MacIntyre Alex - Shishapangma: the alpine-style first ascent of the South-West Face

Shishapangma The alpine-style first ascent of the South-West Face is a retitled and adapted version of The Shishapangma Expedition (Granada, London, 1984). The book was the first winner of the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature, and has since been an invaluable reference source for those visiting the mountain. It was reprinted privately in 1994.

Shishapangma variously named Gosainthan, Shisha Pangma, Xixabangma is one of the most interesting and accessible of the 8,000-metre peaks. Its popularity as a mountaineering objective has greatly increased in recent years with the introduction of direct access from Nepal to Tibet, eliminating the expensive approach via Beijing. Most expeditions concentrate on the routes using the original Chinese approach from the north but a growing number of climbers are opting for the safer (albeit more technically demanding) southern routes. The first expedition to the southern side, which penetrated an unexplored valley and completed three major new climbs (including a route of descent), forms the exciting subject matter of this book.

In the earlier years there was some confusion about the heights, naming and positions of the various summits of the mountain. MacIntyre and Scott, on reaching the summit, and with clear conditions and time and energy to spare, crossed most of the ridge between the Main and Central summits and took valuable photographs, some of which are reproduced in this volume. The uncertainties about the summits have now been resolved but their legacy may have been that many climbers who considered that they were ascending Shishapangma actually headed for Central Summit and settled for this lower top when confronted with the difficulty of continuing to the true summit. Recently Central Summit has become the main target for northern ascents and it is understood that the Chinese authorities are issuing certificates to Central Summit climbers stating that they have climbed the mountain an unfortunate development. That these trends are linked to the increased commercialisation of the Northern Route is a further matter of concern.

The minority interest in such matters dictates that the original, monochrome book is reprinted rather than a more elaborate new edition. However some critical improvements have been made for this edition. A chronicle of important expeditions to Shishapangma has been added, along with comprehensive lists of summit climbers, fatalities and an updated bibliography. Some maps have been adapted and there are new diagrams as well as eight pages of colour photos depicting the facets of the peak and its summits.

Taken together these additions should add greatly to the understanding of this fascinating mountain, its topography, its difficulties and its dangers. They may also counteract the growing obfuscation tendency by some of those claiming ascents of this and other 8,000-metre peaks (e.g. Cho Oyu and Broad Peak) where the final section of an ascent presents awkward problems that are convenient to ignore. The summit of a mountain is its highest point and, though the ascent of an individual route can quite properly be noted and respected, to claim a summit ascent when the party has stopped short of the highest point (often for sensible reasons) is both disruptive and unnecessarily misleading. A major attempt on a high peak is usually an achievement in itself, even in the event of failure. Sometimes a failure in difficult conditions is more memorable than a routine success. The greatest success of all is to return unscathed after skilfully negotiating the ascent and descent.

Acknowledgements

The original edition of the book made note of the numerous companies and organisations that gave the expedition greatly appreciated support. Help, advice and services linked to the production of the book were provided by: Michael Aris, Joan Barson, Anders Bolinder, John Cleare, Dr Jim Duff, Norman Dyhrenfurth, John Everard, George Greenfield, Dennis Hennek, Pamela Hopkinson, Tsunemichi Ikeda, K. Ishihara, Reinhold Messner, Nick Prescott, Rhona Prescott, Audrey Salkeld, George Scott, Jan Scott and Keiichi Yamada.

In this new version of the book Doug Scott, Jean MacIntyre and the publisher wish to record their thanks to the following: Xavier Eguskitza for bringing his encyclopaedic knowledge of Himalayan facts to assist with the new appendices and the bibliography; Lindsay Griffin for further historical and technical advice; Pavle Kozjek for photographs and information; Warwick Anderson, Tony Charlton, Frances Daltrey, Geoff Gabites, Lindsay Griffin, Brian Hall, Rhona Prescott and Keiichi Yamada for new photographs and other photographic help; Margaret Ecclestone, Ruth Ennemoser, Elizabeth Hawley, Sigi Hupfauer, Norbert Joos, Karl Kobler, Hajo Netzer, Renato Moro, Marcus Schmuck, Susi Steckbauer and Reinhold Messner for additional mountaineering information; Mountain, High, The Iwa to Yuki, The Alpine Journal, The American Alpine Journal, Desnivel and The Himalayan Journal as consistent and reliable sources of information.

To all of these people, companies and institutions, we offer our humble thanks. For the 2004 edition: Doug Scott, Jean MacIntyre and the publisher wish to thank Eberhard Jurgalski for the use of his scrupulously prepared recent ascent listings and Charlie Fowler, Christian Beckwith and Lindsay Griffin for other important information and advice.

1. 1. In 1983 no prize was awarded. In 1984 the prize (to its full value) was awarded to the authors of two books The Shishapangma Expedition and Living High by Linda Gill.

1. 2. Many of the photographs from the original book have since appeared in colour and in larger format in Doug Scotts Himalayan Climber (Diadem, 1992, reprinted by Bton Wicks, 1997, also published in North America, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Japan.)

DOUG: On the Friday before leaving for Tibet Alex MacIntyre and I signed a contract to write a book about our forthcoming expedition. On the Saturday we boarded the plane, secure in the knowledge that, with the publishers advance on royalties, we had finally raised the funds for our estimated budget.

Here is the book, but first a brief explanation as this is, in some ways, an unusual expedition account. We had decided that the book should include contributions from all members of the team Roger Baxter-Jones, Paul Braithwaite, Elaine Brook and Nick Prescott, but with Alex and myself writing the bulk of it. I opted to write something about the people who have lived around Shishapangma and the travellers, missionaries and mountaineers who have been in the vicinity of our mountain. Alex would write an account of the actual doings of our group, on the journey and on the mountain itself. On our return Alex gathered together his extensive diaries of the trip with several taped interviews with members of the team and went off to his little farmhouse on the flanks of Kinder Scout, just above the village of Hayfield in Derbyshire. More or less continuously, for two months, he wrote his account of our two-and-a-half-month trip.