Simon Yates - Flame Of Adventure

About the Book

Simon Yates, author of Against the Wall, takes us back to his early years as a climber the escapades and excitement of a young life lived on the edge and for the moment, when experience was all-important and dramatic achievements and failures came as naturally as the hair-raising risks themselves.

A mountaineering travelogue of dazzling variety, The Flame of Adventure moves from the camaraderie of deprived Russian climbers in the little-known peaks in the Tien Shan to the awesome experience of the North Face of the Eiger, from a rumbustious motorbike ride across Australia with a psychotic lorry driver. We meet a remarkable gallery of climbers, from Doug Scott to Joe Simpson, and, when not exploring high mountains, we enter the bizarre world of rope access workers: mavericks balancing high above building sites on the London skyline.

About the Author

Born in Leicestershire in 1963, Simon Yates first came to prominence as a mountaineer in 1985, after the first ascent of the West Face of Siula Grande and the ensuing epic descent with Joe Simpson described in Simpsons book Touching the Void. Since then he has travelled extensively in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Kazakhstan, South America and Australia, and has climbed new routes in the Himalayas and the Andes, sometimes acting as a mountain guide. His first book, Against the Wall, was runner up in the Boardman Tasker Award for mountaineering literature. Simon now lives in Cumbria and makes a living from running commercial expeditions (www.mountaindream.co.uk) and lecturing.

Also by Simon Yates

Against the Wall

In these days of upheaval and violent change, when the basic values of today are the vain and shattered dreams of tomorrow, there is much to be said for a philosophy which aims at living a full life while the opportunity offers. There are few treasures of more lasting worth than the experience of a way of life that is in itself wholly satisfying. Such, after all, are the only possessions of which no fate, no cosmic catastrophe can deprive us; nothing can alter the fact if for one moment in eternity we have really lived.

Eric Shipton, Upon That Mountain

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9781409023999

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Published by Vintage 2002

Copyright Simon Yates 2001

Simon Yates has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

First published in Great Britain in 2001 by
Jonathan Cape

Vintage
Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SW1V 2SA

www.vintage-books.co.uk

Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm

The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

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

ISBN 9780099283867

In memory of Mark and Tony

Contents

List of Illustrations

. Alan Wilkie in Snells Field, Chamonix, France. (Photo: Simon Yates)

. Joe Simpson on the North Face of the Aiguille Blanc de Peuterey, Italy. (Photo: Yates)

. Looking down on John Silvester climbing the Second Icefield on the North Face of the Eiger, Switzerland. (Photo: Yates)

. John Silvester on the summit ridge of the Eiger, (Photo: Yates)

. Leyla Peak, northern Pakistan. We climbed up to a gully to breach the rock band in the bottom right of the picture, before moving back left to join the snow ridge. (Photo: Steve Razzetti)

. Looking up at Tom Curtis and Andy Cave tackling the gully on Leyla Peak. (Photo: Yates)

. On the Summit of Leyla Peak Simon, Tom Curtis, Andy Cave and Sean Smith. (Photo: Yates)

. Mark Miller in front of the damaged Leicester University jeep, Pakistan. (Photo: Mike Searle)

. The Biale Expedition at base camp. Standing: Captain Naveed, our liaison officer, Sean Smith, Nick Groves, Simon and Mary Rose Fowlie. Sitting: Mike Searle, Mark Miller and Haqeem, our cook. (Photo: Sean Smith)

. The South Face of Baile. We climbed diagonally leftwards from the basin to the snowy col and then followed the ridge above. (Photo: Searle)

. Nick Groves climbing high on Lobsang II. Mustagh Tower and K2 are behind. (Photo: Smith)

. Sean Smith reaching the col on Biale. Behind are K2, Mustagh Tower, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum IV and Gasherbrum I. (Photo: Yates)

. Looking west from the col at the Great Trango Tower and Nameless Tower, with Uli Biaho behind. (Photo: Yates)

. Typical country in the foothills of eastern Nepal. (Photo: Yates)

. Anne Murray below the south face of Kanchenjunga after our epic trek through the jungle. (Photo: Yates)

. Ruined temple in Hampi, India. (Photo: Yates)

. Annes motorbike in a small northern Thai Village. (Photo: Yates)

. Joe Simpson re-enacting our Peruvian drama for American TV in the Buguboos, Canadian Rockies. (Photo: Yates)

. Kevin tends to his truck crossing the Nullabor Plain, Australia. (Photo: Yates)

. Simon rock climbing at Mount Arapiles, Victoria, Australia. (Photo: Yates)

. Simon and Sean Smith admiring the fields of Nagar on the walk in to the Hispar, northern Pakistan. (Photo: Searle)

. Guiding in Scotland. The aftermath of the minibus crash. (Photo: Yates)

. Access work on the Broadgate Development, London. (Photo: Pat McVey)

. Our Christmas tree at Nanga Parbat base camp, northern Pakistan. The tangerines were frozen solid. (Photo: Yates)

. Arbat Street, Moscow. (Photo: Yates)

. Khan Tengri above the International Camp, Soviet Kazakhstan. (Photo: Yates)

. Members of the Russian National Mountaineering Squad sunbathing at base camp after a storm. (Photo: Yates)

. Near the summit of Khan Tengri. (Photo: Yates)

. Simon on the summit of Khan Tengri. (Photo: Smith)

Introduction

Different Rules

I slumped forward into the slope and let my body weight drop on to the ski-poles I held in each hand. The poles sank deeply into the soft, wet snow reducing me to an uncomfortable stoop. Normally I would have plunged them in again and readjusted myself into a more upright position, but I was too tired to care. I simply stood bowed, head down, listening to my gasping breath. My heart was pounding and with each beat, painful pulses of blood ran through bulging veins on either side of my forehead. Beads of sweat ran down my face and soaked into the cotton scarf tied around my head to protect me from the glaring sun. In the rarefied air it was difficult to take adequate breaths. It felt as if my lungs were going to collapse. My heart hurt from its exertions and despite regular application of high-factor sun cream the fierce sunlight was burning my skin. Even the insides of my nostrils were tingling. Rolling my tongue around the inside of my mouth I felt sticky lumps of dried saliva, reminding me that the water bottle I had painstakingly filled with melted snow the previous night had been empty for some time. I was desperately thirsty.