White Limbo: The Classic Story Of The First Australian Climb Of Everest

by Hall, Lincoln

  Geof Bartram (33), born in Port Augusta, South Australia, but latterly of Queanbeyan, New South Wales, works as a mountain guide and climbing instructor in New Zealand, the United States, Nepal, India and (his second home) the Peruvian, Bolivian and Ecuadorean Andes. He has completed difficult ascents in all these countries. He was a member of the 1980 Australian Annapurna III Expedition (Nepal), the 1981 Australian Mt Anyemaqen Expedition (China), co-leader of the 1982 Australian-American Expedition to Trisul (India), and leader of the remarkably successful Andean Pumori Expedition (Nepal) when all seven members reached the summit of the peak.

  Geof continued his career as a mountain guide, completing 14 consecutive seasons of guiding in the Andes before settling in bushland on the south coast of New South Wales. He married and has one daughter. His work as a rafting and sea-kayaking guide in Australia and Fiji led him to undertake a bold sea-kayaking/mountaineering expedition to the remote fjords, glaciers and mountains of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. He has recently accepted a job which allowed him to combine his lifelong love of wildlife with his knowledge of South America by assisting a research project about cane toads in Venezuela.

  Lincoln Hall (28) was born in Canberra. In 1976 he completed a B.Sc. degree in Zoology at the Australian National University. Rather than following a career in that field, his love of mountains and climbing led him to work as a mountaineering and trekking guide. He has rockclimbed in Australia for the past thirteen years; mountaineered in New Zealand and South America; and taken part in expeditions to India (Dunagiri, 1978; Kulu Himal, 1979; Trisul, 1982), Nepal (Ama Dablam, 1981; Annapurna II, 1983) and China (Mt Anyemaqen, 1981).

  Lincoln continues to guide treks and instruct outdoor activities, but most of his time is spent writing. The Loneliest Mountain, his account of the first ascent of Antarctica’s Mt Minto, was published in 1989. This was followed by Blood on the Lotus (1990), an historical novel about CIA involvement with Tibetan guerillas set in the 1970s. A contributor to Australian Geographic, his articles and photos have also been published in many other magazines and books. He also writes scripts for film and television. His biography of Greg Mortimer is to be released in 1993 by Simon and Schuster Australia. His most recent mountaineering exploits were in 1991 amongst the glaciated Carstensz Mountains of Irian Jaya. Lincoln lives in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales with fellow writer Barbara Scanlan and their two sons.

  Andrew Henderson (28) of Sydney is a computer engineer, a graduate of the University of New South Wales, whose most recent work was for CSIRO at the radio telescope in Parkes, New South Wales. His climbing experience includes rockclimbing in Australia and Britain, mountaineering in the New Zealand and European Alps, and expeditions to Changabang in India (1977), Mt Anyemaqen in China (1981), Ama Dablam (1981) and Annapurna II (1983) in Nepal.

  Andy’s life was changed by the loss of nine fingers to frostbite. Despite this setback he has continued to rock-climb. His expedition to climb Mt Shivling in the Indian Himalaya proved, however, that his amputated fingers were too cold-sensitive to allow him to pursue his love for mountaineering. An adventure in warmer climes, which he made with a friend in 1990, was a sailing journey in two tiny Hobycats from Cairns to Cooktown. In 1987 Andy joined Greg and Lincoln in climbing Centrepoint Tower in Sydney to protest against nuclear-armed and -powered warships on behalf of Greenpeace. This was the beginning of an association with Greenpeace which led to Andy’s appointment as Antarctic Expeditions Co-ordinator. This full-time job involved two summer-time journeys to the frozen continent. He then spent a year living in Tokyo where he helped with the English interpretation of Japanese technical manuals. He currently lives in Auckland, New Zealand, where he works as a computer engineer.

  Tim Macartney-Snape (28) of Greta, Victoria, is a director of the adventure travel company Wilderness Expeditions. He was born and spent the first twelve years of his life in Tanzania and graduated from the Australian National University in 1979 with a degree in Biological Sciences. Since then he has worked on his family farm in Victoria, and as a mountaineering, skiing and trekking guide. Rockclimbing in Australia and mountaineering in New Zealand provided the background that was needed for the expeditions he has made to Dunagiri (1978), Kulu Himal (1979), Ama Dablam (1981), Mt Anyemaqen (1981), Trisul (1982) and Annapurna II (1983).

  Following the Everest ascent, Tim’s next mountaineering expedition—in 1986—resulted in the second full ascent, via a difficult new route, of Gasherbrum IV in the Karakoram ranges of Pakistan. An attempt upon K2 as part of an international team the following year was foiled by bad weather. In 1990 he completed the solo ascent of Mt Everest from sea level. From Base Camp Tim climbed alone and without oxygen to the summit. This feat was the subject of his first book, Everest, from Sea to Summit, published in 1992. In recent years Tim has become very involved with the valuable work of NEPA (Nepal Eye Foundation Australia) and with Jeremy Griffiths’ revolutionary ideas about the evolution of human intelligence and consciousness. Tim has a continuing involvement with Wilderness Expeditions, a company he helped found and, with Australian Geographic, were the sponsors of his 1990 Everest climb.

  Greg Mortimer (32), from Sydney, is a geologist whose work since his graduation from Macquarie University has led him to many remote places in Australia and into the mountains of New Zealand and Antarctica. His dedication to climbing has taken him all over the world. He has made difficult climbs in Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Britain, Europe, Nepal, North and South America. Most impressive are ascents of Yerupaja and Pyramide in the Peruvian Andes, Mt Kenya’s Diamond Couloir, and the South Spur of Annapurna II with the 1983 Australian Expedition.

  Greg worked as a freelance mountain guide in Nepal, Tibet and Australia from 1985 until 1987. He then returned to work as a geologist based in Sydney. In early 1988 he was the driving force behind the first ascent of Antarctica’s remote Mt Minto. At the end of the same year he made the first Australian ascent of Vinson Massif, the highest peak in Antarctica, with Colin Monteath and Mike McDowell. Recent summers have been spent as a tour guide, lecturer and expedition leader on Antarctic cruise ships. In 1990 Greg became one of a handful of people to have climbed the two highest mountains in the world without oxygen equipment when he and Greg Child became the first Australians to stand on the summit of K2 after a difficult climb up the North Ridge. Greg is currently a founding director of Peak Achievements, a company which uses adventurous outdoor activities as a vehicle for corporate training.

  Lobsang Tenzing Sherpa (24) is from the Helambu region of Nepal where he spent nine years in a monastery studying Tibetan Buddhism. Since then he has worked in Nepal’s thriving tourist industry both as a guide and as a cook. He has taken part in the Australian expeditions to Ama Dablam (1981) and Annapurna II (1983).

  Tenzing came to Australia after the Everest expedition and returned on several occasions in the following years to visit some of the many good friends he had made during treks with Australians. Back home in Nepal he continued to work as a guide, and took part in many major expeditions, including several to Mt Everest, as well as to peaks in the Karakoram. He was climbing guide on the very demanding Social Climbers expedition to Peru in 1989, and played an important role in Tim’s ascent of Everest from Nepal in 1990.

  Narayan Shresta (24) was born near the town of Dhulikel in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley. His profession as a trekking sirdar (foreman) and high-altitude guide has taken him throughout the Himalaya; to the summits of Mrigthuni and Devistan in India; and high on the slopes of Trisul and Sudershan in India, Gaurishankar, Himalchuli, Ama Dablam and Annapurna III in Nepal. He reached the summit of Pumori, an outlier of Everest, as a member of the 1984 Andean Expedition.

  Narayan also spent a few months in Australia after the 1984 expedition. Back in Nepal he continued to work as a sirdar and high-altitude guide. His moment of triumph came in 1988 when he reached the summit of Everest via the North Ridge as part of a Catalan expedition. He became the first Newari to reach Everest’s summit, a c
onsiderable achievement since Newaris are the race of people who inhabit the Kathmandu Valley and, unlike Sherpas, they have no predisposition for mountaineering. Tragedy struck in 1988 when, as part of another Spanish expedition, Narayan was killed by an avalanche at 7200 metres on Everest’s West Ridge.

  FILM CREW

  Michael Dillon, film producer and cameraman, was born and raised in Sydney. He studied Arts at Sydney University while working part-time for a film company. He shot his first film in Timor in 1972, which was followed in 1973 by the very successful “A Himalayan Journey”, shot in Nepal. Since then he has worked as a freelance cameraman, specialising in filming adventurous activities such as swimming the English Channel and hang-gliding from the summit of Kilimanjaro. His particular love is the Himalaya, where he has shot eleven films. He has worked with Sir Edmund Hillary to produce four films: “The Ocean to the Sky” in India, “Return to Everest” and “Beyond Everest” in Nepal, and “A Journey to the Dawning of the Day” in Fiji. He is undoubtedly Australia’s most accomplished cinematographer in the field of adventure film-making.

  Mike has continued his low-key but very productive career as a cinematographer. His filming has taken him to remote locations all over the world. An unusual project was “A Fare to Remember”, which recorded a journey from London to India by taxi. It was Mike who suggested the idea to Tim of a sea to summit climb of Everest and, when the expedition came into being, Mike filmed, directed and produced it. “Everest, from Sea to Summit” premiered in Sydney in late 1992.

  Jim Duff (39) is from Kendal in the United Kingdom. He began rockclimbing at the age of fourteen, and since then he has climbed widely in Britain, Norway, the European Alps, North America, New Zealand and Australia. He has taken part in several expeditions, most notably to Changabang in the India Himalaya, K2 (the world’s second highest peak) in the Karakoram in Pakistan, and was a climbing doctor on the South-West Face of Everest when it was first climbed in 1975. He studied medicine at Liverpool University and has practised in Britain, Nepal and Australia. He has travelled widely but now lives in Hobart with his wife and daughter where he practises naturopathic medicine.

  After Everest, Jim discovered sailing amongst the islands and bays near Hobart. Discovery led to addiction, and so he decided to sail around the world. This ambition was foiled when his boat was badly damaged by storms in the Pacific Ocean. Jim runs mountaineering and wilderness medical courses in Australia and in the Himalaya, and continues to travel widely, sometimes under his own steam and sometimes as a guide for an adventure travel company. In 1991 he was divorced and remarried.

  Colin Monteath (35) spent his early childhood in Glasgow, Scotland, where he was born, moving to Australia with his parents at the age of nine. In 1972 he graduated from Sydney University with a B.Sc. in Agriculture. He has worked as a Soil Conservation Officer in Australia and as a National Park worker and mountain guide at Mt Cook in New Zealand. For the ten years preceding the Everest Expedition he worked for the New Zealand DSIR Antarctic Division, mostly as Field Operations Officer, based in Christchurch but with many trips to Antarctica. He has been a climber for nineteen years, first rockclimbing in Australia, then mountaineering at a high standard in New Zealand, Peru, Canada and Antarctica. In 1980 he was climbing leader on the Australian Annapurna III Expedition, and in 1982 took part in a smaller, more adventurous expedition to the Garhwal Himalaya in India. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Christchurch, where he works as a freelance writer and photographer.

  Colin returned to New Zealand to his career as a photojournalist. He and his wife run a successful slide library of mountain and polar photographs, and every year they produce Antarctic and New Zealand Alpine calendars. Colin works most summers as a guide and lecturer on Antarctic cruise ships. In 1988 he joined Greg for the ascent of Vinson Massif, Antarctica’s highest peak.

  Howard Whelan (31) grew up in Bountiful, Utah, where he began skiing at an early age. He skied professionally for twelve years, racing in the United States, competing in freestyle events in the United States, Canada, and Europe, and skiing the Haute Route in Europe. His climbing experience was gained on mountains in the United States and Mexico. In 1973, he and two companions became the second party to walk the 4200-kilometre Pacific Crest Trail from Canada to Mexico, a feat which took five months. He has worked as an avalanche controller in Utah, a freelance writer and photographer, and an adventure sports writer for a Seattle newspaper. More recently he has worked in the television and film industry as a commentator and cameraman. For the last few years he has been living in Sydney with his Australian wife and their daughter.

  Howard was employed by electronics millionaire Dick Smith to help develop the concept for the magazine which was to become Australian Geographic. Dick liked Howard’s work, and as a result Howard has been editor of the magazine since the first issue. More than just a desk job, his work has taken him to many remote places in Australia. The enormous success of the magazine is due in no small part to Howard’s contribution. Since Everest he has been adventure skiing in the USA and the Japan Alps.

  JOURNALIST

  Simon Balderstone (30) grew up in Victoria’s Western District. He studied Arts at Monash University before joining the Age as a reporter. After an apprenticeship in Melbourne he headed the Age Bureau in Sydney for two years, then worked in Canberra for five years as a political correspondent. He is now back in Melbourne writing a sports column. The Expedition was well pleased with the accuracy and sensitivity of his report, and we were delighted when, after the climb, he came runner-up (to his boss!) in the Journalist of the Year awards. With a strong sporting and walking background, he also works as a part-time trekking guide, having visited the Kashmir Himalaya every year since 1980.

  Simon resigned from the Age newspaper not long after the publication of White Limbo. He worked for a short time as freelance journalist, and during this period he researched and wrote a book about Kakadu National Park: Kakadu, A Heritage for the Future. His experience as a political commentator and environmentalist led him to take a job as press secretary to Senator Graham Richardson in his portfolio as Minister for the Environment. His next, and current, job is environmental advisor, first to Prime Minister Bob Hawke and then to his successor Paul Keating. Simon and his partner live in Canberra with their young son.

  One of the most important considerations for any Himalayan expedition is careful selection of equipment, from simple things like pots and stoves to the most sophisticated climbing gadgetry. As a small team attempting a new route on Mt Everest, our preparation needed to be particularly thorough. We did not have the resources to carry more than essentials on the mountain, so each item had to be foolproof, lightweight and as versatile as possible. Nevertheless we needed to equip ourselves well enough to be able to deal with every imaginable type of climbing obstacle, since once we left Australia we would not be able to buy any climbing gear at all. At least one of us had climbed before with virtually every item we took. We were reluctant to take anything solely on someone else’s recommendation.

  Our clothing was made to our specifications by Verglas, the manufacturing label for Mountain Designs. After our climb of Annapurna II we made many alterations, mostly to reduce the total weight of what we carried. A hundred grams here and there added up to a worthwhile saving.

  Our principle of dress was to have many layers in order to be as versatile as possible. Next to our skin we wore thermal underwear made by North Cape, Peter Storm or Damart, depending upon personal preference. The difference between Peter Storm and North Cape was mostly in cut rather than performance. Damart, on the other hand, was much warmer (though heavier), so most of us wore Damart for the summit push.

  The next layer was a full fibre-pile suit made by Mountain Designs. The suit had full-length arms and legs, and a semi-circular zip in the seat. Handwarming pockets with openings on the side were sewn on the chest, so that they could be used while wearing a harness. The suits were not personally tailored and were a trifle
large for everyone but me. Tim found the best solution to the loose fit was to cut off the arms. Either over or under the suit we wore light Helly Hansen pile jackets, which all of us found to be very warm for their weight.

  Over the pile suit we wore a Goretex-covered down-filled suit with a detachable hood and a zip from the neck down through the crotch up to the middle of the back. The zip was in two sections to avoid having the slider sit uncomfortably on one’s back. Zips also ran down the side from the armpit to the ankle so that the suit could be put on while wearing boots and crampons. This time the handwarming pockets at chest level had closable pockets on top of them.

  The final layer was a light (two-laminate) Goretex windsuit. I tested a prototype of this suit on Anyemaqen in 1981, and with further refinements after that climb and Annapurna II. Mountain Designs came up with a superb weatherproof garment. The zip configuration matched the down suit except for the cut of the hood (which was not detachable).

  Low on the mountain we wore the windsuit over underwear or the pile suit. Higher up, the down suit replaced the windsuit as our outer layer except for the coldest conditions, such as the descent from the summit in the dark, when the windsuit was worn over the down suit. That was considerably warmer but the abundance of zips made access to one’s body a frustratingly difficult procedure, especially since gloved unmittened fingers immediately became numb.

  On our hands we wore Damart gloves underneath woollen or fibre-pile gloves, which in turn were underneath Dachstein mittens. The final layer was Thinsulate-filled overmitts made for us by High Country. They were warm but difficult to put on with cold unmittened hands. In extreme cold there was an inevitable compromise between warmth and retaining an element of usability in our hands—too many layers and we could not hold onto our ice-axes or anything else.