AUSTRALIA SECTION Starving in Kazakhstan Ashley climbing on the Marble Wall and Khan Tengri.
Out of body experience
Australian Himalayan Foundation
2 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | Spring 2013 | www.alpineclub.org.nz
GREETINGS FROM
KATHMANDU
Table of Contents
Hi Guys,
Khan Tengri and Marble Wall
4
Out of body experiences
8
A briefer newsletter this quarter as we gear up for summer. Ashley takes us on a grand tour of the Marble Wall and Khan Tengri. A really interesting take on climbing on a non-commercial expedition. From Kazakhstan we head back to Pakistan as Avi gives us a doctors viewpoint of hallucinations on the trail after some massive days on the mountain.
Australian Himalayan Foundation
NZAC - Australia Section Editor Brad Jackson Section President Terry Cole Vice President Matt Nielsen Commitee Members James Roth Jason Robertson Josh Holloway Quentin Hanich
12
Finally Dylan Hall introduces us to the Australian Himalayan Foundation and some of the great contributions that are being made in Nepal in the fields of health, education and environment. Myself, I am in Nepal for the next couple of months and hope to have some good pics and tales for the summer newsletter. We were going to have a story on travel insurance for Aussie mountaineers but we have it on good authority from our friends in NZAC across the ditch that some good news will be forthcoming on that front early in 2014. Thanks, Brad Jackson
www.alpineclub.org.nz | Spring 2013 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | 3
Khan Tengri and Marble Wall
In this remarkable trip report, Ashley Burke eschews the use of helicopters and walks over the Marble Wall to attempt the grand Khan Tengri in Kazakhstan. Fighting hunger and some rather stoic ‘guides, Ashley revels in the savage beauty of the Pamirs. Spreading northwest into the former Soviet states from the western end of the greater Himalayas in Pakistan is a vast area of wild mountains, the Pamirs, the second highest mountain range on Earth. The greater Pamirs occupy five countries - Ta jikistan, Kyrgyzstan, parts of Uzbekistan, western China and the far southeast corner of Kazakhstan. Khan Tengri at 6995m is a marble pyramid in far south-eastern Kazakhstan near the border with Kyrgyzstan and China.
Ashley on summit of Marble Wall
Most expeditions to climb Khan Tengri are run according to a standard programme. Climbers fly by helicopter to Khan Tengri Base Camp, spend 3 weeks or so climbing the mountain, and then fly out again. Those 3 weeks involve a tedious expedition style ascent whereby 3 camps are placed on the mountain and a process of acclimatization is undertaken which involves several trips up and down the same route before a final summit attempt can be made. This itinerary didn’t appeal to me due to the use of helicopters and the repetitive nature of the climbing. I wondered if there was another way. Perhaps you could reach Khan Tengri Base Camp by an overland route and climb a lesser peak on the way? Thus was hatched a plan for the
4 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | Spring 2013 | www.alpineclub.org.nz
summer of 2011. I would be taken to a remote valley in the heart of the Tian Shan. To reach Khan Tengri base camp I would need to cross a high mountain range, climb the 6100m peak of Marble Wall and then descend the other side to the north Inychek glacier from where it would be an easy walk down to the base camp. From there I would make my attempt on Khan Tengri. I was led by two local mountaineers neither of whom spoke a word of English and neither of whom had done the route before. And to make matters more interesting, there were no maps, just a few old photos taken years before when the condition of the glaciers was very different to what we would find. It took a few days to reach a camp at about 4500m and by then the going was already tough. We had portaged food higher up but that got attacked by birds and was scattered everywhere. And the Russians did strange things with what was left over. The seasoned pig fat that they had brought along could be spread on stale biscuits for a calorific boost. With much of the food plundered by birds and scattered far and wide across the mountainside we got very hungry.
We ascended to a camp at 5000m then to 5500m and finally one at about 5900m, eventually spending 8 days above 5000m enduring cold wind, bad weather and in the confines of the cramped tent one of the guides smoked his cigarettes, as if the altitude wasn’t already enough to cope with.
we swung underneath on a rope. After wandering the glacier in fog and snow for hours with peril everywhere we were trapped and forced to camp on the glacier, 1 night overdue. Our food and gas were now almost gone and dehydration awaited us in this frigid and desolate landscape of raw ice and rock.
So, already weakened with hunger and with some of the food spoiled and altitude and weather difficulties we climbed our first peak, Marble Wall. It was a gigantic effort for me, against the odds of empty stomach, cold blasting wind and the steepness and challenging nature of the terrain. We returned from the summit to our hard windswept camp at 5900m and another night with almost nothing to eat.
Next day we explored the glacier once more and tried to cross onto a ridge but to do that you had to cross a maze of yawning ice formations as perilous as the Bridge of Kazad Dum in Lord of the Rings except 5000m up, foggy and snowing. When we finally reached the ridge we found a delicate contusion of ice cliffs, seracs and crevasses like ice cream poised to collapse. Danat and Edik thought there was a way off the end although I wasn’t so sure. We progressed along this teetering ridge for a time until it was just too dangerous and we were forced to turn back. We were now running out of options.
Despite the language barrier they managed to communicate the fact that we must get to base camp by the following day because our gas and food would run out. But the route was unknown except for those few photos and word of mouth, and the glaciers had changed everything since these photos and notes were written. Down the glacier we went, abseiling overhung ice cliffs and smashing through huge icicles as
There remained no option but to abseil off the side of the ridge with just two ice screws between the 3 of us and dozens of pitches to get down to another glacier a thousand metres below.
Ascent route up Marble Wall from the northern side
www.alpineclub.org.nz | Spring 2013 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | 5
We abseiled and abseiled and abseiled maybe 30m at a time and eventually it grew dark and bitterly cold. The day had ended and the sun had set, we had eaten nothing all day, just a few biscuits at breakfast, only adrenaline could keep us going now. In the pitch dark, still we abseiled. It began snowing steadily and mini avalanches started and we clung to a single ice screw tapped into the mountainside as a tonne of snow thundered over us in the dark. At last we reached the bottom and ploughed through the waist deep snow at the head of the glacier, it was well after 10:30pm and savagely cold, by the time we got the tent up and inside it was after midnight. Now there was nothing to eat except luke warm tea, sweets and biscuits and then at last, by about 2am we were in our sleeping bags, crushed together, 2 nights overdue now. All gas and food was now gone. A cold morning began a hot sunny day. We slogged slowly through
thigh deep snow down the glacier then up and over a rocky buttress, then onto the main glacier, I couldn’t believe how far we still had to go. I was so weak and spent. Hour by hour I just kept going and the day wore on and grew old. Finally at about 5pm people came up the glacier from base camp to meet us bringing food, they had spotted us on the glacier, we were saved! 20 minutes later I arrived at base camp to my own tent with an Australian flag on it! I spent 2 rest days spent eating, writing, and enjoying a spell in the Russian sauna and with some people there who spoke English I had my first conversation for 2 weeks. But the food didn’t agree with me for some reason. As if that wasn’t enough, it was now time for an attempt on the 7000m high massif of Khan Tengri which towered above the camp. So on Day 1 we advanced to Camp 1 where we were told an empty tent was to be found but
6 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | Spring 2013 | www.alpineclub.org.nz
when we got there we found only a small 2 person tent which was claustrophobic to say the least and impossible to sleep in or even lie down with the 3 of us and all our gear in there. On Day 2 the ascent to Camp 2 was awesome climbing up a steep and amazing ridge, ropes were fixed all the way and we scaled these using jumars. Stunning climbing. Then on Day 3 we climbed over a 6200m peak called Chapaev and reached Camp 3 in a high saddle where another night was spent in a tiny 2 person tent for 3 people. Day 4 was summit day. Up and up more fixed ropes and getting steeper now. But after weeks of ordeal and hunger and body sapping effort here I was at 6400m struggling to climb a steep rocky ridge to the summit of Khan Tengri, and this was where I found 1 rope too far, a frayed old line with no sheath dangling down a ragged overhung section of cliff and I had to climb it. But … my strength had gone and so had a lot of my
mental energy. I attached my jumar and hauled myself up but I couldn’t do it and I fell back. This was as far as I could go. So it was back to Camp 3 where I beheld a stunning sunset among the breathtaking ma jesty of the Tian Shan mountains, the cloud and the light glorifying the arêtes in perfection. And then came the savage cold and yet another miserable night like a sardine in this tent with these 2 guys. Finally it was down down down all the way to base camp in one gargantuan huge day of shinnying down the fixed ropes, you can’t abseil these ropes because they are too frozen, too tight, too many knots in them, and in many cases the sheath missing, so we wore through our gloves. Just on dark on the last night I arrived back at base camp where for some reason we were welcomed as heroes even though I hadn’t climbed anything except Chapaev Peak. And a day later the last helicopter flew out. Nothing now remained of Khan Tengri Base Camp except a pile of wood, tent poles and discarded gas cylinders. These would freeze into the glacier through the long unforgiving winter until the following next year when climbers again return to this amazing place. To again confront these mountains, face their fears, physical limits, and find life building purpose and respect for the mountains and their unforgiving beauty.
Trip Report - $300 winner
Thanks Ashley. Your trip report has been rewarded with a $300 gift voucher from Patagonia Australia.
www.alpineclub.org.nz | Spring 2013 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | 7
OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCES HALLUCINATORY EXPERIENCES AND OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCES HAVE BEEN DESCRIBED IN EXTREME ATHLETES, MOUNTAINEERS, AND CLIMBERS. MY PERSONAL OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE OCCURRED DURING A MOUNTAINEERING EXPEDITION, AND WHILE SHOCKING AND WORRISOME, WAS NOT DEBILITATING. BY DR AVI
Hallucinatory experiences and out of body experiences have been described in extreme athletes, mountaineers, and climbers. My personal out of body experience occurred during a mountaineering expedition, and while shocking and worrisome, was not debilitating. The mountaineering expedition to Spantik, 7031m, in the Karakorum, was a success. After twenty-one days of steady acclimatisation, ploughing through deep snow and climbing through some of the most stunning scenery on the planet, two out of the three on our small expedition, reached the summit after a 15 hour push. We spent a day recuperating at base camp (4100m), after which
we began the walk out along the Chogolungma glacier towards the picturesque village of Arandu,in the Haramosh valley in Baltistan, Pakistan. During the early part of the expedition, I had my fair share of altitude related problems-headaches, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, cough, and an embarrassing urgency of bowel movements. As I acclimatised, all these symptoms subsided. However, nothing prepared me for what I experienced on the way down. The last day of the trek out was very long and required covering over 20 kilometres a day over undulating, rocky glaciated terrain made even more difficult by constant route finding. This
8 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | Spring 2013 | www.alpineclub.org.nz
walk out thus seemed as taxing as any of the days spent on the mountain. Because of differing abilities among the various members of the expedition, each of us was often alone with our thoughts.. After only an hour of trekking, I felt very strange. Three weeks of climbing had left me feeling physically strong even though I had lost a fair amount of weight. I had refuelled well in base camp and had set out with a light pack, as I had unashamedly packed most of my equipment and given it to the hard working, tough Balti porters to carry out for me. At this point, the world took on an ethereal appearance. I felt like I was looking at everything from
just over my shoulder. My brain felt fuzzy and like there was a band around it. As a physician, I tried rationalizing my situation. I thought my cap was too tight, so I loosened it. I was not dehydrated; my urine was plentiful and clear. The glare of the sun off the glacier was not a problem as the day was quite cloudy. I was not hypoglycaemic and was well acclimatised. Since I did not want to fall into a crevasse in my strange mental state, I concentrated on the task at hand. I doubted that the strange feelings I was having were due to high altitude cerebral oedema (HACE); I had been high before on Kilimanjaro and had experienced the condition before. . Nearing the roof of Africa, I had dysarthria, ataxia, visual hallucinations and an almost complete amnesia of the summit push except for what was recounted to me or what I had seen in subsequent photos. Furthermore, the International Society for Mountain Medicine describes high altitude cerebral oedema (HACE) as either the presence of a change in mental
status and/or ataxia in a person with acute mountain sickness or the presence of a change in mental status and ataxia in a person without acute mountain sickness1. To be sure, I checked myself with the finger nose test and named some objects around me. I knew I would be fine as long as I put one foot in front of the other, even though I was getting slightly scared that the mountains around me were constantly contracting and expanding. The massive icy mountains or the large boulders strewn on the glacier around me seemed very close one moment and desperately far the next. And my head sometimes felt massive and I very tall, so that the ground appeared far from my eyes. At one point I even wondered if maybe I was dreaming or if I was experiencing a mirage brought on by my being alone in this massive barren expanse of glaciated moraine. However, as I lost concentration, I tripped and fell on the frozen moraine cutting my hand. Feeling the pain and seeing the blood, I knew I was not dreaming.
I struggled to understand what was happening to me. I was not having any visual or auditory hallucinations, but perhaps I was having some sensory ones? I was s somewhat panicked but quickly decided that I could not afford to be. I was alone and miles away from civilization. I calmed myself down by breathing deeply. I put on some music from my portable music player. It made no difference. I still felt as I was out of my body and the world was passing me by. My thought processes were clear though. I knew I needed to keep walking. This was easy enough; the path was not a hard one. I did not feel in danger, but once I was calm and into the rhythm of taking a step at a time, I felt elated and strangely at peace with my surroundings. I felt like there was a certain amount of heat emanating from me. Was this an aura? My perception of time was definitely altered. I kept giving myself small goals of just reaching the next rocky outcrop or the next
www.alpineclub.org.nz | Spring 2013 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | 9
ridge and it seemed that hours had passed between one and the next. My watch, however, was telling me that it had only been a matter of minutes! I felt strangely emotional then and not for the first time in my life, talked to the mountains and thanked them for letting me be amongst them. I often do this as I wander round the fells of the Lake District or travel to faraway places to climb. I sincerely believe the rock I am climbing is a living organism. I think it creates a tangible link between nature, and myself as I believe in Aristotle’s teachings that nature is part of all of us and vice versa. It was at this point the thought entered my mind that maybe I was dead and my spirit was merely wandering about lost. This notion was dispelled a few minutes later as the expedition leader Brad Jackson passed me and cracked a joke, the first time I had been within speaking distance of him all day. In such a state, I was not walking fast; I knew then that I wasn’t dead, but I still felt de-personalised. I desperately tried to keep pace with him, but I couldn’t. Soon, I
was alone again. These sensations did not subside over the nine hours I spent walking. Even after arriving at camp, they continued until I went to sleep. Time still passed incredibly slowly. Seconds felt like hours and every move I made felt strangely calculated and purposeful. When I woke up the next morning, after one of the best sleeps I ever had, everything was back to normal. Having experienced something very unusual, I am now trying to understand what exactly happened. I have been unable to find any records of someone having HACE on a descent at the altitude I was at. Dickinson in 1979 described HACE at an altitude of 2100m2, and it is less common in those who are well acclimatised3 Having read “The Third Man Factor” by John Geiger4 and “Explorers of the Infinite” by Maria Coffey5 , ex-girlfriend of the legendary mountaineer Joe Tasker, who tragically disappeared on an attempt of Everest’s west ridge, have made
10 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | Spring 2013 | www.alpineclub.org.nz
me think that I had an out of body experience. Neurological studies have suggested that body experiences (OBEs) are a consequence of brain dysfunction at the temporo-parietal junction.6 But what could have brought this on? And why was I being affected? Many high altitude climbers have described hallucinatory experiences. Brugger et al,7studied eight mountaineers who climbed to above 8000m and found that there were forty six hallucinatory experiences between them: eleven visual, seven auditory and twenty eight somaesthetic2. Some of these climbers reported feeling as if they were moving like automatons. There were reports of feeling the presence of an imaginary person close to them. Some felt their surroundings or bodies were “five times as large”, or feeling like their bodies were floating. An altitude of 6000m seems to be critical for the appearance of the hallucinations in climbers and the experiences in the study by Brugger et al
7 lasted up to 12 hours. The experiences were blamed on harsh emotional responses and transient deregulation of the limbic system. I, however, was not in a lifethreatening situation. I was very far away from civilisation at an altitude of approximately 3500m on a seemingly neverending glacier. Psychologists have described such a situation as an extreme and unusual environment (EUE)4 and the main characteristic of EUEs is of monotony. Could it be that I just felt incredibly alone? Pilots flying solo on long flights have felt another presence around them as they described feelings of intense loneliness, isolation and being out of reach. Suedfield8 describes social deprivation as a cause for such hallucinations and OBEs, the hypothesis being that monotonous environments cause the left hemisphere to become less dominant, causing a decrease in reality oriented thinking. Could it be that I was just one with nature and so engrossed into my own being? Or was I in another state of
consciousness? Maria Coffey5 talks of adventurers, mountaineers and climbers having a sixth sense, completely in tune with the environment they are moving in. It is possible that after so long in the mountains, I had become one with them, and the extreme nature of my situation had opened a portal to a transcendent state. Had I in fact achieved the “Savikalpa Samadhi?” In this state, usually reached by meditation in the Buddhist or Hindu tradition, one can lose all human consciousness; the conception of time and space is altogether different. Mountaineers such as Andy Parkin and endurance athletes such as Marshall Ulrich have experienced sensations of looking down on their bodies and having to force themselves back within. They have described feeling hyperaware. At the time, I didn’t think of my senses being in overdrive, but in hindsight, I had just completed an epic expedition with extreme physical hardships. Maria Coffey describes situations in which the climber is “forced into the Now”5, a state of extreme focus that is free of time and the mundane
problems of everyday life. As such, time feels stretched and that is exactly how I felt! There is the tale of the ice climber Jim Buckley who, while falling off a wall, felt strangely calm and methodical about what actions he took as though he felt he had hours to do so the same thing happened to the Burgess brothers when they were avalanched on a slope in the Himalayas. Research suggests that the basal ganglia and dopamine receptor pathways are involved in the human sense of time5,9. Dopamine release is associated with pleasurable experiences as well as stressful and painful ones. A “thrill seeking gene” D4DR has been identified, and it helps encode dopamine receptors in the brain. Could it be that the stressful nature of the environment I was in triggered release of massive amounts of dopamine which then resulted in all these experiences? I do not think I will ever know. My quest for answers has brought up many more questions…
www.alpineclub.org.nz | Spring 2013 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | 11
AUSTRALIAN HIMALAYAN FOUNDATION
MY NAME IS DYLAN HALL, AND I AM THE YOUTH AMBASSADOR FOR THE AUSTRALIAN HIMALAYAN FOUNDATION. I AM CONTINUING IN MY FATHER, LINCOLN HALL’S FOOTSTEPS WHEN HE FOUNDED THE FOUNDATION IN 2003. I HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WITH THE WORK OF THE FOUNDATION SINCE EARLY 2012 AND AM RESPONSIBLE FOR ENGAGING YOUNGER PEOPLE WITH OUR MISSION STATEMENT OF IMPROVING THE LIFE AND EDUCATIONAL AND HEALTH OUTCOMES OF THE PEOPLES OF THE HIMALAYA, INCLUDING NEPAL, BHUTAN, LADAK AND OTHER HIMALAYAN REGIONS. Following in the footsteps of Sir Edmund Hillary who always felt his biggest achievement was giving back to the Sherpa people, we are proud of what they have achieved over the last 10 years in helping the people of the Himalaya through our education, health and conservation programs. We have been working to deliver quality education to the people of the Himalaya for ten years,
12 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | Spring 2013 | www.alpineclub.org.nz
starting with a small focussed education project in Nepal and today supporting a strong, integrated program of health, education and environmental projects across the Himalaya. The Everest region, known as the Upper Solu Khumbu, is now well resourced thanks to Hillary’s efforts. Travel just one valley across however and it is an extremely different story with impoverished communities
experiencing the level of poverty that Hillary encountered when he first started work there. The AHF is commited to working in the Lower Solu Khumbu region to deliver education to these communities located just a small step away from the main tourist trails. Over 70% of our program spend is for our Flagship quality education program in the Solu Khumbu region of Nepal. For the AHF it is a
huge commitment. The key challenge facing education in rural districts of Nepal is not building schools or resourcing schools but improving the level of teacher training. In rural Nepal you can become a teacher with only a years training after leaving high school. The program aims to help over 42,000 children, over 1700 teachers in over 300 schools and includes support for teacher
training workshops including Key Teacher workshops (to fast track the most able teachers so that they can eventually train other teachers – creating a truly sustainable program). We also give support to resourcing schools. Reading books are luxuries (and resourced locally in Kathmandu) and other basic educational support is also given including pens, papers etc – computers are unheard of.
We are deeply proud of the difference made during the last ten years, which include: »» 1050 teachers trained in over 200 schools resulting in: »» Increased primary school attendance »» Increased girls enrolment rates »» Increased retention rates of students through to secondary school »» 55 Nepali teachers have now become teacher trainers themselves
»» 3500 women have been screened for cervical and breast cancer (cervical cancer is the biggest killer amongst women in rural Nepal) »» Trained 120 local amchis in general health care and obstetrics
»» Assisted in the protection of 70 snow leopards across Nepal and Ladakh »» Provided vocational training to 120 Tibetan children in the Indian Himalaya »» Provided educational scholarships to 200 girls in Bhutan remotest regions
www.alpineclub.org.nz | Spring 2013 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | 13
http://www.mainpeak.com.au/mtne-jkt-jaguar/
ANTHONY GEOGHEGANWINNER OF BEST CLIMBING PIC Climbing the Hintergrat route (AD+) on Ortler (3905m), in Sudtirol, Italy. CANON EOS 60D. August 2012
australia@alpineclub.org.nz
Fleece doesn’t get much more insulating or comfortable than this. POLARTEC® Wind Pro® provides a formidable combination of wind resistance, warmth and breathability, offering outstanding comfort over a wide range of mountain activities. It is four times more wind resistant than standard fleece, very durable and modestly water repellent. The Jaguar has a slim active cut, stretch under arms for physical freedom of movement and venting handwarmer pockets.
Photo Comp 14 | NZAC - AUSTRALIA | Spring 2013 | www.alpineclub.org.nz
With heavy hearts we say farewell to Marty Schmidt and his son Denali who died in July this year as a result of an avalanche hitting their camp 3 on K2
All enquiries please contact us at australia@alpineclub.org.nz