Climbing Hochstetter Dome |
 Our October 1991 Lobuje East expedition was gloriously unsuccessful. None of us got anywhere near the top. The three of us in this picture – from left to right, Dave, me, and Ralph – reached a point slightly higher than the others in our nine-member party, but at 5,760 metres / 18,898 feet above sea-level we were still well over three hundred vertical metres / one thousand vertical feet below the summit of the mountain. There were many reasons for this, but one was that the level of our alpine skills was, frankly, not up to the standards required for a peak as difficult as Lobuje East. As a result, after the nine of us had returned home to Australia and New Zealand, I arranged for an alpine instruction course to be held specifically for us – and five of the nine “Lobuje Legends” (as we jokingly called ourselves) signed up to go on it. The five of us were … |