The climbers peer over the edges of their portaledges and in the gathering light spot three men on the rubble-strewn slope below. The men wave their hands, gesturing that they should come down. The Americans yell to them to cease fire. Still sitting in their sleeping bags, they stare at each other with stunned expressions. Hanging here they are sitting ducks, so they start to draw straws to see who'll go down first to meet the guys with the guns.
Dickey steps up to the plate.
They tie their ropes end to end and Dickey clips his rappel device onto the nylon strand. He eases over the edge of the portaledge and swings into the void, carrying down a Motorola two-way radio. As he departs he blithely suggests he'll offer the gunmen a cigarette, a gambit that the laconic Californian has found useful in the Third World for defusing tense situations. The climbers can't figure out what the trouble is. Renowned for its huge sheets of tawny granite, the Ak Su has been called the Yosemite of Central Asia.