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.

Ueli in his tent on Annapurna

Ueli did it. Just what exactly? The Swiss climber Ueli Steck is keeping us in suspense after his adventure on Annapurna. “Successful mission!”, is said on his homepage. “Don (Bowie) and Ueli are on the way to Pokhara. Updates will follow in the coming days.” Quite honestly, if I could I would run to meet them on their trekking. I’m bursting with curiosity. Has Ueli really climbed  solo via a direct route through the South Face to the 8091-meter-high summit of Annapurna? Is the rumor true that the Swiss, who celebrated his 37th birthday a week ago, needed only 28 hours to climb up and down?

The Swiss takes his time

My gut feeling is telling me that Ueli again did a real great climb. For certain he has got the information that the internet has run hot since yesterday with breaking news about his solo ascent. If it was a hoax, he surely would have denied the reports by SMS. And in one respect Ueli fulfils the cliché of the slow Swiss: In contrast to his speed of climbing he is slowing down when he has to inform the public about his adventures. Even two years ago when Ueli climbed solo via the Shishapangma South Face he took up plenty of time before he published details of his spectacular climb.

Great comeback

In the South Face

By now, I warmly congratulate Ueli, even if I still do not know exactly on what. I am delighted that he has obviously come to terms with his horrible experiences on Mount Everest at the end of April and is now again making headlines as a top climber. After the Sherpa attack against him, Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith it temporarily even looked as if Ueli would withdraw completely from Himalayan mountaineering. Now he has celebrated his comeback – and I’m almost sure it was a great one. Jon Griffith, Uelis teammate and fellow sufferer on Everest, on Facebook got to the heart of it:  “Holy crap. If the news from Annapurna is true then Ueli Steck you are truly one hell of a machine. I don’t think anyone will be able to comprehend what kind of an accomplishment that is.”

Update 12.10.: Robert Boesch, photographer and mountaineer from Switzerland, says that he has spoken to Ueli Steck on satellite phone after his climbing of Annapurna. According to Robert Ueli has climbed solo on a new route through the South Wall directly to the summit. Steck needed 28 hours for ascent and descent, says Robert: “His climb opened a new dimension in high altitude mountaineering.” You can take a first look on the route here.

Ueli on Annapurna in 2007

My gut feeling was right: Ueli Steck has actually returned to the Himalayas in order to climb again an 8000er – four and a half months after the unfortunate Sherpa attack against him, Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith in Camp 2 on Mount Everest. The 36-year-old top climber from Switzerland travelled to Kathmandu yesterday. His destination: the South Wall of the 8091-metre-high Annapurna. “To walk through life in a comfortable way is still not my goal”, Ueli writes on his website. “This is why I want to try to climb Annapurna a third time. I would like to implement my dreams and visions into reality. Annapurna is one of them.” In 2007, he had narrowly escaped death on this mountain.

“Very lucky”

When Ueli tried to climb solo via the South Wall, he was hit by a rock. He lost consciousness and fell 200 meters deep. “I was very lucky to survive”, Ueli told me later, when me met in Munich. “There is a permanent risk on these mountains. And it is relatively high.” In 2008 Ueli returned to Annapurna with his compatriot Simon Anthamatten, but also this expedition was an unhappy one. The two climbers from Switzerland aborted their summit attempt to rescue Iñaki Ochoa de Olza who was lying in Camp 3 more than 7000 metres high suffering from altitude sickness. Ueli reached the tent but the 40-year-old Spaniard, who had previously climbed twelve 8000ers, died.

With Don Bowie

Annapurna South Face

This time on Annapurna Ueli will climb together with Don Bowie, a native Canadian who is now living in California. In 2012 Don tried to climb the North Face of Annapurna solo but had to return. In 2011 Bowie had already formed a team with Steck. Then Ueli climbed the South Face of Shishapangma in just ten and a half hours – alone, because Don was not feeling well. Afterwards both summited Cho Oyu, a few weeks they failed on Mount Everest.

Successful overture

In May 2012 Ueli climbed the highest mountain on earth. This spring he returned to Everest to try something new together with Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith. But this did not happen anymore. At the end of April a dispute with Sherpas on the normal route escalated. In Camp 2 the three climbers from Europe were beaten, pelted with stones and threatened with death. Ueli departed shocked and depressed. In August he had an impressive comeback: he set a speed record on the “Intégrale de Peuterey” on Mont Blanc, the longest ridge of the Alps. A successful overture to Annapurna South Face.