Twelve

Thursday 5th September. Turned out at 5.45 when we heard the coolies beginning to move. Got packed, had choti hazir, and started at 6.45. I had a pair of paboo boots. All the men were wearing them, as well as big gloves, and muffled up in blankets, the party had a very Arctic appearance.
The glacier leading up to the pass is about ¼ mile wide, but where it enters the main glacier, it is much narrower, and as I said, forms a very broken ice fall, where George Bruce and the others of Sir Martin Coney’s expedition got into difficulties.
These we avoided by keeping up the spur and getting on to the level glacier (or nevé) above the ice fall.
The Wazir, who had discussed matters a good deal with Neve on the way from Arundu, came a little way and then said goodbye to return to Shigar. I thought he would never have done making his salaams. A sturdy, strong. bearded man who had made himself very helpful and pleasant.
Our party now consisted of the 5 shikaris, the old guide man, 12 coolies with loads and 12 others with light loads to assist generally.
As the glacier was covered with snow and there were a few narrow crevasses, the guide led with a rope round him for safety, the rest following in single file.
After marching an hour up several gentle rises, at 7.50 we suddenly reached the top of the pass and the edge of an ice cornice 10 or 12 feet high which extended right across the valley, terminated on the left by a precipitous rocky ridge, but on the right extending up the top of a spur which came down at right angles to the valley we were in.
Below the cornice was a very steep ice slope, covered with fresh snow, which ended in a precipice and ice fall forming the head of the Nashik glacier.
The view from the pass was magnificent. Looking north, as we were, the Nushik Glacier was seen to be bounded on the left by a long precipitous ridge of rocks some 600 feet in height, and on the right by steep slopes of snow and ice fall. It flowed from below us 5 or 6 miles to its junction with the Great Hispar Glacier. At the junction is a camping place called Haigatum (Neve refers to a Haigutum Glacier) where, all going well, we hoped to have reached this night.
Beyond the Hispar rose a long range of great peaks - the main range of the Karkarum - one peak being over 24,000 feet and another over 25,000 ft (or a vertical height of 12,000 above the Hispar). Frequently during the day we heard the long thundering of avalanches from these peaks, though distant.
The question was how to get through the cornice and on to the slopes which was not too dangerous.
We followed the cornice up the spur to the right a little way to some rocks which protruded from the snow, and a little back from the cornice. Here again were signs of old shelters, and some remains of fires and two or three sort of wooden ice axes.
When all the coolies had arrived, most of them suffering more or less with headaches - we were now at about 17000 feet - the shikaris went further up the spur to find a possible route. Neve followed them, but they did not go very far, and I saw them working at the cornice about 200 feet higher up. I went up to see what was doing. There was a crack in the nevé (frozen snow) which extended right through the cornice, so here Neve had made the shikaris widen it out, making a tunnel through the cornice to the slope beyond. A rope had been passed down through the tunnel and a man was at work at the other end of it, cutting a path on the snow slope. Never said they would be working there about 2 hours, so I went down to take some photos.
About 12 o’clock a man began shouting from above, and as all the coolies began going up without their loads, I thought there was something up, and followed.
On reaching the tunnel, I found that Neve was down on the slope somewhere. The shikaris indicated that he wanted me to follow. Had I known that the road was ready, I would have put on my nailed boots, but as it was, I had on the paboos, and beastly slippery things they were.
Descending through the hole, I found it led onto a very steep ice slope, covered with 2 or 3 inches of fresh snow. The slope appeared to end some 200 feet below in a precipice. The shikaris had cut a path in the ice almost 15 yards horizontally. Beyond that, the snow was rather thicker, and the slope eased off a little lower down, before reaching the precipice, and the shikaris had made footholds diagonally down, then a bit straight down, then diagonally again to a spot about 50 yards away where Neve was holding the end of the rope. He told me to let the rope pass through my belt, which I did, and it would have been a good arrangement as I had both hands free for my khud stick, but the rope would not slip through easily. So after going a few steps, a shikari holding on to me from behind, I took the belt from my belt and let it slide through my left hand and under my arm. This was not a good plan at all, as I had only one hand for my stick, and the rope tended to pull me outwards from the slope. The men holding me behind also did not assist my balance.
As soon as I got off the ice path to the thicker snow, by leaning too much to the slope, the snow began to give downwards, and I came down on my side, and should have slipped away down if the shikari hadn’t got tight hold of my coat. Neve had the end of the rope all right, and I should not have gone far provided I kept hold of the rope.
I waited where I was till a shikari came up from where Neve was and helped me down by planting his axe at each step for me. The baboo boots the men had were thicker and of rougher leather than mine, so not so liable to slip. Mine were as smooth as socks.
As soon as I reached Neve, I planted myself comfortably and held the rope passed round my body, while Neve went back to get the coolies through.