Mountain Climber honoured after being buried by deadly avalanche

A man from Glasgow won a big climbing award after almost dying on a trip a few years ago.

Tim Miller, who is 27 years old, began climbing mountains in his area, and then started tackling dangerous and unknown mountains in different parts of the world.

He won a big award, like a mountain-climbing Oscar, for reaching the top of a mountain in Nepal that no one had climbed before.

Tim was the first person to climb the very steep and dangerous route.

The mountain peak, which is 21,532 feet (6563 meters) high, was climbed without using extra air, ropes already in place, or help from Sherpa guides. This type of climbing is called “Alpine style. ”

Tim achieved this just a few years after he was caught in a deadly avalanche that killed his friend Christian Huber in 2018.

Excavate up to the top.

During camping in Pakistan’s Ultar Sar mountain, the group was covered by six feet of snow at a height of 19,300ft (5883m).

“It was a small avalanche, but it buried us because we were lying on the bottom of our tent,” he said. “I was on the opposite side of the tent, so I couldn’t reach them. ”

Tim chewed through the tent and dug his way out, but his friends didn’t come out with him.

He saved Bruce’s life while climbing, but when he found Christian, he was already dead.

Bruce and Tim found their equipment and stayed in their damaged tent for two days. They waited for the weather to get better before a helicopter from the Pakistani military rescued them and took them to safety.

“Everything happened so fast,” Tim said. “I didn’t notice it right away because I was too busy looking for things like food, water, and shelter to stay alive. ”

“When I realized what had happened, I saw how scared my mom, dad, and girlfriend were. ” But it helped me see how important it is for me to improve and move forward.

“When I think about it now, it feels like I’m reading a story about someone else in a book. ”

‘In a flow’ means moving smoothly and continuously.

Tim told BBC Scotland that he learned a lot from his experience and now always plans carefully before going on a climb.

“It can be scary sometimes, but I feel more stressed when I’m not on the mountain and my phone starts making noise,” he said.

“When you’re in the mountains, you feel really good, and I find it difficult to go back to regular life. ”

Tim met famous climber Paul Ramsden for the first time while hitchhiking back home to Glasgow after climbing Ben Nevis. They ended up becoming partners and won an award for their climb.

The two friends stayed in contact and carefully planned their trip up Jugal Spire for a long time before finally going on the eight-day expedition in the spring of 2022.

He said that there are only a few mountains that no one has climbed yet. It takes a lot of effort to find these mountains by searching books and Google Earth. The mountains remain unknown until someone actually climbs them.

The weather was bad during the whole trip, with rain, hail, and snow almost every day. Also, at the end of the trip, an avalanche destroyed the tent.

The two had to cover themselves with the fabric and they slept in a small cave for one night.

Tim got frostbite while climbing up the icy steep rock, but he thought the journey was “really great”.

“You’re hanging off a mountain where people aren’t supposed to be and tied to some equipment on a rock,” he said. “It feels like being on the planet Mars. ”

He began climbing with his mom and dad when he was young and it made him really excited about it. Then he got his first job at the Glasgow Climbing Centre in Ibrox.

Now Tim is a mountain guide and leads groups of people up mountains. He is going to Greenland, Iceland, and Nepal next year.

“I am very happy to get a Piolet d’Or, but I didn’t start climbing to win awards,” he said. The prize is getting to go to places no one has been before and having an adventure.

“During an expedition, you only focus on reading, chatting, and climbing for six weeks. ”

“In order to be alert, you need to take a break and relax. ” Everything you do has results, so you have to concentrate completely. “It’s unlike anything else. “