Queue on Manaslu

I had a déjà vu. When I saw the pictures of the queue of people who climbed up towards the summit of the 8163-meter-high Manaslu this fall, I winced again. Just like in 2012, when Ralf Dujmovits, Germany’s most successful high-altitude mountaineer, photographed the queue of Everest summit candidates on the Lhotse flank. How the pictures resemble each other! No wonder, since Manaslu has turned more and more into “Fall’s Everest” in recent years: Several hundred mountaineers pitch up their tents in the base camp, the route is secured up to the summit with fixed ropes. And if the weather is fine, it’s getting narrow at the highest point.

More than 200 summit successes, one death

Crowded summit

According to the newspaper “The Himalayan Times”, at least 120 foreign climbers and more than 100 Sherpas accompanying them reached the summit of the eighth highest mountain on earth this fall. One death was to be lamented. A 43-year-old Czech is missing. After his summit success, his trail was lost.

Soria fails for the ninth time

The other eight-thousanders offered in the catalogues of commercial operators this fall were much less crowded. While in Tibet low double-digit summit successes were reported from Cho Oyu and Shishapangma, the highest point of Dhaulagiri, located like Manaslu in western Nepal, remained untouched this fall. Two and a half weeks ago, a 24-year-old Sherpa was killed in an avalanche on this eight-thousander.

Soria has to return once again

“I have never experienced Dhaulagiri with so much snow and so dangerous”, said the Spaniard Carlos Soria on desnivel.com after he had abandoned his expedition. The 79-year-old tried his luck on the 8167-meter-high mountain for the ninth time. Next spring Carlos wants to return to Dhaulagiri once again. Apart from this mountain, only Shishapangma is still missing in his eight-thousander collection.

Too much snow on Dhaulagiri

“The tropical storm from Pakistan, which had been raging here in the Marshyangdi Valley for more than 48 hours, left a lot of snow on our route for which we had worked so hard,” wrote the German mountaineer Billi Bierling, who made her way back to Kathmandu with the team from the Swiss operator “Kobler & Partner”. Also the Spaniard Sergi Mingote, who, after his summit success on Manaslu, actually wanted to attach Dhaulagiri, packed up because of too high avalanche danger.

R.I.P.

Tragic incident on the eight-thousander Dhaulagiri in western Nepal: Yesterday an avalanche hit a seven-man Sherpa team of the operator “Seven Summit Treks”, who were fixing ropes between Camp 2 (6,400 m) and Camp 3 (7,400 m). “Six (Sherpas) survived the avalanche unharmed, but the only 24-year-old Dawa Gyaljen, born near (the eight-thousander) Makalu, is missed,” Spaniard Luis Miguel Lopez Soriano wrote on Facebook. Luis accompanies his 79-year-old friend Carlos Soria, who this fall is trying for the tenth and, in his own words, probably last time to scale Dhaulagiri. The 8,167-meter-high mountain and Shishapangma (8,027 m) are the last two eight-thousanders still missing from Carlos’s collection.

Billi Bierling and Herbert Hellmuth on Dhaulagiri

Dhaulagiri

Billi Bierling also confirmed Dawa Gyaljen’s death in the avalanche. She had reached Camp 2, but returned to base camp because of the incident, Billi wrote today on Twitter. The 51-year-old German mountaineer and journalist, who heads the mountaineering chronicle “Himalayan Database” in Kathmandu as successor to the late legendary Elizabeth Hawley, belongs to a group of the Swiss expedition operator “Kobler & Partner”. She has already scaled five eight-thousanders: Everest in 2009, Lhotse and Manaslu in 2011, Makalu in 2014 and Cho Oyu in 2016. On Manaslu and Cho Oyu, Billi climbed without bottled oxygen.

German Herbert Hellmuth, who has a permit for a ski descent from the summit with his Russian team mate Sergey Baranov, is also en route on Dhaulagiri. Last May, the 49-year-old reached the top of Kangchenjunga, his third eight-thousander after Manaslu (2011) and Mount Everest (2013). On K2 he had to turn around at 7,000 meters in 2015.

Willie Benegas (l.) and Matt Moniz (r.)

All’s well that ends well. Today, 20-year-old American Matt Moniz and his mentor, 49-year-old Argentine Willie Benegas, reached the 8,850-meter summit of Mount Everest. “0459 Summit! We’re on top of the world,” Matt tweeted. On Wednesday, the two climbers also want to scale neighboring Lhotse (8,516 m) , the fourth highest mountain on earth. As reported, the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism had considered revoking Moniz’ and Benegas’ climbing permits. The reason: They had skied down the Lhotse flank during an acclimatization climb – without having a so-called “ski permit”. However, only a few knew about the existence of such a special permit. After about 150 Climbing Sherpas had campaigned for Matt and Willie in an open letter to the Ministry of Tourism for Matt and Willie, the people in charge gave in talking about a “very innocent mistake”. The way for today’s Everest summit attempt was free.

Bulgarian dies in camp 3

Since this spring’s first summit success on 13 May, north and south side summed, nearly 500 ascents have been counted. Meanwhile, there was another death on Everest. A 62-year-old Macedonian collapsed in Camp 3 and died. It was the fifth death this season on the eight-thousanders.

Further summit successes at Kangchenjunga

Kangchenjunga

On the 8,586 meter high Kangchenjunga today at least eleven climbers reached the highest point. The team of the expedition operator “Asian Trekking” was led by Dawa Steven Sherpa. Last Wednesday, as reported, five mountaineers had stood on top of the third highest mountain in the world, including the German Herbert Hellmuth. Maya Sherpa, who had tried to be the first Nepalese woman to scale Kangchenjunga, had to turn around at about 8,500 meters. She was too late, too tired and bottled oxygen run out, reported the 40-year-old on Facebook.

Nepal’s three highest mountains in one season?

Nima Jangmu Sherpa (r.) and Mingma Gyalje Sherpa (l.)

In the next few days, Nima Jangmu Sherpa will also tackle Kangchenjunga. The 27-year-old will be accompanied by Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the operator “Imagine”. If she reaches the summit, she would have accomplished the feat of climbing the three highest mountains in Nepal and thus three of the four highest peaks of the world within one season. On 29 April, Nima Jangmu stood on top of Lhotse, on 14 May on the summit of Mount Everest.

Soria will leave Dhaulagiri

Spanish “oldie” Carlos Soria has declared his Dhaulagiri expedition over. The 79-year-old had climbed up to 7,250 meters with his team. Strong wind had prevented a further ascent. Next fall, Carlos wants to tackle Shishapangma, which is also still missing in his eight-thousander collection besides Dhaulagiri. For spring 2019, Soria is already planning his next attempt on Dhaulagiri. It would be his tenth.

Update 21 May: Matt Moniz and Willie Benegas also reached the summit of Lhotse, a day after they had scaled Mount Everest.

Tibetan north side of Everest

Now, also from the Tibetan north side, the first climbers out of commercial teams have scaled Mount Everest. Swiss expedition leader Kari Kobler reported that three of his clients reached the highest point at 8,850 meters today. On Monday, the team responsible for fixing the ropes via the Northeast Ridge to the summit, had finished their work. This had already happened a day earlier on the Nepalese south side. On Monday about 50 mountaineers had climbed to the highest point on the southern route. Among them was the Australian Steve Plain. The 36-year-old set a new time record for climbing the Seven Summits, the highest mountains of all continents.

And now the Triple Crown?

Steve Plain

Plain completed the collection within 117 days, achieving his goal of scaling the Seven Summits in under four months. Until then, the Pole Janusz Kochanski had held the record with 126 days. And Steve is not yet tired. Today, one day after their Everest summit success, he and British expedition leader Jon Gupta also scaled the neighboring eight-thousander Lhotse. Thus, for Plain and Gupta only the 7861-meter-high Nuptse is missing to complete the so-called “Triple Crown”, the ascent of the three highest peaks in the Everest massif within a season. Their first summit attempt on Nuptse had failed in early May, 200 meters below the highest point. “I didn’t name him ‘Strong Steve’ last year for nothing”, writes Tim Mosedale on Facebook about Plain.

Sherpa dies on Makalu, summit attempt on Dhaulagiri

Makalu

Meanwhile, a death is reported from the eight-thousander Makalu. According to the newspaper “Himalayan Times”, a 32-year-old Sherpa died of high altitude sickness in the base camp. He had worked for a Chinese expedition. On Dhaulagiri, 79-year-old Spaniard Carlos Soria and his team set off for their summit attempt. Carlos is tackling the 8,167 meter high mountain in western Nepal for the ninth time. Should he succeed this time, it would be his 13th of the 14 eight-thousanders. Besides Dhaulagiri only Shishapangma in Tibet is missing in Soria’s collection.

Camp 1 on Kokodak Dome (2014)

Actually, the tent is a place of refuge and security. And most of the time I felt safe when I lay in my tent in the mountains. But there were exceptions. For example in 2004 during my reportage trip to K2, when I woke up suddenly in the base camp at the foot of the second highest mountain on earth, because the glacier made noises under my tent floor, as if it wanted to devour me in the next moment. Ten years later, during the first ascent of the seven-thousander Kokodak Dome in western China, we pitched up Camp 1 at 5,500 meters at a quite exposed spot – and I wondered: What happens if a real storm is raging here? That’s what I remembered when I learned of the death of Italian Simone La Terra on Dhaulagiri earlier this week.

Bad feeling

Dhaulagiri

A violent gust of wind had blown the 36-year-old with his tent from a height of about 6,900 meters from the northeast ridge into the depths. His team partner Waldemar Dominik was an eyewitness of the accident. The Pole had had a bad feeling about the place that Simone had chosen and had searched for an alternative spot. When he returned, he saw from close by how the tent was caught by the gust. Dominik descended to the base camp and sounded the alarm. The body of La Terras was found and recovered the next day at an altitude of 6,100 meters.

Buried by avalanches

Manaslu

It is not uncommon that climbers die in their tents. Objectively, the highest risk of death in the tent is the Grim Reaper coming in the form of high altitude sickness. But as in La Terra’s case, there can also be dangers from outside. In the history of Himalayan mountaineering many climbers lost their lives because they were caught by avalanches while lying in the tent. Just remember the avalanche on 22 September 2012 on the eight-thousander Manaslu, which hit two high camps in the early morning and killed eleven climbers.

One step away from tragedy

Alexander (r.) and Thomas Huber in summer 2015 in the Karakoram

Alexander and Thomas Huber had better luck in summer 2015 on the 6946-meter-high Latok III in the Karakoram. The Huber brothers and their teammates Mario Walder and Dani Arnold were almost blown out of the wall by the blast wave of an ice avalanche. “We were lucky that we had dug out a small platform to position the tents perfectly. The small snow edge of this platform has saved our lives. Otherwise we would have been blown away,” Alexander Huber told me then. “It was much, much closer than I ever imagined. And that’s shocking.”

Blown along the ledge

Also the third ascent of Kangchenjunga in 1979 by a British expedition was not far away from a “tent tragedy”, when a storm broke loose in the summit area. “At 1.30 a.m. on 5 May the wind changed direction and rapidly increased in violence which snapped the centre hoop of the double-skin tunnel tent,” Doug Scott wrote at that time. “The team soon had their boots and gaiters on but at 2.30 a.m. the tent was blown two feet (about 60 centimeters) along the ledge.” The climbers left the tent on the double. A little later, it was torn by the storm and disappeared in the depths.

P.S.: After the first summit success of the 8000er spring season on Lhotse, one more from another eight-thousander was reported on Thursday. “The Himalayan Times” reported that Chinese Gao Xiaodan and her Climbing Sherpas Nima Gyalzen Sherpa, Jit Bahadur Sherpa and Ang Dawa Sherpa had reached the 8,485-meter summit of Makalu, the fifth highest mountain on earth. The 35-year-old from Lanzhou City, located in northwestern China, had not used bottled oxygen, it said. In spring 2017, Gao had scaled Mount Everest and three days later Lhotse too, both with breathing mask.

Lhotse (in the sun)

The early eight-thousander bird catches the worm. Mingma Gyalje Sherpa once again lived up to his reputation as an early starter and booked the first eight-thousander summit success of this spring season on the 8516-meter-high Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world. “We are on Lhotse summit now,” wrote the 32-year-old on Sunday morning on Facebook. “Thanks to ‘Madission‘ team for their hard work till 7800m and our team for further hard work till summit. Imagine Trek & Expedition team rocks.” Mingma is the head and expedition leader of the Nepalese operator.

Six times in the death zone

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

Also in spring 2017, Mingma had made the first summit success of the season, then on Dhaulagiri. At the end of the year, he had entered the death zone six times: on Dhaulagiri, Makalu, K2, Broad Peak and twice on Nanga Parbat. Four times he reached the summit (Dhaulagiri, Makalu, K2, Nanga Parbat), the fifth ascent on Broad Peak is disputed. This spring, he had set out to lead two Chinese clients to the top of Lhotse and five more to the summit of Everest. Part one of the plan is ticked off.

Fallen to death in his tent

R.I.P.

Meanwhile, the first death of the climbing season on the eight-thousanders is reported from Dhaulagiri. According to the newspaper “Himalayan Times” the body of the Italian climber Simone La Terra was found at 6,100 meters. A storm gust had blown the tent, where the 37-year-old had been staying, into the depth, it said. La Terra had already scaled five eight-thousanders.

Carlos Soria

Carlos Soria doesn’t give up. The now 79-year-old Spaniard set off again to Nepal to climb his 13th of the 14 eight-thousanders. Already for the ninth time, Carlos will tackle Dhaulagiri. Last year, Soria and Co. had had to abandon their only summit attempt in the upper part of the 8,167-meter-high mountain because they had missed the right route while the fog had become denser. Later heavy snow had impeded a second try. “This time I am sure that we will succeed,” said the probably fittest of all climbing seniors optimistically before his departure for Kathmandu.

Family trip to the Khumbu region

Trekking with daughter and grandchildren

Soria is going to acclimatize with a trekking tour in the Khumbu region, which is also a family trip: his daughter Sonsoles and his 10-year-old grandchildren Andrea and Carlos will accompany him. Afterwards, he will make his way to Dhaulagiri along with three Spanish friends and his Sherpa team. They plan to arrive at the base camp in mid-April. Only just before the start of the expedition, Carlos had managed to find a sponsor for his journey to the seventh highest mountain in the world.

Shishapangma in fall?

Carlos Soria on Dhaulagiri (in 2017)

In case he achieves the long-awaited success on Dhaulagiri this spring, Soria wants to try in fall to scale Shishapangma and thus complete his eight-thousander collection. In 2005, Carlos had stood on the Central Peak of Shishapangma, which is – with a height of 8,008 meters – beyond the eight thousand mark, but just 19 meters lower than the main summit. In 2103 and 2014 Soria had returned empty handed from Shishapangma.

Already eight age records on eight-thousanders

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 Annapurna (77). If he succeeds also on Dhaulagiri and Shishapangma, Carlos Soria would be by far the oldest man who stood on all 14 eight-thousanders. This “record” is held by the Spanish climber Oscar Cadiach, who scaled his last eight-thousander, Broad Peak, in 2017 at the age of 64. Fitness seems to be in Carlos’ genes: “My mother reached the age of 96 years”, the Spaniard said in an interview of desnivel com. “Until she turned  90, she made it to the third floor without a lift.”

After having met the “Third Man” on Putha Hiunchuli (in 2011)

I have experienced it myself. It happened in fall 2011 during my failed summit attempt on the 7,246-meter-high Putha Hiunchuli in western Nepal, somewhere above 7,000 meters. My teammates were out of reach, I was fighting my way up alone, physically and mentally at the limit. “Please!,” I suddenly heard Pemba Nuru, one of our two Climbing Sherpas, say behind me. “Please what?,” I asked and turned around. But nobody was there. Strange. Scientists call the phenomenon the “Third Man”. Descriptions of such hallucinations abound in expedition reports from the highest mountains in the world. Psychiatrists of the Medical University of Innsbruck and emergency physicians of the private research center “Eurac Research” in Bolzano have now examined about 80 such descriptions from alpine literature and discovered, according to their own information, a new disease: the “isolated high-altitude psychosis”.

Seven out of eight

So far, high altitude physicians have assumed that organic causes are responsible when altitude climbers suddenly see and hear people or perceive odors that are actually not there. The researchers from Austria and South Tyrol, however, found out that “there is a group of symptoms which are purely psychotic, that is, they are related to altitude but not to a high-altitude cerebral edema or other organic factors such as dehydration, infections or organic diseases”, explains Hermann Brugger, head of the Institute for Alpine Emergency Medicine in Bolzano. Brugger had found in an earlier study that seven out of eight world-class climbers who reached altitudes above 8,500 meters without bottled oxygen had hallucinatory experiences.

Almost jumped

Dhaulagiri

The good news of the new study: The pure psychoses in high altitude are only temporary and do not leave any consequential damage. The bad news: On the mountain, they can endanger the climbers. Thus the Slovene Iztok Tomazin, one of the authors of the study, describes a hallucination he himself had during a summit attempt on the eight-thousander Dhaulagiri in December 1987. Several (fancy) mountain guides had advised him to jump down the East Face telling him that in few seconds he would be on a flat, safe place 2,000 meters lower and this would solve all his problems. “I almost jumped and this would have meant death with a 100% chance,” writes Tomazin. But then he reflected and made a test: He jumped only two meters deep to a small ledge. The pain he suffered opened his eyes, that maybe it would not be such a good idea to jump down the whole wall.

Further research in Nepal

“There are probably unreported cases of accidents and deaths due to psychosis,” says emergency physician Brugger, adding that therefore it is important to inform extreme climbers about the possibility that hallucinations can occur. In addition, they should be given strategies on how to deal with the “Third Man” without being endangered, says Katharina Hüfner, psychiatrist at the Medical University of Innsbruck. Next spring, the scientists want to continue their research along with Nepalese doctors in the Himalayas. Among other things, they want to find out how often these psychoses occur at high altitude. “The highest mountains in the world are incredibly beautiful,” says Hermann Burger. “We just did not know that they can drive us mad.”

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.

Carlos Soria on Dhaulagiri

The probably fittest of all seniors among the high altitude climbers must still wait for his 13th eight-thousander. Because of too much snow on the mountain Carlos Soria declared his expedition on the 8,167-meter-high Dhaulagiri for finished. During the ascent of the 78-year-old Spaniard and his companions to Camp 1, some avalanches had swept down not far away from the climbers, Carlos indicated on Facebook, adding that the high risk of avalanches would continue in the upper parts of the mountain. Moreover, the fixed ropes which they had laid before had been buried by fresh snow. “Because of all these adversities, we have no choice but to abandon our Dhaulagiri expedition for this season,” said Soria. A first summit attempt had failed one and a half weeks ago at an altitude of about 7,800 meters, because Carlos and Co. had missed the right route while the fog had become stronger.

Two are still missing in his collection

Dhaulagiri

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 Annapurna (77). On Dhaulagiri, he has now failed seven times, most recently last spring. The 8027-meter-high Shishapangma is also missing to complete his eight-thousander collection. If he succeeds, Carlos would be by far the oldest man who stood on all 14 eight-thousanders. This “record” is held by the Polish climber Piotr Pustelnik, who scaled his last eight-thousander in 2010 at the age of 58.

Summit wave rolls on Manaslu

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

After all, Carlos had Dhaulagiri almost for himself this fall. On Manaslu, which is not far away, nobody can claim this at the moment. About 500 (!) climbers have pitched their tents in the base camp there. On Monday last week, the first summit successes had been reported from the 8,163-meter-high “mountain of the spirit”. Yesterday and today, several teams posted on the social networks that they had reached the highest point too. And the big summit wave is now rolling. Among those who set off for their summit attempt, are the German couple Alix von Melle and Luis Stitzinger. Both have so far climbed six eight-thousanders, five of them together. Yesterday, a 46-year-old British had died on Manaslu. After he had abandoned his ascent due to symptoms of severe high altitude sickness, he passed away on the descent somewhere above 6,000 meters.

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.

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

He deserves more and more the nickname “The early starter”. While most of the others are still busy setting up their base camps in the Karakoram, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the Nepalese expedition operator, Dreamers Destination, already last Sunday led a team to the 8125-meter-high summit of Nanga Parbat. The success on the ninth highest mountain on earth was the first of this summer season on the eight-thousanders in Pakistan. Also in the past spring season in Nepal and Tibet, Mingma had achieved the first 8000er summit success: On 30 April, the 31-year-old reached along with his team the summit of the 8167-meter-high Dhaulagiri. Not even two weeks later he stood with Tashi Sherpa and a client from China on the 8485-meter-high main summit of Makalu – also on this peak, Mingma was the first this spring.

Soon number twelve?

Summit of Nanga Parbat in evening light

Nanga Parbat was Mingma’s eleventh eight thousander. Except for Mount Everest – which he has summited five times so far – he has climbed them all without breathing mask. “I would also like to climb Everest without oxygen at least once,” the Sherpa told me recently. At first, however, he is ready to climb his eight-thousander number twelve. Coming from Nanga Parbat, Mingma set out with a team from Dreamers Destination to Broad Peak and K 2. His goal: He wants to climb also these two eight-thousanders this summer. The 8051-meter-high Broad Peak is still missing in Mingma’s collection. In 2014 he had already scaled the 8611-meter-high K 2, the second highest mountain on earth.

Making climbers from Nepal visible

Mingma on top of Makalu last May

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa belongs to a new generation of Sherpa entrepreneurs: young, well trained, reliable and successful. The 31-year-old has a mountain guide certificate of the world association UIAGM, his company Dreamers Destination enjoys a very good reputation in the climbing scene. In addition, Mingma is an excellent climber. In fall 2015 he made headlines by first climbing a difficult route via the West Face of the 6,685-meter-high Chobutse solo. Nepalese mountaineers are not appreciated as they actually deserve, says Mingma: “They are the reason for successful expeditions on 7000ers and 8000ers. But they remain invisible. I want to make them visible.” The Sherpa is still single: “I want to make my beautiful climbing memories first. Once I have family, I won’t be able to do that.”

Annapurna

The good weather window predicted for the coming weekend has not only led to a huge number of teams starting their summit attempts on Mount Everest. Also on other eight-thousanders climbers have left the base camps. On Makalu, for example, the German Thomas Laemmle, who is climbing solo and without bottled oxygen, has today pitched up his tent already far up, on Makalu La at 7,400 meters. On Dhaulagiri, the 78-year-old Spaniard Carlos Soria and his team-mates are planning to reach the summit on Sunday. On Annapurna, the Pole Adam Bielecki, the Briton Rick Allen and the German Felix Berg have started their summit attempt on Wednesday.

“Difficult Action”

Annapurna Northwest Face

As reported before, the trio wants to open a new route through the rarely climbed Northwest Face of the 8091-meter-high mountain. The fourth climber previously involved in the project, the Canadian Louis Rousseau, returned home at the beginning of May, because his time available for the expedition had run out. After he had left, Adam, Rick and Felix succeeded, in the second attempt, an ascent of the 7134-meter-high Tilicho Peak in order to continue their acclimatization. “We gained a glimpse of the NW face of Annapurna, our next objective”, Felix Berg wrote in his blog.

According to Felix’ girl friend, yesterday’s weather on Annapurna was “not ideal” with a lot of wind. In addition, the three climbers reported a lot of snow and avalanches. They bivouacked on a small ice plateau in the wall at about 6,000 meters. “Difficult action, as expected,” it was said. “Quite exciting.” So keep your fingers crossed!

Gheychisaz on top of Lhotse

The Iranian climber Azim Gheychisaz, by his own account, reached today the 8516-meter-high summit of Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain on earth – thus completing his 14 eight-thousander-collection without breathing mask, as his team said on Facebook. According to the mountaineering website “Altitude Pakistan”, there are still questions marks over his ascent of Manaslu in 2012.

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.

Dhaulagiri

The first summit success this spring on an eight-thousander is reported from Dhaulagiri, the seventh-highest mountain on earth. “We made the summit of Mt Dhaulagiri on Sunday”, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the expedition operator Dreamers Destination, wrote on Facebook, “on the same day, one of the best soloist died, very sad to hear this news today. RIP Ueli (Steck).” According to Mingma, he reached the highest point on 8,167 meters along with two clients and two other Sherpas. For the 31-year-old Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, Dhaulagiri was the ninth eight-thousander he has summited so far.

“Ignorance of the government”

Mount Everest

Meanwhile, several hundred Sherpas gathered in the Base Camp at the feet of Mount Everest to protest against the goverment of Nepal, reports the newspaper “Himalayan Times”.  The Sherpas dunned the government for their Everest summit certificates, which have been withheld since spring 2016. “The government’s ignorance is highly deplorable and intolerable,” the Sherpas stated in a letter which was sent to the Ministry of Tourism. The Director General of the Ministry, Dinesh Bhattarai, said the process to amend the controversial rule would be expedited. In the future, Climbing Sherpas should also be recognized as expedition members and receive summit certificates.

Second-class climbers?

Last year the Ministry had refused for the first time to issue certificates to Climbing Sherpas who had summited Everest or other mountains in Nepal higher than 6500 meters – referring to the “Mountaineering Expedition Regulation” which took effect in 2002. It says that “every member of a successful expedition team” is entitled to get a summit certificate. Within the meaning of the law Climbing Sherpas were no expedition members, the government argued at that time. A slap in the face of the Sherpas.