Our L.O., Rajiv Tomar, was a student studying tourism and a keen mountaineer. He had been pressurised by his family into doing the job. Most of the time he was extremely helpful, haggling over prices and finding out information. He had previously climbed Jogin I so knew a lot about the area. On some things though he was completely wrong. He insisted that it was impossible to get to Utter Kashi in less than two days. We did in fact get to Uttar Kashi in around twelve hours. He also said that we would only be able to buy potatoes and a few other things in Uttar Kashi. He was completely wrong on this as most foodstuffs were available. It was felt to be undiplomatic to mention these disparities.
He was also very good at being wise after the event, a habit that became extremely irritating. At base-camp he said that Mount Support were the most expensive agency to use and that others would have been just as good. He had not breathed a word of this before however. He also complained a lot about the food. He said that all the wrong things had been bought even though we had discussed extensively with him what food to take.
He suffered from bad diarrhoea on the walk in to base-camp and never recovered enough strength to do any climbing. He became increasingly bitter at base-camp and complained about the way he was treated. One day he would go on about how he did not want anything from the expedition, the next he would ask for all sorts of equipment. Tony and Tig had been given various free pieces of clothing by manufacturers. He thought that they had been given to the expedition for him and was aggrieved that he was not given them. For most of the time he was helpful so we decided to give him an epigas burner, the remaining gas canisters and some items of his kit.
The Liaison officer was supplied with equipment as set out below in Delhi. His 'friend' who came with him insisted that he was bought some trainers as not knowing his shoe size it had not been possible to obtain any boots for him in England. The L.O. was also a little unhappy at the lack of waterproofs but decided that it did not matter. He also decided to take his own sleeping bag with him as he did not think that the one provided would have been warm enough. The only items of equipment purchased for the L.O. were the trainers and a fleece, a total of around £30. A very considerable saving on the £500 budgeted for. The rest of the equipment was borrowed from the Clare Rats.
| Karrimat | Jaguar S65 Rucksack |
| K2 crampons | 2 Ice axes |
| fleece top | sit harness |
| 4 season sleeping | chest harness |
| helmet | head-torch |
| balaclava | glacier goggles |
| trainers | Goretex mittens |