Duff Mal

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Biografie:
Großbritannien

Mustagh Tower. Our expedition was made up of Sandy Allan, Jon Tinker, Tony Brindle and me as leader, United Kingdom, and Burt Greenspan, Donna Kalel and Alex Reid, United States. Unfortunately Greenspan had a knee injury whilst on the walk in and was forced to return to Islamabad, accompanied by Donna Kalel. We climbed the northwest ridge, the same as the first ascent. Reid helped with load carrying to 18,700 feet but did not acclimatize well enough to go higher. We arrived in Base Camp on July 1 and established Camps I and II at 16,800 and 18,700 feet on July 4 and 8. The initial glacier and icefall were harder than expected and so stocking these camps was time-consuming. However, we fixed rope up the icefall on the ridge flank and got to the ridge at 20,400 feet on July 24. We established Camp III at 20,600 feet on July 25. The ice slope was a bit prone to rockfall late in the day but not difficult. From Camp III we went to the summit in three days with two bivouacs, both in the same place on the ascent and descent at 22,300 feet. Brindle and I reached the summit (7273 meters, 23,862 feet) on July 29, followed on July 30 by Allan and Tinker. The ridge was interesting mixed climbing and technical enough to maintain our interest! We then went to Gasherbrum II and set off on August 17 alpine-style. Unfortunately on arrival at the standard Camp I, we were struck by a massive dysentery attack and bad weather, which caused a general weakening of resolve.

Mal Duff, Scottish Mountaineering Club
Quelle: AAJ 1985

Lhotse Shar Attempt. Scots Mal Duff and Sandy Allan hoped to make a two-man, alpine-style ascent of the south face of Lhotse Shar in early May. This quick ascent was never achieved. They were climbing on the southeast face for acclimatization when, on May 9 at 7000 meters, Duff was hit on the head by a falling sérac and only just managed to descend safely to Base Camp. He left for medical treatment. The climb appeared over until Miss Alison Hargreaves, who had just scaled Kangtega with Jeff Lowe’s American expedition, joined Allan in another bid on Lhotse Shar by the southeast face. They had been on the mountain together a very few days when they were forced at 6500 meters to abandon the effort because of slab avalanches. The highest point reached on the mountain was 7000 meters on May 9.

Michael J. Cheney, Himalayan Club, and Elizabeth Hawley
Quelle: AAJ 1987

Tawoche Attempt. Ten Britons and Americans were led by Scott Mal Duff on a guided climb on the southwest face to the southeast ridge of Tawoche. None of the clients got higher than 6100 meters, but after they left, on October 2 Duff and the other guide, Andy Black, ascended to 6350 meters, about 150 vertical meters below the summit. They did not climb to the top because of dangerous snow slabs. They descended and moved Advance Base for an attempt on the unclimbed east face, but they were forced to give up because of Duff’s ill health.

Michael J. Cheney, Himalayan Club, and Elizabeth Hawley
Quelle:AAJ 1988

Annapurna III Attempt. A seven-man British expedition led by Mal Duff had great difficulties with the terrain on the approach up the Seti Khola. Their cook died of high-altitude pulmonary edema on September 12 before they reached Base Camp. After establishing Advance Base, they decided that the east ridge was the only suitable route on the south face of Annapurna III. The original objective, the southeast buttress, was rejected because of large avalanches that swept the lower half of the face. From the glacier a straightforward spur was followed to reach the ridge crest at about 6100 meters. A horizontal corniced ridge would then have led for a kilometer to the east face. This 1000-meter high face has a band of séracs threatening the lower half, requiring a rightwards traverse. This would gain the northeast ridge of the face. Easier slopes would lead some three kilometers to the summit. On October 2, Duff, Dr. Ian Tattersall, Andy Cave and Andy Perkins set out on an alpine-style attempt. On the 3rd, first Tattersall and later Perkins felt unwell and turned back, but the other two continued. On October 4, Duff and Cave climbed five pitches on the south side of the ridge to bypass an area of steep unstable rock and two pitches on the crest to 6450 meters, where they bivouacked. High winds and snowfall persuaded them to descend in the morning and give up the attempt. (This information was kindly supplied by Mal Duff.)
Quelle: AAJ 1989


Annapurna Attempt. Six Britons, American Richard Nowack and New Zealander Lester Gray, led by Mal Duff, plus two Sherpas, spent three weeks on the north face of Annapurna, making Camps I and II in snow caves and Camp III at 6500 meters at the top of the Dutch Rib on May 9. Camp III was stocked during the following few days, but it was never slept in. On May 14, when Duff, Ian Woodall, Nowack and Gray tried to move above Camp III, just a few meters above the camp they got into a sérac barrier that was extremely broken and dangerous. It would have been safe enough, Duff felt, for two people to go up and down once, but some of the team’s client members were not sufficiently experienced for a rapid ascent. It would have been necessary to fix the route to one more high camp, thus requiring 20 passages through the barrier. So the climb was abandoned.

Elizabeth Hawley
Quelel: AAJ 1991