painful stumble back to
base. Just as good weather arrived, max’s psych departed. Unfortunately the waiting
game had taken its toll, thankfully he was willing to give Tangra an attempt.
Day 3 on the wall
© James Monypenny
After only one full
day at BC we returned to Tangra, collected water, and got established on the
wall. I lead up the lower slabs. Dirty, gritty, rounded cracks would finish
abruptly, and I would continue into the unknown: hopeful. Friction combined
with 30kg of water did not make hauling any fun, not that it ever is. Camp 2,
in our orange ledge, produced almighty views, the rising and setting sun helped
to re-warm Max’s psych, just a little. And he got stuck into some slow going
awkward aid on pitch 1 of day 2. Several pitches later snow flurries and
unprotected moves halted my upward progress and we set up camp in an awesome
position.
Portaledge life!
© James Monypenny
Linking the grey
bands on the morning of day 4 we reached the upper head wall. Wild splitter
cracks, which took a mixture of free, aid and pendulums to proceed, led us to
the chimney pillar, where we spent the night. After an hour of trying to get
the stove going, using cheap Asian lighters, we succumbed to a depressing meal
of dry noodles. Searching every pocket I found three matches, and we could
continue to eat and melt snow for one more night, however lack of gas forced us
to make a summit attempt on day 5. This did not go well. After taking two hours
to achieve twenty metres, due to horrendous off-width climbing, loose rock, and
tricky aid, I had to admit defeat. Despite the tips of my fingers being
painfully split, my body tired, my motivation to keep going up was high, but
this didn’t change the fact we were out of water and gas, going down was the
only logical choice.
Max jugging
© James Monypenny
We managed to get
down leaving behind mainly just tat around spikes. This time, having done the
majority of the leading, it was my turn to feel the deep fatigue. Stumbling,
for the last time, back to base camp, the weather remained mockingly good.
Tangra put up a great fight. It’s the unknown that beckons us back to the
alpine, time after time. In this case there was no certainty of success, so
many challenges to overcome. Whilst we didn’t overcome them all, and we didn’t
stand on a summit, the trip was a success, because coming home to friends and
family is the most important objective.
Tangra will still be
there, and I will be back. To my friends and family: thank you for your support,
& sorry for the worry that my self-indulgent sport inevitably causes.
We would also like to
thank Mountain Equipment (for supplying clothing), Lowa (for supplying
footwear), Mountain Equipment Coop Canada (for supplying the portaledge and
haul bag), V12 outdoors (various items of equipment), as well as the British
Mountaineering Council, the Mount Everest Foundation, & Gore-tex for
supporting the expedition fina
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