Road to Rakaposhi

Six young men from Cambridge University plan to climb Rakaposhi in Pakistan, 1954. Three drive out from Britain (France, Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan), and three fly out to meet them. On the way back, they swap over, the three who flew drive back.

George Band, fresh from participating in the 1953 climbing of Everest with Hillary, is the primary author here. He was the youngest of the men on the Everest Expedition, took part in this Rakaposhi expedition in 1954, and was the first (With Joe Brown) to climb Kanchenjunga in 1955 - a busy few years for the likeable man.

After a chapter of preparation we are handed over to Ted Wrangham, who tells in four chapters the story of the drive out. A Bedford Dormobile (a conversion of a Bedford CA van) was purchased for the journey to be sold on return, and proved fairly handy on the long and sometimes challenging journey. Running repairs were undertaken often enough, but in general it performed pretty well. Joining Ted are David Fisher and Roger Chorley.

The journey out is interesting and colourful with plenty of goings on and interesting people met by the climbers, getting particularly interesting once the reach Syria then Jordan (briefly), Iraq and Iran. In Pakistan they make their way to Rawalpindi, where they meet George Band, George Fraser and Alfred Tissieres.

The others had been in Karachi organising the equipment which had arrived by ship, arranging formal permissions and selecting a Pakistani Liaison Officer. For this important role they were lucky enough to have been hosted by Major-General Hayaud Din, the Chief of General Staff of the Pakistan Army, and he expressed a desire to come with them. This smoothed the way for many things, including sourcing of jeeps & kerosene, and selecting 6 Northern Scouts (from the Army) rather than porters. This had the advantage not only of military training, but also they would not require payment.

The next third of the book is taken up by their journey from Rawalpini to Rakaposhi. They take some climbs for acclimatisation, they travel through the Princely States of Hunza and the Nagir (also spelled Nagar) by Jeep at first, then lots of walking and some horse riding. Along they way they are treated to celebrations and festivals, generally treated very well by these same people who resisted the British somewhat successfully.

The last third of the book deals with their attempt at Rakaposhi. Rakaposhi had been explored a few times, and HW Tilman had made an attempt in 1947, but returned without positive hopes. As Alfred Tisseiris arrived in Karachi he learned that German team had carried out reconnaissance of the mountain and decided against an attempt. The expedition were positive, but realistic in their expectations and we happy that should they not achieve the summit they would at least hope to set the way for others. As it is stated on the book cover, and noted in the foreword by Eric Shipton, it isn't a spoiler to say here that the weather was such that they could not attempt a summit. They did however climb higher than the Tilman Expedition.

After this attempt, it was summited in 1958 by a British team using the same route as the Cambridge men. It was subsequently summited using various other routes throughout the decades since.

There are various b&w photos throughout the book. These are pretty good considering the era. There are also some appendices covering route, travel distances, equipment and costs.

4 stars