Quokka Sports Copyright.

08 JULY 1999 // Background // Experts // Greg Child // Commentary

With American, German and Russian expeditions simultaneously zeroing in on Great Trango's last great problem (well, almost last, someone always squeezes more blood out of a stone), are we witnessing the Balkanization of a mountain?

I don't think so. The inconvenience of others crashing your party has long been a fact of climbing. The reality is that Great Trango is an enormous mountain, with plenty of room for three teams.

But, as to the odds of the Russians, who arrived on Wednesday, or the Germans who are scheduled to arrive later this month, edging the Americans out of the lead and reaching the top of the wall first, I'd still bet on the Yanks. Nevertheless, nothing is certain up there, and things could go wrong for The North Face Climbing Team - storms, injury, slow and hard climbing - giving the competitors time to narrow the lead.

But is that what this climb is all about?

No, it isn't. It obviously means a lot to the lads who do make the coveted first ascent on the wall, just as it meant a lot to be first up Everest. But after Hillary and Norgay climbed the biggest one, did it stop other sfrom adding even better and harder routes?

No.

The Russians and Germans will find plenty of rock and with luck they'll do an equally great route. Perhaps someone will complete the Spanish route further to the right, which aimed for the skyline of the upper headwall. So far this effort has been overlooked in commentary about this expedition. Yes, the route was nearly climbed in the early 1990s by four Spaniards who made a film of the climb. The film was called Banana Mango Tango, and it won a prize at the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

But let's examine the awkward phenomenon of what to do when unwanted guests turn up.

Well, one could have a punch-up, which was the case back in the early 1970s when Brits Chris Bonington and Don Whillans found a team of Italians trying to usurp their intended first ascent of Chile's Central Tower of Paine. When the famed barroom brawler Whillans found one Italian swarming up his ropes he resolved the situation by giving the invader a knuckle sandwich. This tactic may or may not have been diplomatic, but the Brits prevailed and topped out first.

Tempers can flare under such crowded, competitive circumstances. The climbing scene is increasingly competitive, and the resources for supporting new climbs are getting slimmer. While it seems strange that this wall sat untouched for so long, the pace of new route hunting is feverish, and it had to happen.

You snooze and you lose, you got to get to Base Camp first, and you better get up the route first time round because if you blow it in 1999, someone will be there bright and early in 2000 to snatch your route.

I learned this the hard way on Trango. In 1989 After Mark Willard and I spent 13 miserable days in storms and got to 19,000 feet before having to go down in a blizzard, we vowed we'd go back as soon as we saved enough money. We had crummy jobs back then and couldn't return the next year. But a Japanese guy named Minamiura made a beeline for our route and completed it in a solo push that took almost a month.

On the summit he tried to parapet off, but crashed into the face and ditched onto a ledge. His partners down at Base Camp eventually rescued him after several more days, but Minamiura was pretty hungry by then.

Mark and I found his parapet cords and some shredded chute material on the ledge he slept on when we had our final rematch with Trango in 1992. Anyway, Minamiura wrote an apologetic letter to me for one-upping us, probably thinking I'd do a Whillans on him if we ever met.

Truth is, I would have got down on my hands and knees and kissed his feet, so awed was I by his effort.

Are there any rules for dealing with the situation at Great Trango? No, there are only considerations of politeness and safety. The Americans, Alex Lowe, Mark Synnott and Jared Ogden are there first, so they hold the cards. By rights, it is first come first served, so the lads are in like Flynn and I reiterate a BUY rating on this team to summit first.

But what would it be like if the three teams all arrived at once? Americans, Germans and Russians? I hope the boys don't have Saving Private Ryan on video at Base Camp. Jokes aside, tempers can flare (as we've already seen) given the fact that all these groups have sponsors and have made pronouncements in their media to get up this wall. Could make for some interesting viewing.

My experience is, however, that cool heads prevail. I was at Gasherbrum IV, at the end of the Baltoro Glacier in 1986, well into the prep stages of the climb when a British team arrived. They were as surprised to see us as we them, and after they politely asked if they could share the route my teammates voted to say no - after much soul searching.

The ridge was narrow, the climbing hard, there were few spots to camp, other company could trigger avalanches, and we were enjoying our own company. Furthermore, we were in the middle of making a first ascent and we felt that crowding the peak would cheapen the experience for both teams. The Brits saw our point and very politely decamped to another glacier to try another route. Their leader, Dai Lampard, was really a gent about this.

But they played a good trick on us before they departed. Knowing that kerosene for our stoves was worth its weight in gold, they told us that they had buried several bottles of it at a campsite on the mountain. When we went hunting for it we dug around like dogs till we found the jugs. But when we opened them we found they contained piss.

My American companions were initially offended until I explained that this was in fact a great joke, and the height of British humor. You've seen Austin Powers, haven't you? Let's just say that Great Trango is a happening place baby, and everything will be "shagadelic."