Record holder Lhakpa Sherpa

The authors of the Guinness Book of Records must put pen to paper. The information about the climbers with the highest number of Everest ascents has to be updated – both for women and for men. According to her brother Mingma Gelu Sherpa, Lhakpa Sherpa today reached the summit at 8,850 meters from the Tibetan north side. For the 44-year-old it was the ninth ascent of the highest of all mountains. Lhakpa, who lives in the USA with her two daughters at the age of eleven and 16, has already held this record. By the way, on her first ascent in 2000, Lhakpa Sherpa was the first Nepalese female climber who did not only summit Everest but also returned safe and sound to base camp. Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, the first woman from Nepal on top of Everest, had died in 1993 on the descent.

His goal: 25 times on the summit

Kami Rita Sherpa

For men, there is now a sole record holder. Kami Rita Sherpa, ascending from the south, stood on the roof of the world for the 22nd time today, leaving behind Apa Sherpa and Phurba Tashi, with 21 Everest summit successes each. The 58-year-old Apa Sherpa had finished his climbing career already in 2011. Phurba Tashi, aged 47, is now only working for Everest expeditions in the base camp – with consideration for his family. The new record man Kami Rita Sherpa, however, wants to continue to climb Everest. “I still feel fit. I can complete 25 ascents,” said the 48-year-old.

Woman power here, technical problems there

South side of Mount Everest

Among the nearly 100 (!) climbers who reached the top of Everest today were Lakpa Yangji Sherpa (30 years old), Pasang Lhamu Sherpa “Phinasa” (37) and Yangdi Sherpa (25). The ascent of these three Sherpani (via the south side) was under the motto “Women’s Confidence”. In advance, Pasang Lhamu had written that the “Women Everest Expedition 2018” was “a great platform to raise the voice for women and their rights and empowering them”.

The team of the US operator Alpenglow Expeditions had unusual difficulties today. The climbers led by Adrian Ballinger had to abandon their summit attempt at 8,500 meters on the Northeast Ridge, because the regulators of their oxygen cylinders failed in series. 50 percent of the devices didn’t work properly, Ballinger wrote on Instagram: “It’s not the experience I wanted to have today.”

Ballinger on the summit of Mount Everest

It is undisputed that Adrian Ballinger reached the summit of Mount Everest without bottled  oxygen last Saturday. But a debate rose about how he did it. The trigger was my article about a conversation with Ralf Dujmovits on Monday, two days after his failed attempt without breathing mask on the north side of Everest at an altitude of 8,580 meters. During the satellite phone call, the 55-year-old German climber had accused Ballinger that the American had reported about his ascent in real time via the social networks, but had not mentioned some facts. On the descent, for example, Adrian had been led by an Ecuadorian mountain guide on the short rope, said Ralf. Ballinger’s team responded promptly.

Richards: “Adrian earned every step of his summit”

Top of Everest (from the Northeast Ridge)

“I climbed Everest with him all the way up and down from BC, and I can say that he was never short roped on the descent as Ralf wrongly affirms on this interview,” wrote Esteban, called “Topo”, Mena, the mentioned guide from Ecuador, who works for Adrian Ballinger’s company Alpenglow Expeditions. “This information is not correct and should be corrected immediately.” Cory Richards – who had also accompanied Ballinger to the highest point, using bottled oxygen in the summit area because he didn’t feel well – disagreed with Dujmovits too: “Topo was there. His word is corroborated by Pasang and Palden. Ralph simply wasn’t there.” Dujmovits’ argument that Ballinger had been supported by a large team during his ascent and descent was “quite frankly, asinine,“ Cory continued. “Adrian earned every step of his summit.” He appealed to Dujmovits and Ballinger to be proud of their respective efforts instead of arguing. “There is no room for infighting in our tribe … it’s too small.”

Headline-grabbing picture

If you do not regularly follow what happens on Everest, you might be wondering what is so bad about going on the short rope. In the Alps, for example, rope teams often use this technique. Indeed, but on Everest everyone connects it to the recurring picture, which regularly makes headlines since the 1990s: In technically rather easy terrain, a Sherpa draws a visibly overchallenged client on the short rope towards the summit. The message is clear: Actually, this mountan is not the right place for the rear one. A good mountaineer, who is climbing Everest on his own responsibility, doesn’t need this – unless in case of emergency.

The last ten minutes to the summit

Ralf Dujmovits, in the background Mount Everest

After the reactions of Ballinger’s team, I contacted Ralf Dujmovits again. He admits that he got a false information concerning the descent on the short rope but adheres to his fundamental criticism. “I asked both, Adrian and Cory, in depth, and I can tell you that Adrian was led by one of the Sherpas (Palden, Mingma, Pasang Rinji) on the short rope during the last ten minutes up to the summit. There are eyewitnesses,” Ralf writes to me. “Also this has nothing to do with self-reliant climbing. If Ballinger’s team was interested in a correct presentation, they would have published this fact on their own initiative.” That’s the central point of his criticism, says Ralf: “My point is that professionals, especially when they do so much media coverage, have to report correctly – about positive as well as negative things – instead of giving intentionally a false impression by omitting.”

Ralf Dujmovits above Everest North Col

Tired and disappointed. That’s not only the way Ralf Dujmovits feels, he also sounds like this. The 55-year-old climber from Germany talks quietly and slowly, when he tells me via satellite phone about his failed summit attempt on Everest without bottled oxygen. On Saturday, Ralf had turned around at an altitude of 8,580 meters, just before the Second Step, the most striking rock step on the Northeast Ridge: “That was bitter.”

Ten minutes in a cove

As planned before, he set off at 1 a.m. from Camp 3 at 8,300 meters, along with the Sherpa Namgyal Lama. “We advanced quickly,” Ralf reports. Then it began to snow and it got windy. He and his companion sought shelter in a cove. “I was quickly loosing body warmth. I’ve been thinking for ten minutes. And it was clear to me: If I go on, I will suffer frostbite.”

“Extremely difficult decision”

View to the summit

The head said no – and the gut feeling? “The decision was extremely difficult for me. After all, I had decided beforehand that it should be my last attempt,” says Ralf. “It was totally disappointing to do the opposite of what I was about to do. Until then almost everything had worked perfectly. And then on the decisive day, the weather was simply not on my side.”

Bottled oxygen on descent

Frustrated, Ralf returned to Camp 3, where he took a rest for an hour. “Namgyal advised me to breathe bottled oxygen in order to remain concentrated on the further descent. That’s what I did. At that moment I didn’t give a damn, the attempt had failed anyway.” Dujmovits descended to the Advanced Base Camp on Saturday and to the Chinese Base Camp at 5,300 meters on Sunday: “I was wiped out when I arrived there. But that was also a result of my disappointment.” After all, he had previously spent a great deal of time and effort trying to fulfill his dream. “Now I have to get along with it.”

Jornet “from another planet”

Kilian Jornet on Everest

Ralf Dujmovits takes his hat off to the performance of the Spaniard Kilian Jornet, who climbed Everest twice within a week: alone, without bottled oxygen, at speed. “He’s from another planet, an incredible strong performance. I’m really happy for Kilian.” His opinion on Adrian Ballinger’s ascent without supplemental oxygen is quite different. “Jornet and Ballinger are worlds apart,” says Ralf. “The performance counts for me only if the summit was achieved independently and on someone’s own. I must be still master of my body, and master of my head. Everything else has nothing to do with mountaineering.”

 “On the short rope”

The American had a whole team around him, says Ralf – not only his partner Cory Richards, but also an Ecuadorian mountain guide and two Sherpas who carried the technical equipment to be present in the social networks in real time: “It’s only about publicity.” On the descent, Ballinger was led by the Ecuadorian “on the short rope”, says Ralf Dujmovits, adding that he has not read anything about that: “So much about honesty. Things are simply omitted in public. For me, that’s lying.”

Update 30. May: Ballinger’s team has reacted to the report: “I climbed Everest with him all the way up and down from BC, and I can say that he was never short roped on the descent as Ralf wrongly affirms on this interview”, wrote the Ecuadorian Esteban Mena (see his comment below the post). “This information is not correct and should be corrected immediately.” It‘s his word against Ralf‘s.

Northern route on Everest

Mount Everest has shown his teeth again on the past weekend – just on the day when eight climbers were on their summit push without bottled oxygen. Contrary to expectations, on Saturday wind gusts and snowfall in the summit area made the ascent difficult. The result: two summit successes without breathing mask on the north side, one on the south side. Two climbers, who used supplemental oxygen at all and reached the highest point at 8,850 meters. And three summit aspirants, who turned back because of concerns for their health.

Wenzl’s eighth eight-thousander

Latorre, Wenzl and Graziani back in BC (from l.)

All of these mountaineers have arrived safely in the base camps – which is the most important of all news. The only one who reached the summit on Saturday from the south without bottled oxygen was the Austrian Hans Wenzl. For the 46-year-old Carinthian, Everest was his ninth eight-thousander after Broad Peak, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I and II, Manaslu, Cho Oyu and Makalu. He climbed them all without supplemental oxygen. According to Spanish media reports, Wenzl reached the summit around Saturday noon, a few hours after Ferran Latorre, who – as reported before – finally had used a breathing mask because of the adverse weather conditions. By summiting Everest, the 46-year-old Catalan completed his eight-thousander collection. Ferran had climbed the other 13 eight-thousanders without the use of bottled oxygen. The Frenchman Yannick Graziani turned back at 8,500 meters – his countrywoman Elisabeth Revol “halfway” to the summit, as she wrote today on Facebook: “But it was an incredibly beautiful and intense adventure.”

Double ascent without breathing mask

Kilian Jornet on Everest

On the north side, the Spaniard Kilian Jornet climbed up to the summit on Saturday for the second time in a week without the use of bottled oxygen: in a single push from the Advanced Base Camp at 6,400 meters. After 17 hours he reached the summit. It had been hard to move fast, the 29-year-old said: “I think summiting Everest twice in one week without oxygen opens up a new realm of possibilities in alpinism and I’m really happy to have done it.” Without diminishing Kilian’s really great performance in any way – Pemba Dorje Sherpa succeeded a double ascent of Everest within a week already in 2007, at the time also ascending from the north.

“Only pain and gratitude”

Ballinger on the summit

The American Adrian Ballinger, who reached the roof of the world for the seventh time, but for the first time without supplemental oxygen, was happy too. “So much more to say, but my brain isn’t ready to process anything more than pain and gratitude right now,” wrote the 41-year-old on Instagram. His companion Cory Richards, who did not feel good during the ascent, used bottled oxygen to support Ballinger on the way up to the summit.

Turned back ahead of Second Step

The German Ralf Dujmovits, according to his own words, reached an altitude of 8,580 meters, just ahead of the Second Step, the most striking rock step on the Northeast Ridge. The 55-year-old decided to abandon his summit attempt when he began to lose feeling in his hands and feet due to the wind and snowfall – a careful decision. For the eighth time, Ralf had tried to reach the summit without supplemental oxygen. On his successful climb in fall 1992, the only German so far who has summited all 14 eight-thousanders, had used bottled oxygen in bad weather above the South Col. Dujmovits had climbed the other eight-thousanders without breathing mask.

Does Kuriki try it again?

On Sunday, the Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki ascended to Camp 2 at 6,400 meters on the south side of Everest. After his failed attempt on the West-Ridge last week, the 34-year-old had announced that he wanted to climb up again. The weather forecast predicts for the next days light snowfall and wind with speeds between 20 and 30 km/h.

Ralf Dujmovits

What a pity! Ralf Dujmovits has not been able to fulfill his dream of reaching the summit of Mount Everest without bottled oxygen. The 55-year-old turned back at an altitude of 8,500 meters. From Camp 3 at 8,300 meters, he telephoned his life partner, the Canadian climber Nancy Hansen. “He had to turn back at 8,500 m because a storm blew in: 40 kph winds with snow. He was losing feeling in his hands and feet,” Nancy wrote on Facebook. “As you can imagine, he is extremely disappointed. The weather just didn’t allow for a summit.” Ralf’s wise decision demands respect and shows that he was still in control of himself.

Still all the fingers and toes

Top of Everest (from the Northeast Ridge)

Dujmovits is the only German so far, who has summited all 14 eight-thousanders. Only on Everest in fall 1992, he had used a breathing mask above the South Col due to bad weather. Ralf has always felt this was a flaw in his climbing career which he was so keen to eliminate. But this eighth attempt should be his “definitively last one”, he said. Today he slightly missed his sporting goal, but he has remained true to his principle: It is more important to come down healthy again. With a certain amount of pride, Ralf points out that he still has all his fingers and toes after more than three decades of expeditions to the eight-thousanders – not to mention the fact that he has survived all his adventures, in contrast to some of his companions.

Richards used bottled oxygen

The Americans Adrian Ballinger and Cory Richards today reached the 8,850- meter-high summit, also climbing via the northern route. Cory used bottled oxygen, because he did not feel well, but wanted to continue to support his friend Adrian. Richards had reached the summit without breathing mask in 2016, Ballinger had to turn around at that time.

Latorre completes his fourteen 8000ers

South side of Mount Everest

From the south side, the Spaniard Ferran Latorre and the Austrian Hans Wenzl reached the summit, according to Spanish media reports. Latorre said after his return to the South Col, he finally had used bottled oxygen: “It was too hard.” It is not yet known if Wenzl was also using a breathing mask. With his success on Everest, Latorre has completed his eight-thousander collection. The other 13 peaks he had reached without supplemental oxygen.

Graziani and Sangay turned around

The Frenchman Yannick Graziani and the Sherpa Dawa Sangay turned back on 8,500 meters. “Too much snow, too much wind, you freeze on the spot. Too risky without oxygen,” Yannick said. Still, there is no information as to whether the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol has reached the summit. She also wanted to climb to the top of the highest mountain on earth without breathing mask today. This spring Elisabeth had already reached the fore-summit of the eight-thousander Makalu, and afterwards had summited Lhotse.

P.S.: I will be offline for the rest of Saturday and can’t deliver further updates. (3 pm CEST)

Update 28 May: Yesterday the Austrian Hans Wenzl was the only climber on the south side who reached the summit without bottled oxygen. Ferran Latorre had used a breathing mask far up. They both spent the night on the South Col and descended today. Elisabeth Revol turned back yesterday because of the adverse weather conditions “not far from the summit”, as she writes. On the north side, Kilian Jornet reached the summit without supplemental O2 for the second time within a week. Ralf Dujmovits yesterday descended all the way down from his turning point at 8,500 m to the Advanced Base Camp, today he went down to the Chinese Base Camp. Yesterday also Adrian Ballinger and Cory Richards reached the ABC after their summit success.

Summit of Everest seen from the north side

Ralf Dujmovits is close to his big goal. In his eighth attempt, the 55-year-old finally wants to scale Mount Everest without bottled oxygen. Ralf is only about eight hours of ascent away from the highest point on earth at 8,850 meters – if everything goes well. Today Dujmovits, according to his life partner Nancy Hansen, reached Camp 3 on the Tibetan normal route at 8,300 meters, from where he called her by satellite phone. There had been a thunderstorm for the last hour, Ralf told the Canadian. It had taken him five hours to climb the 600 vertical meters from Camp 2. “He feels a little tired, but he sounds very alert and normal,” Nancy wrote on Facebook. “He will drink a lot now, rest a few hours, and leave for the summit at 1am Nepali time (1.15 pm Friday in Canada, 9.15 pm Friday in Germany).”

Little wind expected on the summit day

The weather forecast predicts for Saturday morning little wind and light snowfall, at temperatures around minus 25 degrees Celsius. In the afternoon heavier snowfall is expected. Dujmovits is the so far only German who has summited all 14 eight-thousanders. Only on Everest in fall 1992, he had used a breathing mask above the South Col due to bad weather – a fact he is still regretting. The current Everest attempt without bottled oxygen will be, as Ralf told me before the departure, his “definitely last”. I keep my fingers crossed.

Mask to moisturize the air

Special mask

The Americans Adrian Ballinger and Cory Richards also reached Camp 3 on the north side without supplemental oxygen. “It was hard getting here. I’m scared now,” Adrian wrote on Instagram. In the picture he attached, Ballinger is wearing a mask which, in his own words, “warms and moisturizes the air we breathe up here”.

Latorre and Co. on the South Col

Sangay, Wenzl, Latorre, Graziani (from l. to r.)

On the south side of Everest too, the summit attempts of climbers, who are not using bottled oxygen, are right on schedule. The Spaniard Ferran Latorre, the Frenchman Yannick Graziani and the Austrian Hans Wenzl reached the South Col at 7,950 meters. They are accompanied by Sherpa Dawa Sangay. A short video, which Ferran posted on Twitter, shows strong gusts and snowfall. This was also reported by the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol, who climbed today from Camp 2 at 6,400 meters up to the South Col.

Klein turned around

The today still adverse weather conditions stopped the summit attempt of the Hungarian David Klein, who had climbed up – as I was informed only yesterday – from the south side without breathing mask. At about 8,100 meters, David and two Sherpas, who should film him, turned around because the wind was too strong. It was David’s ninth Everest attempt without supplemental oxygen. In his most successful one in 2014, the Hungarian had reached an altitude of 8,650 meters on the north side.

First balance

Even though a few commercial teams are still on the mountain, the Nepalese authorities have already drawn a first balance of the spring season on Everest. According to the Ministry of Tourism in Kathmandu, more than 450 people, ascending from the south, have so far reached the summit, including about 200 foreign climbers from 29 countries.

Ralf Dujmovits above Everest North Col

So far, the summit attempts of the climbers, who are currently tackling Mount Everest without bottled oxygen, are on schedule (with one exception, see below). According to his life partner Nancy Hansen, Ralf Dujmovits today reached Camp 2 on the Tibetan north side of the highest mountain on earth: “Ralf just called me from 7,700 m, where he will sleep for the night,” the Canadian climber wrote on Facebook. “It is stormy now, but the winds should come down. Tomorrow he will move up to 8,300 m. He feels good!” The 55-year-old has already – as the only German climber so far – scaled all 14 eight-thousanders. Only on Everest in 1992 he had used a breathing mask. The current attempt without bottled oxygen is his eighth and in his own words the “definitely last one” on Everest.

Little surprising discomfort

North side of Everest

The two Americans Adrian Ballinger and Cory Richards also arrived in Camp 2 on the northern route. “Our move to 25,000 feet felt mellow. A bit of discomfort (headache and nausea) now, but that’s to be expected,” Adrian wrote on Instagram. Ballinger, head of the operator Alpenglow Expeditions, has climbed Everest six times with clients, using breathing masks. In spring 2016, he had had to abandon an attempt without supplemental oxygen – in contrast to his team partner Richards, who had climbed up to the summit.

Chilling out at 7,300 meters

South side of Mount Everest

On the Nepalese south side of Everest, the Frenchman Yannick Graziani and the Spaniard Ferran Latorre will spend the night from Thursday to Friday in Camp 3 at 7,300 meters. “Beautiful weather but very warm,“ said Yannick. Ferran feels comfortable too: “I am chilling out in Camp 3. Again a little closer to the summit of Everest and closer to my dream.” If Latorre reaches the highest point on 8,850 meters, he would have climbed all eight-thousanders without oxygen. Graziani and Latorre are accompanied by the Austrian Hans Wenzl and the Sherpa Dawa Sangay. For Wenzl, Everest would be his ninth eight-thousander, all climbed without breathing mask. Elisabeth Revol reported from Camp 2 at 6,400 meters. “I’m good,” the Frenchwoman wrote on Facebook. Tomorrow she wants to climb up to the South Col at 7,950 meters, where she will probably meet Graziani, Latorre, Wenzl and Sangay.

Kuriki announces new attempt

The Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki has abandoned his summit attempt on the Hornbein route – i. e. via the West Ridge, crossing into the North Face and through the Hornbein Couloir to the summit – and has descended to the Base Camp on the Nepalese south side. The 34-year-old announced another attempt for the coming days. “It’s not yet over,” Nobukazu said.

Who are the four dead?

Confusion reigns as to the identity of the four climbers who had been found dead yesterday in a tent on the South Col. Possibly they were climbers who have been missing since spring 2016, Nepalese officials said. The four mountaineers, who were actually considered to be the dead, have reportedly arrived safely in Everest Base Camp.

Ralf Dujmovits, in the background Mount Everest

If everything works, there could be a “topless” party on the summit of Mount Everest next Saturday. Some climbers who want to scale the highest mountain on earth without breathing mask have started their summit attempts. Among those who set off from the Advanced Base Camp on the Tibetan north side was Ralf Dujmovits. The 55-year-old, so far the only German who has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders, wants to succeed in his eighth attempt climbing Everest without supplemental oxygen. In his successful attempt in fall 1992, Ralf had used a breathing mask above the South Col, due to bad weather. All other eight-thousanders he had climbed without bottled oxygen. His plan now: today North Col (7,050 m), tomorrow Camp 2 (7,700 m), on Friday Camp 3 (8,300 m) and on Saturday “hopefully towards the summit” (8,850 m), as Ralf writes to me: “I am confident, I feel good and I think that the extremely warm temperatures (probably minus 20 degrees Celsius) might help me.”

Another speed ascent of Kilian Jornet?

The Americans Adrian Ballinger und Cory Richards have the same schedule as Dujmovits. In spring 2016, Richards had reached the summit without bottled oxygen, Ballinger had had to turn back. There is continuing speculation that the Spaniard Kilian Jornet might set off for a second attempt to improve his ascent time from last Monday. Despite of stomach ache, the 29-year old had run and climbed from Rongbuk Monastery at 5,100 meters up to the summit in only 26 hours – without breathing mask.

Unstoppable Revol

South side of Mount Everest

Also on the Nepalese south side, some mountaineers who want to climb without bottled oxygen have chosen Saturday as summit day. In case of success the Spaniard Ferran Latorre would complete his eight-thousander collection and then would have scaled all the 14 highest mountains on earth without breathing mask. Yannick Graziani and Elisabeth Revol, both from France, want to ascend without supplemental oxygen too. Elisabeth seems to be unstoppable this spring. On Makalu she had reached the foresummit, afterwards she had made it to the summit of Lhotse.

Kuriki down, not up

The Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki, also en route without breathing mask, who originally wanted to reach the summit already on Thursday, descended from his camp at 7,200 meters on the West Ridge to a lower camp, due to physical problems. That was announced by the team of the 34-year-old that had informed some hours earlier Kuriki had started climbing further up. The Japanese wants to make the first solo ascent on the Hornbein Route: via the West Ridge, crossing into the North Face, through the Hornbein Couloir to the summit. This would be the first re-run of the route which the Americans Tom Hornbein and Willy Unsoeld had opened in 1963 (with bottled oxygen). In a failed attempt on the same route in fall 2012, Kuriki had suffered severe frostbite so that nine of his ten fingers had had to be amputated.

Four more dead

The Kathmandu-based newspaper “The Himalayan Times” reports that four climbers were found dead in their tent on the South Col – two Sherpas and two foreign clients. Presumably they died of suffocation. This recalls an incident last year on Makalu  , where two Sherpas from a German expedition team had died in a high camp of carbon monoxide poisoning. Thus the number of this spring’s fatalities on Everest has risen to ten.

Tibetan North side of Mount Everest

Climbing on an eight-thousander in Tibet is getting more expensive, not only on Mount Everest. According to documents available to me, the Chinese Mountaineering Association (CMA) has significantly increased the prices for the climbing permits on Everest, Cho Oyu and Shishapangma, on average by more than 30 percent. Since the beginning of the year, the CMA claims 9,950 US dollars per mountaineer for the climb of the highest mountain on earth in case of four or more team members. So far the Everest Permit cost about 7,000 dollars per head. 7,400 dollars are now due for Cho Oyu, 7,150 dollar for climbing Shishapangma from the north side and 7,650 dollars for an ascent from the south side of the mountain. For smaller teams of up to three, the permit costs are even in a five-digit range: 19,500 dollars per person on Everest, 12,600 dollars each on Cho Oyu and Shishapangma.

Prices converge

For comparison: The Nepalese government requires 11,000 dollars for Everest in spring and  1,800 dollars for the other eight-thousanders in the country. However, this is the “naked” permit, while in Tibet some services are included, such as transportation to the base camp or the services of the liasion officer. Nevertheless, slowly but surely the expedition prices in China and Nepal are converging.

Market of the future

China has obviously discovered mountaineering as a growth sector. No wonder, after all more and more Chinese buy into commercial expeditions – not only in the local mountains, where they are forbidden to travel with foreign agencies. “China is the future market,” Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the Nepalese operator “Dreamers Destination”, writes to me. “The Chinese have now started travelling and climbing in foreign countries.”

By train to base camp

Construction work along the road to Cho Oyu

The Chinese authorities are investing massively in infrastructure in Tibet. The road from the capital Lhasa to the 5,200 meter high Everest Base Camp – formerly on many sections only a dirty road  – has meanwhile been paved completely. “As a tourist attraction, it’s one of the coolest roads I’ve seen anywhere on the planet,” the US expedition operator Adrian Ballinger enthused in spring 2016.
In the town of Gangkar, also known as Old Tingri, a huge mountaineering center is to be built by 2019, including a landing site for helicopter rescue flights. In Tingri, also an incineration plant is currently being built, the Swiss expedition operator Kari Kobler writes to me. Within three to four years there should be a railway connection close to Shishapangma Base Camp, Kari adds.

Unpredictable policy

North side of Everest in the last daylight

The 61-year-old is an old hand on the Tibetan side of the Himalayas. Kobler has been organizing expeditions there for many years. Kari believes that the big changes will take place only in the coming years. “Up to now Everest has been very quiet, and we had an almost familiar relationship on the north side,” says Kobler, referring to the lower number of peak climbers, “only about 30 percent of the guests on the south side”. However, corruption is still a big problem, says Kari: “It’s incredible how autonomously Chinese politicians are operating in Tibet.” Shouldn’t the Tibetans be autonomous in China, according to the official version of the government in Beijing?
Despite higher prices and political uncertainties, Kobler does not think about switching to the Nepali side. The objective dangers are larger on the south side of Mount Everest, says Kari: “From my point of view, it is only a matter of time before something bad happens again. That’s why I prefer the unpredictable policy to of unpredictable dangers.”

Cho Oyu (seen from Gokyo Ri)

The world tends to gasping. It is caught somewhere between Snapchat, snapshot and a 140-character Twitter message – and it jumps onto every train, the main thing is, it’s running. The moments of leisure fall by the wayside. In the not too distant future, we will probably wonder how an expedition to an eight-thousander could ever last for two months. The American climbers Adrian Ballinger and Emily Harrington have reached their goal: Just two weeks after they set off from their house at Lake Tahoe in California, they opened the door again – in their baggage a successful climb of the eight-thousander Cho Oyu. Nine days after their departure, Adrian and Emily stood on the 8188-meter-high summit in Tibet. Then they skied down. Time to head home.

Cabin fever and loss of strength

Emily Harrington (r.) and Adrian Ballinger

“Living for months in a little yellow tent at or above 18,000 feet may sound super adventurous to those who haven’t done it before,” Harrington said in an interview of the magazine “Vogue”. “But it can get pretty isolating and you develop a sort of cabin fever after a while.” And there is the loss of weight and muscle mass, says the 30-year-old, adding that it normally takes her half a year to rock climb again at the same level as before. “I’m hoping this trip won’t do as much damage.”

Manageable length

Her life partner Adrian Ballinger, head of the operator Alpenglow Expeditions, points out in the same interview that he has spent seven to eight months a year living in yellow tents on expeditions around the world since 1997. “I’ve loved the epic, meaning: long expeditions,” the 40-year-old told the “Vogue”. “But now I want to use all I’ve learned to shorten Himalayan expeditions to a more manageable length.” Alpenglow already offers eight-thousander expeditions lasting only for one month.

On prepared route, with breathing mask

The successful two-week trip to Cho Oyu and back was a successful advertisement for these so-called “Rapid Ascent Expeditions”: Members get used to thin air in hypoxic tents at home instead of time-consuming acclimatization on the mountain and don’t arrive at the foot of the mountain until it is prepared with fixed ropes. On Cho Oyu, Ballinger and Harrington also climbed on the already prepared route, with Sherpa support and with bottled oxygen from Camp 2 at 7,200 meters. “But we were still carrying a huge amount of personal gear on us,” Adrian said. “Each day was brutal, but we knew we only had to perform at a really high level for four days.” A successful “snapexpedition”, perfectly suitable for Snapchat, snapshots and Twitter. The model for the future? Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer the stamina in little yellow tents.

Upper slopes on Cho Oyu

Who will stop the grey gentleman? The time-thieves who are wreaking havoc in German writer Michael Ende’s  novel “Momo” seem to have invaded the Himalayas. Western operators have noticed over the past few years that the chance to sell expeditions is the higher, the shorter the trips to Asia last. There are not too many employers who approve a two-month holiday application of an employee who wants to go to an eight-thousander expedition.

Saving acclimatization time

The US operator Alpenglow Expeditions has recognized the predicament potential eight-thousander aspirants are getting into and offer so-called “Rapid Ascent Expeditions”: members get used to thin air in hypoxic tents at home instead of time-consuming acclimatization on the mountain and don’t arrive at the foot of the mountain until it is prepared with fixed ropes. So Alpenglow melts down the duration of an Everest expedition to the Tibetan north side to 42 days. This fall’s Cho Oyu expedition of the US operator takes only 30 days.

On prepared slope

Hypoxia training at home

Adrian Ballinger, the head of Alpenglow, wants to prove that it works even much faster. The American, aged 40, has flown to Cho Oyu along with his partner in live, the 30-year-old professional climber Emily Harrington, to climb Cho Oyu. Within less than two weeks, the couple wants to be back in the US. Ballinger and Harrington have completed an intense hypoxia training at home at Lake Tahoe in California – and followed very closely the forecasts of the meteorologists for a good weather window on this mountain. Without the usual acclimatization rounds, they want to climb directly on the normal route, which is already prepared with fixed ropres, to the 8188-meter-high summit, as high as possible without additional oxygen. For the upper parts of the mountain, however, oxygen bottles should be available, which will have been deposited there before by the Sherpas of the Alpenglow commercial expedition. The couple is planning to ski down from the summit and to travel back afterwards to the United States as fast as possible.

End of deceleration

Time thieves (seen on a graffiti wall in the German town of Trier)

If Ballinger and Harrington will finish their “instant expedition” successfully, that will, of course, be best advertisement for Alpenglow’s Rapid Ascent Expeditions. But that’s what falls by the wayside: the deceleration during an expedition, the immersion in foreign countries and cultures, the encounters with the locals, with the other expedition members, and not least with himself, in short the actual expedition life. And the gray gentlemen rub their hands.

Mount Everest

Before the season, actually all agreed: Commercial climbing on Everest would hardly cope with another year with accidents and without summit successes. It turned out differently. More than 400 ascents via the Nepalese south side of Everest, more than 100 on the north side, five deaths in the summit area. Everything back to normal? Any problems to point out? I’ve asked some expedition operators, who were on Everest this spring. The first three have already replied: Phil Crampton, Adrian Ballinger and Russell Brice. There are some coincidences. But read for yourself!

Crampton: “Why not regulate the mountain like Chinese do?”

For Phil Crampton, born in UK, living in the US, it was the 14th and final season on Everest. He had announced in advance that his company Altitude Junkies would focus from 2017 on “less crowded” mountains like the eight-thousanders Makalu, Dhaulagiri and Kangchenjunga. Crampton himself has scaled Everest six times. This season, the Altitude Junkies team recorded 16 summit successes. Here is Phil’s balance:

Phil Crampton

“The Everest spring season was as normal as it could have been after the devastating 2014 and 2015 seasons. The mountain was not as crowded as usual this year but that still didn’t stop the bottlenecks on summit day from the crowds of climbers that were reported from May 19th. Expedition operators and the government are already talking in Kathmandu about the increased number of foreign climbers expected for the 2017 season as many people still have permits that will be honored from the previous two years. I continue to see climbers with inadequate high altitude experience on her flanks and most of these climbers are signed up with low budget less experienced operators. Everest climbers and their experience is not regulated by the government and it seems that anyone willing to pay the $11,000 permit fee is allowed to climb. Why not regulate the mountain like the Chinese government do requiring all Chinese nationals to have previously climbed an 8,000-meter peak before being issued a permit for the north side?”

Ballinger: “Trash on the mountain, inexperienced climbers”

Adrian Ballinger tried this spring along with his US compatriot Cory Richards to climb Everest from the north without oxygen. The world could follow their ascent in real time via Snapchat under the hashtag #everestnofilter. Adrian turned around at an altitude of about 8,500 meters when he noticed symptoms of altitude sickness. Cory reached the summit. Ballinger’s company Alpenglow Expeditions had a commercial team on Everest too. That’s what Adrian wrote to me:

Adrian Ballinger

“2016 was a great season for Alpenglow on Everest. 100 percent of our commercial team summited (four climbers, three Sherpa) in great conditions. The north side route was in great condition, and much safer than my experience of the south side the past eight seasons. The CTMA (China Tibet Mountaineering Association) rope-fixing was, for the most part, excellent. Issues on the mountain do exist and need addressed, primarily problems caused by low-budget operators without western guides. These problems included leaving trash and human waste on the mountain, accepting inexperienced climbers on teams, and utilizing other teams’ resources due to a lack of their own. None of these problems are insurmountable, but regulation and enforcement of commercial companies on the mountain is necessary.” 

Brice: “New Nepal operators with too little Sherpa stuff”

The New Zealander Russell Brice can also be satisfied with this spring’s season on the south side of Everest from his perspective as head of the operator Himalayan Experience. Six of his clients, including German Andreas Friedrich, reached the highest point. Russ has encouraged me to shorten his season record on the Himex website. That’s what I did:

Russell Brice

“After I saw so many people going to the summit on the 19th I was not surprised to see the events that unfolded later in the season happen. Like one news article headlines, it was back to “Business as Usual on Everest” but I really wonder if we never learn from our past mistakes! There are now many more new Nepal operators here, and we see that they have limited numbers of Sherpa staff, so often these teams are unable to offer any Sherpa support to get equipment up the hill or to actually fix ropes. It was a very democratic decision to have nine different teams being involved for summit rope fixing, but it was not efficient what so ever. It would have been better to have two or three companies involved with Sherpas who all know each other and who can work well together, and also who have one Sirdar or leader to follow the instructions from. This would mean that the rope fixing would be more efficient and subsequently would be done more quickly and therefore put the Sherpas in less danger.”

Tibetan north side of Everest

It is not only the thin air on Everest that makes climbers pant. Meanwhile, also a race seems to have started to be the most hip in social networks. Number one in this category this spring season – taking in account the media response worldwide – are without question the two Americans Adrian Ballinger and Cory Richards. They document their ascent without bottled oxygen on the Tibetan north side also via Snapchat – the image and video messaging service for smartphones and tablets, in which the messages automatically disappear after a while – and thus make couch potatoes gasp. Under #EverestNoFilter, everyone can follow Ballinger’s and Richard’s ascent via the Northeast Ridge virtually in real time and unfiltered. The two climbers want to reach the 8850-meter-high summit this weekend.

How much self-promotion is needed?

Not only on Snapchat, but also on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Adrian and Cory are sharing with their fans whatever happens during their ascent. Even their heart rate data are published. The two climbers even seem to enjoy it having several Internet things on the go at once. And apparently it’s no problem for them that they may go down in Everest history as “Transparent Climbers”. Both are professionals, knowing how to blow their own trumpet. But is it really necessary to do it so intensive?

“Our goal is to share our perspective and encourage dialog on both the positive and negative sides of climbing Everest,” Adrian wrote before the beginning of the expedition. “Ultimately what we want is a positive future for Everest, and for those who work and recreate on the mountain.” Ballinger is the founder and head of the operator Alpenglow Expeditions. The 40-year-old has already climbed Everest six times, but always with bottled oxygen. Cory Richards, born in May 1981, is a climber and professional photographer. In 2011, he – along with Italian Simone Moro and Russian Denis Urubko – succeeded the first winter ascent of the eight-thousander Gasherbrum II in the Karakoram.

Lhakpa’s seventh success

On Thursday, more than 200 climbers reached the summit of Mount Everest. And the wave continues to roll. Also from the north side, where now, as on the south side, the normal route is secured with fixed ropes up to the highest point, the first successes were reported. Among others, today Lhakpa Sherpa reached the summit and thus broke her own record: With seven ascents, the 42-year-old, born in Nepal and living in the US, is the woman with the most Everest summit successes.

Death on Dhaulagiri

Dhaulagiri

There were also the first ascents this spring on the eight-thousander Dhaulagiri. Spaniard Alberto Zerain, Argentinean Mariano Galvan, Rajib Bhattacharya and Prasad Joshi from India and a Sherpa, whose name was not reported (a very common bad habit), reached the 8167-meter-high summit. On the descent the 43-year-old Bhattacharya collapsed at 7,600 meters and died.

Mount Everest

A solitary summit experience is different. Gyanendra Shrestha from the Nepalese Tourism Ministry told the Kathmandu-based newspaper “The Himalayan Times” that about 150 climbers had reached the 8850-meter-high summit of Mount Everest since the morning. The number would probably increase to more than 200 during the day. After the strong wind had calmed down, many teams set off from South Col on the Nepalese side of the mountain. The numerous summit successes on Everest were overshadowed by a fatality on the neighboring mountain Lhotse.

According to the expedition operator Aun Treks, Ang Furba Sherpa fell down the Lhotse flank to his death. He belonged to a team of six Sherpas who were securing the route on the 8516-meter-high Lhotse with fixed ropes.

On the north side of Everest, the first summit successes are expected soon. The rope-fixing team of the China Tibet Mountaineering Association was on the last slopes below the summit, American climber Adrian Ballinger wrote on Twitter.

Ralf Dujmovits

The good weather window on Mount Everest has not yet opened. “Heavy snow in Everest Base Camp at the moment,” American Dan Mazur, expedition leader of the operator Summit Climb, today wrote on Twitter from the Nepalese south side of the mountain. “Our Sherpas are working high up on the mountain, carrying oxygen, ropes, tents, food.”  On the north side of Everest, the Americans Adrian Ballinger and Cory Richards climbed today to an altitude of about 7,600 meters. “For just today, I’m pretty sure Cory and I were the highest people on the planet”, Adrian wrote on Instagram. “Does it matter? Of course not. But it felt special.” The two climbers, who want to scale Everest without bottled oxygen, returned to the North Col, “as afternoon clouds try to cross the border from Nepal into Tibet”. The weathermen expect for the next few days more snowfall on Everest. Maybe one or the other climbers in the base camps on the north and south side will use the time to read again Jon Krakauer’s book “Into Thin Air”. It describes the disaster on Everest in spring 1996. The 20^th anniversary will be next Tuesday .

I have talked to Ralf Dujmovits about Mount Everest then and now. The 54-year-old is the first and so far only German who stood on the summits of all 14 eight-thousanders.

Ralf, you have taken an Everest sabbatical this year. Did you – like many others – want to see how the whole situation on Everest is developing?

I did not want to wait and see. I just had to take an one-year-break, otherwise the whole thing would have turned into work. I was now seven times on Everest. Six times I tried to wipe out the stain of 1992 when I had used bottled oxygen in the summit area. Sometimes you have to take a break and see something else. I’m looking forward to the summer in Pakistan. (Ralf and his partner, Canadian Nancy Hansen, will try to scale a still unclimbed seven-thousander.)

Dangerous Khumbu Icefall

Two consecutive years without summit successes on the south side, in addition two avalanche incidents with a total of 35 dead – do you think the current spring season will be crucial for the future of climbing the highest mountain on earth?

I think it’s not necessarily representative what happens on Everest this spring. Nevertheless, I see the advantage for those who are now on the south side that there are far less climbers. Thus the danger of traffic jams on the route is lower. Apart from that, I believe that some operators have realized that the south side is very dangerous. That cannot be changed only by taking a new route through the Khumbu Icefall. Of course, as a “Goodwill Ambassador” I should promote Nepal. I really like to do it. But in case of Everest I tell people very clearly: Go to the Tibetan north side!

Do you think that this will be the only change in Everest climbing?

I think the gap regarding price, organization and safety is widening right now. On the one hand we have very cheap options of the Nepalese operators who are able to acquire many clients, partly with dumping prices, on the other hand the established operators who have very high safety standards and charge higher prices. I believe, in the future clients want to have customized offers based on their personal needs. In this field, the Nepalese operators are clearly more active. They tell their clients: If you want to, you can book only one or another service, for example only food for Base Camp. I believe, the western operators still have to learn this, to say: We want to continue our high safety standards, but we will enable the clients to climb the mountain in a manner other than the traditional way, completely being led up the mountain, the full program.

High winds on Everest

Key word: Safety. Next Tuesday marks the 20th anniversary of the 1996 incident on Everest, when within 24 hours eight climbers lost their lives during a storm in the summit area. Is it possible to compare that time with today?

So many things have changed. The leading operator then was Rob Hall with Adventure Consultants. (The New Zealander was among the victims.) The standard in 1996 was relatively high for that time. But very reliable weather forecasts were still missing. With today’s quite reliable weather reports it should not happen any more that climbers run half unknowingly into bad weather. However, new problems have occurred due to the massification since 1996. At that time, there were three, four or five expeditions per season, today there are dozens. This has more likely changed to disadvantage and can be to the detriment of the guests.

Thus new disasters on Everest can not be excluded?

There will still be accidents – also because the global warming doesn’t stop at Everest. It is likely that big ice avalanches will continue to sweep down into the Khumbu Icefall from the Everest West Shoulder on the left or from Nuptse on the right. Thus the icefall remains dangerous. Previously the danger mainly resulted from the large movement of the ice. Seracs collapsed, crevasses opened, climbers fell into the depths because ladders were torn apart. This risk has remained at the same level, but the strongly increasing warming will provide additional risk potential.

On the north side too?

There the risk of ice debris is by far not as high as on the south side.

Let’s return to your Everest plans. This year, you stay well clear of the highest mountain on earth. But this doesn’t mean that you have completed this chapter, right?

First I will travel along with Nancy to Pakistan this summer. But in 2017, we are determined to return again to the north side of Everest. Most likely we will try to climb via the Messner traverse (solo climb in 1980) into the Norton Couloir.