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National Geographic : 1981 Feb
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EACHING THE TOP won't be the only prize for us. Others have been there before, in cluding our mountaineering friend Chu Ying Hua, here (left) with Wang, right, Jan, and me. More than the summit, we seek the thrill of skiing down, of floating across this immensi ty in hauntingly perfect snow. So we set out from Camp II (below) on July 21, 1980, on a grueling ten hour charge to the top. But the reced ing horizon taunts us throughout the day. In a race between exhaustion and coming nightfall, I recall that none of us has ever climbed so high before. Two hours before dark, however, Galen makes a final, painful push, and at last reaches the summit. Jan and I follow. And for a moment, at the top, we revel in the view-an orange sun easing behind the Soviet Pamirs as golden shadows rise up the slope to meet us. Then we push off for the downhill run atop eight inches of pow dery snow. Jan (below left) sets a new altitude record for women skiers. And we slip into the instinctive rhythms of survival skiing. By the time we reach Camp II, darkness is nearly as com plete as the smooth, deep satisfaction we share. O 199 NED GILLETTE(BELOW), CAMERONBANGS(TOP LEFT), ANDGALENROWELL
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