Adrian Hayes - One Mans Climb: a Journey of Trauma, Tragedy and Triumph on K2

One Mans Climb

A Journey of Trauma,

Tragedy and Triumph on K2

A Journey of Trauma,

Tragedy and Triumph on K2

Adrian Hayes

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by

Pen & Sword HISTORY

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire - Philadelphia

Copyright Adrian Hayes, 2018

Hardback ISBN: 9781526745378

Paperback ISBN: 9781526751652

eISBN: 9781526745385

Mobi ISBN: 9781526745392

The right of Adrian Hayes to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the Imprints of Pen & Sword

Books Archaeology, Atlas, Aviation, Battleground, Discovery, Family

History, History, Maritime, Military, Naval, Politics, Railways, Select,

Transport, True Crime, Fiction, Frontline Books, Leo Cooper, Praetorian

Press, Seaforth Publishing, Wharncliffe and White Owl.

For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact

PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED

47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England

E-mail:

Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

or

PEN AND SWORD BOOKS

1950 Lawrence Rd, Havertown, PA 19083, USA

E-mail:

Website: www.penandswordbooks.com

Photograph Credits: All images Adrian Hayes unless otherwise stated

Song Credits:

Page 99: Landslide , Fleetwood Mac - Nicks, S. Warner Bros Records, 1975

Page 192-3: Everglow , Coldplay - Berryman, G, Buckland, J, Champion, W, Martin, C, Parlophone Records Limited, 2015

TO ALEXANDER, CHARLOTTE AND NICKLAS

MY LONGINGS, MY LOVES, MY LEGACY

I FIRST MET ADRIAN IN 1992 in Salalah, southern Oman, when he, like myself twenty-five years earlier, was serving on secondment with the Oman Armed Forces, whilst I was completing the expedition to find The Lost City of Ubar the ruins of a city that existed 3,000 years ago in southern Arabia. We have met up again on my subsequent visits to the region and make contact every so often. On our most recent get-together he mentioned how his life had unwittingly followed much of mine army officer, special forces and Oman, together with tackling the worlds extremes in the mountains, poles, deserts and jungles. I am humbled that, as a teenager growing up in the New Forest in southern England, he considers me one of his greatest influences and I was delighted to write the foreword to his first book, Footsteps of Thesiger, which traced his journey by camel and foot across the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert.

Unlike me, Adrian has always been a mountaineer first and foremost and, having accomplished some impressive feats on all terrains in his life, I wasnt entirely surprised when he told me he was returning to the mountains to attempt, arguably, the greatest of them all K2. Ive always felt a cold shiver at the merest mention of the worlds second highest mountain and the appalling statistics on it make for sombre reading. I fully accept, therefore, that for the vast majority of people it is unfathomable why anyone would want to risk their life climbing it.

And yet that viewpoint, whilst completely understandable, undermines the very essence of an intrinsic human spirit and desire to push the boundaries beyond what may seem like common sense, whether it is in the mountains, poles, underwater or even into space. There are few major accomplishments in any walk of life without there being some risk; the skill is to minimize it as much as possible. On K2, that is inherently difficult and the huge risks and low success rates are undoubtedly largely in natures hands. Luck will therefore always play a part in either surviving or succeeding and Adrian fully acknowledges that he was extremely fortunate with both of his two attempts on the mountain.

One Mans Climb is a remarkably honest and transparent account of the challenges, both externally and internally, that anyone who dares to take it on experiences. I congratulate Adrian for this fascinating read, for attempting K2 and for becoming one of only a tiny handful of Britons who have reached the top and lived to tell the tale.

RANULPH FIENNES

IT WAS NEVER MY INTENTION TO WRITE A BOOK on the story and momentous events that occurred on K2 in 2013 and 2014. The initiative was only conceived when I caught up with Sequoia Schmidt in Los Angeles in June 2016, on one of my regular trips to the US. Sequoia, whose significance will become evident in this read, had become a good friend after my 2013 attempt on the mountain and, as a successful book publisher in the US, I wanted to get her advice on my planned second book on leadership and personal development.

The book Id really like you to write is on K2, she replied to my surprise.

Really? I exclaimed, Is there still a market for adventure books?

Yes, if its a good story and yours is a superb one! came her response.

And so started the long process of writing and completing this work, with my previously planned book remaining on hold for the present. From the start, however, I was determined that this wouldnt just be another adventure book, even if it is a powerful story. Rather, one in which I could include some lessons from my other hats as a leadership, team and personal coach, sustainability campaigner and passionate advocate of increasing consciousness, mindfulness and awareness; a The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (Robin Sharma, HarperCollins 1997) or The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho, HarperCollins 1988) enveloped in a true story of life and death, at the very edge of existence on earth.

In addition to the story itself and lessons from the top came a third major component. That is a deeply personal story in my private life that was so ingrained with my attempts on K2 that it became impossible not to include it in this book whilst being as respectful and sensitive as I possibly could to others involved. Indeed, writing the book from January 2017 became a cathartic exercise from the intense experiences Ive had since 2012.

The combined result is what I sincerely hope will be a universal book that appeals to men and women of all ages, passions, pursuits and persuasions from mountain lovers to armchair adventurers; self-growth gurus to nature lovers; romantics to humanitarians.

And if the resultant perspectives and views of our own lives in the world below and of the world itself strikes a chord with those reading this, then a main objective has been achieved. It shouldnt take one to climb K2, of course, to recognize the preciousness, beauty and frailty or indeed the unsustainability, denial and failings of our lives on earth. Sometimes, however, we all need a profound experience to change our way of thinking, acting and being. I hope everyone who reads this work is absorbed, touched and, above all, discovers something for themselves from it.

Adrian Hayes

August 2018

CHAPTER ONE

ONLY THOSE WHO WILL

RISK GOING TOO FAR CAN