Gasherbrum Iv

The weather conditions in the Karakoram remain difficult. German David Göttler and Italian Herve Barmasse had to give up their attempt on the almost-eight-thousander Gasherbrum IV. The two had originally planned to first climb the Southwest Face of the 7,932-meter-high mountain in the Karakoram for the first time. “For now, G IV must remain a dream climb,” writes David on Facebook. “Sad and frustrated we have been forced back to Base Camp by unpredicted snowfall. (The) Avalanche danger is too high.” Also the Spaniards Oriol Baro, Roger Cararach, Iker Madoz and Marc Toralles abandoned their summit attempt because of the bad weather and returned from Camp 2 at 6,500 meters. They had planned to reach the summit via the still unclimbed South Pillar.

Great Trip

Felix Berg’s summit selfie on Gasherbrum II

So far there have only been two successes on the Gasherbrum summits this season. German Luis Stitzinger and Italian Gianpaolo Corona reached the 8,080-meter-high summit of Gasherbrum I on 18 July, “after an ascent through calf deep snow, in alpine style and without using artificial oxygen,” as Luis reported on Facebook. Two days earlier Pole Adam Bielecki and German Felix Berg had reached the highest point of Gasherbrum II at 8,034 meters, also without bottled oxygen. “It was a great trip,” Felix tells me, now back with his family in Switzerland. “And this on a mountain that is normally overcrowded. In this respect, the weather was blessing in disguise.” For three weeks before it had snowed almost continuously. The commercial expeditions had not reached further than Camp 1 at 5,900 meters, there were no fixed ropes on the higher parts of the mountain.

Logical line

Adam Bielecki on the West Ridge

Actually Bielecki and Berg, together with Jacek Czech, another Poland, had also wanted to tackle Gasherbrum IV via a new route through the East Face. They had only wanted to climb Gasherbrum II to acclimatize. Because of the persistently bad weather, they changed their plans and decided to try a new route variant through the West Face in the upper part of the mountain. “The normal route up to Camp 3 at 6,900 meter is a beautiful straight line, but then it bends to the right,” explains Felix. “The West Face is actually the logical extension of this line up to the summit.” The fragile rock slabs in the wall were a problem for them, says the 37-year-old. “We couldn’t belay ourselves. We were roped up with some pseudo belaying between us. No one should have slipped or fallen.”

Fall into a crevasse during descent

The crevasse into which Felix fell

Berg and Bielecki reached the summit, traversed it and descended on the normal route. Jacek Czech and the Russian Boris Dedeshko, climbing up the normal route, had had to turn back earlier. On the way down to the base camp Felix Berg experienced a moment of shock. Shortly before the finish he fell 15 meters deep into a crevasse. Luckily, Boris and he were roped up at the time. “I was pretty lucky,” says Felix. “I just got a few bruises and a cut that needed stitches. But I got off lightly for a 15-meter fall.”

P.S.: I am now away for a good two weeks – actively relaxing in the Alps.

K 2, called “Chogori” by the locals

If I were a road planner, I would say: This smells like traffic jam. More than 100 climbers from eight expeditions have signed this summer for K 2, with a height of 8,611 meters the second highest mountain on earth. The Base Camp at the foot of the “King of the Eight-thousanders” could become crowded, as well as the normal route on the mountain. Even the team of the Nepalese expedition operator Seven Summit Treks consists of 44 (!) climbers.

Necessary arrangements

Serac above the “Bottleneck”

Similar to Mount Everest, the teams will have no choice but to “manage” the mountain, that is to coordinate their climbs to avoid jams on the dangerous key points on the route. The accident in 2008 should be warning enough. At that time, eleven climbers died in the summit area of K 2 within two days, six of them in ice avalanches. One of the reasons: Too many people were climbing simultaneously in the “Bottleneck”, a gully at 8,300 meters, extremely exposed to avalanches. In that season, “only” about 70 climbers tried to scale K 2, much less than this year. So far, around 350 climbers have reached the summit of K 2, which is considered one of the most beautiful but also most challenging and dangerous eight-thousanders. About 80 climbers have lost their lives on “Chogori”, as the local Balti call the mountain.

Record in 2004

In K 2 Base Camp

The summer of 2004 (when I visited K 2 Base Camp too) was so far the season with the most summit successes. In that year, the Golden Jubilee of the first ascent of K2 was celebrated. 51 climbers reached the highest point at that time. This record was only narrowly missed in 2014, with 48 summit successes. It was noteworthy then that 32 climbers reached the summit in a single day (26 July). 2015 was once again a year without any summit success on K 2.

More and more Sherpas from Nepal

Many of this summer’s expeditions will employ Climbing Sherpas from Nepal. Pakistani Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” – one of the climbers who first scaled Nanga Parbat in winter last February – complained that Nepalese Sherpas “already got 80 percent of business in Pakistan, and will be 100 percent soon. At the same time, many friends of mine spend all year at home, eating plain rice, waiting for a call that won’t arrive unless they don´t change their behaviour.”

Alexander Huber

2013 was an unusual year for Alexander Huber. The younger of the two Huber brothers was not on expedition, in contrast to his brother Thomas. Instead, the 45-year-old climber published a book (there is no English version yet), in which Alexander commits to fear as open as probably no climber did before. I met him at Leverkusen near my hometown of Cologne where he was holding a lecture. 

Alexander, when will we see you on expedition again?

The next expedition is coming soon. By mid-June we will start to the Karakoram. Let’s see what will happen.

Do you reveal your plan? 

We go to the North Face of Latok I (with 7145 meters the highest peak of the Latok group). The project has already been tried many times by really good climbers. But so far, the wall has resisted vehemently. We need a lot of luck to be successful. But my goodness, if you do not try you can not make it.

Latok group and Ogre (r.)

Do you still have more climbers in your team?

Yes, there will be Mario Walder from East Tyrol in Austria and the Swiss Dani Arnold who is known for his technical and conditional strength. This is exactly what we need: a strong team that fits together well.

In 2013 you took in some respect a sabbatical. Do you feel in top shape now?

What makes you think that I had a sabbatical?

You have not been on expedition since 2012 on Baffin Island or am I wrong?

Actually, last year we wanted to climb free a new route on the Freney pillar (on Mont Blanc). Then Thomas left for Patagonia relatively quickly and I was without my climbing partner. I just did not find a partner who was strong enough to bring this project to an end. You need not only the right shape at the right time but also the right people because you are in a rope team, unless you are climbing free solo.

Apropos, you are now also a family man having three young children. Does this mean the end of your free solo projects?

I can not say for sure. What I will do in the future, depends little on the fact that I have a family. I do not know if I will realize another free solo project. What I do know is that we will try to climb via the North Face of the 7000er Latok I in the Karakoram. We’ll see what comes of it. What we do afterwards, depends on what will happen to us there.

The Karakoram mountains are in Pakistan. Do you have a strange feeling if you think of the political situation in the country and that you will travel there soon?

Of course the political situation is anything but funny and imposes a problem for us too. You are very limited after having arrived in the country. You cannot move freely because tourists are a possible target for the Taliban. The only area where we feel safe is Baltistan itself. When we arrive in the town of Skardu, we are in a pure Shiite area. The Baltis are Shiites and the people of Hunza are Ismailis, they have very little in common with the Taliban. Therefore, it is a Taliban-safe region, while Nanga Parbat for example is not.

Alexander climbing Mount Asgard on Baffin Island

When I googled your name in the past six months, it sometimes seemed to me that you had become an expert for fear because of the book that you published. Have you broken a taboo by dealing with this issue so intensely as a mountaineer?

This is my own experience that I have made with fear in my life. Not just on the mountain, where the fear is my best friend anyway because it guarantees that I survive, but also in everyday life. I once had an anxiety disorder and realized that I needed treatment. And I’m even thankful that I someday made ​​the move to seek help. That was actually the way to recovery. If you run away from fear, it becomes your greatest enemy. However, if you face your fear, you can make friend with it. This has led me to give the book its title: “The fear, your best friend” is no provocation but meant absolutely seriously.

Did you get feedback also from the mountaineering scene? Climbers often claim to be wild guys without fear.

This is fundamentally wrong. Of course a climber has to be scared. If he has no fear, he will not climb for a long time.

But he usually does not commit to his fear.

This is certainly a tenor of my book, which has changed a lot in the scene. But I did not get a lot of feedback from there, instead much more from normal ​​life. Many people who come to my lectures tell me that my book has not only given them hope, but can also be a good guide in life.

You are 45 years old. At this age many men fall into a midlife crisis, extreme climbers too?

As an athlete, you deal much earlier with the midlife crisis because the physical strength is decreasing much earlier than at 45. I am perfectly aware of the fact that I can not continue forever to be a mountaineer of world class level. Maybe I can succeed in doing some special actions, but not because of the bare physical power that I have – which is already far in the past – but because of tactical understanding , experience and mental strength, which is very important. Well, maybe I will have the one or other success, but it’s not a must. 

Hansjoerg Auer during the IMS in Brixen

Hansjoerg Auer likes to use the word “brutal”. But only when he is telling of something that inspires him. “It’s just a brutal beautiful mountain and a brutal cool goal,” says the top climber from Austria about Kunyang Chhish East. The 7400-meter-high mountain is located in the Karakoram in Pakistan. Hansjoerg has climbed the side peak of Kunyang Chhish (7852 meters) last summer together with his brother Matthias and Swiss Simon Anthamatten. “You rarely find this combination: a 7000er, unclimbed, with a cool wall such as the nearly 3000-meter-high South Face”, says the 29-year-old climber. “I am thrilled by exactly these expeditions with as many question marks as possible. They are interesting and remain exciting.”

Brothers on the summit

The trio reached the previously unclimbed summit over an extremely challenging route through the South Face. In 2006 the US top climbers Steve House and Vince Anderson (who had climbed the Rupal Face on Nanga Parbat firstly in Alpine style in 2005) had to return on Kunyang Chhish East some 300 meters below the summit. Auer is particularly pleased that he was able to celebrate the success together with his brother. Matthias is living “more in the midst of life, with family and home. That’s why it was certainly one of his last major mountain projects”, says Hansjoerg. “I really liked that we reached the top together.”

Repressing bad news

Just below the summit of Kunyang Chhish East

The Auer brothers and Anthamatten dedicated their summit success to the eleven victims of the terrorist attack on Nanga Parbat, about 120 kilometers away. The news had reached them in basecamp during their period of acclimatization. “You cannot imagine something like that. If you’re just staying in basecamp yourself, thinking that these guys come and shoot you, that’s really incredible!”, Hansjoerg recalls. “But we started climbing and repressed the bad news as well as possible.” It’s out of the question for Auer to stay away from Pakistan. “You cannot say we will travel no longer to Pakistan. I hope that was a one-time incident.” Mountaineers were not giving the reasons for the attack, says Hansjoerg. “There must be a more hidden problem that has to be solved now.”
Auer will most likely return to the Karakoram in 2014. His destination: another 7000er, an unclimbed, technically difficult wall. Hansjoerg doesn’t reveal more details. Maybe he is talking about the Masherbrum East Face. Recently David Lama had indicated to me that his compatriot would possibly join his team for Masherbrum.

In a league of their own

The big walls on 8000ers are no issues for Auer. Not yet. These walls, says Hansjoerg, are “in a league of their own. You have to gain a lot of experience on 7000ers before you can climb cool routes on 8000ers. In very high altitude especially the mental challenge is extreme”, says Auer. “What Ueli Steck has just done on Annapurna, climbing solo through the South Face, was extremely good. The biggest backup you have as a climber is usually your teammate. But there is no companion if you do a solo climb. You’re so exposed up there, without any help. You have to work through this and to deliver full performance.” And once again Hansjoerg uses his favorite word: “That means brutal commitment. You have to do your very best.”

David Lama

Considering his age of 23 years, David Lama has already faced a lot of criticism. “I have learned from my mistakes”, says the Austrian Climber. In 2010 his team had set dozens of new bolts for filming David’s attempt to free climb the legendary “Compressor Route” on Cerro Torre in Patagonia. Then Lama failed, but two years later he succeeded, together with his Austrian climbing mate Peter Ortner. For the summer of 2014 the two climbers are planning another “blockbuster”.

Impossible to climb?

Masherbrum (in the centre)

Lama and Ortner want to climb the East Face of the 7821-meter-high Masherbrum in the Karakoram for the first time. “Not many have actually tried to climb the wall, because most consider it as impossible”, David tells me at the International Mountain Summit in Brixen. “But meanwhile I can imagine to climb through this wall. This is currently one of the most exciting ideas.” Perhaps his compatriot Hansjoerg Auer would join the team, Lama reveals. When I met him a few days ago Reinhold Messner called these two Austrian climbers “young people who are creative”. They would find their playing fields.

Extremely cool

Chogolisa

Currently the Karakoram is “one of the most exciting playgrounds” for him, David says. “Huge, beautiful, especially difficult mountains with big walls. I’m fascinated by them.” In 2012 Lama and Ortner climbed the 7665-meter-high, shapely Chogolisa, it was David’s first 7000er. “After 26 years we were the first climbers who reached the summit. It was an extremely cool experience to climb up to the summit ridge. Secondly, it was a kind of preparation for higher mountains because it’s my goal to climb big and difficult walls.” Like the East Face of Masherbrum .

Practice makes perfect

David Lama is the son of an Austrian mother and a Sherpa from Khumbu, the region around Mount Everest. At the age of five David proved his extraordinary talent at a climbing camp organized by Peter Habeler. That was the start of a successful career as a sport climber. At the age of ten Lama was climbing extremely difficult routes. Today, he sees himself “more as an alpinist,” says David, adding with a smile: “And also a little bit as a mountaineer.”

Everything under control

He is not a gambler, says Lama. However, he only turns back on a mountain if it is absolutely necessary. “I believe I have the ability to balance and evaluate the risk. But it is also clear that someone who has just taken his driving test will move faster than someone who has the licence for forty years.” Does he think about death? On Masherbrum, David answers, “one would like to have everything settled before climbing into the wall.”

Nanga Parbat

The Taliban attack on the basecamp at the Diamir side of Nanga parbat has left even Pakistan experts stunned. „We have been caught cold“, Eberhard Andres told me. He is working for the German trekking agency Hauser Exkursionen and is responsible for trips to Pakistan. „It was really the first time that something like this has happened.“ Last weekend Taliban terrorists had attacked the Diamir basecamp and killed eleven climbers: three Chinese, three Ukrainians, two Slovaks, a Lithuanian, a Nepalese and a Pakistani. The attack was of „a completely new quality“, Dominik Müller, head of the agency Amical Alpin, said to me. Swiss expedition organizer Kari Kobler is shocked as well: „We knew that Pakistan can be a dangerous place. But not in the north!“ All of them expect negative consequences for mountain tourism in Pakistan, which had just began to get back on its feet after lean years as a result of the tense political situation. 

Nanga Parbat expedition 2014 will be cancelled

„The assassination changed the whole situation,“ Kari Kobler said. „This is really bad for Pakistan.” He has heard that the army would send 70,000 more troops to the region. „But that’s just a drop in the ocean.“ Kari told me that he fortunately had no clients on Nanga Parbat just now. „We will cancel the planned expedition to the mountain in 2014. You can not do that.“

Hauser has to react more quickly. Actually on 8th July a group should start to Pakistan to trek around Nanga Parbat. „It doesn’t make sense now to take any risk on Nanga Parbat“, Eberhard Andres said. He is in contact with the clients to look for alternatives. „But it would be wrong to say we close the chapter Pakistan for years.“ According to Andres trips to Pakistan were „fully booked“ in 2013. The fascinating mountains of the Karakoram had increasingly been considered as an insider tip among trekkers and as an alternative to the classic routes in Nepal. „It has gotten about that one did not feel endangered on the spot.“

Police escort on Karakoram Highway

But this feeling could now be lost on Nanga Parbat. „We have to wait and see what the Pakistani government is doing,“ Dominik Müller said. The head of Amical had visited Nanga Parbat previously three years ago and had felt the situation in the Diamir valley to be problematic. „There were conflicts between the clans.“ Dominik said, there was no military post in the region. „An officer was referred to us but didn’t accompany us to the mountain.“ Due to this experience Müller had not taken Nanga Parbat into the Amical program for 2013. „For me the region seemed to be too hot.“ Dominik told me that this year for the first time all expedition groups had got police escorts on the Karakoram Highway in the area around the town of Chilas near Nanga Parbat.

If possible by plane

The organizers from Germany and Switzerland point out that the situation in the more northern areas, around the other four 8000ers of Pakistan, is still safe. The local agencies were now trying to take all mountaineers and trekkers from Islamabad directly by plane to the city of Skardu and back – instead of using buses on the Karakoram Highway. The German Foreign Office has issued a „partial travel warning“ after the attack on Nanga Parbat. The goverment in Berlin advises tourists „to inform themselves fully on the current security situation with Pakistan’s tour operators and authorities before traveling to Gilgit-Baltistan.“

Nanga Parbat

“Killer Mountain” is written on the sign on Karakoram Highway, where you can take a look at the majestic 8000er Nanga Parbat. Actually the sign recalls the numerous tragedies on the “Naked Mountain” in the last century, for example in 1937, when 16 members of a German expedition died in an avalanche. But now the sign has received a new, oppressive meaning. A hit squad penetrated to the base camp on the Diamir side of Nanga Parbat and shot at least ten people. The Pakistani government said the victims were five climbers from Ukraine, four Chinese and a Pakistani guide.

Act of revenge

A Pakistani Taliban group claimed responsibility for the attack. It had been an act of revenge for the killing of one of their leaders, a spokesman of the group said: “These foreigners are our enemies and we claim responsibility for killing them and will continue such attacks in the future as well.” Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the “inhuman and cruel” attack and promised that the perpetrators would be found out and punished.

Many climbers in high camps

In the base camp on the Diamir side, the west face of Nanga Parbat, more than 50 climbers had pitched their tents. As weather improved, many climbers were in high camps and thus escaped the massacre. Although the region is near to the Afghan border until now mountain tourists have mostly remained untouched by terrorist attacks in northern Pakistan. With K 2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and II and Nanga Parbat five of the fourteen 8000ers are in Pakistan.

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.