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2002
Mugs Stump Award Winners:
Maddaloni/Kelly—Meru Shark's
Fin
Matt
Maddaloni &
Damien Kelly
 It took a week to arrive in Tapovan base camp at 4200 meters.
Blizzarding with 5 feet of snow where at this time of year
there should be sun and grass. Locals say that the monsoon
lasted a month longer than normal. All the mountains are sumerged
in a heavy snow pack. Damien got really sick from the water
and food. He didn't stop puking blood for just under 24 hours.
The only thing that worked was injectable gravol before he
was able to drink liquid. I got altitude sick and puked myself
for one night, I was the only one not on Diamox. I stayed
waiting in base camp really weak while John Millar, Guy Edwards
and Conor Reynolds, our Canadian friends brought Damien back
to health so we could descend. In the ongoing blizzard which
lasted 9 days and collapsed our cook tent twice to the point
it was unrepairable, Damien and I decended to Gangotri, two
days away. Our Liason Officer, Baskar, came with us and we
spent 5 days recovering. Upon return we got our strenght back
and the snow had stopped leaving Tapovan buried in snow and
the peaks in glorious sun. Many expeditions had left, believing
even the west ridge of Shivling was unclimable this year.
Damien and I moved a load up to advanced base camp at 5100
meters and quickly descended the same day leaving a stash
of gear. The altitude really effected me so we slept lower
at BC.
 Upon
return the snow pack had thawed enough for serious post holeing
resulting in a tendon or ligament in my knee seizing. I couldn't
walk without help for the last 300 feet to camp and I spent
the next 5 days recovering in BC. Damien went back to ABC
and aclimatized. He spent some time soloing up the west ridge
of Shivling and made it to camp 1.
Days
later I radioed Damien on his situation and made preparations
to move the last of our gear to ABC. Damien had been watching
Meru's ice face which was plastered with unconsolidated snow
watching for it to avalanche for four days. He figured I should
bring a smaller pack and test my knee before commiting all
our gear to ABC. He had a hunch that Meru would be almost
impossible for an alpine style ascent due to the waist deep
vertical snow waiting to blast down and wipe us out. I arrived
in ABC at 6 am and felt acclimatized and feeling that my knee
had healed enough for an attempt on Meru.
At
this point Damien had lost all hope for Meru due to a British
teams report on the lower ice face being completly unconsolidated.
It was now getting colder and there was no freeze / thaw cycle
happening high on Meru and the snow hadn't avalanched off
as of yet. Disapointed to the fact that we had suffered so
much to reach this point and not have a chance at the mountain,
we stayed in ABC that afternoon. We wanted to make sure we
hadn't made a hasty decision and later that evening still
feeling we had made the right choice we grabbed all our gear
in a heavy load and decended to BC. At this point I was unsure
about my weaking knee so Damien and I split up for 3 days.
He became sick again but recovered quickly enough to try for
another run at Shivling. An Austrian team had spent two weeks
shoveling there way to camp 2 and were now fighting the overhanging
serac pitch. An Isralie team had made it to camp 1 and fixed
ropes on the upper ridge below camp 2. From BC at 4200 meters
Damien in a 15 hour push made it to 5700 meters, just below
camp 2 before the rigors of climbing solo and the severe altitude
gain in such a short time convinced him to turn around. He
did manage to sleep 2 hours at camp one in an Isralie tent
before trying the upper ridge and then turning around. He
says if he had brought a sleeping bag he might of attemted
to survive the night and try the summit but as is he suffered
mild frostbitten fingers and toes.
I
grabbed what I needed for three days and using two approach
poles the Isralies lent me I hiked 10 km up the Gangotri glacier
for photo opportunities. I got to see Shivling and Meru from
the back and Bhargarathi III and Kedar Dome upclose. I would
of continued to the base of Swachand, another 15 km away,
where the other three Canadians were climbing it's east face,
but my knee was becoming severly painfull again. I figured
I was exposed enough being 10 km away from any help so I packed
up and slowly made my way back to BC. Damien and I decided
Meru wasn't going to be climable this year so we decided to
leave. Jules Cartwright's British climbing team also decided
to give up on Meru, this being his second attempt, the last
one was six years ago where he made the highest attempt to
just below the final Sharksfin. We pooled our resources and
made our way back to Delhi for some good food, beer and Indian
night clubbing. On the way out my knee became worse and couldn't
bend my knee for the last couple of kilometers.
We
did manage to get some amazing photos and did some incredible
bouldering even though there was still lots of snow at the
end. I havn't seen any pics yet since I'm still in Delhi.
Met some amazing climbers from around the world. Managed to
solo a 500 foot spire/ridge on Shivlings north side out of
Tapovan. Amazing day, used my approach shoes and no rope on
amazing clean swept granite. Tried three different corner
systems before I found a more confortable way to the top.
Standing above Tapovan I could see all the expedition tents
far below and the glistening rivers that wandered among them.
ABC was far behind me up the Meru glacier and far in the distance
were my three friends on Swachand. Their progress is still
unknown to us due to our leaving before they returned.
Matt
Maddaloni
Tel: 604.898.8321
PO Box 2393
Garibaldi Highlands BC V0N 1T0
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