Climbing into the fog

No photo, no video, no GPS data. It’s not possible to prove clearly where exactly on the seven-thousander Latok I in the Karakoram the two Russian climbers Alexander Gukov and Sergey Glazunov finished their ascent on 23 July. The GPS tracker didn’t work properly. The mini-camera they had used to document the ascent was carried by Sergey when he fell to his death on 25 July. The body of the 26-year-old could not be recovered. Two days before, the two Russians had reached their highest point in the fog. “By 7 pm, Sergey climbed up a small col between a rock and a snowy serac. I was standing ten meters below him. The snow was almost vertical,” Alexander recalls on “mountain.ru”, where an English translation of his statements was published today.

“I did not feel the summit”

The versions of Glazunov and Gukov

„I started shooting the video, commenting that we climbed up somewhere. ‘What do you mean, ‘somewhere’: it’s Latok I, Sanya,” Sergey shouted. ‘Take me,’ I shouted to him. ‘This is unreal(istic), Sanya. Everything is covered with snow mushrooms and vertical slopes here,’ Sergey answered and began to descend.” Was Sergey really standing on the highest point of Latok I at 7,145 meters? He is still in doubts, Gukov admits: “I did not feel the summit, I don’t remember the pre-summit ridge, we did not stand together and hug one another and enjoy ourselves on the summit as I dreamt to,” Alexander writes on “mountain.ru”. “I think that it was the top of the North Ridge or the western ‚summit‘ of Latok I.“

Either on top of North Ridge or main summit, says Gukov

Alexander Gukov (r.) and Sergey Glazunov (l.) before their ascent

I ask the 42-year-old whether he is convinced that he and Sergey really have climbed the North Ridge to its end. “Of course I am sure,” Gukov answers me adding that the only alternative is that – as Sergey assumed – the highest point of their ascent was not the highest point of the North Ridge, but the main summit of Latok I. Actually, Alexander continues on “mountain.ru”, “it does not matter to me whether we climbed this 360m summit ridge or not.“ It was a good climb, writes Gukov, although he and Sergey were together en route for the first time, they harmonized well as a team.

After Glazunov’s fatal fall, Gukov had been trapped on the North Ridge at 6,200 meters for almost a week before being flown out of the wall by a Pakistani rescue helicopter on long line. He was severely dehydrated and suffered from frostbite on his feet. “I am getting better quite fast,” Alexander writes to me from Russia. Get well soon!

Thomas Huber, Rainer Treppte and Simon Gietl (from l. to r.)

Thomas Huber is sitting on packed expedition barrels. “I’m really looking forward to the expedition,” says the 51-year-old. The older of the two Huber brothers is leaving for Pakistan this Saturday. Thomas wants to tackle the northern side of the 7,145-meter-high Latok I – together with 33-year-old South Tyrolean Simon Gietl and climbing old hand Rainer Treppte, aged 59, who comes from Saxony and has been living in the Allgäu region for a long time. “I have already climbed with them,” says Huber about his two climbing partners. Last spring, the trio succeeded in repeating for the first time the difficult “La Strada” route on the Cima Grande in the Dolomites, which the Poles Piotr Edelman and Jan Fialkowski had mastered for the first time in 1988. “We harmonize very well as a team, and we have every chance to tackle such a goal as Latok I,” says Thomas Huber. I also talked to him about the drama on this seven-thousander in the Karakoram that had kept us in suspense for days.

Thomas, yesterday we got the relieving message that the Russian climber Alexander Gukov was rescued from the North Ridge of Latok I. How did you experience this dramatic story?

Gukov rescued – after 19 days on the mountain

I checked “mountain.ru” every day to see what happened. I was hoping for good weather and studied the weather forecasts. My thoughts were always with Alexander Gukov on the North Ridge. Of course, it’s a very special feeling when you know that you will soon be on this mountain yourself. You just hope it ends well. But we should not forget the tragic death of Sergey Glazunov, who fell to his death while abseiling.

Things like that are never easy if you burn for a mountain. And for me, Latok is a very special mountain. My career on the very high mountains began with the first ascent of the Latok II West face in 1997 (together with his brother Alexander Huber, Toni Gutsch and the American Conrad Anker). And 21 years later I travel to Latok I – to a mountain where an incredible drama has just happened.

North Face of Latok I, on the right the North Ridge

Is that why you travel there with mixed feelings?

It’s not that easy. However, I am relieved at the moment that all the energy put into the rescue was finally rewarded and that Alexander could be brought alive and safe from the mountain. I think it was a salvation for him. I am glad that if everything goes well, we will pitch up our tents on the Choktoi Glacier only after another two and a half weeks. So some time will have passed, in which everything can calm down a bit.

Why do you set off so late in the season?

I believe it’s better to go later because of global warming. I think the mountain will be safer then. After all I read about the Russians and the Slovenes, it was extremely warm on Latok I in July and therefore also extremely dangerous. Alexander Gukov and Sergey Glazunov have nevertheless ascended. I don’t think the conditions were optimal.

I have to say, however, that I didn’t search information on these expeditions intensively. I rather went climbing. I wanted to get out of what was happening on Latok I because I felt the competitive situation. I am glad that I was not on the mountain at the same time, because definitely all decisions can no longer be made objectively when other expeditions are on the same mountain, on the same route, with the same goal. I look forward to us being alone on the mountain. We will seize our chance or even realize that it is too dangerous. We’ll try everything, of course. I enjoy taking up challenges that seem impossible. But I will also accept if the risk is incalculable. Then I’ll say: Okay, it doesn’t have to be.

Thomas sets out again

Have you already decided whether you want to try the North Face or the North Ridge?

No. I have a goal, an idea. But the mountain will always show you something new. The conditions and the weather will show you exactly the only way that is possible for you. The whole north side is so complex and so difficult. We’ll see.

This is your third trip to Latok I in four years after 2015 and 2016. Did you sink your teeth into this mountain?

I’ve never done this before, I’m not sinking my teeth into any mountain. But I have never really failed on Latok I, because it has always gone wrong in advance. I haven’t yet hit my ice tool a single time on Latok I. If I get a chance to make a serious attempt and Latok I shows me that it is too difficult for me, I will have made peace with this mountain.

Alexander in the rescue helicopter

Good news from the Karakoram: Alexander Gukov is saved. The 42-year-old Russian climber had been trapped for almost a week on the North Ridge of the seven-thousander Latok I at 6,200 meters, without food or equipment. With finally good visibility, but strong wind, Pakistani helicopter pilots managed to get Alexander off the mountain on a long line. Two helicopters were in action.

Flown to hospital in Skardu

After the pilots had discovered Gukov’s orange snow-covered tent on a small ledge, they tried to lower the lifeline to the climber. After 15 minutes Alexander managed to grab the line and latch on. He forgot, however, to remove his anchor to the mountain. Fortunately, the anchor gave way after a while. Gukov was first flown to the base camp and, after supplying him there first aid – to the military hospital in the northern Pakistan city of Skardu. In the past few days, the rescue helicopters had taken off a total of seven times, but had had repeatedly to return empty-handed due to thick clouds on the mountain.

Frostbite on his feet

Rescue near the North Ridge

Gukov seems to be doing as well as can be expected. He has frostbite on his feet and a slight injury to his chest due to transport with the lifeline, reports mountain.ru, citing the doctors in Skardu. Besides, Alexander is severely dehydrated. “I was about to hallucinate,” Gukov is quoted. “Avalanches went down day and night. I thought they wouldn’t rescue me anymore. I had no more strength to dig my feet out of the snow. I just lay there.”

Gukov had been on the mountain for 19 days. As reported, his 26-year-old rope partner Sergey Glazunov fell to his death on Tuesday last week while abseiling. The two Russians had tried to climb the North Ridge of Latok I up to the 7,145-meter-high summit for the first time. Apparently they turned back at an altitude of almost 7,000 meters.

First aid in BC

Since the legendary first attempt in 1978 by the Americans Jeff and George Henry Lowe, Michael Kennedy and Jim Donini, who were forced back by a storm about 150 meters below the summit, around 30 attempts to master the route failed.

In 2015, Gukov was awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the Climbers”, together with his compatriot Aleksei Lonchinsky for their new route via the South Face of the 6618-metre-high Thamserku in Nepal.

P.S.: Thanks to Anna Piunova from mountain.ru for the first hand information during the past days.

Russian specialists on their way

Gukov’s position on the North Ridge of Latok I (see arrow)

With the Slovenians Ales Cesen and Luka Strazar as well as the British Tom Livingstone, three other top climbers have arrived at Latok I base camp. The option of taking Gukov off the mountain by using a long line from the helicopter or at least supplying him with food and material still appears to be the most promising. It’d have to clear up for a while, though. Meanwhile, a Russian helicopter crew has set off for Pakistan, that has a great deal of experience with long line rescues. The two Russians are to support the Pakistani rescue forces.

No contact since Saturday

Because the battery of Gukov’s satellite phone has been exhausted since Saturday, there is no longer any contact with the climber. Alexander has been on the mountain for 18 days now. As reported, his 26-year-old rope partner Sergey Glazunov fell to his death on Tuesday last week while abseiling. The two Russians had tried to climb the North Ridge of Latok I up to the 7,145-meter-high summit for the first time. Apparently they turned back at an altitude of almost 7,000 meters. Since the legendary first attempt in 1978 by the Americans Jeff and George Henry Lowe, Michael Kennedy and Jim Donini, who were forced back by a storm about 150 meters below the summit, around 30 attempts to master the route failed.

Alexander Gukov (in 2014)

Alexander Gukov must persevere. This Friday, dense clouds covered the 7,145-meter-high Latok I in the Karakoram in Pakistan. The helicopter of the Pakistan army, with which the 42-year-old Russian mountaineer is to be rescued from the North Ridge, stayed on the ground. As reported yesterday, Gukov is trapped at 6,200 meters without equipment, his rope partner Sergey Glazunov had fallen to his death while abseiling. “Damn! Where do all the avalanches come from? I can’t even boil water,” Alexander wrote to Anna Piunova from mountain.ru by SMS today. Later he sounded a little more optimistic: “I managed to find half a Snicker and also drink some water.” His food supplies have run out after more than two weeks on the mountain.

Several options

Gukovs position where he’s waiting for help

It is not yet clear how to rescue Gukov. There are several options. The rescuers could try to get him off the mountain with a long rope from the helicopter. Or they supply Alexander from the air with food and equipment so that he can continue his descent on his own. Another possibility would be that other climbers move towards him on the ridge. The Italian Herve Barmasse and the German David Göttler, currently in the base camp of the almost eight-thousander Gasherbrum IV, have offered their help, but have not yet been able to get to Latok I. “Bad weather continues. No chance to fly to Latok I,” Herve wrote on Instagram. According to the weather forecast, a small window might open on Saturday morning. However, the weather is not expected to improve significantly until Sunday.

Update 28 July: Also today on Saturday no rescue flight was possible due to clouds on the mountain. The battery of Alexander Gukov‘s satellite phone is now empty, so that he can no longer send SMS from his position at 6,200 m on the North Ridge. – But there is a light at the end of the tunnel: “Weather has improved, sky is already visible here and there, but the mountain is still in clouds. Things are looking good for the morning,” reports Viktor Koval from Latok I base camp.

The weather on Sunday

Update 29. July: Again nothing. During the night from Saturday to Sunday 20 centimeters of fresh snow fell. Latok I remained in clouds. Only in the afternoon the rescue helicopter was able to take off. Apparently the pilots had no visual contact with Alexander Gukov. “Today the helicopters will no longer fly. I hope Sasha heard us. And he hears that we haven’t left him, haven’t forgotten him. We do everything possible, even in bad weather. Tomorrow it is predicted to be clear from morning to evening. Help us, Lord,” wrote Anna Piunova afterwards on mountain.ru.

Broad Peak

For me, drones come right after leaf blowers. I find the noise generated by the increasingly popular flying machines extremely annoying. Drones sound like mutated giant bumblebees. Torture for my ears. But even I have to admit: On the eight-thousander Broad Peak in the Karakoram in Pakistan, a drone and the guy who flew it did a great job. Eight days ago, on 9 July, the 64-year-old Briton Rick Allen set off alone for a summit attempt. His teammates stayed in Camp 3 at 7,000 meters. When Rick didn’t return, they sounded the alarm because they feared Allen might have been injured or even died. Sandy Allan, who had already descended to base camp due to strong winds in the summit area, contacted the Polish Bargiel brothers in the nearby K2 Base Camp. Andrzej Bargiel is planning to ski the second highest mountain in the world from the summit to base camp for the first time this summer. His brother Bartek is filming the project – also using a drone.

Thanks to Dan Mazur and Co.

Sandy Allan (l.) and Rick Allen on Nanga Parbat in 2012

Bartek let it take off. With the help of the camera mounted on the drone, Sandy, Andrzej and Bartek were able to find Rick Allen’s exact position and to radio it to Camp 3. A seven-man rescue team, consisting of climbers from the expedition operator “Summit Climb”, managed to climb up to Rick and bring him back to Camp 3 in the dark. “Rick returned to Base Camp on 12 July safely thanks to Dan Mazur (the expedition leader of Summit Climb) and his Sherpas,” Allen’s expedition blog said. “After being examined by a doctor at Base Camp, Rick is okay all things considered and has a few superficial cuts and some frostnip.”

The two Britons Sandy Allan and Rick Allen had landed a coup in the Karakoram in summer 2012. At that time they were the first to reach the summit of Nanga Parbat via the more than ten kilometers long Mazeno Ridge. Allan and Allen had been at very high altitude for 18 days. In 2013, they had been awarded for this amazing ascent the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the Climbers”.

Bielecki and Berg on top of G II

Camp 3 on Gasherbrum II

Meanwhile, further summit successes were reported from the Karakoram: According to Polish media reports on Monday, 35-year-old Pole Adam Bielecki and 37-year-old German Felix Berg reached the 8,034-meter-high summit of Gasherbrum II. “We managed to traverse the summit – we reached it by the fragile and surprisingly difficult West Face and went down the regular route (via the Southwest Ridge),” Adam wrote on Facebook. Their companions Jacek Czech, also from Poland, and Boris Dedeshko from Kazakhstan had wanted to climb via the normal route, but had turned around at 7,500 and 7,800 meters respectively, said Bielecki. It was his fifth eight-thousander, for Felix Berg after Mount Everest (in 2004), Broad Peak (in 2014) and Cho Oyu (in spring 2018) the fourth success on one of the 14 highest mountains in the world.

First summit success on Broad Peak

Yesterday, ten climbers from the Austrian expedition operator “Furtenbach Adventures” according to their own words reached the summit of Broad Peak at 8,051 meters. The group had abandoned their first summit bid last week because the avalanche danger had been still too great at that time. The first summit attempts of this summer season have also begun on K2.

Rescue on 7000er

An Austrian climber was killed in an avalanche accident on the 7,338-meter-high Ultar Sar in the Karakoram. Christian Huber died on Friday when the snow masses hit the tent he and his team-mates Bruce Normand and Timothy Miller had pitched on a ridge at an altitude of 5,800 meters. The two uninjured British and the body of Huber were taken from the mountain this Sunday by a rescue helicopter of the Pakistani army. An army spokesman said it was a “daring mission”. The first emergency call had been received on Saturday morning. Bad weather had prevented the helicopter from taking off earlier.

Mountain with high avalanche risk

Ultar Sar (r.)

The three climbers had been in Pakistan since the end of May, their permit expired in the first week of July. Ultar Sar, which is located in the Hunza region in the north of the country, is considered as a difficult mountain with a high risk of avalanches. The heavy snowfalls of the past days in the Karakoram are likely to have increased the danger even more. The two Japanese Akito Yamazaki and Kyoshi Matsuoka had succeeded the first ascent of Ultar Sar in Alpine style in summer 1996. During the descent, the completely exhausted Yamazaki had died of high altitude sickness in camp 1.

Huber lived in the USA for a long time

R.I.P.

Information about the Austrian, who now died on Ultar Sar, is still rare. A spokesman of the Foreign Ministry in Vienna told the Klagenfurt-based “Kleine Zeitung” that Huber was about 50 years old and had lived in the USA for a long time.

The Scot Bruce Normand has long been a constant in the climbing scene. In 2010, the physicist, who lives and works in Switzerland, was awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the Climbers”. Along withh the two Americans Kyle Dempster (he died at Ogre II in Pakistan in 2016) and Jed Brown,  Bruce was honored for the first ascent of the North Face of the 6,422-meter-high Xuelin West in China.

Upper slopes on Cho Oyu

The good news first: The finished spring season in the Himalayas has shown that coordinated rescue operations for climbers in serious trouble are also possible in Tibet. For example, the Chinese authorities even allowed the use of Nepalese rescue helicopters in the case of the Bulgarian Boyan Petrov, missing on the eight-thousander Shishapangma. At the same time, a team consisting of three Sherpas and three Chinese climbers, was searching for Boyan directly on the mountain’s slopes. Unfortunately in vain. But the cooperation between Nepalese and Tibetan rescuers could have set standards for the future. Also on the 8,188-meter high Cho Oyu, a three-person Chinese-Tibetan rescue team was deployed immediately after an emergency call. Now for the bad news: As with Petrov, there was no happy ending in this case too. And the world hasn’t heard about it either –till today.

“His body is still there”

Atanas Skatov on Cho Oyu

The Bulgarian climber Atanas Skatov informed me that a South Korean member of his team died in Camp 1 on 15 May. Skatov had climbed Cho Oyu on 13 May without bottled oxygen – for the 40-year-old it was his sixth of the 14 eight-thousanders. Like him, the young Korean was a member of the team of the Nepalese expedition operator “Satori”, wrote Atanas. “I was the last person to talk with him on 14 May at 1 pm in Camp 2 at 7,150 meters.” At that time, the Korean was in good shape and said that he wanted to follow Skatov to Camp 1 later. According to Atanas, however, he did not arrive there. The team’s expedition cook then alerted the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA). That same evening, three rescuers arrived and ascended to Camp 2 on 15 May. Skatov had already gone to the Tibetan city of Tingri at that time. “In the evening I was informed that the rescuers had found the Korean in Camp 2 and helped him to descend to Camp 1. That’s where he died. And his body is still there,” wrote Skatov.

Expedition operator confirms the reports

R.I.P.

A French climber largely confirmed this information to Billi Bierling from the chronicle “Himalayan Database”: the Korean had been “very unwell” and “apparently” had died in Camp 1 on 15 May. At that time, the German expedition leader Felix Berg of the operator “Summit Climb” was already on his return journey after his summit success (also without bottled oxygen). But his group had also met the Korean on the mountain. “When we came down from the summit, he turned around at about 7,850 meters,” Felix wrote to me. Later it was said that the Korean was still in Camp 2, two versions were circulating: He had run out of strength and had problems to descend. The other one, according to Felix, was: “He wants to make another summit attempt – without descent!” I have asked the expedition operator Satori several times for a comment and today finally got a reply: The 28-year-old Korean Park Shin-yong had passed away on Cho Oyu on 16 May, Rishi Bhandari, head of the company, wrote to me: “We are unable to save him because he was so weak and tired.”

Elisabeth Revol at the press conference in Chamonix

“We could have saved Tomek.” With this sentence, the French mountaineer Elisabeth Revol has triggered a debate. Could her Polish rope partner Tomek Mackiewicz still be alive, whom, suffering from severe high altitude sickness and slowblindness after their summit success on Nanga Parbat, she had had to leave at 7,200 meters, if the rescue at the end of January had started faster? On the late evening of 25 January, Revol had made several emergency calls. “It’s a race against the clock when you set off a rescue,” Elisabeth said at a press conference in Chamonix on Wednesday. “It took, in fact, 48 hours for something to happen. So clearly I have a lot of anger inside of me – and Tomek could have been saved if it had been a real rescue carried out in time and organized.”

Price forced up
The anger of the 37-year-old is expressively directed neither against the climbers of the Polish K2 winter expedition, who had ascended in high speed and brought her back to safety, nor against the helicopter pilots, but against the Pakistani organizers of the rescue operation. Ludovic Giambiasi, a friend of Revol, had tried from France to launch the search for the two climbers in distress. He spoke of “delays and problems”. So the price was forced up from $ 15,000 to $ 40,000, “cash, on the table”, said Ludovic. According to their own information, the government of Gilgit-Baltistan province has set up a commission to investigate the allegations.

Climbers in difficulties have to descend

Revol was flown out by helicopter

Compared to Nepal, where helicopter rescue from the highest mountains is privately organized and now works with Western support quite professionally, Pakistan still lags behind. The Pakistani military has been strictly controlling the air traffic in the Northern Areas due to the tensions with India lasting for decades. Rescue Operations are conducted by Askari Aviation, a subsidiary of the Army Welfare Trust. The helicopters are provided by the army and flown by former air force pilots. For a rescue on the long rope from heights above 7,000 meters, as it is now practiced almost routinely on Mount Everest, the gutted special helicopters, used in Nepal, are missing as well as the staff specializing in this dangerous way of rescue. In 2005, a Pakistani helicopter team succeeded in bringing the Slovenian top climber Tomaz Humar on the rope from 6,000 meters in the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat down to safety. However, such operations are not routine in Pakistan. Expeditions, whose members have been running in great difficulties, are explicitly required by Askari Aviaton to make an effort to bring the climbers down to a safe height for helicopter landing below 5,500 meter.

Elisabeth Revol in a French hospital

The ridge is narrow at the highest mountains in the world, between luck and danger, between life and death. On Thursday of last week, Elisabeth Revol and Tomek Mackiewicz reached the 8,125-meter-high summit of Nanga Parbat. Elisabeth was the first woman to succeed a winter ascent of this eight-thousander, Tomek the first Pole to set foot on the highest point of Nanga Parbat in the cold season. In the seventh attempt Mackiewicz had finally fulfilled his big dream. For Revol, it was the third attempt, all together with Tomek. The two climbers did not have time to enjoy the second winter ascent of Nanga Parbat on the summit. They were late, it was already 6 pm local time and dark. That was still the smaller problem. “Tomek told me ‘I can’t see anything any more’,” Elisabeth reports from a French hospital, where her severe frostbite on her hands and feet is being treated. “He hadn’t used a mask because it was a bit hazy during the day and by nightfall he had ophthalmia (an inflammation of the eye). We hardly had a second at the top. We had to rush to get down.”

Tomek’s condition deteriorated rapidly

Nanga Parbat

Revol descended ahead, Mackiewicz followed clinging to her shoulder. Tomek’s condition deteriorated rapidly. The 43-year-old suffered from breathing trouble and frostbite. He was no longer able to reach their last high camp. Therefore, the two climbers ran for shelter in a crevasse at about 7,200 meters. At sunrise, “blood was streaming“ from Tomek’s mouth – a sign of an acute life-threatening high altitude edema. Elisabeth made several emergency calls, and some came through.

“They told me,‘If you go down to 6,000 metres, we can pick you up, and we can get Tomek at 7,200 meter’,” says Revol. “It wasn’t a decision I made, it was imposed on me.” To Mackiewicz, she remembers simply saying: “Listen, the helicopter will arrive late afternoon. I must go down, they’ll come to get you.”

Hallucinations with consequences

Denis Urubko (l.) and Adam Bielecki (r.)

However, bad weather delayed the rescue operation. Elisabeth had to spend also the next night in a crevasse, at 6800 meters. She was so exhausted that she hallucinated: She was convinced someone would bring her hot tea if she gave a shoe in return. For five hours, she spent in her icy refuge without a shoe and suffered heavy frostbite. When Revol heard a helicopter, but found that it could not land because of the strong wind, she decided to continue descending – with wet gloves and frostbite on her feet. She did not know then that Denis Urubko and Adam Bielecki were climbing up towards her, reports the 37-year-old. At about 3 am in the morning she reached a camp on the Kinshofer route. “And then I saw two headlamps arriving. So I started to yell. And I said to myself,‘OK it’s going to be ok,“ recalls Elisabeth. “It was incredibly emotional.“

Decision about life and death

Tomek Mackiewicz, R.I.P.

That applied also for the two rescuers. “It was a miracle,“ says Denis Urubko in an interview with desnivel.com. First, they got Revol in a tent and cared for her, then they rested until dawn from their exhausting speed climb. According to Denis, the rescue team was faced with a dilemma: “At that moment, we had to make a decision: either help Elisabeth to survive – or climb on, with very little hope of finding Tomek.“ After they had been informed by Revol about Tomek’s condition, and in addition, even worse weather was expected for the upcoming day, the rescuers decided with heavy heart not to continue the ascent and focus instead on the rescue of the Frenchwoman. They escorted Revol further down. At 4,800 meters, a helicopter landed and finally brought Elisabeth to safety. The search for Tomek was declared over because the rescue team saw no chance to find the 43-year-old Pole alive. She wants to “recover as soon as possible“ and then visit Tomek’s children, says Elisabeth. Mackiewicz leaves behind his wife and three children. For Tomek’s family, a fundraising was launched.

Given their all

For sure, a discussion will start now. Questions will be asked, like these: Should have Elisabeth and Tomek given up the summit and turn back earlier? Could the rescue operation have begun earlier? Would not a chance have existed to rescue Mackiewicz alive? Many who have never been on a high mountain will speak up now and do the moralizer. I think this should be answered: Elisabeth Revol and Tomek Mackiewicz have made their decisions self-responsible and only called for help when it became clear that they could not save themselves by their own efforts. In a short time and very unbureaucratically, a rescue operation was organized. The Pakistani helicopter pilots and the four climbers of the Polish K2 winter expedition, who were flown to the Nanga Parbat, risked a lot and gave their all to save Revol and Mackiewicz. All persons involved in the action are to be given thanks. That in the end only the Frenchwoman survived, but Tomek stayed forever on the mountain of his fulfilled dream is tragic, but was under the circumstances probably impossible to prevent. The ridge is narrow at the highest mountains in the world.

R.I.P.

The two climbers Alberto Zerain and Mariano Galvan were most likely killed in an avalanche accident on Nanga Parbat. A rescue helicopter from the Pakistani army has now discovered an avalanche cone at the place from where the last signal from the GPS tracker was sent last Saturday. During two flights today the helicopter crew found no trace of the  55-year-old Spaniard Zerain and the 37-year-old Argentinian Galvan. “This situation unfortunately excludes the possibility of finding survivors,” said Alberto Zerain’s team.

Experienced eight-thousander climbers

Alberto Zerain (r.) and Mariano Galvan (l.)

Zerain and Galvan had wanted to reach the 8125-meter-high summit of Nanga Parbat via the Mazeno Ridge, which is about ten kilometers long and the longest ridge on the 14 eight-thousanders. On Friday last week, the Spaniard had last telephoned with his team. A day later, the GPS showed over six hours that Zerain and Galvan were moving across the ridge. After this, the locate point remained on the same spot. At some point, the signal from the GPS device died. Later, the GPS signal ran out.

In May, Alberto had scaled Annapurna in Nepal, his tenth eight-thousander. Mariano Galvan had reached the summits of seven eight-thousanders. Last spring, he had guided the Australian Allie Pepper on Lhotse. Pepper had not reached the summit because of health problems.

The surviving Taiwanese (l.) in a hospital in Kathmandu

Mountain rescuers in the Alps often complain about climbers or hikers, who overestimate their abilities, suddenly can not move neither forward nor back and have to be rescued from this precarious situation on the mountain. That’s what happened to a young couple from Taiwan, who were on a trekking tour in the mountains of Nepal, more precisely in Langtang, without a guide. The two had been missing for 47 days. Now rescuers found the 21-year-old man lying unconsciously in a cave at the foot of a rock, his 19-year-old girlfriend was dead. According to the Taiwanese she had died three days earlier.

At the end only water

The rescuers reported that the trekking tourists had got lost and descended a steep rocky slope because they hoped to reach a village in the valley on this way. However, a gorge with a waterfall cut off the path. They could not return because they were unable to climb the rock up again. First they had eaten their supplies of noodles and potatoes, the survivor said. When the food had been consumed, they only had drunk water.

Maggots and lice

The sight of the Taiwanese was not exactly appetizing. His right leg was infested with maggots, his head full of lice. The young man is said to have lost thirty kilos. The survivor’s father had traveled to Nepal after the couple had been reported missing, and had hired a helicopter to search for the two trekking tourists. In the Himalayan state it happens again and again that hikers are missing. In almost all previous cases, the trekkers were traveling alone and without local guides. This should actually give all hikers who travel to Nepal food for thought.

Alex Txikon in high camp on Everest

Danger welds together. When Alex Txikon returned to Base Camp after six exhausting and exciting days on the slopes of Mount Everest, he hugged every Sherpa who had accompanied him. “In this team everyone knows what needs to be done,” the 35-year-old Basque writes in his blog. The appreciation is mutual. In Alex’ words, Norbu Sherpa told him during the descent: “I believe that for more than 20 or 30 years, no westerner has done what you are doing.” Like the six Sherpas, Txikon had carried up loads of more than 30 kilograms through the Khumbu Icefall and further up.

Weaker and weaker

During the six days, there had been several critical situations. At first, Txikon’s Spanish team partner Carlos Rubio had to be flown out by rescue helicopter due to lung problems. The 28-year-old, who – like every team member – had been involved in the material transport, had suddenly become weaker and weaker. “When we walked for ten minutes, it took Carlos five times more,” Alex writes. “One more night at this height would have been very hard for Carlos and I think he would not have had enough strength to descend to Base Camp.”

With courage and luck

In the Western Qwm

After the successful rescue operation, Alex climbed with the Sherpas Norbu, Nuri and Chhepal to Camp 3 at 7,400 meters. After an ice-cold, windy and therefore sleepless night, Chhepal descended, the other three continued their ascent. “Oh my God, what a mistake going out without sun!”, said Alex. At 7,800 meters, the trio turned around. On further descent towards Base Camp, the climbers found that on their route through the Khumbu Icefall some seracs had collapsed. With courage and luck, they made their way back and reached the Base Camp unharmed. I’ve sent Alex three questions. He replied promptly.

Alex, you have now already been at 7,800 meters. How were the conditions on the mountain and how did you feel?

The conditions on the mountain were hard. But fortunately we are a good team with six Nepali climbers: Norbu, Nuri, Chhepal, Phurba, Lakpa and Pemba. With people like them Everest is possible in winter. The conditions are hard but I am super happy with these Nepali climbers, with such an amazing team. We have to say thanks to the company Seven Summits and the helicopter crew because they did an incredible rescue mission for Carlos Rubio.

Dangerous way down

Your companion Carlos had to abandon the expedition due to health problems. Do you have to re-plan now?

Of course Carlos was an important climber. But as I told you before, the other team members are incredibly strong. The most important thing is the friendship. And with these six Nepali climbers I am super happy. We have a very good feeling. Now, of course, we need to check the next plan. Before we try to tackle the summit, we should make a meeting and speak to each other. This is the best team that could happen to me on expedition.

Are you still confident to be able to reach the highest point?

To reach the summit of Everest without oxygen is another step. We do it with passion and our biggest effort day by day. And I think that we can reach the summit. But we will see. I think we will have the possibility. But first we need to relax and to focus, to learn and understand how the winter is going on, how the wind will be. I feel positive. We will do our best, but of course we will have very few possibilities.

Alex Txikon: We can reach the summit

Kyle Dempster (l.) and Scott Adamson

Thomas Huber‘s new Karakoram adventure began with a rescue mission. The German top climber’s exact local knowledge on the Ogre (also called Baintha Brakk) was in demand. About a week ago (I report on it only now because I was on holiday in the Alps at that time) the 49-year-old was picked up by a Pakistani rescue helicopter to search along with the crew for the missing Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson. In vain. No sign of the Americans. In the end the search was canceled because there was no more hope of finding them alive.

Crowd funding on the Internet

The Pakistani expedition cook of the two Americans had seem them from Base Camp for the last time on August 22: About halfway up the still unclimbed North Face of the 6960-meter- high Ogre II. Then the weather changed, storm and heavy snowfall began. When there was still no sign of life from Dempster and Adamson even after days, families and friends of both started a crowd funding on the Internet to finance the helicopter rescue. Within days, they collected the required sum of nearly $ 200,000.

Two-time Piolet d’Or winner

Latok group and Ogre (r.)

Kyle and Scott had tackled the North Face already in 2015, then Adamson had broken his leg just below the summit ridge. With luck, both had survived the descent. Dempster and Adamson were well-known members of the international top climbing scene. The 34-year-old Adamson had succeded some first ascents in Nepal and Alaska. The 33-year-old Dempster loved the Karakoram, a “pretty mind blowing place”, as he once said. Kyle had been awarded twice the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar for mountaineers“: in 2010 (along with Bruce Normand and Jed Brown) for the first ascent of the North Face of the 6422-meter-high Xuelian West in China – and then in 2013 (along with Hayden Kennedy and Josh Wharton) for a new route on the southeast side of the Ogre I. In the previous year the trio had succeeded the only third ascent of the 7285-meter-high granite giant in Karakorum. The legendary first ascent of Ogre had been done by the British Doug Scott and Chris Bonington in 1977. Then it took 24 years until Thomas Huber along with the Swiss Iwan Wolf and Urs Stoecker reached the summit for the second time. Almost three weeks earlier they had already succeeded the first ascent of the 6,800-meter-high Ogre III.

Huber’s destination: Latok I

Thomas at Latok I in 2015

So Thomas Huber is familiar with this mountain massif. But even with his support the search for Dempster and Adamson remained unsuccessful. This fall, Thomas and his German climbing partners Toni Gutsch and Sebastian Brutscher are tackling the north side of the 7145-meter-high Latok I which is located not far from the Ogre. Neither the North Face nor the North Ridge have so far been climbed up to the highest point. “I have also the courage to say no at any moment,” the older of the Huber brothers told me before his departure to Pakistan. “If I feel that it doesn’t work physically, I’ll say no.” Thomas had survived a 16-meter fall from a rock face in the Berchtesgaden region on July 5 – “with incredible luck,” as he himself acknowledged. The two US climbers on the Ogre sadly were not favored by such a fortune.

Pilots in continous operation

All climbers from the high camps on Mount Everest are safe. In the morning the last 17 climbers, who had been stranded at Camp 1 at 6,100 meters, nine Sherpas and eight foreigners, were flown down to the valley by helicopter. An official of the Nepalese Tourism Ministry said, more than 200 climbers had been rescued on Everest. It was the most extensive rescue operation in the history of high altitude mountaineering. According to department reports, at least 19 climbers, including five foreign nationals, have been confirmed dead in two avalanches. It seems that this figure also includes three Sherpas who reportedly died in the Khumbu Icefall during an aftershock on Sunday.

Messner: “Two-class rescue”

Reinhold Messner

Discussions were caused bay a statement of climbing legend Reinhold Messner. The 70-year-old South Tyrolean sees a two-class rescue in Nepal. “It’s cynical that there is such a hype about the climbers on Mount Everest, who can buy this climb for 80,000 to 100,000 dollars”, Messner said in a German radio interview. There were enough doctors and food on Everest, Messner added. Furthermore the mountaineers could fly out by helicopter. Elsewhere, the aid was needed more urgent: “A much bigger disaster happened in the Kathmandu Valley and in the canyons around the capital.”

That’s true, of course, but in contrast to this area, helicopter rescue on Everest has been established for several years. It just runs like clockwork. Furthermore, not all climbers who were rescued were rich men or women from abroad, but also less well-off Sherpas – many of them injured. Any rescue of a person, whether with a big or small budget, is good news. And I’m sure that the helicopter rescue pilots now fly on to other regions in order to help. My thanks and respect to all these pilots who were deployed tirelessly – and to all the others who lend their helping hands during the rescue.

German operator Amical abandons expeditions in Tibet

In the Chinese Base Camp on the Tibetan north side of Everest the discussions between Chinese officials and expedition leaders continue. An end of all expeditions is still possible. The Chinese government fears further aftershocks. The office of German expedition operator Amical alpin informed me, that its Everest expedition in Tibet was abandoned. Expedition leader Dominik Mueller wants to stay at base camp for the present and then accompany the Sherpas of his team back to Kathmandu. Amical also stopped his Cho Oyu expedition referring to an order of the Chinese government.