60 | AG OutdoorFEATUREPROFILE ||MMARK MOORHEADARK MOORHEAD
TISOCTOBER1983:theyear76people
dieintheAshWednesdayfires,BMX
Bandits launches Nicole Kidman’s fledg-
ling career and Bob Hawke becomes prime
minister. But while this story is about an
Australian, it starts far from Australia,
high up in the oxygen-starved mountains of
theHimalayaontheWestRidgeofaMakalu
(8481m), the world’s fifth highest peak.
It is a beautiful post-monsoon day. Afternoon
cloud builds on the horizon. At base camp, Peter
Hillary, son of Sir Edmund of Everest repute,
waits for his Australian climbing companions,
Mark Moorhead and Fred From, to descend from
higher up the ridge.
‘I remember sitting at base camp looking up
and seeing that only one person was coming.
Having lost Bill [Denz], once again only see-
ing one person coming,’ says Hillary. ‘I thought,
Oh my God, what has happened? Anyway, Fred
arrived down with the appalling news that Mark
had fallen. He had gone looking for him and seen
his body way down below on the south side of
the ridge, blood on the steep spur – it was clear
what had happened.’
Moorhead, one of Australia’s most talented
climbers, had tripped over his crampons descend-
ing a section of unroped climbing on the West
Ridge and fallen to his death.
The Makalu trip had been blighted by tragedy.
Just two weeks earlier the fourth member of the
party, New Zealander Bill Denz – one of the best
Australasian mountaineers of the era – had been
killed in an avalanche. After much soul searching,
and partly as a tribute to Denz, Moorhead, Hillary
and From made the fateful decision to continue
with their attempt.
When the second tragedy struck Moorhead
and From had just broken through the route’s
major difficulties and were descending from their
highpoint at 7600m to rest before the final sum-
mit attempt. This final blow was too much for
Hillary and From, and the pair retreated.
News of Moorhead’s death quickly travelled
back to Australia, where his family and friends
were devastated. Moorhead was only 23, but in
the five years he’d been climbing he’d rapidly
built a reputation as one of the best climbers of
his generation.
Moorhead is also a figure of much speculation,
the ever-unanswerable question being: how good
could he have been? He had already achieved a
huge amount, but to many Australian climbers it
seemed the best was yet to come. But more than
that, Mark was a much loved individual, a camp-
fire bon vivant known for his whimsical sense of
humour, great intelligence and gentle manner.
Today, the name Mark Moorhead is little knownI