Jim Morrison im Lhotse Couloir

This much is certain, 2018 will go down in history as a very special year for ski mountaineers. After all, two of the “last” major ski problems on the world’s highest mountains have been solved. Last July, the Pole Andrzej Bargiel succeeded in the Karakoram in Pakistan – as reported – the first complete ski descent from the 8,611 meter high summit of K2, the second highest mountain in the world. And now Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison cracked another hard nut. On the 8516-meter-high Lhotse, the fourth highest of all mountains, the two Americans skied down the so-called “Dream Line”: from the summit through the narrow, 45 to 50 degrees steep Lhotse Couloir down to Camp 2 in the Western Qwm at 6,400 meters. “We did it,” Jim writes about a photo of his ski tips that he posted on Instagram today: “Ski tips about to make the first turn ever off the summit of Lhotse. Almost 28,000’ the summit was sugar snow and extra steep. A few careful turns and a hop got me into the couloir to complete a dream I’ve been working towards for a lifetime.”

“Highlights of my ski mountaineering career”

Lhotse Couloir (seen from Everest)

On 30 September, i.e. last Sunday, Nelson and he skied form the top to Camp 2 dropping in at 2.22 pm, Morrison reports. Jim’s partner Hilaree still cannot believe it: “I’m still absorbing the whole last month but, without a doubt, this was one of the highlights of my 20 year ski mountaineering career.” Hilaree Nelson, who was elected “Adventurer of the Year 2018” by the magazine “National Geographic”, is an extremely experienced ski mountaineer. In 2017, she succeeded with Morrison and Chris Figenshau the first ski descent of the 6,451-meter-high Papsura, also called “Peak of Evil”, in the Indian part of the Himalayas. In 2012, the mother of two sons reached the summits of Everest and Lhotse within 24 hours.

Lazo and Pugovkin give up on Annapurna

Meanwhile the Russians Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkin have abandoned their ski expedition on the 8,091-meter-high Annapurna. Too much snow was lying on the slopes of the eight-thousander in western Nepal, the two climbers let us know, adding that many ice avalanches and snow slabs had swept down. In their “Death Zone Freeride” project, Lazo and Pugovkin have set themselves the goal of climbing five of the 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen and then descending from the summits on skis. In fall 2017, the two climbers achieved their first success on the 8,163-meter-high Manaslu. In addition to Annapurna, Mount Everest, K2 and Nanga Parbat are still on the Russians’ to-do list.

Anton Pugovkin (l.) und Vitaly Lazo (r.)

“Death Zone Freeride” – so the two Russians Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkin named their ambitious project. Their goal: to scale five of the 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen and ski down from the summits. In fall 2017, the two climbers achieved their first success on the 8,163-meter-high Manaslu. This fall season, part two of the project is to follow on the 8,091-meter-high Annapurna. In addition, Mount Everest, K2 and Nanga Parbat are on the Russians’ to-do list.

After some back and forth on the material transport by helicopter, Vitaly and Anton finally seem to have flown today from the Nepalese town of Pokhara to Annapurna Base Camp. The so far only successful ski descent from the summit of Annapurna was made by the Slovenian brothers Davo and Andrej Karnicar via the north side of the mountain in spring 1995, during their climb they also did not use breathing masks.

Nelson and Co. tackle the “Dream Line”

Above the Khumbu Icefall

An American ski expedition to the 8,516-meter-high Lhotse is already at an advanced stage. The route through the Khumbu Icefall has been set up and the team climbed to Camp 2 at 6,400 meters to acclimatize. Expedition leader Jim Morrison, Hilaree Nelson, Dutch Simpson and Nicholas Kalis have a ski permit from the Nepalese government that allows them to ski down the north flank of the eight-thousander. The ski descent via the so-called “Dream Line” – from the summit through the Lhotse Couloir to the Western Cwm – has so far not been completed. Hilaree Nelson, who was elected “Adventurer of the Year 2018” by the magazine “National Geographic”, is an extremely experienced ski mountaineer. In 2017, she succeeded with Morrison and Chris Figenshau the first ski descent of the 6,451-meter-high Papsura, also called “Peak of Evil”, in the Indian part of the Himalayas. In 2012, she reached the summits of Everest and Lhotse within 24 hours. By the way, nobody will tackle the highest mountain on earth this fall.

South side of Mount Everest

Mount Everest was scaled for the first time in this spring season. Today, eight climbers from Nepal reached the highest point at 8,850 meters after climbing up on the south side of the mountain. Pasang Tenjing Sherpa, Pasdawa Sherpa, Lakpa Dendi Sherpa, Jen Jen Lama, Siddi Bahadur Tamang, Pemba Chhiri Sherpa, Tenzing Gyaljen Sherpa and Datuk Bhote fixed ropes up to the summit, paving the way for the clients of the commercial expedition teams.

“Man without fingers” on top of Annapurna

Kim Hong-bin

The summit success of South Korean Kim Hong-bin is reported from Annapurna. For the 53-year-old, it is the twelfth eight-thousander. In 1991, Kim suffered severe frostbite at Alaska’s highest mountain, 6,190-meter-high Denali, and all ten fingers had to be amputated. He was accompanied on the Annapurna by four Sherpas.

No trace of Petrov

R.I.P.

Meanwhile, the partner of the Bulgarian climber Boyan Petrov, who has been missing for ten days on the eight-thousander Shishapangma, has asked to stop the search for the 45-year-old above Camp 3. That’s too dangerous for the rescuers, Radoslava Nenova wrote on Facebook. Reportedly, the Sherpa team nevertheless wants to climb up to the summit on Monday if the weather permits. Petrov had set off for a summit attempt on 29 April, alone and without bottled oxygen. He had already scaled ten of the 14 eight-thousanders without breathing mask. He is the most successful high altitude climber of Bulgaria.

Kim and Co., in the background Annapurna I

“The man without fingers” wants to get his twelfth eight-thousander. Kim Hong-bin is the only foreign mountaineer to whom the Government of Nepal issued a permit for the eight-thousander Annapurna this spring. However, that does not mean that the 53-year-old Korean will be traveling alone. In the picture from the north side of the 8091-meter-high mountain, which was published by the South Korean newspaper No Cut News, I count 20 other people besides Hong-bin. “He probably has a large base camp support team,” Billi Bierling from the chronicle Himalayan Database writes to me, adding, that the Korean will be accompanied during his climb by four Sherpas.

Accident on Denali

Kim Hong-Bin

In 1991, Kim Hong-bin had suffered severe frostbite on the 6190-meter-high Denali in Alaska, the highest mountain of North America. All ten fingers had to be amputated. In 2017, he scaled Lhotse in spring and Nanga Parbat in summer, his eight-thousanders number ten and eleven. Apart from Annapurna, only Gasherbrum and Broad Peak, both located in Pakistan, are still missing in his collection. Under optimal circumstances, he could climb all three mountains this year.

Paralympics athlete

The 1.76 meter tall South Korean, who lives in the city of Gwangju in the south of the country, has never let his disability slow him down. Kim is also a ski racer. So he took part in the Paralympic Games 2002 in Salt Lake City and finished both Slalom and Super G ninth. In winter 2017, he won – at the age of 52 – the gold medal in slalom at the Korean alpine ski championships of disabled athletes.

On top of the Seven Summits

On the summit of K 2 in 2012

In spring 2007, Kim Hong-bin scaled Mount Everest. Barely two years later, in early 2009, he completed his collection of the “Seven Summits” by climbing Mount Vinson in Antarctica. “If the accident at Denali hadn’t happened, I would have remained an ordinary climber,” Hong-bin once said. “The hardship made me challenge the seemingly impossible. I overcame the handicap a mountain gave me by climbing mountains.”

Nives Meroi (r.) und Romano Benet during the IMS 2016 in Bressanone

There are mountaineers who in particular deserve their successes. Like Nives Meroi and Romano Benet from Italy. Without making a fuss about it, the two 55-year-olds have scaled eight-thousander after eight-thousander over the years and have remained true to themselves and their style: always en route in a small team, without Sherpa support, not using bottled oxygen. With the ascent of Annapurna, Nives and Romano completed their eight-thousander collection, exactly a month ago today – 19 years after their first success on Nanga Parbat, eight years after Romano suffered from aplastic anemia. Two bone marrow transplants were necessary to save Romano’s life.

Along with two Spaniards and two Chileans, Meroi and Benet reached the 8091-meter-high summit of Annapurna on 11 May. They became the first married couple who scaled all of the 14 highest mountains in the world. Nives was the second woman after the Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, who stood on all eight-thousanders without breathing mask. Meanwhile, Nives and Romano are back in Italy – and Nives has answered my questions, which I had sent to the couple after their success on Annapurna.

It was your third attempt on Annapurna after 2006 and 2009. How did you experience your climb? Did you benefit from your previous attempts?

Thanks to our previous attempts we knew the mountain’s dangers and risks that we should try to avoid as much as possible.

Annapurna

What did you feel in the moment when you reached the summit of Annapurna and realized that you really did it: all 14 eight-thousanders as a couple, without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support?

On top of an eigth-thousander you are only “halfway up”. Only after returning safely to base camp, you can say finally “summit”. And this, especially on Annapurna. I remember that in the morning, awakening at base camp, it took me a bit of time to distinguish dream from reality and realize that we really had been successful. Annapurna has been generous to us and gave us a very special climb to close our “necklace of eight-thousanders”. A climb “of other times” – by joining forces six mountaineers climbed this mountain in Alpine style.

Nives and Romano in 2009 on Kangchenjunga

You have worked so hard during the past years to fulfill your great dream, especially after Romano’s life-threatening disease. Are you now enthusiastic about what you have achieved or maybe even more burned out, exhausted?

Of course we are grateful and happy that we have been able to close our “necklace” but also aware that this is a stage on our way in the mountains. Not the goal.

Is there any message you have for young climbers looking for adventures on the highest mountains?

Do it with patience and passion! Step by step without looking for shortcuts, in an honest confrontation with the mountain and yourself.

Nives Meroi and Romano Benet

They did it. Nives Meroi and Romano Benet have climbed their 14th eight-thousander. The Italian couple belonged to a group of six climbers who reached the summit of the Annapurna today at 10.30 a.m. local time. This is reported by the Spanish climber Alberto Zerain, who in his own words was also on top, along with his compatriot Jonatan Garcia. Moreover, two Chileans reached the highest point on 8091 meters, says Alberto. Nives Meroi and Romano Benet, both 55 years old, are the first couple to have reached together the summits of all 14 highest mountains in the world – without the use of bottled oxygen and without sherpa support. It was their third attempt on Annapurna after 2006 and 2009.

First Italian woman without breathing mask on Everest

Nives was 19 years old when she met Romano. First he was her climbing partner, then her life partner. They are married for 27 years. In 1998, they scaled Nanga Parbat, it was their first eight-thousander. In 2003, they succeeded in climbing the Karakorum trilogy of Gasherbrum I, II and Broad Peak in just 20 days. In 2007, Meroi was the first Italian woman who climbed Everest without oxygen mask.

Life-threatening disease

Annapurna

But there were also setbacks.  In 2009, Meroi had a good chance to become the first woman on all 14 eight-thousanders. On Kangchenjunga, at 7500 meters, Romano suddenly became increasingly weak. He tried to persuade Nives to climb on alone. But she refused and supported him during the descent. The reason for Benet’s weakness was serious: aplastic anemia. Two bone marrow transplants were necessary to save Romano’s life. They returned to the Himalayas. In 2014, Romano and Nives climbed Kangchenjunga. Then in 2016 Makalu and now Annapurna as the last eight-thousander in their collection. Congratulations, Nives and Romano!

Ueli Steck (1976-2017)

Ueli Steck is dead. Fallen to death somewhere on Everest. Incredible. I can not believe it. What has happened? The exact circumstances are not yet clear. The body of the 40-year-old was found somewhere between Camp 1 (at 6,100 m) and 2 (6,400 m). Steck climbed solo on Nuptse, slipped and fell about 1,000 meters deep, reports the Kathmandu-based newspaper “The Himalayan Times”. In the past week, Ueli had reported via Facebook on a “quick day” climbing from Base Camp up to 7,000 meters and back again. The attached photo showed him with trailrunning shoes. Typical Ueli, I twittered with a twinkle in my eye – and the thought: Only one like him gets away with this, “The Swiss Machine”, the “Speedy Gonzales” among the high-altitude climbers, undisputedly one of the best.

Accepting risk

Ueli Steck above Camp 2 on Everest

I’ve often met Ueli or phoned him. He did not shy away from the risk, but he was not a reckless gambler. So his probably biggest coup, the solo climb via the Annapurna South Face in fall 2013, had even driven him into a deep personal crisis. He felt that he had overtightened the screw with this project because he had not really been able to control the hazards. Risk management was a topic he was dealing with. “When we climb mountains we try to take good decisions and not to run too much risk. In the end, however, we just have to make it clear that once we go to the mountains, no matter on what level, we risk an accident”, Ueli once told me. “For me, it’s only either black or white. Either I just accept it or not. If I don’t accept it, I can’t go to the mountains. But climbing and all the experiences when I do it are simply too important for me and give me too much. Therefore I accept the risk.“

“My dream“

Fast en route

Five weeks ago, before Ueli left for Nepal, we talked to each other. He was looking forward to returning to Mount Everest. He had checked off his traumatic experience there in spring 2013 – the attack of a Sherpa mob in high camp against him, Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith. He looked forward optimistically. His project, the Everest-Lhotse traverse was ambitious, just typical Ueli: via the rarely climbed West Ridge and the Hornbein Couloir to the summit, then down to the South Col and (via the variant opened in 2010 by the native Kazakh Denis Urubko) to the 8,611-meter-high summit of Lhotse – as always on his eight-thousander projects without supplemental oxygen. “That would be my dream,” said Ueli, still a realist: “There must be perfect conditions and the weather must be good and stable. I think it’s important to have ideas, but in the end you have to decide on the mountain what is possible and impossible.”

On the same wavelenght

On a narrow ridge

We agreed to talk to each other again if he would have completed his acclimatization phase on Everest. Now we will never again do it, neither about his projects and dreams nor about anything else. That makes me sad. Not only because he was a great climber, but also because I felt we were tuned to the same wavelength. Ueli will be missing, my thoughts are with his wife Nicole and his family.

“People say, a cat has nine lives. How many lives do you have?” I once asked Ueli. He took the time to answer: “Oh, how many lives? I have already been very lucky a few times. But I don’t count these experiences because that makes you just crazy.”

Three 8000ers at a glance: Mount Everest, Lhotse, Makalu (from l. to r.)

It is only a number, but one that plays an important role in the world of high altitude climbers. Everyone who has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders counts in the scene – even more if he or she has managed it without bottled oxygen. The circle is still quite exclusive: According to 8000ers.com, the website of the German Himalayan chronicler Eberhard Jurgalski, 34 climbers have completed the collection, 15 of them completely without breathing mask. This list could be extended this spring.

Not by hook or by crook

Nives Meroi and Romano Benet

Nives Meroi and Romano Benet from Italy are trying to scale Annapurna. In case of success, the two 55-year-olds would be the first couple to reach together all the summits of the 14 highest mountains in the world – without the use of bottled oxygen and Sherpa support. It is their third attempt on Annapurna after 2006 and 2009. “In both cases we abandoned our attempts because the conditions were too dangerous. I and Romano are experts in the ‘art of escape without shame’,” Nives told me last year. “We`ll face it again this way.” Means: not by hook or by crook.

Latorre’s mission

Ferran Latorre

Only Mount Everest is still missing in the eight-thousander collection of the Spaniard Ferran Latorre. He climbed the other 13 without breathing mask and he will try it on Everest too. Latorre selects the ascent via the Nepalese south side. “Everest is my mission, Everest is my dream,” the 46-year-old Catalan wrote on Facebook and quoted from the song “Mission” of his favorite band “Rush”: “We each pay a fabulous price for our visions of paradise. But a spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission.“

Make amends

Ralf Dujmovits on Cholatse

Ralf Dujmovits has not yet given up his dream. The 55-year-old has already scaled all 14 eight-thousanders, as the first and so far only German climber, but only 13 of them without bottled oxygen. In 1992 on Everest, Ralf used a breathing mask above the South Col. He feels this was a mistake that has to be wiped out. After his successful acclimatization on the six-thousander Cholatse in the Khumbu area, Dujmovits will fly to Lhasa on Saturday and travel from there to the Base Camp on the Tibetan north side of Everest. It will be, in his own words, “my definitively last attempt” to complete his eight-thousander collection without supplemental oxygen.

Strong oldie

Carlos Soria (r.) in front of Dhaulagiri (with Sito Carcavilla l.)

Peter Hamor is also only one peak away from his 14-eight-thousander-happiness without supplemental oxygen. The 52-year-old Slovak wants to climb Dhaulagiri this spring – as well as the Spaniard Carlos Soria, who could very soon appear as the oldest climber in the “14er club”. Dhaulagiri would be the 13th eight-thousander for the 78-year-old. If he is successful, 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). Soria has been staying in the Base Camp at the foot of Dhaulagiri. The climbers expect a few days of bad weather “as usual in these mountains”, twittered his team: “Now it’s waiting and waiting for the moment.”

Update 25 April: There is currently so much going on in the Himalayas, that I have overlooked another climber, who can make the 14 eight-thousanders full this spring. The Iranian Azim Gheychisaz plans to climb Lhotse, without breathing mask. He has climbed the other 13 without bottled oxygen, last in 2016 Everest. It was his second summit success on the highest mountain on earth, after he had first climbed it using a breathing mask.

Annapurna Northwest Face

Time for plan B. Since China has not issued visa for Tibet this spring for climbers who have been staying in Pakistan for more than a month at a time during the past three years, the Canadian Louis Rousseau, the Briton Rick Allen, the Pole Adam Bielecki and the German Felix Berg had to re-plan. The team was surprised by the new Chinese regulation in Kathmandu. In 2015/16 Bielecki had tried unsuccessfully a winter ascent of Nanga Parbat, Felix Berg had climbed Mustagh Tower in the Karakoram in summer 2016. So the previous plan to open a new route through the North Face of Cho Oyu, located in Tibet, became impossible. The quartet was looking for an alternative destination in Nepal and found it.

Direct route to the summit

Rousseau and Co. opted for an attempt in the rarely climbed Northwest Face of the 8091-meter-high Annapurna. In 1985, Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander had climbed through a large part of the wall, but had taken in the upper section the Northwest Ridge up to the summit. The upper triangle has also remained unexplored in later attempts to climb directly through the wall. “Now let’s go to the summit,” says Felix Berg.

“Perfect team spirit”

Tilicho Peak for acclimatization

The days of uncertainty were hard, the 36-year-old German writes to me: “As soon as the decision was made, everything happened very quickly. The wall is impressive, probably higher than the North Face of Cho Oyu, and the Annapurna is legendary – so the motivation comes quickly by itself.” All team members are “very enthusiastic”. This is confirmed by Louis Rousseau. The mood is good, “a lot of jokes”. “We’re really motivated,” writes the 40-year-old. “Perfect spirit in the team. All focus on Annapurna now!” First, Louis, Felix, Rick and Adam want to climb the 7134-meter-high Tilicho Peak in the Annapurna area for acclimatization.

Norbert Joos (1960 – 2016)

Again one of the really great high altitude climbers was torn out of his life: The 55-year-old Swiss Norbert Joos fell to death on Piz Bernina in the canton Grisons. According to Swiss media reports, Joos had guided a group to the 4049-meter-high summit. On the descent the roped party of three, to which Joos belonged, fell 160 meters deep. Joos was found dead, the other two climbers, a woman and a man from Italy, survived seriously injured.

Stroke on Kangchenjunga

Joos had climbed 13 of the 14 eight-thousanders, all without bottled oxygen. Only Mount Everest was missing in his list. In 2006, after his fifth failed attempt on Everest, the Swiss said finally goodbye to the eight-thousanders. Two years earlier he had suffered a stroke during the descent from Kangchenjunga. Nevertheless, he tried Everest once more. “I just had to go there again and feel what was possible. Otherwise I would have kept Everest always in mind. Now it’s okay for me,” Joos later said in an interview. He criticized commercial climbing on the highest mountain on earth: “As a real climber you should stay well clear of Everest.”

“Only for young and crazy guys”

As the “most important thing I have achieved as a climber” Joos described the first ascent of Annapurna East Ridge with the first traverse of this eight-thousander from south to north in fall 1984, along with his Swiss compatriot Erhard Loretan (who fell to death in 2011). “Of course, we were very good climbers then, but we were also lucky,” Joos later recalled. “On the basis of my experience to date, I wouldn’t do it anymore. Only young and crazy guys can do things like this.”

Jost Kobusch in Annapurna Base Camp

It sounds like an April fool’s joke with a month’s delay. Before the German Jost Kobusch – as reported – reached the 8,091 meter-high summit of Annapurna on 1 May, he, according to his own words, played a game of chess against the Israeli climber Nadav Ben-Yehuda just below the highest point. “We had previously played at least two games every day at Base Camp during the periods of bad weather,” says Jost. So the idea of a chess duel at the top was born. Nadav, who used bottled oxygen, reached the highest point just before Jost, who climbed without breathing mask. “When we met just below the summit, I said to him: Wait! We still have to play a game of chess,” the 23-year-old German tells me. “We played on my smartphone, 20 meters below the summit.”

Some pretty stupid moves

The game turned into a kind of blitz chess. “We did it fast, fast. After seven minutes one of us won.” Kobusch does not reveal who. “This is a matter of honor.” To play chess in extremely thin air at 8,000 meters, says Jost, was “as if you try drunken to solve a math problem: in slow-motion, sometimes with pretty stupid moves.” Kobusch wants the game to be registered in the “Guinness Book of Records” as the highest ever played chess game. An American climber made a video of the chess game and can also testify it.

Seen climbers where none were

On ascent to Camp 4

For the 23-year-old, the summit success on Annapurna was his first on an eight-thousander. “Up to the top, I found it relatively easy but on the descent I got problems,” says Jost. On the eve of the summit day, due to the icy cold it took him plenty of time to melt snow. “Two hours for one and a half liters of water. And I shared it. So I had only 750 milliliters for the whole summit day.” Totally dehydrated and exhausted, he briefly hallucinated: “I saw climbers descending where none were.” Kobusch recovered and safely reached the Base Camp.

Maybe next year to Lhotse

At home in Germany, he is already making new eight-thousander plans. “Today I thought to myself that I still have a permit for Lhotse, maybe I could go there again next year.” Last year, he had wanted to climb the fourth highest mountain in the world. However, on 25 April the Base Camp at the foot of Everest and Lhotse had been hit by a huge avalanche that had been triggered from the seven-thousander Pumori by the devastating earthquake in Nepal. 19 people were killed. The video (see below) of the avalanche, which Jost had made, spread like wildfire around the world. As a long-term goal, Kobusch wants to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, if possible without breathing mask. “I hope that I can climb also the high eight-thousanders without oxygen.”

His chess partner on Annapurna, Nadav Ben-Yehuda, had made headlines in 2012. The Israeli turned around just 300 meters before the summit to rescue Turkish climber Aydin Imrak who had collapsed. Ben-Yehuda helped Imrak down to Camp 4 at the South Col and suffered frostbite himself.

Annapurna I (l.)

That was an exceptional weekend on Annapurna. According to the Nepalese newspaper “The Himalayan Times” a total of 30 climbers reached the 8091-meter-high summit. That makes 12 percent of the about 250 summit successes on Annapurna to date. The tenth highest mountain in the world is considered the most dangerous of the 14 eight-thousanders. Already 72 mountaineers have lost their lives on this mountain.

Kobusch’s first eight-thousander

Among the 14 foreign climbers, who reached the highest point last weekend, was German Jost Kobusch. For the 23-year-old, it was the first summit success on an eight-thousander. Kobusch had made headlines worldwide last year: with his video of the avalanche that had hit Everest Base Camp after the earthquake and killed 19 people. Compared with the young German, Spaniard Carlos Soria, who was also on top of Annapurna last weekend, is an “old hand” in two respects: It was his eigth-thousander number twelve – and Carlos has already 77 years under his belt. He is simply unstoppable.

As fit as a fiddle

Carlos Soria

Soria was a late bloomer on eight-thousanders. He climbed his first, Nanga Parbat, aged 51 – and picked up pace at an age when many retire. Carlos holds the age records at K 2 (65 years old), Broad Peak (68), Makalu (69, there he climbed solo and without bottled oxygen), Gasherbrum I (70), Manaslu (71), Lhotse (72), Kangchenjunga (75)  – and now on Annapurna (77) too. Theoretically, Soria, now well acclimatized, could even try to climb Dhaulagiri. The 8167-meter-high mountain is located only about 25 kilometers as the crow flies from Annapurna. The other eight-thousander which is still missing in the “best ager”’s list of summit successes is Shishapangma. If he does these two remaining jobs, Carlos will be by far the oldest man who stood on all 14 eight-thousanders. So far, this “record” is held by Polish climber Piotr Pustelnik, who scaled his last eight-thousander in 2010 at the age of 58.

Update 17 May: Carlos Soria has abandoned his attempt on Dhaulagiri and postponed the project to 2017. “The conditions are quite complicated,” Carlos was quoted on Twitter.

Ueli Steck

There are only 20 days left until Ueli Steck will return to Nepal. To the country where the 38-year-old Swiss top climber in the same year celebrated his probably most spectacular success as an extreme climber as well as the greatest fear of death that had nothing to do with mountain dangers. In spring 2013, a group of angry Sherpas attacked Ueli and his teammates Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith in Everest high camp and threatened them with death. In fall 2013, Steck reached the 8091-meter-high summit of Annapurna, the eight-thousander with the highest fatality rate: solo, via the extremely dangerous South Face, on a partly new route, as always without bottled oxygen. It took Ueli only 28 hours to climb up and down.

This summer, he proved once again that he is able to climb mountains lickety-split, when he – as reported in my blog – scaled all 82 four-thousanders of the Alps within 62 days and overcame the distance between the mountains without engine power: by hiking, cycling or paragliding. I talked to Ueli about his tour de force through the Alps – and also about his upcoming exciting project in Nepal: on Nuptse, within sight of Mount Everest.

Ueli during his “82 Summits” project

Ueli, before starting your project “82 Summits” you told me that you wanted to turn back the screw of risk a bit and to have just fun. Did you experience this fun in the 62 days you needed to climb all four-thousanders of the Alps?

It was actually one of the best projects I’ve ever done. Every day it was fun. In addition I was extremely lucky with the weather.

How great were the physical strain and thus the sporting value for you?

At the end I had made 117,000 meters of altitude which means a certain amount of physical stress. The sporting value is still difficult to assess at the moment. But it has a rather great value for me, because I always had everything under control. I always was able to recover well and never had any problems with my body.

Your original partner for the project, the German climber Michi Wohlleben, had to give up early, because he got injured while attempting to land after a paragliding flight. Afterwards you climbed with many different partners, among others with your wife Nicole. Did you enjoy that?

Actually, this has led the project in a completely different direction. It was really awesome to climb with such different people. For instance, when I was climbing with my wife, it had priority to enjoy a beautiful mountain trip. When I climbed with Andy Steindl I could speed up. Thus I had every day a different approach.

Now you’re really well trained, you have often enough been higher than 4,000 meters, so that you are well acclimatized – ideal conditions to tackle the very high mountains.

Yes, I do believe that I now have a solid basis and a good physical condition to go to Nepal.

Nuptse peaks from the south

Are you still planning to climb along with the American Colin Haley the so called “Babanov-Route” on the 7,804-meter-high Nuptse East in Alpine style this fall?

Exactly. We fly to Nepal on 22 September. And then we’ll see what happens.

What does this project make so appealing for you?

It is a technically challenging route that has never been repeated. When Valeri Babanov and Yuri Kosholenko first climbed this route (via the Southeast Pillar in 2003), they used fixed ropes. I have a feeling that it is now really possible to tackle this difficult route in Alpine style. And that excites me.

You will set off with a climbing partner. How high is the probability that it turns again to be a solo project at the end?

(He laughs) No, that’s finished for me. During my “82 Summits” project, it was once again so that Michi had to leave. But no, I will no longer do such actions as on Annapurna.

It will be your return to a region where you had anything but good experiences in spring 2013. You were attacked in Everest high camp by angry Sherpas. Do you still have a queasy feeling?

Of course, I will never forget this. It’s in my mind. But I had several years now to think about it, to talk to people about it and to get to grips with the whole thing. There were just a few extremists. But there are a few odd people anywhere in the world. For me it’s finished, and I look forward.

Ueli on Annapurna

In the meantime, a lot has happened in Nepal: two deadly avalanches on Everest; the devastating earthquake; as a consequence few trekking tourists and expeditions this fall. Do you also want to give a signal with your project: Guys, I’m not afraid to go there?

Of course, I am still a bit scared: Will there be another strong earthquake? It’s not funny when you’re in the mountains then. On the other hand it is the only way I can really help the people in Nepal: by traveling there, giving them jobs and thus creating opportunities for them that life goes on.

Do you feel a particular responsibility as a professional climber who was often in Nepal to give the country something back in this difficult situation?

For me it is a matter of course that I try to help as much as I can. I do not think that it is enough to send aid only. At the end of the day, that doesn’t bring a country like Nepal anything. In the beginning it was important, of course, and it did happen. But now people must have jobs, so that they have income. That has always been important to me, and it was the reason that I’ve come to Nepal again and again: to ensure that the life of the people I know and who I have supported goes on.

P.S. May I remind you of our donation campaign “School up!” to rebuild the school in Thulosirubari in the Nepalese district Sindhupalchowk that was destroyed by the 25 April earthquake. You find all details on the right side of the blog and reports at the top bar.

Don Bowie

He has just stayed there – to help. When the devastating earthquake hit Nepal on 25 April, the Canadian climber Don Bowie was in Base Camp at the foot of Annapurna. For ten years, Don is climbing on eight-thousanders. By now he has scaled three of them, all without supplementary oxygen: K 2 (in 2007), Gasherbrum I (2010) and Cho Oyu (2011). After the tremors, the 46-year-old decided spontaneously to cancel the expedition and to use his skills as high altitude climber and mountain rescuer to help the earthquake victims in remote villages of Nepal. Since then Don is almost non-stop on the road in the mountains of the Himalayan state. On the Internet, he is asking for donations to finance his relief campaign. I contacted Don Bowie in Nepal.

Don, where are you staying right now?

I am based out of Kathmandu but I am now working in many districts – Gorkha, Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Sindhulpachowk, Dhading, and Dolakha.

You were on Annapurna when the earthquake hit Nepal. How did you experience the quake?

We had all just come down the day before from our high camp. We were relaxing in Base Camp when the ground started to shake. The location of Annapurna Base Camp on the north side is situated below a very steep rock cliff that has a crown of huge seracs on top of it. It was a little foggy that day, so we didn’t have clear visibility, but we heard rocks starting to come down. The entire camp started to run away from the rock fall in case the rocks rolled into our camp.

Do you feel a special responsibility to help the people in Nepal because you are a climber who has spent so much time on expeditions?

I don’t think I was motivated because of the amount of time that I have spent in Nepal, but rather the motivation came from knowing that there was an entire nation below us that was hurting and we wanted to see if we could help in any small way. With my experience in search and rescue and other valuable skills within the climbing crew, we felt that we could no longer stay on Annapurna and continue to climb with our expedition. In addition to that, we had a production crew with us that could get the message and information out about the earthquake and what was needed.

Don in a remote area of Nepal

You have organized the transport of aid supplies to very remote areas of Nepal. What is most needed in these villages?

Having feet on the ground in each one of these villages and spending time with the people, you really understand what the needs are. Depending on the town, how hard it was hit, what the region was, how heavily affected their food stores were and how destroyed the homes were, each village and town has had different needs. We have tried to address those one by one, but the most prominent need, especially in the Gorkha region, is that these people are completely cut off and isolated due to landslides, so getting any food and supplies in before monsoon hits, which is starting this week, has been our primary goal.

Are there still villages without any help from outside since the 25 April earthquake?

There are still villages that I’ve been to recently that have had little to almost no aid. There have been small helicopters that have made it into the areas, but often times there has been really high mountain villages that don’t have adequate landing zones for even the small helicopters. So there are many communities that have not received very much aid and that is why we are organizing porters and mule trains to take aid into these areas. The challenge is, however, that we need to clear the trails on the way to make them safe so people can walk from village to village without being under the threat of landslides.

How do you experience the people in the remote villages? Are they traumatized, hopeless, angry?

The Nepali people are incredibly resilient. And our experience is that we come into these small towns to give aid to these people yet they offer us tea, a meal, and even places to sleep in their broken homes. They have been extremely gracious and really often times excited just to know that people were thinking of them and people from the outside world are willing to help them. We could see that they took some comfort in that.

Are you satisfied with the cooperation with the local authorities? What could run better?

Most of our experiences have been in Gorkha and we’ve only begun to expand out to other regions. However, in Gorkha, the local government has been incredibly supportive of any effort to work and coordinate alongside them. We have even been able to assign some teams to work alongside local authority and police. The government, especially in the Gorkha region where we’ve worked the most, has had an amazing and proactive role in bringing aid to these communities in a way that we have all been very impressed with.

Danger of landslides

Nepal has launched a campaign to invite people from abroad to visit the country – now more than ever. What do you think about it?

I think that there are really still some major concerns about safety in the regions that are predominantly tourist and trekking areas. I think that once the monsoon season arrives, many of these landslides will become even worse. So we are very concerned about that. I understand that restoring tourism to these areas is extremely important for local economies, and we are working very hard with many agencies – with the WFP (World Food Programme), the UN, and the local government to restore the trails and rehabilitate the village networks for road access. For now I believe that many of the regions are severely affected. Hhowever, there are regions in the east including the Annapurna circuit which appear to be almost completely intact. I think in the fall season, these relatively unscathed regions should be able to support tourism. Also if you look at the major tourist hubs such as Pokhara and even Thamel, you get a sense that these are safe areas. My team and myself have been living in these places for some time and feel quite confident that the infrastructure can support viable tourism for the fall season. However, other regions will be slow to follow because of the amount of damage and landslides.

Manaslu, “Mountain of the Spirit”

“Come back! So that Nepal can make a comeback.” So you could overwrite the appeals of those who are living from tourism in Nepal or have to do with it. The trekking and expedition operators from abroad send a signal that they want to realize most of their trips that they had planned for the post-monsoon season before the earthquake hit the country on 25 April. “The devastating earthquake has shaken the life in Nepal, but slowly life is returning to normality”, Dominik Mueller, head of German operator Amical alpin, wrote.

Manaslu expeditions take place

Neither the offered trekkings in the Khumbu region around Mount Everest were threatened nor those in the area around the eight-thousanders Annapurna, Dhaulagiri and Kangchenjunga, Dominik said. Massive damage was noticed at lodges on the way around Manaslu. But this trip would also be possible because Amical had not planned it as a lodge trekking but as a tent trekking. According to Dominik, the expedition to the 8163-meter-high Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain on earth, will be operated too. This also applies to New Zealand expedition organizer Himalayan Experience. “I am operating Manaslu as usual”, Russell Brice, head of Himex, wrote to me.

Ama Dablam

The US operator Alpenglow Expeditions offers his clients discounts for its fall expeditions to Nepal. For those who book by the end of June, the expedition to the seven-thousander Ama Dablam will be cheaper by ten percent, the expedition to the eight-thousander Makalu by five percent. “Mass cancellations of travel to Nepal will be devastating to the country’s destroyed economy”, it says on the Alpenglow website.

Problems in Langtang area

A delegation of the DAV Summit Club, that had travelled to Nepal to take an on-site look at the situation in the trekking areas, has meanwhile returned to Germany. “Trekking tourism in the Everest region can take place without stint from October”, the members of the Summit Club group said in a first report. The same applies to the Annapurna area where the earthquake damage should be repaired by October. There was almost no damage in the regions east of Everest and west of Annapurna, the Summit Club said: “However, the Manaslu region, the Langtang area and the neighboring Tsum Valley have been affected strongly. No trekkings are to take place in these regions in fall.”

Goodwill Ambassador

The new Nepalese Tourism Minister Kripa Sur Sherpa has nominated 14 well-known climbers from around the world as “Goodwill Ambassadors” who are to promote Nepal – including the South Tyrolean Reinhold Messner, the Japanese Junko Tabei (the first woman who scaled Everest), Peter Hillary and Jamling Tenzing Norgay (the sons of the men who made the first ascent of Everest) and Ralf Dujmovits (the first and so far only German climber who has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders).

P.S. Sorry, that I did not post more articles during the last days. (As a sports editor) I was too busy covering the FIFA crisis. Take a look at this video that was made by the German climber Jost Kobusch a few days ago in a village in Nepal: