The world’s first (and best!) audiobook about climbing Baruntse

Well, I’ve finally done it after six years of heavy breathing, lolling tongues, hard swallowing and occasional salivation.

No, not that. I mean I’ve finally finished narrating all of my diaries and released them as audiobooks. I completed the very last one, The Baruntse Adventure, last month. I no longer need to spend hours on end locked in the padded room at the back of the house talking into a microphone (although my wife thinks I should spend more time there). It means that you can now enjoy all of my books at the same time as chasing a seven-pound Double Gloucester cheese down a hillside (or any other physical activity for that matter).

I’ve also been able to confirm that my latest audiobook is the only audiobook available anywhere in the world entirely about climbing Baruntse, the 7,129m peak just south of Mount Everest. This means that if you’re interested in climbing Baruntse, it’s a must listen. It’s also a pretty good listen if you’re not remotely interested in climbing Baruntse, but just like listening to an entertaining adventure while you do the ironing.

Back in 2010, I embarked on a five-week trek across the Makalu region of Nepal with my friend and erstwhile climbing partner, the very same Mark Dickson for whom the Dickson Step takes its name.

Mark managed to injure himself in bizarre fashion before we’d even started the adventure. As we returned to our hotel in Kathmandu after an evening in Sam’s Bar, our rickshaw driver pedalled too fast over a speed bump and lurched to a halt, causing Mark to fly out of the front of the rickshaw. Luckily Mark’s injury wasn’t too serious, but things could have been much worse for me when I nearly died laughing.

From that moment, things just got better. Our trek followed in the footsteps of the great New Zealand mountaineer, Sir Edmund Hillary. From the Arun Valley in the far east of Nepal, we crossed Shipton’s Pass and trekked up the picturesque Barun Valley past Makalu, crossed Sherpani Col and continued across the glaciated Barun Plateau to Baruntse. We completed our journey by trekking down the Hongu and Hinku Valleys over two more high passes, the Mera La and Zatr La, to finish in Lukla.

Hillary had an obsession with Makalu that was to lead to his downfall. He was famous for being the first man to reach the highest point on the planet, but in later life he was such a poor acclimatiser that his body struggled at the comparatively low altitude of 3,000m. A serious case of altitude sickness on Makalu was the cause of his troubles.

Hillary’s team from the New Zealand Alpine Club did make the first ascent of Baruntse, however. It was an ascent not without problems; and as we arrived in Baruntse Base Camp more than 50 years later, we were to learn of an incident with chilling parallels.

The Baruntse Adventure contains my usual blend of humour, mountaineering history and tales of expedition life. It may be the last audiobook I ever narrate, so for that reason alone you can’t miss it.

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