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Masherbrum Two, or Far West, was advertised by Mark Miller in his commercial expedition brochure as being 7200 metres high. Looking back, one couldn`t blame him for this exaggeration, because the Italian team that had made the first ascent, a year before Mark saw it, had established it as such. And it would enhance its appeal to punters like me who wanted to climb something over the magic 7000 mark. In the event, somewhere around 6800 metres would have been more accurate. But nobody cared. Seen from the approach to Masherbrum One it is a beautiful mountain, and that`s all that concerned the 15 successful ascentionists on our 1991 trip. One of those was Norman Croucher, the double amputee mountaineer, who was attracted by the short approach to the start of the climbing. The last thing he wants is to wear out the sensitive skin of his leg-stumps on the walk-in, before even setting foot on the hill. Here he is climbing the last five metres of the summit cornice, "with a little help from my friends". The day before Vic had tried a more direct route on wildly overhanging ice to the right. Struggling to extract enough oxygen from the thin air to feed his pumped arms, he fell off, held by an ice-screw out of sight near his knees. Vic`s much-teased rabbit food diet, designed to keep his bodyweight low enough to meet such challenges, had let him down. |
Norman Croucher summitting |
South face of Masherbrum from |
The late Vic Radvils on |
Anwar Ali and Norman |
The late Graham Lipp and Norman |
Double amputee Norman Croucher, |
Norman Croucher nearing top camp, |
Norman Croucher on the fixed |
Mustagh Tower from summit of |
South face of Masherbrum from |
Summit cone of Masherbrum Far West |
Trekking back to Hushe, |
Curious local boy at |
Masherbrum Far West Glacier |
River crossing en route to |
Tupopdan Peaks from |
The broad snowy ridge of |
Gasherbrums from |
Paying the porters, |
Between Camps One and Two on |
K13 from above Camp One, |
Camp Two on Masherbrum Far West |
Summit pose, Masherbrum Far West |
Masherbrum West |
Yermanendi Kangri from Camp Two |
Looking west from summit of |
Gasherbrum One from about |
Changtok and Trango Towers from |
Gasherbrum One from |
View south from summit |
End of expedition, porters waiting, |
Liaison oficer and cook |
Porter returning to Hushe from |
A break during load-carrying to |
Finding fun in small things, |
Icy slopes leading up from |
Camp One Masherbrum Far West. |
Hushe Valley, beneath the |
Hushe Valley, beneath the |
Hushe Valley, beneath the |
K6 and K7 from approach to Camp One, |
Italian inscription of first ascent of |
Masherbrum Far West |
Hushe Valley, beneath the |
Double amputee Norman Croucher |
Namika Peaks from Masherbrum |
The porters and some of the climbing |
Lenticular cloud-cap on |
Masherbrum Far West climbers |
In Hushe Valley, beneath the |
Setting up Masherbrum Far |
Looking up the approach valley to |
K6 and K7 from approach to Camp |
Unnamed peak seen on approach to |
Masherbrum Far West, ca.6800 metres |
Leaving Hushe to go back to Skardu |
Typical barren Karakoram scenery |
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Haramosh at night |
