It is not an aesthetically pleasing problem, hasn’t the uncompromising yet tenuous line of ice arête and rock spurs that led to the summit of the South Face of Annapurna, which made that such a fascinating route. The South-West Face seemed a problem of brutal logistics – could you get all the oxygen, food and gear you needed to the foot of the Rock Band at a height of over 27,000 feet – higher than most of the other mountains in the Himalaya. Having got it there, would the climbers be able to keep going – climbing in the autumn cold, on steep ice and rock?
This was a real challenge. It was also one to which, in the last eight years, I suspect I have slowly built up – in climbing, in working as a photo-journalist and, finally, in organising and leading the Annapurna South Face Expedition.
I find a fascination in putting an expedition together, in encouraging a group of climbers, all of whom are friends and whose friendship I value, to coalesce into a single team. I am challenged by the struggle with my own personality and its shortcomings. I cannot claim to be the perfect leader; cannot claim to be unselfish; I made mistakes on Annapurna, was perhaps impulsive at times, perhaps allowed myself to be swayed by others at the wrong times. I shall probably make mistakes on Everest, because everyone is fallible. The challenge lies in learning from these mistakes.
In organising a big expedition to Annapurna or to Everest, one sometimes loses the stark simplicity and romanticism of mountaineering, becoming involved in the maze of finance, public relations, commercial exploitation. Yet there is a fascination in this – at least there is to me. This also is a game – to be played as a game. It is serious; it is exacting. There are more pitfalls than on any mountain, but surmounting these pitfalls has its own special thrill and challenge. And in the end you come back to the mountain.
I have written these last few words in the hours before flying to Everest to attempt its South-West Face. We might or might not succeed; this certainly will be the greatest challenge of my life so far. But whatever the outcome, I know that the mountains will always fill a vital part of my life; that my quest will be for the next horizon.
– MAPS AND DIAGRAMS –
Patagonia
The Paine area
The North Face of Pointe Migot
Cheddar Gorge: Coronation Street
The Right-hand Pillar of Brouillard
Ecuador: Sangay
The route to Sangay
The Old Man of Hoy in relation to Scotland
The Old Man of Hoy: routes
Baffin Island: the hunts from Pangnirtung
Kashmir: the route to Hunza
The Blue Nile area
The Blue Nile: the first attack
The Blue Nile: the second attack
Annapurna
– PHOTOGRAPHS –
The Paine Expedition: standing L–R: Vic Bray, Derek Walker, Chris Bonington, our two cooks loaned by the Chilean Army. Sitting L.–R. John Streatley, Barrie Page, Don Whillans, Ian Clough.
Barrie Page looks out of the box shelter which Don Whillans and Vic Bray designed – the prototype of the Whillans Box on Annapurna – the only shelter that could stand up to the high wind in Patagonia.
Our first home in the Lakes at Loughrigg Tarn – one room above a garage.
Woodland Hall Lodge and our trusty Minivan.
Bonington on Fool’s Paradise, Gowder Crag, Borrowdale – one of the best routes in Borrowdale.
Mick Burke.
Joe Brown near the top of the Old Man of Hoy.
First ascent of The Medlar.
Martin Boysen.
Coronation Street: the route (photo John Cleare, Mountain Camera).
Haston and Harlin after being trapped by storm in a snow hole.
John Harlin.
Dougal finds his way out to the top in the storm.
Sangay in eruption.
Suave, sartorial Sebastian before Sangay.
An unusual view of the Old Man of Hoy.
Hoy: Tom Patey climbing the fixed rope up the Difficult Crack.
The Huskies sleep while the igloo is being made.
The end of the journey: Blashford-Snell in command with flags flying.
Annapurna from Base Camp: Whillans’ box in foreground.
Annapurna: looking across the Difficult Traverse on the ice ridge.
The Annapurna team.
Chris and Wendy Bonington with Daniel and Rupert (photo Liverpool Echo).
– ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS –
I owe a great deal to all the people who appear by name in these pages, in many instances for their forbearance. I owe my special thanks to John Anstey, Editor of the Daily Telegraph Magazine, who showed confidence in my ability to produce photographs and to write. He started me on a new stage of my life as adventure journalist; to George Greenfield, my Literary Agent, who has done a great deal more than negotiate contracts, and has been my adviser and friend over the two most important expeditions in my life so far; to Livia Gollancz for her editorial advice and her patience in waiting for a book which was finished literally in the last hours before flying out to Kathmandu, en route for Everest; to Betty Prentice, who typed the manuscript, corrected the spelling and improved my grammar; to my mother, who thought of the title and lastly, and most of all, to Wendy for her love and her courage through these years and, on a more immediate level, for her selection and layout of the pictures.
C.B.
The Next Horizon
Chris Bonington
First published in Great Britain in 1973 by Victor Gollancz. This digital edition first published in 2016 by Vertebrate Digital, an imprint of Vertebrate Publishing.
Vertebrate Publishing
Crescent House, 228 Psalter Lane, Sheffield S11 8UT UK.
Copyright © Chris Bonington 2016.
Maps drawn by Wendy Bonington.
Chris Bonington has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of non-fiction based on the life, experiences and recollections of Chris Bonington. In some limited cases the names of people, places, dates and sequences or the detail of events have been changed solely to protect the privacy of others. The author has stated to the publishers that, except in such minor respects not affecting the substantial accuracy of the work, the contents of the book are true.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–1–910240–88–5
All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by copyright herein may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanised, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without the written permission of the publisher.
Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologise for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition.
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