K2
On 14th June 2021, I started a 7-week expedition to become the first Briton with Diabetes to climb K2…
"I want to summit K2 to achieve my mountaineering dream and show that whatever challenges we face in life, we must still pursue our ambitions and not be afraid of failure."
K2 is 8,611m high, the second-highest mountain in the world, and has a reputation as the hardest to climb. K2 is well within the Death Zone, so called because above 8,000m. the human body cannot function properly due to the oxygen levels in a climber’s blood cells and tissue being reduced. Digestion can begin to shut down and the incidence of cerebral and pulmonary oedema, and even adrenal failure can occur in the Death Zone. For every four climbers that summit K2, one dies. And for every 20 that summit Mt Everest, only one summits K2.
I climbed with Rick Allen, one of the most successful high-altitude climbers the UK has ever produced.
In 2013, together with Sandy Allan, Rick climbed the Mazeno Ridge over 18 days on Nanga Parbat (8,126m.) earning the pair a Piolet D’Or (Golden Ice axe) – the mountaineering equivalent of the Oscars. In 2021, Rick was 65 and I was 60, yet we planned not to use supplementary oxygen. The expedition was 7 weeks long and yet the plan was to spend just 5 days on the mountain, once acclimatised, due to its dangerous slopes.
“K2 really scares me for so many reasons. I have done a ton of research and know why K2’s reputation is as it is. But when I set myself a huge challenge, I am always at my best. And so, in 2021, in my 60th year, when I should be reflecting on the past six decades, and feeling perhaps a bit achy and old, I am actually on fire with energy and motivation. I just cannot wait to get to Base Camp!”
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2021 was a hard year for me in many ways. I climbed my hardest ice routes in January, then had my first big fall on an overhanging grade 6+ and survived a big operation on my right hand. I had numerous issues supporting my wife Jackie, as she tried valiantly to care for her dying mother Joy - my mother-in-law. Joy finally died in October 2021. This really affected Jackie as she is an only child, as was Joy. Plus, Jackie was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in her back and by the end of 2021 needed constant support. Both my daughters needed support - Lottie aged just 23, halfway through her first year in her PHD at Imperial College. Beth, my first daughter, created an online business - https://www.wearebienetre.com/. This literally took off in 2021 and I very much wanted to help her with this success. Plus, my chalet rental business AlpBase, and my charity Action4Diabetes were very much affected by the C19 pandemic. All of the above was in addition to the very intensive six months I needed to prepare for and climb K2 in northern Pakistan. I arrived in Islamabad with my partner Rick Allen on 14th June. After a very bad case of dysentery on the walk-in to Base Camp, I reached Camp 3 (7,300m.) during the acclimatisation phase on Broad Peak (8,051m.). Rick went higher, up to 7,800m. but retreated to avoid the catastrophic and deadly events that then unfolded resulting in the death of Kim Hong-bin, a celebrated South Korean climber, numerous bad cases of frostbite and the near fatal experiences of various members of 4 different commercial expeditions.
Then, less than three days before the start of my summit attempt via the SE Ridge of K2, my partner Rick Allen, decided to team up with IFMGA guides Jordi Tosas of Spain, and Stephan Keck of Austria, to attempt a new route on the East face of K2.
I last saw Rick at Advanced Base Camp (ABC) on K2 on the evening of 24th July prior to his attempt on the East Face and my attempt on the SE Face of K2. Tragically by 09.30am, early the next day, Rick was dead, killed in the first of four avalanches that hit the face. The first killed Rick outright, the second tore him of the mountain. Together with six Pakistani High Altitude Mountain Guides, I found Rick's body at midnight the same day. These are the six: Arshad Karim; Shah Daulat; Waqar Ali; Rizwan Dad; Ahmed Baig; Ishaq Ali.
Then together with Liaqat Karim, Jordi Tosas, Muhammad Qasim and Samina Baig we created a tomb and buried Rick the next day close to ABC on K2. Straight after Rick's death was reported, the expedition manager Mirza Ali called the expedition off, and asked everyone to come down from the mountain. Less than three days after, 20 climbers summited K2 via the SE Ridge. I had missed my summit slot, but far more importantly I had lost one of my best and closest friends. More than any other human being I have known, Rick epitomised humanity in its humblest, its kindest and in its gentleness form. I lent Rick a book to read during our K2 expedition - Nan Shepherd's "The Living Mountain". Rick absolutely loved it and thanked me for this "real gift" as he put it. This is a quote from that book:
“The presence of another person on the mountain does not detract from, but enhances the silence, if the other person is the right sort of hill companion. The perfect hill companion is the one whose identity is for the time being merged in that of the mountains, as you feel your own to be.” Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain. Rick was for me, and he was for so many others, my perfect hill companion. It was time to leave K2 Base Camp.
I arrived back home, in the Southern French Alps, in early August. I was already working on my Plan B, in order to reach the 50,000 Euros, target I had set myself at the start of 2021 for my charity Action4Diabetes.
A month later, I made a successful ascent of the Cassin route on the North Face of the Piz Badile (3,308m.) - one of the six great north faces in the alps. I managed to guide my old friend Pete Wilson up this huge vertical rock wall with the help of another good mate and climbing instructor Rob Benton. Less than 10 months before this climb Pete had a quadruple heart bypass operation so we had to be careful with him! In total we managed to raise 52,500 Euros from the two JIC's (Jerry’s Insulin Challenge) - K2 and Piz Badile - for A4D. So, I felt pretty happy about that, all things considered.
2021 was also a big year for my charity Action4Diabetes. We started A4D in 2016 as a mission to provide emergency lifesaving and ongoing medical care for underprivileged people with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) in the South-East Asian region. By the end of 2021 we had reached the following milestones:
- We directly partnered with 27 clinics across SIX South-East Asian countries.
- We supported over 700 young people with T1D by providing free lifesaving medical supplies and essential equipment required for survival with T1D.
- In 2020 and 2021 A4D raised U$350,000 with our bespoke fundraising virtual event programme Misson4Type1 which enables teams from an organization to participate in fun and engaging virtual exercise events and help raise funds.
- We launched the ground-breaking digital platform "HelloType1" in South-East Asia dedicated to supporting the T1D community all in local language.
- Through the A4D Aspire programme we provided three educational scholarships and three vocational training scholarships to ambitious young people with T1D.
None of this would have been possible without our incredibly supportive Healthcare Professionals and their teams, our generous individual financial supporters, members of Sponsor A Child programme, our notable partners @Zuellig Pharma, @Baxter, @Bieresdorf, @Roche Diabetes Care, @BioNime, @Novo Nordisk and @GIZ, our volunteers and our dedicated team members.
