Ines’ route on Likhu Chuli I

Ines Papert could have done without this kind of souvenir from the Himalayas. “The healing of fingers and toes will take some time”, says the 39-year-old after her return from Nepal. As reported in my blog the German top female climber made a first ascent of 6719-meter-high Likhu Chuli I, also known as Pig Pherado Shar, on 13 November after opening a new route through the North Face of the 6000er together with Thomas Senf. “I never thought that frostbite could emerge so creepingly”, Ines is surprised. “During our climb we were as cold as never before but we have taken the first symptoms very seriously.” For this reason, Thomas abandoned the final climb to the summit within his reach at the last camp on 6580 meters.

Second-degree frostbite

Ines Papert on the summit of Pig Pherado Shar

“If I had climbed further, I would have risked severe frostbite”, says Thomas. “All the more I was delighted about Ines’ decision to start out for the summit alone. It would have been a great pity if she had renounced the summit for my sake.” Papert climbed the last passage on the west slope without rope and reached the 6719-meter-high summit at 2:00 p.m. local time. “It was an awesome moment to put my feet on a Himalayan summit as the first person ever”, Ines recalls. “But I was not able to feel great joy because I would have preferred to share this moment with Thomas. Moreover, cold and high altitude pressed me hard.” After another night in the last camp Ines and Thomas descended to basecamp. Both climbers suffered from second-degree frostbite. In this case the skin becomes blue-red and can form blisters. The good news: With proper treatment all fingers and toes will fully recover.

Plan was changed

Originally, Papert and Senf had planned to climb a new route through the North Face of 6487-meter-high Tengkangpoche. However, when they saw the conditions – not much ice in the route, dangerous overhanging seracs below the summit – they changed their plan. A good decision. After all, who can say ‘I made a first ascent of a summit in the Himalayas’?

P.S. You can read the full expedition report (in German) on Ines’ homepage.

Last metres to the summit of Makalu

Many are familiar with the view of Makalu, without being aware of it. On pictures taken from the summit of Mount Everest in direction of the Southeast Ridge you see in the background the shapely fifth highest mountain on earth. Just a few kilometres linear distance are lying between the two 8000ers, but actually they are worlds apart. This spring the headlines concerning Everest were overturning: first the brawl in Camp 2, then the 60-year-anniversary of the first ascent. Because of this I lost sight of an expedition of four German and a Swiss climber to Makalu.

Siegrist left expedition

David Göttler, Michael Waerthl, Hans Mitterer, Daniel Bartsch and Stephan Siegrist wanted to climb the mountain in Alpine style via the challenging west pillar. Siegrist had to cancel the expedition because he got severe headaches and vision disorders,  possibly due to a skull fracture that he had a few years earlier. The other four abandoned their original plan and ascended via the normal route. Waerthl returned because of icy fingers about 200 metres below the summit. The other three climbers reached the highest point at 8485 metres.

I reach David Göttler on the phone while he is on the way home from the Bregaglia Valley where the mountain guide from Munich has led two clients. In recent years the 34-year-old mountaineer was repeatedly on expedition with Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits. With Gerlinde he i.a. ascended Dhaulagiri in the 2008 and Nuptse in 2012.

On top: Mitterer, Goettler, Bartsch (f.l.)

David, on 21 May you, Hans Mitterer and Daniel Bartsch stood on the summit of Makalu. Was it a perfect summit day?

We had been climbing fast. We were extremely fortunate because only we and a Finnish climber (Samuli Mansikka) were up there. The weather and snow conditions were perfect: almost no wind, normally warm for such a high 8000er, which means not too cold. It was incredible. It would be nice if every summit day was like this.

Makalu was your fifth 8000er. How do you classify this ascent in your personal ranking?

Especially the last stage up to the summit is challenging. There were only old fixed ropes, which you really don’t want to use. It was certainly one of the more demanding climbs.

On your summit day a large group of climbers of commercial expeditions turned back about 200 metres below the highest point. Afterwards some of them complained that contrary to the agreement the Sherpas had not secured the final passage to the summit with fixed ropes? What was the problem?

We caught up with the group that had started much earlier at 3 a.m., about 8200 metres high. When it got light the Sherpas said that they had not enough ropes to fix the route and that all should turn back. They had already been climbing for a long time. Maybe it was a wise decision of the Sherpas, at least for a majority of their clients. Perhaps they used the lack of ropes only as an excuse. I proposed to fetch up ropes from below to fix the last 200 metres. I had about 40 more metres of rope in my backpack. The Sherpas totally blocked my proposal and meant that it would take too long. But I can only speculate what was really going on there, and therefore I have reservations about commenting it.

Originally, you wanted to climb Makalu in Alpine style via the west pillar. Then Stephan Siegrist, one of your team members, had to cancel the expedition because of health problems. Why have you abandoned your plan then – four climbers remained and you were a powerful team?

There were several reasons. Without Stephan we were a strong man down. In addition the conditions were brutal: glare ice. You don’t get ahead. During the exploration of the west pillar we had to secure some lower passages which were really flat, due to glare ice. Above the rock was fragile. We weighed our options. The chance to reach the summit via the west pillar was minimal, the chance via the normal route relatively well.

You were three of only seven climbers who reached the summit this spring. Have you experienced Makalu as a lonely mountain?

Yes, compared to my last expeditions to Lhotse and Nuptse where I pitched up my tent in Everest Base Camp. I have never had such a beautiful basecamp like ours below the West Pillar of Makalu. It was below the basecamp of the normal route, green, with views of Lhotse, Everest, Makalu and Baruntse. We were alone in our camp, on an 8000er! Also on the mountain, I did not feel that many climbers were on the route. We enjoyed meeting these people and chatting with them. We had much fun with the Sherpas on the normal route. It was always a friendly and nice atmosphere.

David Goettler

On Everest, about 10 km linear distance away, at the end of April Sherpas attacked  European top climbers Ueli Steck, Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith. Has that news gotten around to you?

We were doing some climbing to acclimatize. We had just pulled a Sherpa out of a crevasse into which he had fallen. He thanked a hundred times and said we had saved this life. We didn’t feel that way, for us it’s quite normal to help each other. Then we came down to the basecamp, and our kitchen team heard in a small radio the message that was broadcasted by the local ‘Khumbu Radio’. Incredible, we asked ourselves: What must have happened that the situation could escalate like it did?

Like the three climbers on Everest you were climbing on Makalu without Sherpa support. How did the Sherpas behave towards you?

They have always been nice. When we turned to the normal route, they asked: ‘What are you doing here now?’ We told them that we had decided to climb up via the normal route. For their work in the lower parts of the mountain we paid them with some ice screws and ropes. That brought this matter to a close. We have always helped each other. For example, we passed on the weather forecast. The Sherpas provided us with other informations. It was a pleasant, friendly cooperation.

Do you think that the relations between Sherpas and professional climbers are sustainably clouded by the Everest incident?

I don’t hope so. I’m not afraid to travel again to the Khumbu region. I firmly believe that the good relations will continue. I think Everest is a very special terrain where extremes collide. Compared to Makalu and other mountains Sherpas on Everest are under enormous pressure:  A lot of money is involved, so many climbers are on the mountain, and they expect that the fixed ropes are laid quickly.

By next spring season a team of the Nepalese government will stay in Everest basecamp to control whether the climbers comply with the rules. Do you think that all the problems will be solved by this measure?

I don’t think that all problems will be solved. The question is whether the dispute really escalated because rules were broken or whether unwritten laws on Everest were interpreted in a different way by the Sherpas on the one hand and Western climbers on the other hand.

The real problem that there are too many climbers on the route is very difficult to resolve. If you would stop climbing with supplemental oxygen, the whole thing on Everest would regulate quickly, and there would be no more problems. But you cannot dictate that. Whoever wants to try his luck there, in whatever style of climbing, shall try and be happy. It’s up to each climber.

Is it still an attractive target for you to climb Everest?

Yes. To climb Everest via the normal route without supplemental oxygen is challenging enough. That would be interesting.

Hans Kammerlander

The phone rings. At the other end: „Hans Kammerlander!” I had asked the South Tyrolean extreme mountaineer by email for his thoughts on the 60-year-anniversary of the first ascent of Everest. Hans prefered to answer directly. The 56-year-old has climbed twelve of the fourteen 8000ers, all without bottled oxygen, seven of them together with Reinhold Messner. With him Kammerlander succeeded in 1984 the first (and till this day not repeated) double traverse on 8000ers, in Alpine style, i.e. without the help of Sherpas, without high camps, fixed ropes and oxygen mask. In the Karakoram in Pakistan Messner and Kammerlander summited Gasherbrum I, descended on another route to a col, from where they directly climbed up to the top of Gasherbrum II and downhill via another route. After eight days, they returned to basecamp. It was a milestone of climbing on the 8000ers.

In the morning hours of 24th May 1996 Hans reached the summit of Mount Everest, after climbing up from the Tibetan north side of the mountain. He was alone then. Afterwards he skied down, only in a few passages without snow he had to put off his skies. We talked not only about this day but also about the recent events at the highest mountain on earth.

Hans, what kind of mountain is Everest for you today?

It has always been important for me as a high altitude climber. For years I’ve dreamed of him because I have had two hobbies since I was a child: climbing and skiing. I had the idea to combine both on the highest mountain in the world. For me, Everest stands for extraordinary memories: especially the moment when I started with skies from the highest point – and the loneliness. I had climbed up alone from 7000 metres, I could really feel the mountain. I have good memories of Everest and I’m glad that I had this adventure many years ago. Nowadays, it wouldn’t be possible. Climbing Everest has become tourism. What’s happening on the normal routes has nothing to do with alpinism.

Hans (l.) with Reinhold Messner in 1991

Has Everest lost its appeal for you as an extreme mountaineer?

There are still interesting routes on Everest, where you can surely climb alone. But an ascend on the normal route among hundreds of people would be a horror for me. The mountain has been enchained, that’s nothing. But everyone has to decide for themselves. Such attacks as recently against Ueli Steck and Simone Moro puts me in a very, very reflective mind.

Do you agree with Ueli and Simone who said that the attack was a indication for a conflict that has been brewing over years.

Yes, sure. I admire both of them. Ueli Steck is an exceptionally fast, good high altitude mountaineer. It is quite clear that Simone Moro and Ueli Steck don’t need any fixed rope. Even the Sherpas have to understand that the top climbers of the world should not be forced to move in these crowds. Of course the Sherpas do a great job on Everest. But they have also become managers, corrupted by mass tourism, by people throwing money around. The Sherpas do their work to get money which is as cold as ice. They don’t want to see anybody who doesn’t use the fixed ropes. They are afraid that this could lead to a chain reaction, that other climbers could say, I don’t need the ropes too. If the Sherpas attack such top alpinists, it’s below the belt. 

Were you surprised by the level of violence?

Yes, of course. That’s mediocre. I know that especially Moro has a social conscience. He has done a lot for the Sherpas, for example with his helicopter rescue flights. That also applies to Ueli Steck. And if the Sherpas attack such people they have to be reprimanded. This is not okay.

Do you think that it is possible to regain trust?

It will be very difficult, because for years climbing on the normal routes has become a puppet theater. It’s an important source of income for the country. Think of the permits which have to be paid! It would be possible to introduce new laws or rules, but Nepal or Tibet are not interested.

We expect the 60-year-anniversary of the first ascent of Everest. What do you wish Mount Everest for the future?

I would wish the mountain a bit more rest – and other candidates. Just now there are climbers for which an ascent of Mont Blanc on the normal route would be a sufficient challenge. Everest is no place for them. For these climbers the Sherpas prepare the routes. I wish that people look for other beautiful, lonely destinations and that as many as possible stay away from the beaten path on Everest.

Reinhold Messner

Ask the first man or woman you meet on any street in Europe after the name of a famous mountaineer and you will very likely get the response: „Reinhold Messner“. Although he did his pioneering ascents in the Himalayas andKarakorum more than a quarter of a century ago, the 68-year-old South Tyrolean is still very present in public awareness. Messner has been contributing his part by writing book after book, givings lectures and interviews – and polarizing with his statements. In my interview with him on the occasion of the upcoming 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest Reinhold Messner again had clear positions. Don’t wonder why I didn’t ask him about the recent incident on Everest. We met before.

Reinhold Messner, we first look back on the 29th May 1953, when the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Would you say that this was an outstanding achievement of two courageous mountaineers or rather a team performance?

It was primarily a British team performance because the British have brought the know-how and the money and made huge preparatory works. From 1921 to 1953 many expeditions had failed on Everest. However, one must also attribute a part of the success to the Swiss who in 1952 had made two attempts with Raymond Lambert and had climbed up very high. Tenzing Norgay had belonged to this team too. I think without these experiences the British wouldn’t have reached the top in 1953. But we must also say that the summit success was due to Hillary’s talent to dare. The British had tried it themselves but had failed to reach the summit. But then this young lanky New Zealander proved his desire and courage to dare, and he and Tenzing were successful. It remains a magic moment of mountaineering. Hillary wasn’t an extreme mountaineer, but a traditional climber doing things as a matter of course. Typical New Zealand.

The first ascent was followed by a phase that I want to call the ‚sportive phase’ in the 1960s and even more in the 70s and 80s: new hard routes, first winter ascent. In 1978 you and Peter Habeler firstly climbed Everest without supplementary oxygen. And in 1980 you did a solo, again without oxygen, during monsoon. Was Everest the ultimate challenge for you at that time?

After the ascent via the Southwest Face by Doug Scott and Dougal Haston in 1975 I realized that only one option remained: to climb Everest with less and less equipment. For me the Everest solo was the icing on the cake of my climbs: the highest mountain in the world, during monsoon, and as far as possible even on a new route, of course without oxygen. Afterwards I was close to say I finish the 8000ers and go to Antarctica. But there were still a few of my old ideas like climbing three 8000ers in a row or a double traverse. Young guys like Friedl Mutschlechner or Hans Kammerlander urged me: ‚Let’s realize these things now!’ Then I organized it and we succeeded. Later in addition I got the chance to climb all fourteen 8000ers. By 1980, some of them had not been accessible.

Traffic on the normal route

In the 90s commercial mountaineering started on Everest and has been characterizing climbing on the highest mountain until today. What kind of mountain is Everest for you, 60 years after the first ascent? How do you think about what’s going on there just now?

It is still the same mountain. The oxygen partial pressure is still the same. And Everest is still relatively dangerous. I call the current phase ‚piste alpinism’. That makes the big difference. Before all the clients of the tour operators start climbing, not only dozens but one hundred Sherpas move up and prepare a via ferrata. It’s better prepared than any via ferrata in the Alps. Then the clients take this piste, any difficulty is excluded, and the dangers are minimized – not to zero, that isn’t possible.
Now it’s discussed whether a ladder – like at the Second Step on the north side since 1975 – should be put up at the Hillary Step, the only a bit difficult passage in the upper part of the route. I have suggested to install there a traffic light like in the city, so that everybody knows who is allowed to climb up and who to descend. In this case the climbers would have to observe the road traffic regulations and there would be fewer accidents. The accidents have been mainly caused by the chaos, by waiting and standing around in the cold. The people got hypothermic and some of them died of it.

Due to the development that you have described the type of climber who tries to scale Everest has changed significantly, hasn’t it?

Yes, today you find many people on Everest who aren’t climbers or, let me say, no experienced climbers. They know that many people have reached the summit, it is possible. Basically, Everest is possible for everybody who has climbed any easy 4000-metre-peak in the Alps – if the route is prepared. I guarantee you that no three of the thousand clients who are on Everest just now would start climbing if the route has not prepared before. The mountain has been enchained, with ropes and ladders. Thus it’s accessible to all. I don’t care whether it’s right or wrong. That has nothing to do with classic alpinism. People neither climb Hillary’s Everest nor my Everest. They climb another mountain, even if it is geologically the same.

What do you wish Mount Everest on occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first ascent?

I think it’s too late. Everest has already become a banal mountain. This is a shame. There are still new routes to be climbed and the possibility to traverse Everest and Lhotse. Just now two very good climbers (Denis Urubko and Alexei Bolotov) are trying to climb a new route in the southwest face, to the right of the line of Scott and Haston. This is very difficult in the upper part. If they are successful in Alpine style, I am the first to congratulate – although they reach the crowded summit of Everest.
I don’ think we ever can return the atmosphere of the past to Everest. The best climbers no longer go to the 8000ers, but to the most difficult mountains in the world which are 6000- or 7000-metre-peaks. There they find any kind of playground. But it is a pity that the really good climbers have fewer opportunities to finance their expeditions because so much attention is taken away by the Everest tourists.

Do you give Everest a wide berth or are you still attracted by the mountain where you have experienced so much?

I’m not hungry for Everest each year. But this year I’ll be there because I want to make a documentary for European television. I will not only visit the base camp, but look on it from above. Not by climbing up, but by watching these crowds of climbers.
I would also like to make a drug test. I am curious if anyone is willing to give an urine sample. It’s said that doping on Everest is at ‚university level’ compared to the ‚kindergarten‘ Tour de France. I wouldn’t go quite as far but it’s a fact that there are no drug tests on Everest. We know that in sports particularly amateurs dope themselves to be a bit faster than last year or climb Everest faster than their secretary.
I’m interested in the psychological point of view: What makes us climb Everest? Also for me the summit of Everest was a ‚vanishing point of vanity’. There are so many images and clichés connected with Everest. I can understand everybody who wants to scale Mount Everest. But they should have the courage to describe their ascent exactly as it was and not try to distort the facts afterwards, e.g. by being photographed standing alone at the summit after 50 other climbers have been put out of the picture – just to tell the world, look, I was alone on top.
Or climbers who are talking about Alpine style although they are climbing up on the prepared piste. It’s impossible. Even if someone is not touching the ropes, it isn’t Alpine style because the ropes are there. This has mainly to do with the psychological side. I have a very different fear if I’m all alone in the summit area of Mount Everest and if I know that there is nothing below me, no sherpa, no tent, no rope. And if a serac collapses I will not find my way down. If I know that the piste is prepared and under supervision of Sherpa specialists, I’m far less exposed. And the exposure is the key that makes sports an adventure.

Ang Tshering Sherpa

Ang Tshering’s biography can be assumed to be symbolic of the success story of the Sherpas in the past six decades. He was born in 1953, half a year after the first ascent of Mount Everest. In his home village Khumjung, on 3780 metres near the highest mountain of the world, Ang Tshering attended the school that was founded by Sir Edmund Hillary. The English skills which he had aquired there enabled him to work as a porter and interpreter for expeditions. In 1982 Ang Tshering founded „Asian Trekking”, today one of the leading agencies for expeditions and trekkings in Nepal. He married a Belgian woman, his son Dawa Steven studied in Scotland. Ang Tshering was and is not only a successful businessman with best worldwide contacts but has always been engaging for mountaineers. Since 1990 he is a member of the executive board of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, for nine years he was the president of the organization. In addition the 59-year-old Nepalese is the Immediate Past President of the Union of Asian Alpine Associations (UAAA) and Honorary Member of the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA). „Everest has put Nepal on the map as an ultimate (adventure) tourism destination”, Ang Tshering wrote to me after I had asked him for his thoughts about Everest on occasion of the 60-year-jubilee of the first ascent.

Threatened by the effects of climate change

As a young man

„Everest is regarded as a Goddess Mother of the Universe in Sherpa folklore. She is the guardian in who’s shadow sherpa children grow up. We think of Everest as massive, solid, unchanging, strong, lofty and unable to be hurt.” But according to Ang Tshering the truth is that only few people know that Everest is one of the most endangered places on earth due to the effects of climate change. „There are over 3000 glaciers in the high Himalaya and in the last 50 years, almost as many glacial lakes have formed.” This urgent message has been less immediately noticed at lower altitudes, Ang Tshering says.

Eco Everest expeditions

Garbage collecting on Everest

Since 2008 Ang Tshering and his son Dawa Steven organize the so called „Eco Everest expeditions” of Asian Trekking. The goal is that the mountaineers do not only reach the summit but also carry down garbage from the slopes of Everest on their way back. „It is the entire world’s responsibility to help conserve the mountain and its surroundings from environmental degradation. We need to respect and protect Mother Nature’s treasures”, Ang Tshering writes. (You find his full statements on the two Everest-60-pinboards on the right side of the blog.)

Only with Mother Nature’s blessing

On occasion of the diamond jubilee of the first ascent Ang Tshering wishes Mount Everest, that it „continues to keep inspiring people to explore their boundaries and push their limits, all the while realizing that only with Mother Nature’s blessing do we reach the top.” He himself has not stood on top of the world. In 1977 Ang Tshering Sherpa reached the South Col on nearly 8000 metres. But weather turned bad and he couldn’t reach the summit.

At the summit of Everest in 1999

In fact she was the second but in a way the first too. Helga Hengge summited Mount Everest on 27th May 1999. As second German woman after Hannelore Schmatz. But Hengge also survived the descent – in contrast to Schmatz who died from exhaustion on 8300 meters on the south side of the mountain on 2nd October 1979. For years climbers passed the corpse called „The German woman” which was sitting in the snow. Later the storm blew it into the depth. Almost twenty years after Schmatz Helga Hengge reached the highest point on 8850 metres after she had climbed up from the Tibetan north side. „I felt like a goddess”, Helga later said, „as if I could float.” Hengge was 32 years old when she stood on top of the world. Today Mount Everest sometimes gives her a nightmare, Helga, aged 46 now, wrote to me after I had asked her for her thoughts on occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first ascent.

Elevator to the ridge

„I dream that there is an entrance at the bottom of the glacier, a kind of cave where you can use an elevator from its depth up to the ridge.” The crowds push upwards using steep iron ladders via the Second Step, Helga continues. „At the summit there is a restaurant with a large terrace. Tea and cake are served. Suddenly the wind is getting stronger, clouds are gathering, a storm is coming up. The people with their colourful sneakers continue to climb up on the ridge. They are laughing, joking. I have to stop them, to tell them that it’s too dangerous, that they will die – but then they enter a long slide and rush down happily. And I wake up drenched in sweat.” In reality we’re not there yet, but Helga’s nightmare is initiated by what’s currently happening on Everest. „If everybody in addition would get a bravery medal and candy floss at basecamp only the mountaineers would be left to complain. This make me sad”, Helga writes.

From sport climbing to high-altitude mountaineering

Helga Hengge spent her life alternately in Germany and USA. She was born in Chicago and grew up in Bavaria. From the village of Deining, located between the cities of Nürnberg and Regensburg, on clear days she could see the Alps in the distance. Aged 25 Helga moved to New York, studied and worked as a fashion journalist. In her leisure time she did freeclimbing and later turned to high-altitude mountaineering. In 1997 she reached the summit of Aconcagua (6962 metres), the highest mountain of South America. Afterwards she climbed several other 6000-metre-peaks. In autumn 1998 Hengge reached 7500 metres on Cho Oyu. The following spring she succeeded on Everest, as the only woman in the commercial expedition team of the New Zealander Russell Brice.

On occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first ascent Helga wishes Mount Everest, that „year by year it shall grow a little bit higher in the sky with the objective to give a good life to the local people. And to inspire the climbers to push their limits, for the benefit of all.” (You find Helga Hengge’s  full statements on the two Everest-60-pinboards on the right side of the blog.) 

Eureka moment in a library 

Helga Hengge

Meanwhile she is a mother of two children and is living in Bavaria again, in Grünwald near Munich. After she had climbed Everest she continued going on expeditions. Among other things she reached the central summit of Shishapangma (8008 metres). At that time Helga already had her next major goal in mind: She wanted to climb the Seven Summits, the highest mountains of all continents, as first German woman. She had found a book of Dick Bass in a New York library. The American had firstly completed the collection of the Seven Summits in 1985 – however with Mount Kosciuszko in Australia and not as mostly common today with the Carstensz Pyramid in Ozeania. „What a great idea! At that time I regarded it as being a fantastic dream far away from realization. But that didn’t minimize my enthusiasm to dream that dream”, Helga writes. „Today I’m happy that this treasure has become a part of my life.” On 23th May 2011 she reached the top of Mount McKinley, the highest mountain of North America. Helga Hengge had managed to climb the Seven Summits. As first German woman. 

P.S. Sometimes Maria Gisela Hoffmann is called the first German woman on the Seven Summits. She completed her climbs on 21th May 2011, two days ahead of Hengge. But Hoffman was born as a boy and climbed the first of her Seven Summits as a man.

Apa Sherpa

Will Apa Sherpa feel melancholy these days? Climbers from all over the world are arriving at Everest basecamp on the south side of the mountain. Meanwhile the so called „Ice Doctors” have prepared the route through the dangerous Khumbu icefall up to Camp 2 on 6600 metres. The climbing season on the highest mountain of the world is ready to start. For more than two decades Everest was an integral part of Apa’s life. Nobody has reached the top of the world as often as this 1.63 metre tall man: He reached the summit 21 times and became a living legend. In 2011 Apa finished his Everest career. Now he is about 53 years old. He doesn’t know for sure because in the 1960s no birth certificates were issued for Sherpas in his home village Thame in the Everest region.

Committed to education and environment

Since the end of his Everest career Apa has been taking care of his foundation that promotes educational projects in Nepal – and of environmental protection. Last year he trekked together with Dawa Steven Sherpa on the „Great Himalaya Trail” 1555 km from the east to the west of Nepal. It was a campaign to raise awareness to the dangers of global warming for the Himalayas. Apa is also worried about Everest. „Meanwhile, first I want people to respect the mountain and protect it from harm”, Apa writes to me. „Everest belongs to everyone in the world. We need to save it for our future generations too.”

Everest opened doors of opportunity

Apa and Mount Everest (l., with snow banner)

Not only Apa’s life, the lives of all Sherpas are closely linked to Mount Everest. „People know us in the world because of Mount Everest. More importantly, it opened the doors of opportunity for Sherpa people in the rest of the world”, Apa says. „Where we are now is because of Mount Everest. Everest is Nepal’s pride and is our greatest treasure.” On occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest he wishes that „it continues to inspire climbers from all over the world to visit Nepal, dream big and take success all the way to the summit”. (You find Apa’s full statements on the two Everest-60-pinboards on the right side of the blog.)

No eternal record

Apa holding the record certificate

Records are there to be broken. That surely will also happen to Apa’s Everest record, perhaps even this year. Phurba Tashi, often referred to as the „Everest Yak” because of his immense strength at altitude, has already summited Everest 19 times. In 2007 he reached the top three times in one season, in 2011 twice. This spring Phurba, born in the village of Khumjung in 1971, is working for Himalayan Experience as sirdar (head) of the climbing sherpas.

Season’s first fatality 

Before any climber from abroad has set his feet on the normal route the first fatality of the season is reported from Everest. On Sunday 45-year-old Mingmar Sherpa, one of the “Icefall Doctors”, has died after falling into a crevasse below camp 2. RIP.

Russell Brice

Just now Russell Brice has a lot on his plate. The 60-year-old climber from New Zealand, owner of Himalayan Experience, is leading his 18th commercial expedition to Mount Everest. The most prominent of his ten clients who want to climb the highest mountain of the world is Evelyne Binsack. In 2001 she was the first woman of Switzerland who scaled Everest coming from the Tibetan north side of the mountain. This time Evelyne, aged 45, will try it from the south, for a documentary she also wants to carry her camera to the summit. Russell will stay at the bottom as basecamp manager, also looking after six climbers for Lhotse and four women who want to scale the 7861-metre high Nuptse. German journalist and mountaineer Billi Bierling is a member of this last mentioned team. Although Russell is „quite busy”, as he wrote me, he has taken time to send me his thoughts on occasion of the 60-year-jubilee of the first ascent of Mount Everest.

Hillary „a great leader with much foresight”

„Nepalis an extremely poor country, but fortunately it has the ‚Hidden Giant’ Everest”, Russell writes. „This one notable feature of Nepal has been responsible for practically all of its tourism income, either directly or indirectly.” Sir Edmund Hillary, who climbed Everest first in 1953 together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, had „proved to be a great leader with much foresight”. He had used his fame to help the local population of Nepal. „We can easily sit outside of Nepal and have great personal ideas about Everest, but it is harder to actually make a meaningful contribution to the local people”, says Russell. „I hope that Everest will continue to be a source of income for the poor people of Nepal in a respectful way.” (You find his full statements on the two Everest-60-pinboards on the right side of the blog.)

Enough routes for all

Brice established Himalayan Experience in 1996

As someone who offers commercial expeditions Russell considers the great number of climbers on the normal routes understandably less critical as others. „Crowding we as operators can deal with between ourselves”, he wrote me in February. Now Brice points out that there were enough routes on Everest, also for mountaineers who want to climb in alpine style or any other style. „But I do not see many teams or individuals actually taking on these challenges. There are still new routes to do on Everest, and some route to be completed in their entirety.”

Russell calls on mountaineers and media to show respect for Mount Everest. He would like to „see those who climb Everest to respect the mountain and their own passions without having to make excuses of being the oldest, youngest, fastest, or whatever, any ascent is still a worthy achievement.” Brice appeals to the media „to respect the mountain rather than making it an excuse to make wild stories for the sale of publications”.

Hirotaka Takeuchi

Hiro has experienced a lot on Everest. „It is a very special mountain for me”, Hirotaka Takeuchi wrote to me, after I had asked him for his statements on the 60-year-jubilee of the first ascent. „I learned a lot from climbing Mt. Everest, and all those lessons and experiences were very important and helpful to me to climb all the fourteen 8,000 m peaks. Thus, I think Mt. Everest was a great learning place forme.” In one of the ‘classrooms’ the Japanese climber had been close to lose his life. 

First with oxygen mask

In May 1996 everything went well. Hiro, in the age of 25, climbed Mount Everest. He used bottled oxygen – like the year before on Makalu and later in August 1996 on K 2. When Hiro started to climb with German Ralf Dujmovits and Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner he did it like them: always without supplementary oxygen. 

Survived 

30. May 2005: Hiro, Gerlinde and Ralf have abandoned their plan to climb through the north face of Everest due to bad conditions and have made their way to the Tibetan normal route. Near their camp on 7650 meters Hiro collapses and hardly responds. Symptoms of a life-threatening high-altitude cerebral edema. 40 percent die of it. Hiro survives, because Gerlinde and Ralf administer emergency medication, save him over the night and take him down the next day. 

First Japanese on all 8000ers 

Back in basecamp with Gerlinde (r.) und Ralf (l.)

At that time I was fearing for Hiro’s life in the basecamp on the central Rongbuk glacier, where I was reporting about the expedition. One year after this almost-tragedy my Japanese friend climbed Kangchenjunga, his eighth 8000er. In 2007 we experienced his number nine in a team: he standing on top of Manaslu, I reporting from basecamp. Later in the same year he cheated death once again. With a lot of luck he survived an ice avalanche on Gasherbrum II with serious injuries. But already in the following year he had a big comeback scaling G II. And in May 2012 Hirotaka Takeuchi achieved his great goal: He climbed Dhaulagiri, his fourteenth and last 8000er. He is the first and only Japanese who has climbed all 8000-meter-peaks. 

Searching for an unclimbed peak 

Since then Hiro has been enjoying time with his wife and two children in Tokio. But this spring the 42 year old climber will go again to Nepal for a trekking – as he writes – probably looking for a nice, unclimbed peak. Maybe one day Hiro will also return to Mount Everest. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first ascent he wishes Mount Everest that „it would be a mountain where many people would able to climb repeatedly”. 

P.S. You can read Hiro’s full statements on the two Everest-60-pinboards on the right side of the blog.

Dawa Steven Sherpa

Mount Sherpa. That would be a better suited name for the highest mountain of the world, which instead was named after Sir George Everest, a Surveyor-General of India in the 19th century. The history of Mount Everest is also a history of the Sherpas. The „eastern people” who had fled from Tibet to Nepal in earlier times were engaged for the early British expeditions in the 1920s. One of the two climbers who scaled Everest first in 1953 was a Sherpa: Tenzing Norgay. At the latest since commercial climbing was established on Everest sherpas have become indispensable. Without their support most of the clients wouldn’t have any chance to reach the summit. Due to this important role sherpas have an excellent reputation all over the world, many have achieved modest prosperity. Sherpas are also working as successful entrepreneurs, doctors or pilots. They know that these achievements are due to Everest. „As a Nepali, Mount Everest is my identity to the world. As a Sherpa, Mount Everest is the reason we have education, health care and prosperity”, Dawa Steven Sherpa wrote to me. „As a mountaineer, Mount Everest is the playground where I learned to explore myself, my limitations and my abilities as a person.” 

Twice on the summit of Everest 

Dawa Steven (r.) cleaning garbage on Everest

The 29-year-old Nepali belongs to a generation of Sherpas that has benefited from Everest from an early age. Together with this father Ang Tshering Sherpa Dawa Steven is managing „Asian Trekking“, a leading agency for expeditions and trekking in Nepal. His mother comes from Belgium, he studied in Edinburgh in Scotland. In 2006 Dawa Steven summited Cho Oyu, in 2007 for the first time Mount Everest. The following year the young Sherpa scaled Lhotse and five days later Everest again. For the last five years he has been leading „Eco Everest Expeditions“, which combine business and ecology: The clients are led to the summit on 8850 meters. In addition all members collect garbage from the slopes and bring it down to the valley. 

Basecamp bakery 

Dawa Steven is creative in raising money for ecology. In 2007 he founded the „world’s highest bakery” at 5350 meters in the basecamp on the Nepalese south side of Everest. Chocolate cake, apple pie, doughnuts and croissants went fast. The climbers were willing to pay higher prices because it was to a good cause. The money was used for projects to prepare local villages in Nepal for the effects of climate change. To raise awareness to the dangers of global warming Dawa Steven in 2012 walked together with Everest record climber Apa Sherpa on the „Great Himalaya Trail” 1555 km from the east to the west of Nepal. Later he was awarded with a first ever WWF award for outstanding achievements of people under the age of 30 for nature conservation around the world.   

Love for mountains and ecology 

On Island Peak (Ama Dablam r.)

On the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest Dawa Steven wishes a „next generation of adventurers, who will love the mountains and protect them from harm”. (You really should read his full statements on the two Everest-60-pinboards on the right side of the blog.) For Sherpas Dawa Steven hopes that the mountain will provide opportunities furthermore. „For the Nepali, I wish that Mount Everest will continue to make them proud to be a Nepali”, he writes. „For all the people in the world, I wish that Everest will continue to remind them that it is the highest mountain in the world.  Therefore, as citizens of this world Mount Everest belongs to all of us.”

Miss Hawley (and Ralf Dujmovits)

Perhaps I have exaggerated. Following my request to send her comments on Mount Everest 60 years after the first ascent Elizabeth Hawley replied: „Your questions seem to anthropomorphize Everest, and I don’t see it that way at all.” The world’s preeminent chronicler of Himalayan mountaineering is already 89 years old. For more than half a century the Amercian, living in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, has been documenting expeditions to high Himalayan mountains. It’s an unwritten law that you haven’t been on the summit until Miss Hawley has confirmed that you really have been on the top.

Only an enormous mass of rock

Prior to and after expeditions she or one of her assistants visits the climbers at their hotel and asks them about their plans and afterwards about what happened. Although she herself has never climbed a high mountain the Chicago born journalist knows about so many details of the 8000ers that she is able to expose any liar. That way Miss Hawley has also been playing an important role in Everest history. Nevertheless she only sees Mount Everest „as an enormous mass of rock shaped roughly like a pyramid with numerous features that are treacherous for mountaineers. (e.g., cornices, crevasses) and possible sudden change in the weather, all at extremely high altitudes”. (You can read Miss Hawley’s complete statements on both Everest-60-pinboards on the right side of the blog.)

Ultimate challenge Horseshoe route

Miss Hawley doesn’t wish anything for the mountain itself, because „it is sufficiently formidable that no humans can harm it”. But the chronicler of Himalayan mountaineering calls for more sporting spirit. She would „wish much better vetting of the people who attempt to climb it, thus eliminating the many incompetent men and women”. Miss Hawley condemns „circus antics such as standing at the summit for six minutes with no clothing above the waist or playing a stringed instrument at the top or hitting a golf ball off the summit”. Instead, climbers should have a try at unsolved problems on Everest, e.g. climbing new routes on the vast east face or “by the ultimate challenge of a continuous traverse via the Horseshoe Route along only ridges”: up the west ridge of Nuptse then over Lhotse and South col to the summit of Everest and finally down the west ridge back to the starting point, „all at very high altitudes without the crutch of any bottled oxygen”. Miss Hawley “would also like to see many women pioneers”. Women had been catching up with men, but “it’s time for them to do something new and different that men have not yet done”.

Denis Urubko

Not only formerly French actor Gerard Depardieu has become a Russian, but also Denis Urubko. The 39 years old climber wrote me that he had left Kazakhstan and had now a passport of Russia. This spring Denis – together with his new countryman Alexei Bolotov – wants to climb Mount Everest on a new route (look here) via the southwest face. Urubko has already climbed all fourteen 8000ers without supplementary oxygen. Together with his friend Simone Moro from Italy Denis succeeded the first winter ascents of Makalu(2009) and Gasherbrum II (2011). In 2010 Denis and Kazakh Boris Dedeshko were awarded with the Piolet d’Or, the ‘Oscar’ of mountaineering, for their new route via the south face of Cho Oyu. I asked Urubko about his new plan on Everest. 

Denis, you will return to Everest, although you have already climbed it without oxygen in 2000. What has motivated you to do it again? 

For many reasons mountains have to been climbed twice. The first ascents normally happened by the easiest way, as you can see in history of exploration of 8000 meter peaks. On Everest it happened in 1953, on K 2 in 1954… in usual Himalayan style, with porters etc. But civilization gives us other possibilities in development. Equipment becomes lighter and stronger. Food and stoves let us survive better. Next climbers were able to do something stronger: new routes, speed ascents, other projects. Step by step. The psychological barriers were crushed. Two examples for this are the ascents of Messner and Habeler on Hidden Peak in alpine style and on Everest without oxygen.

I see it from a sportive point of view: delivering results that are better compared with other people. It’s a strong exploration of self power, of mentality of course to open a new page in the book of mountain world, with the possibility to do something new. 

You want to climb Everest with the Russian Alexei Bolotov on a new route. How many details can you reveal about style and route? 

Yes we’ll try to act together. Alexei was very glad about this project and the idea to attempt a new route on one of the most difficult faces in the world. We plan to climb a route in the centre of the southwest face and will try to do it in alpine style, but much depends on weather and luck. 

Have you already climbed with Alexei?

We met first in 1995, when he was in the rescue team after my accident in central Tian Shan. He brought me down from 6000 meters. In 2000 we participated in a speed-ascent competition on Khan Tengri and in 2008 in the unfortunately unsuccessful attempt to rescue Spanish climber Iñaki Ochoa on Annapurna. We both joined a Lhotse expedition in 2001. We had some good experience together. Last month Alexei and I climbed some short routes in Tian Shan for training. These were nice days, and we hope to be ready for the Himalayas at the end of March.

Your friend Simone Moro will also try to reach the summit of Mount Everest this spring, on a new route together with Swiss climber Ueli Steck. Is it an option to join together both teams? 

We still have no plan to do so. But life always brings a lot of surprises. For me just one month ago it was a great news that Ueli and Simone plan to climb Everest together. We’ll see what happens in future. 

Next May the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest will be celebrated. What kind of mountain is Everest for you, how do you think about it right now? 

For me Everest is simply the highest mountain of the world. All other things depend on the personal view: Beautiful, difficult, magic mountain – this applies to many mountains. But the highest, this is only Everest.  

What do you wish Mount Everest for the future?

I dream to see Everest from the bottom through a glass of wine. For me it makes no sense to wish for less people on the slopes of Everest – as nobody can wish for less people on Eiffel tower. But of course I hope for less corpses on the slopes.  

In July you will celebrate your 40th birthday. A day like any other or do you feel it could be a break? 

The date means nothing. Just my experience that fortune has given to me during many pleasant and difficult years is important for me. I had exploring, sportive, art actions… and I hope to do the same on the next interesting pages: To be happy in mountains, music, trainings, family, articles, other activities – just this only.

Why didn’t he go home?

The young Frenchman – so far a dark horse in high-altitude mountaineering – announced that he wanted to reach the 8125 meter summit solo and in alpine style, and afterwards would snowboard down. He later described in his blog more often, how bad his health was. „Today, I’m losing blood from my intestines. It’s great…”, Joel wrote on February 3, adding that he knew how to handle it. He ignored the logical consequenz of ending the expedition: „I prefer to stay here, even in storms, till the last moment.” On February 6, he wrote a last short post in his blog. Then he disappeared. Was it hubris, arrogance or loss of reality that did cost him his live? Or was he finally just unlucky?

Why did they separate?

Probably we won’t get answers to these questions regarding Joel. But maybe we get a clearer view in the case of the two missing Polish climbers on Broad Peak. Adam Bielecki and Artur Malek, who summited the mountain on March 5 together with Maciej Berbeka and Tomasz Kowalski, later returned to basecamp safely. After their return from Pakistan Adam and Artur maybe can answer the questions which came into my mind: Why did the four climbers reach the summit between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. local time, so late that they were forced to descend into the dark? Why did they separate? Why did Berbeka and Kowalski need almost eight hours to reach the pass on 7900 meters, three times longer as usual. Why didn’t Berbeka use his walkie-talkie? Why didn’t they have a light tent for bivouacing?

But in the end there will be left room for speculation – as in winter 2012, when the Austrian Gerfried Göschl, the Swiss Cedric Hählen and the Pakistani Nisar Hussein disappeared on Gasherbrum I. Too often climbers in the Himalayas and Karakorum take the secret of their fatal accident to the icy grave.

Namasté, Chomo! Stefan speaking.

Oh no, you again.

Take it easy!I haven’t woken you up from your hibernation, have I?

Look at your calendar! Pre-season. I’m still on vacation.

Do you look forward at least a little bit to the climbers who will visit you in this jubilee season during which the 60th anniversary of the first ascent will be celebrated?

Do you really want me to answer honestly?

Yes, please.

If it was up to me, at least 90 percent of them could go to hell. Nevertheless they will come. Without my invitation.

In this case ten percent remain for you to welcome.

You don’t listen. I said at least 90 percent. But between you and me: Indeed I look forward to a few of the climbers.

For example?

Simone Moro from Italy and Ueli Steck from Switzerland, the Kazakh-Russian Team Denis Urubko/Alexej Bolotov and the Russians Gleb Sokolov und Alexander Kirikov. They will scratch me, where I feel itchy.

Please, explain it to me!

Have you ever heard of RSI?

Should I?

RSI stands for Repetitive Strain Injury. Someone who is always doing the same move, e.g. mousing, will sometime feel pain in his shoulders, neck, arm or hand.

And what has all this got do with you?

(He groans) For lunkheads like you: Year after year hundreds of people are crowding around on the two normal routes, that’s completely overusing. It really hurts. And where nobody is climbing, that is on my beautiful steep walls, I feel itchy. A withdrawal symptom. The opposite of RSI.

I understand: Climbers on new routes offer relief.

No shit, Sherlock! If Urubko and Bolotov climb on southwest face, Sokolov and Kirikov on east face and Moro and Steck whereever but on a new route, they are like a yaktail I can use for chasing the flies away.

That comparison falls short, because these top climbers may scratch your unattended areas, but won’t make you get rid of RSI.

For this I have my own yaktail.

But you don’t even want to …

Come on, don’t give me ethics!

But can you turn a blind eye this jubilee season at least?

My eye has been closed for years.

Why?

Because the blowflies are sitting on it.

Does it mean that you threaten them?

I am only a mountain, do you remember?

Bernd Kullmann

Bernd Kullmann has a unique place in the annals of Mount Everest. When he stood on the summit on 8850 meters on October 17,1978, he wore an original Levi’s blue jeans. „I wasn’t only the first, but probably the only one, who ever did it”. Kullmann, now aged 58 years, said, at that time it was common to wear knickerbockers in the Alps. „We as young people wanted to provoke. We climbed the north face of Eiger in Jeans. So I found it logical to use Jeans on Everest too.” Above Camp 3 at about 7000 meters Kullmann covered his jeans with padded overtrousers. „We had not enough money for down garments. I didn’t even have long johns beneath.” Kullmann wore his jeans for all seven weeks they spent on Everest – with consequences: „In Kathmandu I could put it literally in the corner of my hotel room.” Kullmann didn’t dispose his durable trousers even then. „Later it was washed and I used it again. Jeans were simply my favourite garments.” 

Three pillars 

Ten years later Kullmann returned to the 8000-meter-peaks for a double expedition in Tibet. In spring 1988 he climbed Shishapangma in Tibet. A little later on Cho Oyu he had to turn back below the summit due to a storm. „Afterwards the issue 8000-meter-peaks was settled for me,” Kullmann said. He was not only focused on mountains. „My life is based on three pillars: family, job and climbing. None of these may suffer, because in this case my whole life would suffer.” Kullmann can combine job and sports. He is managing director of the outdoor company Deuter in the city of Augsburg. „I myself can test all the products we are selling.” On average he is still spending about 80 days per year on climbing or hiking in the mountains.

Ten guardian angels 

Kullmann said, that he had become more careful. Not without reason. At the beginning of the 1980s he fell seriously when he did a solo climb, „in a period, when we thought nothing could happen to us. We were slightly arrogant.” He spent one and a half year in hospital and in a wheelchair. Afterwards he started climbing again. „Often there was plenty of luck involved”, Kullmann said. „ And sometimes I needed not only one, but ten guardian angels.” 

Commerce kills good style 

The „jeans-climber” is still watching what’s happening on Everest. „Today I wouldn’t like to climb there.” Kullmann said, adventure had got lost. “In 1978 I stood on the summit alone and in a storm, with fear of climbing down. It was an incredible situation. Tears were rolling down my cheeks.” A picture of him on the summit of Everest doesn’t exist.

Kullmann said, that day Everest was tied up with ropes. Everywhere guides and sherpas were leading up their clients. „Today they must queue to reach the summit.” Due to improvements of gear, sports medicine and training methods in his opinion all climbers should try to climb without supplementary oxygen. „Exactly the opposite happens. Commerce has killed the good style. But where a demand exists, a market develops. Unfortunately this happened on Everest too.” 

P.S. Bernd Kullmann has also given his statements concerning the 60-years-jubilee of the first ascent of Mount Everest. You can read and hear his words on the Everest-60-pinboards on the right side of the blog.