Xia auf der Everest-Südseite

In the fifth attempt, Xia Boyu made it. As Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, expedition leader and head of the Nepalese operator “Imagine Trek and Expedition”, wrote on Facebook, the 69-year-old Chinese was among 14 members of his team, who today reached the summit of Mount Everest at 8,850 meters. Among the summiteers was also Nima Jangmu Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to scale Everest and neighboring Lhotse in one season. She had also been part of the Mingma-led team that had succeeded the first eight-thousander summit success of the spring season on 29 April on Lhotse.

He never gave up

For Xia Boyu finally fulfilled his lifelong dream to stand on the roof of the world. At his first try in 1975, his team had got into bad weather about 250 meters below the summit. The Chinese climbers had to spend two days and three nights at an altitude of 8,600 meters at temperatures of minus 25 degrees Celsius. The following night, at 7,600 meters, Xia left his sleeping bag to a teammate who had got into serious trouble. He paid his selflessness with severe frostbite, both legs had to be amputated. Later, he also fell ill with lymph node cancer. But Xia did not give up his hope of reaching the top of Everest. He began climbing again with prostheses – and returned to Everest in 2014. Because of the avalanche disaster in Khumbu Icefall killing 16 climbers Xia had to return home then empty handed, as well as in 2015 after the devastating earthquake in Nepal. In spring 2016, Xia failed due to bad weather about 100 meters below the summit.

Rope fixing team from the north on the summit too

Nordseite des Mount Everest

On Sunday, eight Sherpas had succeeded the season’s first Everest summit success. They fixed the ropes to the highest point, clearing the way for the commercial expedition teams. Mingma’s team was the first one to follow them. Also on the Everest north side, the ropes are now fixed to the highest point. This is reported by the operator “Climbalaya”. The Nepalese boy scout Anish Luitel was part of the successful team, it said. The 26-year-old wanted to climb Everest on behalf of all Scouts worldwide. For Anish it was the second Everest summit success after 2016.

Summit success on Cho Oyu

Cho Oyu

Another successful ascent is reported from Cho Oyu, where the German expedition leader of the operator “Summit Climb”, Felix Berg, one of his clients and Dawa Jangbu Sherpa reached the summit. In the run-up Felix had written to me that they wanted to ascend without breathing masks. Just over a week ago, a team of the US operator Alpenglow Expeditions led by Adrian Ballinger had reached the highest point of Cho Oyu – with bottled oxygen.

Lhotse (in the sun)

The early eight-thousander bird catches the worm. Mingma Gyalje Sherpa once again lived up to his reputation as an early starter and booked the first eight-thousander summit success of this spring season on the 8516-meter-high Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world. “We are on Lhotse summit now,” wrote the 32-year-old on Sunday morning on Facebook. “Thanks to ‘Madission‘ team for their hard work till 7800m and our team for further hard work till summit. Imagine Trek & Expedition team rocks.” Mingma is the head and expedition leader of the Nepalese operator.

Six times in the death zone

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

Also in spring 2017, Mingma had made the first summit success of the season, then on Dhaulagiri. At the end of the year, he had entered the death zone six times: on Dhaulagiri, Makalu, K2, Broad Peak and twice on Nanga Parbat. Four times he reached the summit (Dhaulagiri, Makalu, K2, Nanga Parbat), the fifth ascent on Broad Peak is disputed. This spring, he had set out to lead two Chinese clients to the top of Lhotse and five more to the summit of Everest. Part one of the plan is ticked off.

Fallen to death in his tent

R.I.P.

Meanwhile, the first death of the climbing season on the eight-thousanders is reported from Dhaulagiri. According to the newspaper “Himalayan Times” the body of the Italian climber Simone La Terra was found at 6,100 meters. A storm gust had blown the tent, where the 37-year-old had been staying, into the depth, it said. La Terra had already scaled five eight-thousanders.

High Camp in the Western Cwm

The preliminary work on Mount Everest and Lhotse is entering the final phase. According to Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, expedition leader and head of the Nepalese operator “Imagine”, today ten Sherpas were to climb up to Everest South Col at about 8,000 meters to pitch up Camp 4 . “Kilu Pemba and myself will fix Lhotse Camp 4,” Mingma wrote on Facebook yesterday. He wants to lead two Chinese clients to the 8516-meter-high summit of Lhotse. Five more Chinese from his team will tackle Mount Everest, including – as reported – the double amputee Xia Boyu, aged 69. Mingma is known as an early starter at the eight-thousanders. “I am quite sure that we will be the first team on the summit of Lhotse,” he told me in March when we met in Kathmandu. “We are planning to reach it at the end of April or in the first week of May.”

Rather safe route

Route through the Icefall

Most commercial teams have completed their first acclimatization rotation on the mountain with overnight stays in Camp 1 (6,000 m) or Camp 2 (6,400 meters) and are recovering at Everest Base Camp. The team leaders unanimously praise the quality and safety of the route through the Khumbu Icefall, prepared by the “Icefall Doctors”. An incident on Wednesday did not change that. A serac collapsed, two Sherpas were slightly injured. “Incidents like an ice collapse or small avalanches are normal on the mountains,” said Ang Dorjee Sherpa, head of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) to the newspaper “Himalayan Times”.

Camp 2 at 7,000 meters

On Saturday, Romanian Horia Colibasanu and Slovak Peter Hamor want to set off from Base Camp to pitch up their Camp 2 at 7.000 meters and spend four to five days there. The two Europeans want to traverse the summits of Mount Everest and Lhotse, without bottled oxygen, according to their own words on a new route. In 2017, Ueli Steck had also planned to do the Everest-Lhotse traverse. Next Monday is the first anniversary of Ueli’s death. The Swiss top climber had fallen to death during an acclimatization climb on Nuptse.

Update 28 April: “Today we fixed till 8200m on Lhotse(8516m). Tomorrow we hopefully get to Lhotse summit,” writes Mingma Gyalje Sherpa on Facebook.

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

His secret of success? “Actually this is my job, because I run a company. So I need to lead my clients to the summit,” Mingma Gyalje Sherpa tells me as we sit opposite each other in a café in Kathmandu. In recent years, the 31-year-old has blossomed to the high-flyer among the Sherpas. In fall 2015, he succeeded the first ascent of the West Face of the 6685-meter-high Chobutse in Rolwaling, his home valley – and he did it alone. It was the first solo ascent of a Sherpa in Nepal. Even as an expedition leader, he made headlines. In 2017, no one climbed so often above the magical 8,000-meter-mark as Mingma. The head of the expedition operator “Imagine Trek and Expedition” entered the death zone six times: on Dhaulagiri, Makalu, K2, Broad Peak and twice on Nanga Parbat. Four times he reached the summit (Dhaulagiri, Makalu, K2, Nanga Parbat), the fifth ascent on Broad Peak is disputed. “I will return to this mountain this year,” Mingma announces. “Actually I am quite sure that we made the summit. But this time, I want to reach the highest point of Broad Peak without any doubt, on the one hand to end the debate, on the other for my own satisfaction.”

Better conditions in fall

On Nanga Parbat in summer 2017

Also on Nanga Parbat, Mingma had made a second ascent in last year’s fall because he had not been sure whether he had really found the highest point in bad weather during his first summit attempt in summer. More than three months later, he reached the summit beyond doubt with several clients. “Conditions were much better in September than in summer,” says Mingma. “Perhaps it is really the formula for success in the future to tackle this eight-thousander later in the year.”

First Lhotse, then Everest

Everest (l.) and Lhotse (in the middle)

At the beginning of April, Mingma will set off for a Lhotse-Everest expedition. First, he wants to lead two Chinese clients to the 8516-meter-high summit of Lhotse, then seven Chinese to the top of the 8850-meter-high Mount Everest. As in the previous year, the Sherpa is looking to be successful early in the season: “I am quite sure that we will be the first team on the summit of Lhotse. We are planning to reach it at the end of April or in the first week of May.” He then wants to turn to Everest that he has already scaled five times (with bottled oxygen). The prospect of a crowded normal route does not deter Mingma. “It’s okay for me,” says the expedition leader. “We take only very experienced Sherpas and make sure our teams are not too big.”

Good Climbing Sherpas cost money

Mingma on the summit of K2

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa does not like expedition operators who offer dumping prices. “Low budget means low safety. If you want to have experienced and well-trained Climbing Sherpas and thus more safety, you also have to pay them better,” says Mingma, who himself has a mountain guide certificate of the UIAGM (International Federation of Mountain Guide Associations). “The discounters should know that they are dealing with the people’s life. Actually, we need minimum standards for expedition operators, but I’m skeptical that we’ll ever get them.”

“Other rules are required”

Mingma puts little hope in the government. The new rule, which has meanwhile been overruled by the Nepalese Supreme Court, no longer to grant permits to double amputees and blind climbers, is discriminatory, says the Sherpa: “There are a lot of disabled climbers who are more capable than non-disabled.” Other rules are required to reduce the number of summit aspirants on Everest, finds Mingma: “So if someone wants to climb Everest, he must have scaled another eight-thousander before. Or he must have at least the qualification of climbing 7,000 meters.”

Goal: All 8000ers without breathing mask

Solo on Chobutse (in 2015)

For now Mingma Gyalje Sherpa puts his personal ambitions as a climber on the backburner. But that does not mean that he has given up his big dream. The 31-year-old wants to become the first Nepalese who has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen. “There are still three left in my collection,” says Mingma, meaning Mount Everest, Gasherbrum II and Shishapangma. If we add Broad Peak (see above), it would be four. “This year, I have to focus on leading my clients safely on Everest. That’s why I can not do it without breathing mask. But maybe I’ll try it in 2019.”