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Ask the Expert
Big-Wall Warrior Mark Synnott Answers
Your Climbing Queries
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Mark, you're climb on Great Trango was an inspiration to
me. As a result, I'm now eating two minute noodles and
sleeping on my mates couch for the next 8 months so as to save for a
guided trip on Great Trango Tower. A friend recommended
Adventure Consultants in New Zealand, but I'm hoping for a
cheaper company. Do you know of anybody else who would be willing
to put up with me for a month or so?
—Rob Lewis, Wagga Wagga, Australia
Robbie,
You don't know how great it is to hear that we helped inspire you
to head over to this amazing part of the world. I'm tempted to bring
you over myself because I definitely still have some unfinished business
over there. There are at least two other peaks in the group that I still want
to climb: Nameless Tower and another more obscure unclimbed peak
which we call "The Flame." I would suggest looking in the
guides section in the back of Climbing Magazine. You could get
the e-mail addresses for a bunch of outfits and then inquire if they will
take you and how much. I can tell you that it costs about [U.S.]$5,000 per
person (at least) if you are going on your own, so I'd imagine it will
cost a bit more than that to hire a guide. Maybe if you train really hard
over the next eight months you can just go for it with one of your buddies.
The regular route from the Trango Glacier is pretty mellow with only a
few technical pitches just below the summit in the 5.4 range. Good luck
and please be safe.
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About Our Expert
"A lot of people don't realize it, but the only thing you really need to climb
big walls, or any big route, is determination," says Mark Synnott. OK. But
what else does it take to best a big wall?
E-mail Mark and he'll give you the skinny on everything from grub to
gear to getting started. And he should know.
Mark has bagged more than 50 big walls, including Argentina's Cerro
Torre and first ascents on Canada's Baffin Island and southern Asia's
Karakoram Range. And when he's not climbing, he's helping design new
North Face equipment or contributing to magazines like National
Geographic, Outside, and Climbing.
E-mail Mark
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Climber Mark Synnott
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National Geographic Atlas of the World