Broad Peak

For me, drones come right after leaf blowers. I find the noise generated by the increasingly popular flying machines extremely annoying. Drones sound like mutated giant bumblebees. Torture for my ears. But even I have to admit: On the eight-thousander Broad Peak in the Karakoram in Pakistan, a drone and the guy who flew it did a great job. Eight days ago, on 9 July, the 64-year-old Briton Rick Allen set off alone for a summit attempt. His teammates stayed in Camp 3 at 7,000 meters. When Rick didn’t return, they sounded the alarm because they feared Allen might have been injured or even died. Sandy Allan, who had already descended to base camp due to strong winds in the summit area, contacted the Polish Bargiel brothers in the nearby K2 Base Camp. Andrzej Bargiel is planning to ski the second highest mountain in the world from the summit to base camp for the first time this summer. His brother Bartek is filming the project – also using a drone.

Thanks to Dan Mazur and Co.

Sandy Allan (l.) and Rick Allen on Nanga Parbat in 2012

Bartek let it take off. With the help of the camera mounted on the drone, Sandy, Andrzej and Bartek were able to find Rick Allen’s exact position and to radio it to Camp 3. A seven-man rescue team, consisting of climbers from the expedition operator “Summit Climb”, managed to climb up to Rick and bring him back to Camp 3 in the dark. “Rick returned to Base Camp on 12 July safely thanks to Dan Mazur (the expedition leader of Summit Climb) and his Sherpas,” Allen’s expedition blog said. “After being examined by a doctor at Base Camp, Rick is okay all things considered and has a few superficial cuts and some frostnip.”

The two Britons Sandy Allan and Rick Allen had landed a coup in the Karakoram in summer 2012. At that time they were the first to reach the summit of Nanga Parbat via the more than ten kilometers long Mazeno Ridge. Allan and Allen had been at very high altitude for 18 days. In 2013, they had been awarded for this amazing ascent the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the Climbers”.

Bielecki and Berg on top of G II

Camp 3 on Gasherbrum II

Meanwhile, further summit successes were reported from the Karakoram: According to Polish media reports on Monday, 35-year-old Pole Adam Bielecki and 37-year-old German Felix Berg reached the 8,034-meter-high summit of Gasherbrum II. “We managed to traverse the summit – we reached it by the fragile and surprisingly difficult West Face and went down the regular route (via the Southwest Ridge),” Adam wrote on Facebook. Their companions Jacek Czech, also from Poland, and Boris Dedeshko from Kazakhstan had wanted to climb via the normal route, but had turned around at 7,500 and 7,800 meters respectively, said Bielecki. It was his fifth eight-thousander, for Felix Berg after Mount Everest (in 2004), Broad Peak (in 2014) and Cho Oyu (in spring 2018) the fourth success on one of the 14 highest mountains in the world.

First summit success on Broad Peak

Yesterday, ten climbers from the Austrian expedition operator “Furtenbach Adventures” according to their own words reached the summit of Broad Peak at 8,051 meters. The group had abandoned their first summit bid last week because the avalanche danger had been still too great at that time. The first summit attempts of this summer season have also begun on K2.

This is where the biogas plant is to be built

There are things that stink to high heaven – quite literally. For example, if up to 1000 climbers, high altitude porters, cooks, kitchen helpers and other staff relieve themselves for two months during the spring season in the base camp on the Nepalese south side of Mount Everest. The number of 12,000 kilograms of faeces has been reported for years, which seems to me rather low. The removal of the human waste from Everest Base Camp has been regulated for a long time, in contrast to the faecal problem in the high camps. The excrements from the toilet tents of the expeditions are collected in barrels and carried downwards by so-called “shit porters” – until 2014 without exception to Gorak Shep, the next small settlement, located  about five kilometers from the base camp, now also further down the valley. There the faeces have been tipped into pits thus posing a great danger to the drinking water. The International Climbing and Moutaineering Association (UIAA) has now awarded an environmental protection project which could make an important contribution to tackling the problem.

Groundbreaking scheduled for spring 2018

Project manager Garry Porter

The “Mountain Protection Award 2017” of the UIAA goes to the “Mount Everest Biogas Project”. Two Americans, the expedition manager Dan Mazur and Garry Porter, a former engineer of the aviation group Boeing, had founded the project in 2010. In Gorak Shep the faeces from Everest are to be collected in dense containers and used for a biogas digester. The technical challenge is to maintain the required temperature for the digester at the partial extreme cold at an altitude of 5,200 meters. This problem appears to have been solved. “Our engineering and architectural design is sound and we have high confidence in it,” says project manager Garry Porter. “It is now time to put theory to test.” The groundbreaking is scheduled for next spring – if the fundraising is successful by then. In this case the plant in Gorak Shep will probably be completed in winter 2018/19, and the lodge owners could cook with biogas instead of wood or Yak dung.

Faeces problem not only on Everest

Further customers of the technology should also be found in other areas of the Himalayas and the Karakoram. So the base camp at the foot of the eight-thousander Manaslu had Everest proportions this fall. The faecal barrels might have been full there too – if the human waste has been carried away at all.

Ralf Dujmovits

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

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

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

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

Dangerous Khumbu Icefall

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

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

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

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

High winds on Everest

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

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

Thus new disasters on Everest can not be excluded?

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

On the north side too?

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

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

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

Manaslu (l.) and Pinnacle East (r.)

This year’s first summit successes on Manaslu are reported: Chhang Dawa Sherpa, head of the Nepalese operator Seven Summit Treks, said that nine foreign mountaineers and six Climbing Sherpas summited the eighth highest mountain on earth this morning. More teams are on the way up and plan to reach the highest point at 8,156 meters on Thursday or Friday. Dan Mazur from Summit Climb tweeted from Camp 4 at 7,450 meters announcing to climb towards the summit tonight. Rainer Pircher from Amical alpin is in Camp 4 too. Dominik Mueller, head of Amical, and his clients are spending the night at Camp 3 at 6,800 meters and want to climb up to Camp 4 on Thursday.

Some teams said: Too risky

Other teams like those of Himalayan Experience and Altitude Junkies had abandoned their Manaslu expeditions in the past few days due to avalanche danger in the upper parts of the route and a troublesome big crevasse below Camp 4. On Tuesday a group of Sherpas had been able to fix rope across the crevasse. Keep your fingers crossed for all climbers who are still on the mountain!
More than 100 mountaineers had applied for permits to climb Manaslu this fall. Thus it was probably the only mountain in Nepal with a halfway normal climbing life after the devastating earthquake on 25 April that had killed almost 9,000 people.

Tent village on Everest South Col

“The Lord of the smells“ – this was the title of a story I wrote more than 20 years ago for a German magazine dedicated to parents. At that time my wife and I were swaddling three children several times daily. Once the garbage men threatened to ignore our trash can packed with diapers, not only because it stank, but also because it was so heavy. One day, under the impression of having disposed again several portions of human waste, I wrote said article about the suffering of a swaddling father. It was never published. “Funny, but a little bit to stinky”, the chief editor of the magazine replied. Meanwhile, the public seems to be not as squeamish as in former times: A statement of Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, about the problem of human waste in the high camps on Mount Everest led to a true “shitstorm” on the Internet.

It’s the quantity that matters

“Climbers usually dig holes in the snow for their toilet use and leave the human waste there”, Ang Tshering told reporters in Kathmandu. This alone would not be a huge problem, but in the particular case of Everest it’s the quantity that matters. Finally, about 700 climbers relieve themselves in a single spring season in the high camps on the highest mountain on earth. “Human waste is one of the biggest problems in the popular mountains”, Ang Tshering had already said at a meeting of the Asian Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UAAA) in Hiroshima in November 2014.

Toilet bags and astronaut food

Toilet tent (not on Everest, but on Kokodak Dome)

“It is a health hazard and the issue needs to be addressed”, said Dawa Steven Sherpa, Ang Tshering’s son. Since 2008, Dawa Steven has been leading the so-called “Eco Everest Expeditions”  that are committed not only to summit successes but to environmental protection too. Dawa recommends his clients to use environmentally friendly re-sealable toilet bags in high camps and to bring them back to base camp. It could be also helpful to live during climbing on some kind of fluid astronaut food that is high in calories but causes little defecation. These products specially developed for expeditions – such as Peronin (I had good experiences using it on my summit day on Kokodak Dome) – are already on the market.

Biogas from human waste of Everest Base Camp?

Gorak Shep

In Everest base camp on the south side of the mountain, the disposal of human waste is regulated for many years. The feces from the toilet tents – about 12,000 kilograms per climbing season – are collected in tons and carried by so-called “shit porters” to lower villages such as Gorak Shep, about five kilometers away from base camp. There the human waste is dumped into open pits and creates a risk of contaminating the drinking water. Two Americans, the expedition leader Dan Mazur and the engineer Garry Porter, want to solve this problem. The human waste is to be collected in leak-proof containers and should be used for a biogas digester. The project, that was founded in 2010, is ready to go into the testing phase.

P.S.: Of course, the problem is not limited to the south side of Mount Everest. Ralf Dujmovits once told me that he had difficulties to find a clean place for his tent in Camp 1 on the North Col due to the feces everywhere.

South side of Everest

The same procedure on Everest as every year? Probably not, but a reliable forecast is difficult. “There seem to be less people on expeditions and also less people trekking in Nepal”, the New Zealander Russell Brice replies to my question which influence the avalanche disaster on Good Friday 2014 and the subsequent end of all great expeditions on Everest south side will have on this year’s spring season on the highest mountain in the world. “It seems that more people want to go to North side, and less people to South side”, says the head of the expedition operator Himalayan Experience. However, Brice withdrew his tendered Everest expedition in Tibet and decided to just operate on the south side this year.

Less climbers on the south side?

SummitClimb offers an expedition to the north and one to the south side of the mountain. “It seems in 2015 more of our SummitClimb members are interested in climbing the Tibet side of Everest than the Nepal side of Everest”, the US-British climber Dan Mazur, who founded SummitClimb in 1987 and has led many Everest expeditions since then, writes to me. “The result of which might be that this could be better for those people who choose to go to the Nepal side, because it might be less crowded than in previous years.” There were “more people expressing interest in our 2015 Post Monsoon Autumn Everest Expedition”, says Dan.

A little bit of uncertainty

“Would I have more clients if the 2014 incident hadn’t happened? I’m not sure”, says Tim Mosedale. The British climber will lead an Everest expedition in Nepal this spring: “Certainly there’s a little bit of uncertainty and people are looking for extra reassurances.” Simone Lowe, head of the British expedition operator Jagged Globe, is “not seeing any appreciable difference. Of course, people may be anxious but more so, that there will not be another tragedy, anywhere on the mountain.”

The price decides

The Tibetan side

Dominik Mueller, head of the German operator Amical alpin, will lead an expedition on the Tibetan side during the upcoming season. “We don’t have less or more requests for Everest than in the previous years”, says Dominik. “Certainly some clients were considering to switch to the north side – but I think regardless of the events in 2014. At the end of the day, the conditions on the mountain play the key role.” He expects that it will take a few years to identify a real trend. Ultimately, the price will decide, says Dominik: “If China continues its policy of demanding more and more money, some operators may consider to switch back to the south side again. And those operating in Nepal may decide to stay there instead of switching to the north side.” The DAV Summit Club informed me that it  cancelled its scheduled Everest spring expedition in Tibet due to a lack of participants.

“Fickle posturing”

The US operator Peak Freaks hit the brakes for other reason and called off its scheduled expedition in Nepal. Among other things Peak Freaks refers to “the local government’s fickle posturing and vague statements regarding possible rule changes for mountaineering permits”. An untenable situation, Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineeering Association (NMA), also considers: “With less than 90 days remaining to start climbing, it’s the government’s responsibility to clear the confusion at the earliest.”