Damion Hadcroft

My comments relate to my 2017 Alpamayo expedition with Skyline, and my feedback draws on experiences that I have had elsewhere, notably Russia and Patagonia.

Adjustment to adversity.

There are several facets to the Skyline organisation that place them very well to deal with adversity.

It was clear from early into the programme that Skyline has a high level of logistical support behind their expeditions, which is underpinned by Jenn and Ted.  They maintained contact with the expedition team on a regular basis. Jenn has clearly established a very strong network of contacts to support every facet, from food to equipment, personnel, communication and emergency support.
The other aspect regarding their ability to respond to adversity are the people involved.  I came to learn that our guides were some if not the best in all of South America.  Their technical abilities were impressive to say the least; their decision making clearly very sound and they gave me supreme confidence when undertaking activities on the edge of my personal abilities.

The only example of adversity I can think of for our expedition, was dealing with the numbers on Alpamayo before our final summit bid.  Our lead guide organised for us to wait one day before we would go; a good decision as this allowed us to acclimatise a little more, plus it allowed us to coordinate a safer approach to the summit bid i.e. minimal issues dealing with other climbers.

Overall I think that our guides were very observant with our group, so that adversity never emerged, or if it did, at a very manageable level.  This extended into monitoring clients adjustment to altitude (including myself who found it a struggle at times), monitoring and instructing  clients on protocols for personal anchors, abseling technique, and much more.  I believe that the guide’s attention to detail and safety was very high and I can say confidently that it was of the highest standard that I have experienced anywhere else in the world.

Level of support from guides

The level of support from the guides was exactly right in my opinion.  Clients were free to do their own thing most of the time leading up to the start of the climb, however I realise that we were all under observation in these phases to ensure that folks would cooperate as team players, could handle the physical exertion, were adapting to and managing the altitude exposure, and were sufficiently skilled.  So basically, what we experienced as clients was a fun and interesting adventure, while in the background the guides were observing, managing and organising us in a manner to achieve the aims of the climb.  It was evident that the guides had strategies to deal with all personality types, to make the experience fun and exciting for everybody.

We were all instructed as necessary on the technical aspects before they emerged, so that everyone knew what was expected of them, and this, as with all other communication was in English and very clear.  This point was particularly relevant to the final summit push on Alpamayo, which went very smoothly.

An example of the support provided was my own adaption to altitude which I found difficult at a couple of points in the process; this was largely my own fault for not drinking enough water.  I informed the lead guide to keep an observation on me, which he did every day.  As it turned out, with each day I adapted a little more, so the final summit day was a thrilling experience I will never forget.  I came to learn that our guides have an extremely high level of skill for dealing with altitude sickness including observation, treatment and emergency recovery.

Level of support from crew

The crew were of themselves very highly skilled mountaineers.  Their ability to haul all their equipment over the mountains was amazing.  Their ability to provide good meals to us each day was in my opinion truly incredible.  Their level of support surprised me; I was not expecting the quality and variety of food that was provided and I was stunned by their ability with a minimum of equipment.  The crew made the experience as comfortable as any outdoors experience could possibly be. This was a real surprise however I was more than grateful for their support on the hard days.  The crew also had a good understanding of what we needed each day, especially with hydration.  We always had soups and tea at meal time and water was always available.

Lessons learnt

My experience on Alpamayo opened my eyes to mountaineering in a different way to what I had experienced before.   As an Aerospace engineer, I have a pretty good eye for risk, and at no stage ever did I feel that the inherent risks of mountaineering were not being managed as effectively as possible.  There were numerous instances where I observed skills, experience and training being put to use to manage us safely and effectively, to achieve the goals of the climb.  I also realised that I could not have achieved this on my own, and that the teamwork fostered by the guides had made this dream a reality.  We all returned with new friends and a great sense of achievement.

As far as lessons go, recognising the importance of having skills ready to use in the event of adversity, when I returned home after the expedition I set out to improve my own skills.  I undertook rope rescue training and lead climbing training;  in January I will complete an Advanced Rope Rescue course and following that intend on doing some more advanced alpinism training in New Zealand.  The professionalism shown by Skyline had effectively prompted me to work on developing myself into a more capable mountaineer.

Damion Hadcroft, QinetiQ Australia