161 - Looking for a route to 161d from above
Steve Bellhouse
After faffing about in the morning whilst Helen tried to sort out the rest of her life via Hilde's phone, we set off to top camp about one o'clock. Then we realised we didn't have any hangars, so Anthony went back. A brief(ish) fester at top camp meant we didn't set off for the col until 3.45.
However, even with limited time we managed to strike gold and find a reasonable route. From the spot where the 161a & 161c paths split, a gully can be seen heading down the back of the Vord in the vague direction of 161d. Follow this easily until it peters out.
We then basically followed our noses until it got too hard. Pretty soon we could see the 'scar' in scarface, but it seemed that there was impossible bunde grief between us and prussik-free access to the pushing front.
I dived into the bunde anyway, as I had seen the area from above earlier on and it really didn't look that far.
After about 200yds of pretty serious bunde bashing I popped out somewhere I recognised from our previous route finding effort. A tricky climb and some easy walking led to the entrance.
So basically its a result. Some tedious bunde hacking needs to be done and a couple of handlines should be put on, but a decent path will soon exist. I reckon its about 1¼ from top camp to scarface, walking at a reasonable pace.