Picture of the week 38

 

These are the final steps at the top of the Western Breach Route. I’d never climbed anything like the Breach, at that altitude, (16,000-ft to 18,800-ft) in my life. My flatlander perspective saw the task as daunting, challenging and even scary.

I have shared in past articles that I used the porters as motivation and inspiration.

Indeed, surrounding us this day were porters carrying 35 pound loads on their heads. Negotiating the same scree and scrambling sections as we were. These guys do this every three weeks, it’s their job, but even filled with trepidation, I took great confidence from sharing their dominion as they would glide up the famous Breach Wall using one hand instead of two.

Make no mistake, however, this “office with a window, scrambling at altitude newbie” used both hands to clutch and secure himself to whatever I could grasp on the “sportier” sections of the Breach.