Thomas Laemmle in Chinese Base Camp

Who could say no? On the summit of Mount Everest at 8,850 meters, Thomas Laemmle popped the question to his partner, via GPS messenger: “Heike, will you marry me?” Her answer was not (yet) spread on the Internet. Thomas today reached the highest point on Earth via the normal route on the Tibetan north side – without oxygen. For the 50-year-old from the German town of Waldburg in Baden-Wurttemberg Everest is the fifth eight-thousander he has scaled. Previously, the high altitude climber and sports scientist from the Allgaeu region had successfully climbed Cho Oyu (in 2003), Gasherbrum II (in 2005 and 2013), Manaslu (in 2008) and Shishapangma (in 2013). This spring Laemmle had abandoned a summit attempt on Cho Oyu due to bad weather.

“Tremendous feeling”

North side of Everest

Juergen Landmann was another German on the summit of Everest today. “It is a tremendous feeling,” Juergen said in a radio interview that he gave via satellite phone at the top. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” Landmann had abandoned his original plan to climb without bottled oxygen. The 46-year-old from the municipality Langenwetzendorf in Thuringia had scaled Cho Oyu in 2013. A year later, he reached the 8035-meter-high foresummit of Broad Peak in Pakistan.

One dead and two missing Indians

From the south side of Everest, another death was reported, the third within three days. Indian Subhas Pal died while descending from the South Col, apparently from exhaustion. The fate of two other members of the Indian Expedition is still unclear. They are reported missing – which is elusive in light of the heavy traffic on the normal route during the good weather window. This spring so far more than 350 climbers have reached the summit from the Nepalese south side.