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The misery following Madman's Tour
Tony’s diary; Friday 13th (yes really) after leaving the final bivouac of Madman's Tour at daybreak......
“The only problem now remaining was purely physical – we had to climb over 2000 feet up the valley to reach our col camp. After 3 hours, John and I were at our tent (on loan from the British Museum), drying out its inside and trying to improvise something for the large number of snapped guy lines. This done, we had a drink and I prepared porridge and stewed apples in time for Chris and Phil's return. Then it was time for bed for those not already in bed. I don't think I slept long, and in the evening Phil cooked the meal, bringing it to the tent. It is still raining and I try to get some sleep.
Saturday 14th Hardly any sleep during the night. The rain keeps coming down, but for about half an hour this morning we got fine weather when it stopped. The rest of the time was just rain. Went into the other tent and played cribbage in the afternoon and then prepared a meal.....Custard, apricots and bananas followed the usual course of meat, poms and veg (mammoth quantities of carrots tonight)....
Sunday 15th A noisy night with the tent getting wetter and wetter. John poked his head out about 9am to discover that approx 9” of snow had fallen. We went to the comforts of the other tent for breakfast and ate biscuits and drank coffee for hours whilst discussing what to do. Our tent was dying so fast that there was little choice but to go down to the head of the lake, if not to base camp. It is now held together with etriers, slings and boulders. After an immense effort of will power, John and I decided to move. Phil and Chris were staying.....Mugs, spoons and other oddments were dug out of the snow...Phil and Chris would be going as far as the valley floor with our tent and most of the climbing equipment. John and I then completed the journey down to the lake, which we found to be a foaming white mass which forced us to erect our tent, now with a severely torn flysheet from the previous night. This was not before we had undergone a wild but short canoe trip, water cascading in and soaking us......
Monday 16th Weather improved during the morning with only intermittent rain. However, the lake was still not canoeable and the rain began to resort to its form of the past few days, confining us to the tent for the rest of the day. The repair work to Ye Olde Arctic Guinea has worked and we are at least dry. The other 6 arrived at 8pm, completely soaked and looking thoroughly dejected. They had had so few good days that they had only climbed three peaks and failed on one. They missed one of the good days due to mist in their valley making them think the weather was not good. Phil and Chris arrived about midnight, soaked from a wild canoe trip. Apparently the snow was melting fast and the scree slope this side of the col had turned into a mud slide. They came into our tent for coffee – a change from recently enforced norm....Today was an important day for John as he was able to borrow some tobacco........The situation in the Lake Camp is now quite serious as we have very little food and must somehow get persons and equipment back to Base Camp. To do this the weather must improve. The rubber dinghy – a calm water instrument – has also to make the journey back.
Tuesday 17th Unbelievable. The sun is shining.......”
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