Well, after six years of heavy breathing, lolling tongues, difficult swallows, and occasional drooling, I finally did it.
No, it’s not that. I mean, I finally finished all the journal narrations and released them as audiobooks. I finished the last item The Adventures of Barente,last month. I no longer have to spend hours locked in a padded room at the back of the house talking into a microphone (even though my wife thinks I should spend more time there). This means you can now read all my books while chasing a seven-pound Double Gloucester cheese down a hill (or any other physical activity for that matter).
I can also confirm that my latest audiobook is the only audiobook in the world entirely about the climb of Baruntse, a 7,129m peak south of Everest. This means that if you’re interested in climbing Mount Balanze, you have to listen. It’s also a great way to listen if you’re not interested in climbing Mount Balanze but rather listening to interesting adventure stories while ironing your clothes.
Back in 2010, I embarked on a five-week trek through the Makalu region of Nepal with my friend and former climbing partner, Mark Dickson. Dixon Steps Named after him.
Before we even started our adventure, Mark hurt himself in a weird way. As we were returning to our hotel in Kathmandu after a night at Sam’s Bar, our rickshaw driver hit the speed bump too fast and came to an abrupt stop, causing Mark to fly off the front of the rickshaw. Luckily, Mark’s injury wasn’t too serious, but it could have been a lot worse as I nearly died laughing.
From that moment on, things got better. Our hike follows in the footsteps of the great New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary. Starting from the Arun Valley in the far east of Nepal, we crossed the Shipton Pass, hiked up the picturesque Barun Valley, passed Makalu, crossed the Sherpani Pass, and continued across the glacier-covered Barun Plateau to reach Baruntse. We hiked along the Hongu and Hinku valleys, over two other high passes – Mera La and Zatr La, and ended our journey in Lukla.
Hillary’s obsession with Makalu led to his downfall. He is famous for being the first person to reach the highest point on Earth, but later in life he adapted so poorly that his body struggled at the relatively low altitude of 3,000m. A severe altitude sickness on Makalu Island was the source of his troubles.
However, Hillary’s team from the New Zealand Alpine Club did make the first ascent of Balanze Peak. This is a climb that is not without its problems. More than 50 years later, when we arrived at Barentse Base Camp, we learned of an eerily similar incident.
The Adventures of Barente Contains my usual blend of humour, mountaineering history and adventure life stories. This will probably be the last audiobook I narrate, so you can’t miss it for that reason alone.
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