The Vinson Massif

“Morale is waning, that’s clear,” Dominik Müller, head of the German expedition operator Amical alpin, tells me when I talk to him about the situation in Mount Vinson Base Camp. As reported, a total of 48 mountaineers, including a five-member Amical team, have been stuck there in bad weather for a week and a half now. Food is running out slowly but surely. “Our Christmas dinner was bizarre, sweet mashed potatoes with jam and cinnamon,” wrote Jürgen Landmann, one of the German climbers, on Facebook on Christmas Day. “We built a small chapel and a Christmas tree out of snow. We also took a group picture with all 48 mountaineers here in the base camp.”

No information about emergency plans

Vinson Base Camp in good weather

After all, an Ilyushin cargo plane was able to fly from Punta Arenas in southern Chile to Union Glacier Camp on the edge of Antarctica. However, the bad weather at Mount Vinson prevents airplanes from taking off and landing at the base camp. “We have been eating only one warm meal a day from rations of which the expiration date passed a year ago,” wrote Manuel Möller from the Amical team on Christmas Eve. “ALE (Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions – the US company that organizes the flights to and from Antarctica) apparently has no Plan B. And the atmosphere here in the camp is slowly getting more nervous.” It is unlikely to have improved over the holidays – especially as the meteorologists are predicting snowfall at Mount Vinson for the coming days. So the adjourned game continues. “Our expedition leader Willi Comploi says we’ll have to come up with something soon if the team can’t be taken out in the next few days,” says Dominik Müller, who, in his own words, tried several times in vain to get information from ALE about possible emergency plans.

O’Brady succeeds in solo crossing Antarctica

O’Brady at his destination

Meanwhile the US adventurer Colin O’Brady has successfully completed his solo crossing of Antarctica over a distance of almost 1500 kilometres, without any support. “Day 54: Finish line!!! I did it,” the 33-year-old wrote on Instagram and posted a picture which, according to him, showed him on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. Almost two months ago, O’Brady had started with his sled from Union Glacier – at the same time as British Louis Rudd, who is expected at the finish line in a day or two. The first unsupported solo crossing of Antarctica had been achieved by Norwegian Borge Ousland at the beginning of 1997. He had overcome a distance of 2845 kilometers (!), also using a kite to move faster.

Union Glacier Camp

Update 28 December: Breathe a sigh of relief! The climbers who were stuck for a week and a half at Mount Vinson could be flown out to the research station at Union Glacier. “The atmosphere is correspondingly cheerful,” writes Manuel Möller from the Amical alpin team to me.

Update 29 December: On Friday Lou Rudd completed his solo crossing too.

Mount Vinson

Christmas with the family beneath the Christmas tree – this might not happen for about 40 mountaineers in Antarctica. For about a week now, several teams have been stuck in the base camp at the foot of the 4,852-metre-high Mount Vinson, the highest mountain of the continent. Severe storm with speeds of around 100 kilometers per hour and heavy snowfall have been preventing aircrafts from taking off or landing there for days. “We rationed the food for one warm meal a day,” writes Manuel Möller, with whom I was on an expedition to the 7,129-meter-high Kokodak Dome in 2014, where we succeeded the first ascent. Manuel had actually wanted to be home again on 21 December: “We are now prepared for still spending Christmas here.”

Turned around 150 meters below the summit

The Vinson Massif

Jürgen Landmann, who like Manuel belongs to the five-member team of the German expedition operator Amical alpin, writes on Facebook about a possible “mini good weather window” on 27 December: “Let’s hope that we get away from here then!” According to him, the team had to turn around 150 meters below the highest point during their summit attempt. One of the climbers suffered frostbite on her nose and cheek during the ascent, Manuel adds, “but things are looking better again”.  The team had good weather only on two out of ten days on the mountain, he says.

Mood in base camp still calm

“The season here is completely crazy,” writes Manuel. “The rangers said they’d never seen so much bad weather before. Yesterday there was 15 centimeters of fresh snow. Normally it snows here one centimeter a year.” The atmosphere in the base camp is calm despite the delay, says Manuel, adding that there is enough food for another two weeks, and petrol is still available too. “So there is no immediate danger of starving or dying of thirst,” reassures Manuel. “Nevertheless it is somehow stupid, since it is not foreseeable when the conditions will improve.” So keep your fingers crossed!

Spantik (the normal route

It was close, damn close. “We were very, very lucky,” writes Patrick z’Brun to me. The mountain guide was part of a Swiss team that escaped a tragedy by a hair’s breadth on the 7,027-meter-high Spantik in the Karakoram this summer. The day after their arrival, the climbers were just setting up their base camp. “Suddenly someone shouted ‘Rock, rock’,” reports Patrick. A large boulder rushed through a couloir directly towards the base camp. Nearly 200 meters ahead of the camp, the boulder divided into two pieces without them changing direction: “Two kitchen tents and a sleeping tent were sheer shaved off. The two rocks rushed past two climbers by a hair’s breadth.” According to Patrick’s words, an expedition member just managed to save himself by jumping behind a small wall on which the kitchen tent had stood. An eight-second video of the incident documents how lucky the group was:

“Definitely traumatized”

“As an emergency measure, we determined escape routes for each individual and established a permanent night watch,” writes Patrick z’Brun. “During the night there was another rockfall, but it did not cause any damage. The people (including the porters) were definitely traumatized and partly refused to go back into the tents.” The next day the Swiss climbed further up to take a look at the danger zone. “On site – at about 4,800 meters – we realized that this was only a prelude. Up there, there were still a lot of boulders waiting, and we discovered some cracks,” reports the 56-year-old, who had climbed Mount Everest in 2008. “It was only a matter of time before the next incident happened.” The Swiss packed up – and later found a nice alternative destination nearby: they succeeded in the first ascent of a 5633-meter-high summit, which they named “Swiss Sherpa Peak”.

A “good-natured mountain” so far

Mountain guide Patrick z’Brun

Spantik – first climbed by the Germans Reinhard Diepen, Edward Reinhard and Joachim Tietze via the southeast side in 1955 – has been a popular destination for commercial expeditions for years. Kari Kobler, whose company had organised the Swiss team’s trip this summer, described the seven-thousander to me as “a mountain that had been really good-natured so far”. It remains to be seen whether Spantik will continue to appear in the “Kobler & Partner” program in the future. An alternative location for the base camp and also a route variant are to be examined.

According to Patrick z’Brun, local porters pointed out that until ten years ago the base camp had regularly been pitched up further down the glacier and that even earlier, mountaineers had climbed via an eastern ridge directly to Camp 1 in order to avoid the danger zone.

Climate change sends its greetings

The risk of rockfall in the Karakoram has been increasing in recent years. “It is becoming more and more a problem due to climate change”, confirms Dominik Müller, head of the German expedition operator “Amical alpin”. “Areas that were still covered with snow a few years ago are snowless now, with more and more debris appearing.”

Being warned now

In the three days before their arrival at the foot of Spantik there had been heavy rain for three days, writes Patrick z’Brun. “We noticed (especially after the rockfall) that there were many stones lying around in the base camp. But we hadn’t thought too much about it.” But from now on, Patrick says, nobody can say any more: ‘You couldn’t know that.’

Luis Stitzinger

According to his own words, Luis Stitzinger has reached the 8,080-meter-high summit of Gasherbrum I in the Karakoram yesterday (Wednesday). He was on his descent, the 49-year-old German climber informed via Facebook today. For Luis, it is his eighth eight-thousander success after Cho Oyu (in 2000), Gasherbrum II (in 2006), Nanga Parbat (in 2008), Dhaulagiri (in 2009), Broad Peak (in 2011), Shisha Pangma (in 2013) and Manaslu (in 2017). He climbed all of them without bottled oxygen, six of them together with his wife Alix von Melle.

Success after all

Luis (2nd from left) the day before our summit bid on Kokodak Dome (in 2014)

As reported, Stitzinger had previously abandoned the planned first ascent of the 7,082-meter-high Urdok Kangri II because of the masses of fresh snow on the mountain. Luis had led the expedition of the German operator “Amical alpin”, in which Alix had also participated. While Alix turned back home along with the other members, Luis decided to tackle Gasherbrum I.

I am particularly pleased about his success, as we have a common past: In July 2014, Luis led the Amical expedition to Kokodak Dome, which ended with the first ascent of the 7,129-meter-high mountain in western China. Since then I can also call myself a first ascender. I never would have made it without Luis.

Death on 7000er in India

R.I.P.

Sad news is reported from the 7,416-meter-high Saser Kangri IV in the Indian part of the Karakoram: The search for Pemba Sherpa was called off after five days. The 45-year-old Nepalese had fallen into a crevasse when a snow bridge had collapsed.  It is believed that he fell into the icy meltwater at the bottom of the crevasse. Pemba had scaled Everest eight times and another five eight-thousanders.

Stitzinger on his ski descent from G I

Update July 24: Luis has published some details of his successful ascent of Gasherbrum I. According to his own words, he ascended together with 52-year-old Italian Gianpaolo Corona in Alpine style. On the summit day they had to break the trailthrough calf-deep fresh snow. After more than 13 hours they reached the highest point. Luis tried a ski descent from the summit, but had to interrupt it in the so-called “Japanese Couloir” due to too great avalanche danger. “A decision I found very difficult. After all, you don’t like to leave the fillet. But in this case there was no discussion,” reports Stitzinger and concludes:  “A happy ending to an extremely difficult season in the Karakoram: After several weeks of almost uninterrupted snowfall at the beginning of the season in June, many expeditions had to leave empty-handed. Even after the weather had calmed down again, the snow masses and the bad conditions allowed only a few summit successes on the Pakistani eight-thousanders as it has rarely been. So we are all the happier that we made it despite all this, just the two of us!”

A lot of snow on Gasherbrum II

A short snowfall break in the Karakoram – or, as Felix Berg describes it from Gasherbrum II with a twinkle in his eye “a small good-weather disturbance”. Time for the climbers to stuck their noses into the wind and to reconsider their plans. Dominik Müller, head and expedition leader of the German operator Amical alpin has decided to strike the tents on the 8,051-meter-high Broad Peak and to return home. “All the equipment from Camp 1 was recovered,” Dominik writes on Facebook today. “Just now it’s snowing again, and during our ascent there were some avalanches!” The porters have been ordered for Sunday.

Stitzinger: “Too much snow in the flanks and couloirs”

The Amical team led by Luis Stitzinger, who wanted to first climb the 7,082-meter-high Urdok Kangri II, threw in the towel too. “It’s been snowing for days since we arrived at the base camp. There is now half a meter of fresh snow, and up to one and a half meters at 6,000 or 7,000 meteres,” Luis writes on Facebook. “The route looks elegant, but there’s too much snow in the flanks and couloirs.” For the next three days more than half a meter of fresh snow is expected, says Luis adding that they’ll finish the expedition early: “I’ve never experienced such a season with so constant bad weather in the Karakoram.”

Like Russian Roulette

Alex Gavan (l.) and Tunc Findik (r.)

Snowfall has also increased the risk of avalanches on the other eight-thousanders in Pakistan. Continuing the ascent would be like “Russian Roulette”, Romanian Alex Gavan wrote three days ago. Alex and his Turkish team partner Tunc Findik had interrupted their activities on Nanga Parbat. The two want to climb the 8125-meter-high mountain without bottled oxygen.

Bargiel and Golab move to the K2

On the eight-thousander Gasherbrum II, the Poles Andrzej Bargiel and Janusz Golab declared their acclimatization over – “due to heavy snowfall. Time to move on to K2 base camp and focus on our main goal,” writes Bargiel on Instagram. The 30-year-old is planning the first complete ski run from the 8611-meter-high summit of K2. Last year, Bargiel failed on the second highest mountain in the world – because of bad weather.

Göttler and Barmasse want to climb G IV Southwest Face

Gasherbrum IV

The German climber David Göttler and the Italian Hervé Barmasse are probably glad to have made their way to the Karakoram rather late in the season. Both are still on their trekking. They definitely haven’t missed anything so far. Göttler and Barmasse want to first climb the Southwest Face of the 7,925-meter-high Gasherbrum IV – in pure Alpine style, i.e. without bottled oxygen, high camps and high altitude porters.

Broad Peak Base Camp in deep snow

Summer in the Karakorum? At the moment it feels more like winter, at least in terms of precipitation. For days Mother Holle has been shaking out her mattress over Pakistan’s highest mountains. “Snowfall all day long”, writes Dominik Müller, head and expedition leader of the German operator Amical alpin at the foot of the eight-thousander Broad Peak. “Our base camp is slowly turning into a winter landscape. Avalanches barrel down from the slopes every hour!” The Austrian expedition leader Lukas Furtenbach, from Broad Peak too, takes the same lime: “Tough weather conditions this year”. The situation on the other eight-thousanders in Pakistan is not different. No matter if from the neighbouring K 2, Gasherbrum I and II or Nanga Parbat – the same messages everywhere: Lots of snow, high avalanche risk.

Mike Horn: “Very dangerous”

South African adventurer Mike Horn threw in the towel on Nanga Parbat last weekend.  “It has been snowing at Base Camp for 12 days now and above 7000m there is a lot of snow. This makes the mountain very dangerous,” the 51-year-old wrote on Instagram, adding that the situation was to worsen since the weather forecast was also bad for the next days: “The mountain will stay here so we can always come back to amazing Pakistan.” Mike had been one of the first climbers to arrive in Nanga Parbat Base Camp in early June.

Even more snow

Meteorologists expect snowfall to continue until Thursday inclusive, so the avalanche risk is likely to increase further. An overhasty start onto the mountain before the fresh snow has settled could be fatal. Climbers therefore need patience – and a good entertainment program in the base camp.

Luis Stitzinger (l.) and Alix von Melle (r.) on the summit of Manaslu

“Despite the premonition, we were utterly amazed at what happened there,” says Luis Stitzinger after his return from Manaslu. “This was a true tent city in the base camp.” As reported earlier, the 48-year-old had led a team of eight of the German expedition operator Amical alpin to the 8,163-meter-high summit in Nepal last Saturday. Along with Luis, his 46-year-old wife Alix von Melle, reached the highest point. For both, it was their seventh eight-thousander and the sixth which they scaled together, all without bottled oxygen. At the beginning of the expedition eleven of the 14 members of the Amical team had become infected with flu by ill porters. “It was a bad start,” says Luis. “Some members had to abandon the whole thing. It was a pity.” I reach Luis on the phone at a hotel in Kathmandu:

Luis, first of all congratulations on your seventh eight-thousander. How did you experience your summit day?

The late ascent was due to the flu epidemic. But it was also partly calculation. At the top summit days between 26 and 28 September, there was such a “cattle drive” that we certainly wouldn’t have had any fun if we were forced to participate. Fortunately, however, the weather remained stable for a very long time. I was told that last year there had been two possible summit days. This time we had a long good weather window of two weeks.

Queue on Manaslu

We had positioned ourselves far back,  what in the end was good luck. We got free range, there were hardly any people left. Last Saturday, 30 September, was a good summit day. In the morning it was still a bit windy, so we did not set off before 4.30 a.m. But already on the first plateau the wind was blowing only with 15, 20 km/h.

Besides us, there were only about half a dozen climbers, a few Spaniards and Russians. Due to the great amount of mountaineers before, the track was very well beaten. At the beginning of the season, a rope fixing team of the operator Seven Summit Treks had secured the key passages of the route up to the summit. Therefore the ascent to the summit was for us quite relaxed and due, to the weather, even a real pleasure.

View from the summit

All of your team ascended without bottled oxygen. This seems to have become the exception on Manaslu.

We were already on Manaslu in spring 2012. Then most were climbing without supplemental oxygen. This was quite different now in fall 2017. Three quarters of the climbers, if not even more, were using bottled oxygen. We were a little bit shocked to see people who climbed with breathing mask already above Camp 1 (at 5,700 meters). I’ve even seen people descending with oxygen from Camp 1 to Base Camp.

There is a new type of expedition clients on the road. There were a lot of Chinese mountaineers who did not spare neither cost nor effort to get to the summit. Or Russian operators who did everything in a big way: partly two Climbing Sherpas per client, bottled oxygen above Camp 1, and also during the night. There is a different wind blowing.

This huge mass of climbers on a mountain, such as Everest, Cho Oyu or now on Manaslu, also leads to a de-personalization of the whole thing. Twice equipment was stolen from our tents. If someone steals crampons from high camp, it must be clear to him that for the victim of the theft the ascent is over, at least for that day.  I find that very annoying.

This sounds almost like a description of the excesses on Everest.

I would say that Manaslu is the new Everest. This is not exaggerated. Of course, it is also because Tibet was closed this fall season. But I believe that many operators, who are offering  this luxury version, have discovered Manaslu as a supposedly easy eight-thousander.

On the ascent

Was there any agreement between the operators,  who is climbing when to avoid traffic jams on the route?

No, I did not know about it. They have simply chosen the best day and set off. Especially on these peak days there were a lot of traffic jams, in particular on the difficult passages between Camp 1 and 2 as well as between Camp  3 and 4. That reminded me of the pictures from Everest. I believe there were problems and displeasure among those who were not able to move forward because of the slow groups.

Against this background it was good fortune that there was a lower risk of avalanches this fall.

There was almost no danger of avalanches this fall. It was snowing heavily only once or twice, but the fresh snow compacted immediately.

Lately, there have been reports from mountaineers that the effects of climate change can also be seen clearly on Manaslu. You were already there in 2012. Can you confirm this impression?

In 2012, we were on Manaslu in spring, when the snow of winter was still there, now in fall, so this cannot be compared.  But you can see that the glacier is retreating. On Manaslu North, for example, there are a lot of rocky spots where, a few years ago, still were complete ice slopes.  Everywhere water is running. You can clearly see the effects of climate change on Manaslu.

Manaslu

The “Mountain of the Spirit” is close to my heart. It is simply because I spent more than a month at the foot of Manaslu ten years ago. Since then, I have had a personal relationship with this impressive eight-thousander in Nepal. In spring 2007, I reported from the base camp at 4,850 meters about a commercial expedition. Once I myself climbed up to Camp 1 at 5,700 meters. At that time we – expedition leader Ralf Dujmovits and eleven clients as well as a team of two from Austria – were the only people on the mountain. We could not imagine (and would not have liked) then that Manaslu would mutate into the “Mount Everest of fall season”.  In the current season about 500 climbers populated Manaslu Base Camp. Nearly 200 summit successes have been reported so far – being noticed that this time mostly pictures were published that had been taken on the highest point and not, as in previous years, on a spot below. Among those who reached the 8,163-meter-high summit there were two climbers with whom I had been en route on other mountains.

Eight-thousander no. 7 for Stitzinger and von Melle

Alix von Melle (r.) and Luis Stitzinger (l.)

Luis Stitzinger, my expedition leader during the first ascent of Kokodak Dome in western China in summer 2014, led a team of the German operator Amical alpin to the summit of Manaslu last Saturday. According to Luis, all eight members of the group were climbing without bottled oxygen. For the 48-year-old, it was the seventh eight-thousander, all scaled without breathing mask. His wife, Alix von Melle, now has the same record. No other woman from Germany has stood on more eight-thousanders  than the 46-year-old. Alix and Luis have summited six of their seven eight-thousanders together.

Breathing mask partly already above Camp 2

Sergio Zigliotto on top of Manaslu

Climbing Manaslu without using supplemental oxygen has become the exception rather than the rule, confirmed another of my former companions.  “90 percent are using O2 above Camp 3 (at 6,800 m),” Sergio Zigliotto wrote to me. “I saw Chinese climbers using O2 already above Camp 2 (6,400 m).”  With the 51-year-old Italian, I had shared the tent at the seven-thousander  Putha Hiunchuli in western Nepal in fall 2011. At that time Sergio had reached the summit while I had had to turn about hundred meters below the summit. Last Wednesday, Zigliotto stood on top of Manaslu. Sergio had wanted to ascend without bottled oxygen, but used it on the last 200 meters  below the summit due to health problems.

On the short rope

Queue on Manaslu

“It was very hard, but wonderful. On 27 September at 10 a.m. , I was standing on the highest point of Manaslu at 8,163 meters,” Sergio wrote. “I found the perfect day for the summit. It was a clear and sunny day. There were just me and other 4 people, hence no problems of traffic due to excess of people.” On that day a total of about 50 people had reached the summit, he said: “I saw many Chinese going on the short rope up and down. It was really sad to see.”  Everest conditions on Manaslu. That is why the “Mountain of the Spirit” is not only close to my heart, but also weighs on  my mind.

Manaslu

Once again, Manaslu turns to become the “Everest of the fall season”. The base camp at the foot of the eighth-highest mountain on earth (8,163 meters) will soon be reminiscent of the tented village at the highest of all mountains in spring. According to the newspaper “The Himalayan Times”, the Nepali Ministry of Tourism has issued at least 135 permits to foreign mountaineers o climb Manaslu. Assuming that there will be on average one local Climbing Sherpa per one climber from abroad and some latecomers, probably between 300 and 400 people – including kitchen staff – will be arguing for the best pitches in the base camp. And the normal route via the north-east flank of the mountain might become crowded.

One reason for the big rush on Manaslu is the decision of the Chinese authorities from the beginning of June to cancel the fall season 2017 in order to “adjust and improve” the rules for mountaineers. That was the official reason. Unofficially, it is speculated that the leadership in Beijing considers unrest in Tibet possible during the Chinese Communist Party Congress, which takes place only every five years, in mid-October.

Next attempt of von Melle and Stitzinger

Alix von Melle (l.) and Luis Stitzinger

Manaslu is a popular alternative destination when China closes its borders to Tibet for foreign mountaineers. Already in fall 2012 and 2015, , many operators had offered expeditions to Manaslu instead of the cancelled ones to the Tibetan eight-thousanders. The “Mountain of the Spirit” has meanwhile been summited almost 1000 times. Alix von Melle and Luis Stitzinger are among the summit aspirants this fall. Manaslu is still missing in the eight-thousander collection of the German couple. The 46-year-old Alix and the 48-year-old Luis have climbed six eight-thousanders so far, five of them together. In fall 2012, both had reached an altitude of just below 8000 meters on Manaslu. In the current season, Luis leads an expedition of the German operator Amical alpin.

Soria again on Dhaulagiri

Compared to Manaslu, the eight-thousanders Dhaulagiri (8,167 meters) and Lhotse (8,516 meters) might be much more lonely this fall. After his unsuccessful attempt last spring, the Spaniard Carlos Soria, aged 78, tackles Dhaulagiri again. In case of success, it would be his 13th eight-thousander. Then only Shishapangma would be missing. Carlos scaled his first eight-thousander, Nanga Parbat, at the age of 51. The high-performance senior already holds the age records on K 2 (aged 65), Broad Peak (68), Makalu (69), Gasherbrum I (70), Manaslu (71), Lhotse (72), Kangchendzönga (75) and Annapurna (77).

Korean-Spanish attempt on Lhotse South Face

Lhotse South Face

Like Soria on Dhaulagiri, the South Korean Sung Taek Hong launches another attempt on Lhotse South Face. In fall 2014 and 2015, Sung’s attempts to climb through the more than 3000-meter-high, extremely difficult wall on a partly new route had failed. This time, the 51-year-old is joined by the 49-year-old Spaniard Jorge Egocheaga. Jorge is a very experienced high altitude climber who has summited all 14 eight-thousanders. Only on Everest he used bottled oxygen.

Dominik Mueller on Everest (© www-third-pole.com)

While for many climbers the decisive phase on the highest mountain on earth has begun right now, Dominik Mueller is already packing his bags. As reported before, the German expedition leader reached the 8850-meter-high summit of Mount Everest from the Tibetan north-side on Tuesday, as well as one of his clients. Two other members of his team turned around at 8,550 respectively 8,600 meters. “All are fine, not even a single wound,” says Dominik when I reach the 46-year-old head of the expedition operator Amical alpine via satellite telephone in the Advanced Base Camp at 6,300 meters.

Dominik, first of all congratulations. How was the weather and the conditions on the mountain during your ascent?

For us, it was a perfect summit day. Windless and warm, as predicted by my meteorologists. The route was perfectly secured. We had no traffic jam, with us there was only a US team en route, and a small one of Russia. It had snowed in the previous days, particularly in front of the rock steps we could walk well on the fresh snow. This can save up to one and a half hours of time on the summit day. It was so warm on the summit that some Sherpas, who had climbed up from the south side, took topless pictures with Nepal flags.

After Cho Oyu and Manaslu, Mount Everest was your third eight-thousander. How did you experience the summit success?

I could totally enjoy it. I have now completed the “Seven Summits” (the highest mountains of all continents) as a mountain guide, I have guided clients to each of the seven peaks. There are not so many in the world who can make the same claim at present. And then this summit day! Blue sky, very few clouds, warm. It was perfect.

Dominik (2nd from l.) with his team

Other expedition leaders had previously valued the weather conditions more problematic. Why did you ascend so early?

Because my meteorologists had predicted a perfect weather window between 15 and 17 May. We actually wanted to go to the summit in the night from the 16th to the 17th. Then they told me: Dominik, set off one day earlier! It will be windless and warm. On the descent, perhaps a small wind peak can come in. But it will be over at noon, and you can continue to descend. And exactly that happened.

What advice do you have for all those who are still waiting for their Everest chance this spring?

Meteorologists expect another weather window for the weekend. Some teams are on their ascent. But just now, I can still see huge snow banners the summit. I can only advise everyone: Keep cool, wait and maybe you should trust your meteorologists! I think you should consult with your weather experts and sometime say, okay that suits me, and then set off. It is typical that there is much debate in the Base Camp. Sometimes things are talked down which are not bad at all.

Dominik Mueller on Everest

There’s been a hail of success reports from Nepal. Especially from Mount Everest. Dozens of climbers reached the summit at 8,850 meters from both the Tibetan north side and the Nepalese south side. Among them was the Romanian Horia Colibasanu, the first mountaineer to have climbed Everest this spring without bottled oxygen. “It was very, very hard and very, very cold,” the 40-year-old informed on Facebook. For Colibasanu it was the eighth eight-thousander. He ascended from the north, as did the German expedition leader Dominik Mueller. The 46-year-old head of the operator Amical alpin reached the summit along with a client, both of them used bottle oxygen.

Sherpa team on top of Lhotse

The British Mollie Hughes also climbed up from the Tibetan side. In 2012, she had reached the summit of Everest via the Nepalese normal route. The 26-year-old was ranked 15th in the circle of female mountaineers who climbed the highest mountain on earth from both sides. The first was the South African Cathy O’Dowd in 1999.

According to the Kathmandu-based newspaper “Himalayan Times”, for the first time in three years, climbers have also scaled the 8516-meter-high summit of Lhotse. A Sherpa team fixed ropes up to the top.

Hamor completes his eight-thousander collection

Peter Hamor

On Dhaulagiri, the seventh highest mountain on earth, Peter Hamor has completed his collection of the 14 eight-thousanders – as the first climber from Slovakia. The 52-year-old reached the 8167-meter-high summit along with his countryman Michal Sabovcik. Except for Everest, Hamor scaled all the eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen. For Sabovcik it was the first success on an eight-thousander.

There has been also a summit attempt on Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain of the world. Among others, the strong Nepalese women’s trio, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita, Dawa Yangzum Sherpa and Maya Sherpa, tried to reach the  8586-meter-high summit today. According to messages on Twitter, all climbers had to turn about 400 meters below the summit due to a lack of ropes.

North side of Everest in the last daylight

It could be a record season on Mount Everest. After the successful 2016 season, experts are expecting a run on the highest mountain on earth – especially since many climbers want to use their extended permits from 2014 (valid until 2019) and from 2015 (which will run out this year). In 2014, the season in Nepal had been finished prematurely after an avalanche accident in the Khumbu Icefall with 16 deaths. In 2015, there had been no ascents on both sides of the mountain due to the devastating earthquake in Nepal.

Dominik Mueller, head of the German expedition operator Amical alpin, will set off to Everest with a “small but strong team” on 8 April. Three clients, four Climbing Sherpas and he himself will try to reach the 8,850-meter-high summit via the normal route on the Tibetan north side. “I will use bottled oxygen because I believe that I can only support other people as best as possible when using a breathing mask,” says the 46-year-old. “Anyone who climbs Everest without supplemental oxygen is so preoccupied with himself that he probably has no resources left to look after others.” I talked to him about the upcoming season.

Dominik, with what expectations do you set off to the Himalayas?

Dominik Mueller

There will probably be more climbers, especially on the Everest south side. But on the north side too.

China has once more fueled the price spiral, by more than 30 percent. A permit for climbing Everest now costs nearly 10,000 dollars. What will be the effect?

This will affect not only Everest but Tibet as a whole, because clients will switch back to the Nepali side. I do not think it’s going to change much on Everest. With regard to the objective dangers, I consider the route on the north side as the safer route, although more logistics is needed. But for the other eight-thousanders in Tibet, it will mean that there will be much less climbers.

Many organizers still prefer the Nepali side because they consider China’s policies in Tibet to be more unpredictable. Do you share this reasoning?

It is not more unpredictable than it was eight or ten years ago. For me, the Chinese have been so far very reliable partners in Tibet. You could refer to what you had agreed on. This has always worked well. For example, only a few permits will be sold for Cho Oyu next fall. This was previously communicated. We decided, however, to go to Manaslu instead of Cho Oyu this fall.

The Nepalese side of Cho Oyu

Permit restrictions for next fall are reported not only for Cho Oyu, but also for Shishapangma. Have they told you a reason?

Obviously there will be a kind of event in Tibet this fall. The Chinese are afraid that there may be unrest and therefore want as few foreigners staying in Tibet as possible. I would have had the chance to get permits for Cho Oyu, but I would have had to confirm these permits already now. According to my information from China, only 50 permits will be sold for this fall. The advantage will be that you are quite lonely on the mountain. But there are also disadvantages. For example, you need manpower after heavy snowfall. If you are only with small teams on the mountain, you will have difficulties to secure the route.

Top of Everest (from the Northeast Ridge)

The Swiss expedition operator Kari Kobler has recently pointed out the corruption of Chinese politicians in Tibet. Do you have also problems with this?

There is, of course, corruption – not only in China, but also in other countries around the world, which we visit as climbers. It’s presumptuous to believe that we could change the whole world on this point. We must arrange with it. The only possible consequence would be to stop traveling to these countries. But in this case we would not be able anymore to give jobs to the ordinary people – like Sherpas, cooks or kitchen boys.

In the meantime, more and more Chinese mountaineers are appearing on the eight-thousanders, in Tibet and in Nepal as well. Is China the market of the future?

I don’t believe this for European operators. Chinese climbers will travel more likely with local agencies. I think it would also be difficult to unite Chinese and European clients in a team – just due to the language barrier.

Tibetan North side of Mount Everest

Twelve footfall pitches. That’s the size of the new mountaineering center, which the Chinese want to build on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest. According to the state newspaper “China Daily” the giant complex in the town of Gangkar, also known as Old Tingri, by the year 2019 is to be completed in 2019. The site is located about 60 kilometers northwest of Everest, on the travel route of expeditions that head to the highest mountain on earth.  According to the “China Daily”, the mountaineering center will cost more than 100 million yuan (13.7 million euros). Accomodation and restaurants for mountaineers are planned, furthermore a helicopter rescue base, offices for expedition operators, repair shops for cars, motorcycles and bicycles as well as a mountaineering museum. The mountaineering scene is discussing the project on social media. Some see no less than the downfall of adventure on Everest.  The Everest north side “will turn into a Chinese Disneyland,” says one. Another believes that a chair lift to the summit is only a matter of time. Dominik Mueller, head of German expedition operator Amical Alpin, doesn’t see why there should be outrage.

Dominik Mueller: “More security”

Dominik Mueller

“There are many people discussing who don’t know the situation on the north side,” writes Dominik to me. In the so-called “Chinese Base Camp”, there are only a few teahouses and “a completely dilapidated house, in which the local liasion people and officers have to live.” The question of security is even more important than infrastructure, says Mueller, adding that there is not yet any mountain rescue on the north side. Since helicopter rescue flights are forbidden, all accident victims and climbers suffering from high altitude sickness have to be treated by the expedition doctors in tents and then evacuated from Base Camp by jeep. “When this mountaineering center is built at lower altitude than Base Camp, at last there will be the possibility to transport climbers who suffer from high altitude sickness, injured and other sick people quickly from Base Camp to lower region and treat them in appropriate rooms,” writes Dominik. “The bottom line is that this will improve the quality and, above all, increase the security. Therefore I welcome the project.”
Similarly, Adrian Ballinger, head of US operator Alpenglow Expeditions, commented via Instagram a few weeks ago: “It is still nice to know there is rapid evacuation when the unexpected occurs. It’s also another real step in the Chinese/Tibetan commitment to the mountain and the importance of well managed climbing. Stoked!” Since 2015, Ballinger has been offering only Everest expeditions on the Tibetan north side of the mountain.

Top seller Everest

Commercial mountaineering has become popular in China by now. Large expedition groups from the “Middle Kingdom” are seen on the eight-thousander in Tibet – last September Billi Bierling told me about a Tibetan-Chinese expedition on Cho Oyu with about 150 (!) members – as well as on the highest mountains of Nepal. The leaders in China have recognized that mountain tourism and mountain sports make money, especially, of course, on the highest of all mountains. Mount Everest – like all prestige mountains around the world – sells well, not just in the west, and not just to climbers. As early as 2005, I saw Chinese tourists with breathing masks, who were taken by horse-drawn carriages from Rongbuk Monastery to Chinese Base Camp. “You can not turn the wheel back,” believes Dominik Mueller, head of Amical. “In the future there will be even more day trippers due to the good and easy accessibility of the Base Camp.” The question remains whether a mountaineering center near Everest must really have the size of twelve football pitches.

Makalu

How could that happen? Two Sherpa mountain guides who were working for an expedition of the German operator Amical alpin died in Camp 2 at 6,700 m during a summit attempt on the eight-thousander Makalu. Other group members found the two Sherpas lifeless in their tent in the afternoon. “We can only speculate,” Dominik Mueller, head of Amical, tells me. “We suspect that they cooked in their closed tent without providing adequate ventilation and then died of carbon monoxide poisoning.”

Small error with fatal effect?

Dominik is shocked and can’t find an explanation how the accident could happen. “I knew them. They were very experienced Sherpas”, says Mueller. “They were also rested after some days in Base Camp, not stressed. It happened without any external influence. I suspect that they made a small mistake which had a fatal effect.” The head of Amical stresses that it is too early to make a definitive statement about the cause of death. He wants to talk to the other expedition members to get more information. According to Dominik, the Amical expedition group on Makalu, with a height of 8,485 m the fifth highest mountain in the world, included four Sherpas – and nine western climbers: “They are all very experienced. Therefore they wanted no expedition leader and take care of everything by themselves.”

Carbon monoxide poisoning caused by gas cookers in a tent is rare, but happens now and then – also in the Himalayas. Just before the disaster on Mount Everest in spring 1996, yesterday 20 years ago, Arita Sherpa and Chuldum Sherpa, who belonged to the team of the New Zealander Rob Hall, were not able to take part in the summit attempt that later ended so tragically. They had suffered a carbon monoxide poisoning while cooking on the South Col and were not able to climb.

Much in demand: firewood for cooking and heating

If there is a season, which stands for optimism, it’s spring: Winter is leaving, it’s getting warmer, brighter, more colorful. This may entice people painting the world more beautiful than it is soberly assessed. Also the people in Nepal long for spring, in the hope of better times. 2015 was a bad year for the country. First the devastating earthquake in spring that killed according to official figures more than 8800 people. And were this not bad enough, the blockade of the border to India, now continuing for almost four months. There is still no sign of spring fever in Nepal.

Ambivalent feeling

Fuel, food and medicine are still scarce because the imports from India have been staying away. The blockade holds the reconstruction in the earthquake hit regions up. Tourism is affected too. The conditions for operators of trekking and expeditions in Nepal are far from ideal. His agency was still able to obtain fuel, ensure flights and organize food, “of course often on the black market”, Manfred Haeupl, head of the German operator Hauser Exkursionen writes to me, adding that he has an “ambivalent feeling, because we want and should send tourists, while on the other hand the locals are suffering”.

Double standards

“The booking situation is far from having recovered”, Haeupl says. “We are currently still about 30 percent below the number of bookings in 2015. The NTB [Nepal Tourism Board] does nothing to boost tourism, but has now increased the entry fees.” In contrast, the Nepalese government waives visa fees for visitors from China since the beginning of the year. Perhaps the authorities in Kathmandu should think about such a gesture to Western tourists too.

Less bookings, but uptrend

Limited sale of gas bottles

Other large German operators as the DAV Summit Club and Amical Alpin note a similar decline in bookings for trips to Nepal as Hauser does. “Compared to 2015, we have currently 26 percent less bookings for next spring “, Markus Herrmann, product manager of DAV Summit Club, writes to me. However, his company is now recording an increasing demand for Nepal traveling. “Things are once again looking up”, says Herrmann.

Via Kathmandu or Lhasa?

Dominik Mueller, head of Amical alpin, is cautiously optimistic too. Their scheduled spring expedition to the eight-thousander Makalu in Nepal is “already well booked and thus secured”, says Mueller. However, he refers to uncertainties before the upcoming season: “For us as expedition operators it’s still an open question whether China will open the border with Tibet for expeditions, so that we can organize our equipment material and also our arrival via Nepal. Of course, an arrival via Lhasa is possible too but means significantly higher costs.”

The great silence

Whereas the 2015 earthquake in Nepal made headlines around the world for weeks, hardly anyone seems to be interested in the conflict in the Nepal-India border region. The ethnic group of Madhesis, who live in the border area, initiated the blockade to protest against the new constitution of Nepal, through which they feel discriminated. The government in Kathmandu accuses India of actively supporting the blockade, the authorities in New Delhi dispute this.
At the end of November, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, he was “alarmed by reports of the obstruction, and destruction, of life-saving medical supplies and continued impact on humanitarian operations” in Nepal, urging all sides to resolve their differences. Ban underlined Nepal’s right of free transit.
I didn’t find any statement of a Western government on the conflict. My questions to the German Foreign Ministry, what they think of the problem and whether they have already contacted India on this issue or intend to do so, are still unanswered.