Number in series 70; Year of publication 1986 - Fell and Rock ...

122 13 MILES FROM THE EQUATORFirst came the serious business of acclimatising in the oedema hot-spot of theworld. Off we went for the ramble trek up Pt Lenana. It was a superb frostydawn as we set off up the bouldery slope, strewn with the other-worldly shapesof the giant groundsels looming in the grey half light. To stay away from thecrowds we scrabbled out way up the west side of the Lewis glacier andeventually found ourselves on a kind of crevassed ridge leading across toLenana. The weather was superb where we were, but the plains all around uswere rapidly covering themselves in a layer of clouds. We went bombing downthe normal rubbly track to our tents where we were suddenly hit by monsterheadaches. When I could move again I got several brews going and graduallythe knotted brains came unwound.Steve had always fancied doing the Ice Window, and I, being a born cowardand cheat, also fancied it when I realised I could sneak a look at the DiamondHeadwall. A night in the five star bivvy below the Darwin Glacier was followedby a flog up the same slope that one of the army boys had descended head firstafter not quite reaching the fixed ropes on the south Face route. All the porterswe had spoken to had been amused by his lack of fingers (one of the Everestboys I think), and the size of the bloody hole in his head.The Ice Window starts in the next bay right of the Diamond, and takes a rampline leftwards on to the buttress overlooking the Diamond Couloir. Steve set offup and found a nice shiny new peg after a few feet. When I followed I managedto lose one of my brand new, trendy goretex overmitts while I was nicking thearmy surplus peg. A couple of pitches took us into the hidden gully thatparallels the Diamond and we moved together for a couple of hundred feet untilwe came to a steeper pitch. Out came the rusty front point techniques from lastwinter and up we skittered. Eventually we emerged from the confines of thegully onto the shoulder at the start of the traverse into the window. From here Igot an all too clear view of the Diamond headwall and it looked steep and cleanas cut glass.Our route for the day traversed airily across the right wall of the couloir forabout 300 feet, to the gaping cavity under the overhanging lip of the DiamondGlacier. Two thirds of the overhang were sealed in by a fringe of giant icicles,with the result that once you popped your head into the hole you were in a16,500 foot luxury pad. It was a superb cave so we stopped and had a brew, allthe while wondering if the glacier would choose that particular moment tonudge a few hundred tons of ice over the edge.After the brew we set off on the next level of entertainment. This usuallyinvolves you in knocking a hole in the icicle fringe so that you can leapdynamically out above the Diamond headwall and sneak round the corner toclimb easy-angled stuff. A couple of lads from Nairobi had already saved us thebother of hacking holes, so Steve only had to lower himself out, do a couple ofsteep rroves to the left, and hey presto we were on the Diamond Glacier itself.It's a long pitch from where we had our brew to the first bit of belayable rock,292