Uphill battle for lone Briton
His first attempt to conquer the world's highest mountains ended in humiliating failure when he sneezed on a flour-sprinkled chapati and slipped a disc.
Today Alan Hinkes tries again, as he sets out from Katmandu on the last leg of his quest to become the first Briton to scale the world's 14 highest peaks.
The 43-year-old Yorkshireman, who has stood on the summit of Everest and survived the blizzards that killed his close friend Alison Hargreaves on K2, will battle against 200mph winds and temperatures as low as -50C to become one of only six men to have scaled every peak higher than 8,000 metres.
Hinkes, a former teacher from Northallerton, was one of the last people to speak to Hargreaves, a mother of two, before she was swept off the world's second highest mountain, plunging to her death in 1995. He says her spirit will drive him on through the snow and freezing winds.
'Alison and I climbed the first stages of K2 together,' he told The Observer yesterday, speaking by telephone from the Nepalese capital. 'We were a team. She was a wonderful woman and when I climb I will remember everything she achieved and how much I want to live.'
Hinkes has already reached 10 of the summits; today he begins his ascents of the final four. Dozens of climbers have been killed in avalanches and rockfalls or have frozen to death on the Nepalese peaks of Makalu, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri and Kangchenjunga - so Hinkes knows his final trip will be a struggle for survival.
'I will be climbing alone in what mountaineers call the death zone,' he said. 'Once you get above 7,500m you are almost in the stratosphere. The air is so thin you can only live for a few hours or days at most - and no helicopter can reach you. Your head feels like it is being crushed. If bad weather rips in on the jet stream, I know I've had it. No matter how good my shelter, I'll never make it back. But I know it's something I have to try.'
When he arrives at the roadhead in the foothills of the Himalayas later today, Hinkes will pack enough food and fuel for 60 days and begin a 12-day trek to Makalu base camp, on a glacier at 5,800m.
He hopes to complete his five-week ascent early next month, before heading on to the next peak. If all goes to plan, he will be back in Britain in time to celebrate Christmas - and his place in the record books - with his 15-year-old daughter Fiona.
Hinkes is climbing against the clock, because when the monsoon season arrives the foothills will be reduced to leech-infested swamps, and deadly avalanches will crash down from the peaks.
'As a mountaineer you have to go with your gut instinct and - despite the risks - my sixth sense tells me the right time is now. I feel lucky.'
Hinkes will eat and sleep in a cramped tent, using snow and ice to brew tea and eating high-energy foods and chocolate bars. But one snack he will definitely leave behind is the Nepalese staple - chapati.
Two years ago, as he was about to begin his ascent of the 8,125m Nanga Parbat - known as 'the killer mountain' - he sneezed when he inhaled some flour and slipped a disc. After a painful 10-day wait for a helicopter, during which he lived off diminishing food stocks and painkillers, he was airlifted to Islamabad. It was months before he was fully fit again.
He laughs at the embarrassment now. 'You have to see the bizarre, comic side - although it was absolute sheer bloody agony at the time.'
Only five men have scaled the 14 highest peaks - Italian Reinhold Messner, Poland's Jerzy Kukuczka and Krzysztof Wielick, Erhard Loretan from Switzerland, and Mexican Carlos Carsolio. If Hinkes succeeds, he will become the most famous British mountaineer since Chris Bonington - but he insists that he is not interested in fame and lucrative sponsorship deals.
He says he is 'a simple climber', following a dream he has cherished since he climbed his first hill in the North Yorkshire Moors at 14. 'Someone once asked me what use mountaineering is. It's an odd question. Nobody ever asks why a javelin thrower throws his javelin, why a swimmer swims, or a footballer kicks a ball. At the end of the day, it is a personal achievement. For me, mountaineering is freedom.'
This is the archive of The Observer up until 21/04/2025. The Observer is now owned and operated by Tortoise Media.