Burke Khang

The very big point was missing. The 6,942-meter-high Burke Khang was successfully first climbed – but Bill Burke, the man after whom the mountain in the Gokyo Valley near Mount Everest is named, was not at the top. According to the Nepali expedition operator Asian Trekking, the Northern Irishman Noel Hanna and the Sherpas Naga Dorje Sherpa, Pemba Tshering Sherpa and Samden Bhote reached the summit of Burke Khang on Thursday. Bill had ascended up to Camp 1 but had decided not to climb higher, it said. Bummer! He would have deserved to be among the first ascenders, just only because of his persistance. For the fourth time – after in fall 2015 and 2016 and in spring 2017 – the 75-year-old American had traveled to Burke Khang. The previous attempts had failed due to bad weather or dangerous conditions on the mountain.

Late career as high altitude climber

Bill Burke

Bill had become a climber in the senior age after a successful career as a lawyer. Aged 67, he had scaled Mount Everest from the Nepalese south side, aged 72, from the Tibetan north side. Four days before his second Everest coup, the government in Kathmandu had announced that the then unclimbed almost seven-thousander near Mount Everest was now called Burke Khang. “I was never given a reason for this generous action“, Bill said in an interview on the website pythom.com in 2015.

Hanna was eight times on top of Everest

Noel Hanna, who was now successful on Burke Khang, is an experienced mountain guide. The 50-year-old, who was born in Northern Ireland and lives in South Africa, has scaled Mount Everest eight times, twice with his wife Lynn. They were the first couple to reach the highest of all summits both from the north and south. Noel has scaled the Seven Summits, the highest mountains of all continents, and is also a successful ultra mountain runner.

Summit successes on Dhaulagiri

Dhaulagiri

After the Spaniard Carlos Soria had failed on the 8,167-meter-high Dhaulagiri this fall, summit successes have now been reported from the seventh-highest mountain on earth. On 29 September, the Bulgarian climber Boyan Petrov stood on the top of Dhaulagiri. For the 44-year-old, it was his tenth eight-thousander. Two days later, on 1 October, the Russian climber Yuri Kruglov and Ang Phurba Sherpa as well as a little bit later Dendi Sherpa reached the summit.

Bill Burke in front of Burke Khang (the lower summit on the right)

Something seems to be wrong with “his” mountain. The third year in a row, the 6942-meter-high Burke Khang was not first climbed by the man, after whom the mountain in the Everest area is named. Bill Burke called off the expedition, this time even without having set foot on the almost seven-thousander. A two-day snow storm had caused a lot of fresh snow in the Gokyo Valley. In addition, the weather forecast for the remaining time of the expedition predicted storm with gusts up to hurricane force. “Plowing through waist-high snow in extremely vertical 75 plus degree terrain at high altitude is one thing,” Burke writes in his blog. “Doing so facing winds exceeding 75 mph in subzero wind-chill temperatures would be an act of suicide.”

Bill entering the Gokyo Valley

Funereal atmosphere at Base Camp

The 75-year-old American had wanted to give it a try once again. “Burke-Khang kicked my butt twice, with 2016 being a particularly ruthless and humiliating thrashing,” Bill had written before the start of the expedition. “But, I am beginning to understand its terrain and feel its personality.” Before Burke arrived at the foot of the mountain, his Sherpa team, headed by Naga Dorjee Sherpa, had already explored the route to the summit by helicopter. When Bill finally reached Base Camp after two days snowstorm, which he himself had waited out in Gokyo, there was a “funereal atmosphere”, said Bill. The storm had also undermined the morale.

Big-league mountain

Puja (prayer ceremony) at Base Camp

Nevertheless, the Sherpas fought up the mountain during the next two days. “It took five veteran Sherpas 25 hours over two days to put the lines in place and establish Camp 1 on the snowfield,” says Bill. “Naga said, the conditions on the mountain were deplorable because of deep, waist-high, snow, ice, rocks, rockfall and strong winds.” When he received the depressing weather report, Burke canceled the expedition. Before he headed back to Kathmandu, however, he was flown over the summit of Burke Khang by helicopter. “The mountain is fearsome, awesome, magnificent and very dangerous,” Bill describes his impressions. “I saw massive crevasses, icefalls, cornices and towering seracs. The rounded summit is flush with these features and appeared almost impossible to scale. This is definitely a big-league mountain suitable only for extreme mountaineers with the right experience and equipment.”

Fourth attempt?

Bill Burke became a climber in the senior age after a successful career as a lawyer. Aged 67, he scaled Mount Everest from the Nepalese south side, aged 72, from the Tibetan north side. Four days before his second Everest coup, the government in Kathmandu announced that the still unclimbed almost seven-thousander near Mount Everest was now called Burke Khang. Bill was never given a reason for this action. Burke left it open whether he will return to the mountain once more after his third failed attempt: “Now, I need to think about what’s next.”

Looking into the abyss

What I did not know is that also mountains can play chess. “What we did not know is that the Mountain, in a very clever chess move, shifted its defensive emplacements much lower on its flanks in anticipation of our 2016 assault,” Bill Burke writes. “We were caught completely off guard.” As reported, the 74-year-old American wanted to first climb Burke Khang, the mountain which was named after him. Burke’s first attempt a year ago had failed in the summit area of ​​the 6942-meter-high mountain in the Everest region due to dangerous cornices. Now the insurmountable problems occurred at the lower Southeast Ridge.

New icefall

Deep crevasses

Naga Sherpa and Shera Sherpa, who should fix the ropes up to the planned Camp 2, found fragile cornices already on the Southeast Ridge. “One false step, and the cornice collapses, sending the Sherpas to certain death,” Bill describes the dangerous passage. However, the team was finally checkmated by a new icefall, with “massive crevasses, ice towers and fragile snow bridges”. Naga Sherpa estimated that 15 aluminum ladders would have been needed to cross the crevasses. The two Sherpas declared the ridge to be impassable and turned around. “I was in constant fear of my life,” Naga said. The six-time Everest summiter David Liano, who belonged to Burke’s team, wanted to gain an impression of the situation by himself. The 35-year-old Mexican also turned back at the icefall after he had tested a snow bridge and the ice had immediately started breaking when he had set foot on it.

No plan for another attempt – for now

Bill Burke in front of “his” mountain

“Round 2 goes to Burke-Khang,” Bill sums up the expedition. “In political parlance, this was a landslide victory. We never had a chance.” Nevertheless Burke still considers “his” mountain to be ascendable, but only “at the right time in the right conditions”. Before attempting to climb Burke Khang turns into an obsession or a crusade, he now pulls the brake. “In addition, age is taking its toll on my body,” says the 74-year-old, “and other adventures beckon.  So, for now, I have no plans to launch another Burke Khang expedition. But, I will never rule out another attempt.” And in the meantime we look forward to the the next defense strategy of the chess-playing mountain in the Himalayas.

Bill Burke in front of “his” mountain

“My mountain!” Bill Burke can say this, without anyone accusing him of hubris. Since 2014, the “Burke Khang” officially exists in the Everest region. The Nepalese government named the 6942- meter-high mountain in the Gokyo Valley after the US mountaineer. Bill Burke became a climber in the senior age after a successful career as a lawyer. Aged 67, he scaled Mount Everest from the Nepalese south side, aged 72, from the Tibetan north side. Four days before his second Everest coup, the government in Kathmandu announced that the still unclimbed almost seven-thousander near Mount Everest was now called Burke Khang. “I was never given a reason for this generous action“, said Bill a year ago in an interview on the website pythom.com. In fall 2015, Burke tried for the first time to climb the mountain which bears his name. The project failed just below the summit. Now the 74-year-old is taking a new run.

Planned route on Burke Khang

Team meber David Liano

“I’m looking at the mountain now and it’s just so beautiful,”Bill says in an audio message from Base Camp at the foot of Burke Khang. His Sherpa team has already begun to secure the planned route with fixed ropes. The team also includes the 35-year-old Mexican David Liano, who has already climbed Mount Everest six times. In 2013, he reached the 8850-meter-high summit twice within nine days, first from the south, then from the north side.

Too dangerous

Dangerous summit ridge

Last year, Bill’s expedition to Burke Khang had failed because of the dangerous conditions in the summit area. The US guide Sid Pattison and four Sherpas reached the strongly corniced summit ridge. “The first one was quite unstable looking and the one beyond was leaning towards us, overhanging and would have taken some very strenuous climbing to pass,” wrote Pattison. The team decided to turn around for security reasons. Burke was then waiting just below the summit ridge.

New ideas

“We succeeded in our quest as we climbed as high up the mountain as humanly possible,” Bill later resumed. “Within days of coming down the mountain, I was pondering new climbing routes and strategies. I have some ideas.” Maybe this time one of these strategies will work. If Bill then belongs to the first ascenders of his mountain, it would also be easier for him to explain why the mountain is called Burke Khang.