Shishapangma

First published in 1984 as The Shishapangma Expedition, Shishapangma won the first ever Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature. In 1982, following the relaxation of access restrictions to Tibet, six climbers set off from Britain to explore the little-known Shishapangma massif near the Nepalese border. Dealing with a chaotic build-up and bureaucratic obstacles so huge they verged on comical, the mountaineers gained access to Shishapangmas unclimbed South-West Face where Doug Scott, Alex MacIntyre and Roger Baxter-Jones made one of the most audacious and stylish ascents ever achieved in the high mountains. Told through a series of diary-style entries from all six climbers, Shishapangma reveals the tense nature of Himalayan decision-making, mountaineering tactics and climbing relationships. Tense and candid, the six writers see each event and incident differently to the others, reacting in different ways and pulling no punches in their opinions of the other team members quite literally at one point. Nonetheless, the mountaineers, at the peak of their considerable powers and experience, completed an extremely committing enterprise. The example set by their fine climb survives and several new routes (all done in alpine style) have now been added to this magnificent face. For well-trained climbers, such ascents are fast and efficient, but the consequences of error, misjudgement or bad luck can be terminal and, sadly, soon afterwards two of the participants were struck down in mountaineering accidents MacIntyre hit by stonefall on Annapurnas South Face and Baxter-Jones caught by an ice avalanche on the Aiguille du Triolet. In addition, their support climber, Nick Prescott, died in a Chamonix hospital from an altitude-induced ailment.