A British climber whose attempt to conquer the 14 highest peaks in the world was foiled by a sneeze vowed yesterday to return to Pakistan next year to complete his mission. "In next June, I will come back to do Nanga Parbat," Mr Alan Hinkes told reporters as he lay sideways on the grassy lawn of a private hospital treating him for a slipped disc.
Mr Hinkes was earlier airlifted from the base camp of the 8,126metre Nanga Parbat, in northern Pakistan.
Mr Hinkes, from northern England, pulled a muscle in his back while eating the thin unleavened local bread called chapati on the mountainside last week. Flour on the chapati blew into his face, making him sneeze.
"It is pretty embarrassing," Hinkes said. "The sneeze was caused by a bit of flour up my nose and I sneezed and completely spasmed, badly, and seemed like I slipped a disc."
Hinkes had already climbed nine of the 14 "8,000" peaks, so-called because they rise above 8,000 metres and was attempting a world first by climbing the remaining five in the space of 12 months.
"I was 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) in the high base camp area, about three or four days from the road head," he recalled. "I couldn't walk for the first three days, couldn't even crawl. Yesterday I managed to stagger down to 11,000 feet (3,350 metres) or a bit lower using ski sticks."
Adding to his woes, a helicopter which was supposed to airlift him from the base camp first went to the wrong valley and later encountered weather and refuelling problems.
Hinkes' accomplishments include scaling the 8,847-metre Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, and the 8,610-metre K-2, the second highest, in 1995 and 1996.
He said he was undeterred by this latest setback, but "I am bit off chapatis at the moment."