Ueli Steck

Ueli Steck has done his share to lift the fog that formed around the avalanche on the eight-thousander Shishapangma one and a half week ago. Benedikt Boehm and he were a little bit higher on the slope, “when suddenly a snow slab released and swept down the three climbers below us, Sebastian Haag, Andrea Zambaldi and Martin Maier”, said Ueli in Kathmandu in an interview with the Swiss newspaper “Sonntagszeitung”. “The snow slab released almost silently. It was eerie.” Maier was able to dig himself out. “He had no serious injuries, was able to descent and meet the rescue team. He is in Germany now.”

All attempts to enter the avalanche area and search for the buried climbers Haag and Zambaldi were unsuccessful. “It was too risky. We would have caused new avalanches”, Steck said. “Finally, we had to descend. In desperation you must not make mistakes that can jeopardize other people.”

No hara-kiri action

Therefore it did not make sense to try to recover the two bodies from an altitude of 7500 meters, said Ueli, who turned 38 yesterday. “The risk for the search team would be too great. Unfortunately.” Ueli was also asked if he thought that he had a partial responsibility for the death of Basti Haag and Andrea Zambaldi. “Each of the five climbers could decide whether he took part or not. Nobody is responsible for the other”, Steck answered. “We all were there, because we wanted to be there. It could as well have been me who was swept away by the avalanche.”

Ueli came to defence of Boehm and Haag who had the idea for the project “Double8” – to climb and ski down the eight-thousanders Shishapangma and Cho Oyu and to cycle from one base camp to the other: “For sure it was no hara-kiri action. There were no extremely dangerous walls they wanted to climb. I call it an attractive, inspiring project. Even though it had a tragic end.”

On his homepage, Benedikt Boehm expresses his condolences to Basti Haag’s family – and remembers the minutes before the accident: “Just before an avalanche snatched Sebastian Haag and Andrea Zambaldi from life, the summit of Shishapangma glistened in the rising morning sun. A moment of happiness. One of the many Basti and I experienced together.”

Manaslu

It is not far from triumph to tragedy on eight-thousanders. That was demonstrated on Manaslu these days. On Friday, the Japanese Yoshimasa Sasaki fell about 25 meters after slipping on blue ice at 7,300 meters. The 59-year-old died. Sasaki had climbed the eight-thousander Cho Oyu in 2003. Last weekend more than 30 climbers reached the summit of Manaslu, the eight highest mountain in the world, including the Polish ski mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel. The 26-year-old said that he needed only 14 hours and five minutes for his speed ascent, just an hour less than the German Benedikt Boehm in fall 2012. After having skied down the most parts of the route, Andrzej reached the Base Camp 21 hours and 14 minutes after his departure. Two years ago, Bene had needed a total of 23.5 hours for ascent and ski descent.

Messner: Accident will always happen

Reinhold Messner criticized chasing records on eight-thousanders. “Mountaineering is adventure and pushing your own limits, but is has nothing to do with records,” said the 70-year-old South Tyrolean to the German radio station “Deutschlandfunk”, asked about the avalanche accident on Shishapangma. As reported, Boehm’s friends Sebastian Haag from Germany and Andrea Zambaldi from Italy had died in the avalanche last Wednesday. Messner called the idea of the trio – to climb and ski down the eight-thousanders Shishapagma and Cho Oyu and to cycle the distance between the two mountains – “reasonable”:  “The only thing that bothers me is that the story was sold as a record.” Chasing records was the problem and not the danger on the mountain, said Messner. “As long as people climb these high mountains, there will be accidents – no matter how tragic it is.”

Basti Haag (1979-2014)

No, I didn’t really know Sebastian Haag. I met him only once – as we sometimes do in the mountaineering scene. It was a year ago, at the International Mountain Summit (IMS) in Brixen (Bressanone) in South Tyrol. At that time he and Benedikt Boehm reported on their experiences at the eight-thousander Manaslu in Nepal: On 22. September 2012, an avalanche had hit two high camps at about 6000 meters. Eleven climbers had been killed. Bene and Basti were lucky because, due to a disquieting feeling, they had pitched their tent far away from the others. After the accident the two Germans had rescued several injured climbers. In October 2013 in Brixen, we talked about the risks that Basti took as an extreme athlete. “There are moments in which you have to switch off your brain, and others in which you have to switch it on”, said Basti. “Of course something can happen to us, like to anyone else. Nobody is immune, no matter how cautious you are. And if you’re too cautious, you have to stay at home, climb the Zugspitze or take part in the Munich City marathon.”

A fun-loving guy

Always fast: Haag (r.) and Boehm

Haag was not only a ski mountaineer, but also an ultra trail runner who started in competitions worldwide – and he was a doctor of veterinary medicine. In 2010, he presented his dissertation dedicating it to his brother Tobias, who fell to death near Chamonix when a cornice collapsed. With his schoolmate Benedikt Boehm Basti set a speed record at 7,546-meter-high Muztagh Ata in western China in 2005: nine hours and 25 minutes for the ascent, one hour and 16 minutes for the ski run. A year later the two ski mountaineers and their German compatriot Luis Stitzinger climbed and skied down the eight-thousander Gasherbrum II in the Karakoram. It took the trio only 17 hours. “I experienced Basti as a very friendly and pleasant man”, said Luis, when I called him today. “He got along with everybody, a fun-loving guy.”

No candidate for suicide

Then the successful series of Bene and Basti at the eight-thousanders ended. In 2007 on Manaslu, they had to turn around at 7,400 meters due to great danger of avalanches. In 2009, their attempt at Broad Peak ended on the lower Central Summit (8,011 m) because Basti war suffering from a cerebral edema. “At that time I risked not only my life but certainly Bene’s too, because I made the mistake to climb on ignoring my problems”, Basti told me in Brixen. In 2012  on Manaslu, he tried to get to the summit after the avalanche incident but turned around at about 8000 meters, although Benedict climbed up to the top. “He had learned from his experiences”, said Luis. “Basti was willing to take risks, but he was not a candidate for suicide.”

Low safety margin

There is no speed ski mountaineering without risk, says Stitzinger who continued to ski down 8000ers, but stopped his speed projects after his experiences on G II: “If you’re too defensive, you will not be successful. You have to give your very best to get the highest speed. The safety margin is relatively low.”

On Wednesday, Sebastian Haag and his Italian friend Andrea Zambaldi died in an avalanche in the summit region of Shishapangma. Basti was 35 years old.

„In the afternoon of 23.09.2014 at 16:30, Benedikt Boehm (37) and Ueli Steck (38) started from Basecamp (5.600m) the speed ascent on Shisha Pangma 8013m. The plan was to reach the summit in the morning of the 24.09.2014, together with the team mates Sebastian Haag (36), who was starting from Camp 1 (6.300m) as well as Martin Maier (40) and Andrea Zambaldi (32) who were starting from Camp 2 (6.800m).

They met Haag at C1 (6.300m) as planned at 20:00 and paired up. At the same time Maier and Zambaldi left from C2 (6.800m) towards the summit. All five climbers paired up below C3, at approx. 7.100m at 01:00 on 24.09.2014, reaching C3 (7.300m) at exactly 02:00.

Being the first climbers above C2, the team of five had to continuously break trail through rough conditions. At 06:50 the team was only one hundred vertical meters below the summit. The spirit and motivation was high, as the team was very well working together and moving at the same speed. They were sure reaching the summit at 08:00.

At 06:55 (Nepalese time) Haag, Zambaldi and Maier were caught in an avalanche at 7.900m, just 100m below the summit and were dragged for 600m vertical, over steep glaciers, into another section of the mountain.

Boehm and Steck immediately called basecamp for help and assistance, while descending to C3, the same route they were coming up, in order to traverse to the avalanche zone and search for the other three climbers. For over four hours they were trying to approach the avalanche zone from various sides, but turned around due to the fact that there was no access to the avalanche zone.

In the morning of 25.09.2014 Maier who managed to reach C3 by his own, was rescued from the Sherpa rescue team. He is conscious and on his way down to basecamp. Haag and Zambaldi disappeared with the avalanche and their bodies could not be found.”

Sebastian and Andrea, R.I.P.! My thoughts are with their families.

At their limits

The climbers were really at their limits. “My lungs are hurting”, Andrea posted during the ski descent at 7,300 m. “My legs are dead”, wrote Bene at 6,800 m and Basti summarized at Camp 1 at 6,300 m: “The way down was really hard – the steep sections we had to climb, because risk of avalanche was too high. Glad we are back safe.” Looking at Bene’s GPS tracking, the team meanwhile should have reached the Base Camp. I called the German home team of the Double8 Expedition. Until then they had no contact to Bene and Basti, but indirectly confirmed my interpretation of what happened: “So it seems.” I have no information yet how far up Swiss top climber Ueli Steck accompanied the team.

P.S. My update story will follow not until tomorrow (There is a life beyond the blog ). So, if you want to get more information earlier, please check the homepage of the Double8 Expedition.

Bene Boehm has started his second summit bid

The second summit bid of the German ski mountaineers Benedikt Boehm and Sebastian Haag has begun on the eight-thousander Shishapangma in Tibet – under slightly different conditions. The Swiss top climber Ueli Steck is accompanying the team. Today Ueli and Bene started towards the summit. Basti, who is suffering from a cough caused by high altitude, will join them at Camp 1, the Italian Andrea Zambaldi at Camp 2. Norbu Sherpa is not part of the second bid. The conditions on the mountain have hardly changed during the past days since the first attempt, which ended at about 7,600 meters. It is still windy, and there is a high danger of avalanches due to the deep snow on the slopes. The climbers want to reach the 8,027-meter-high summit on Wednesday morning. The weather forecast for the scheduled summit day is favourable: moderate wind and temperatures between -10 and -20 degrees. The chance of success was 50 percent, Benedict said before leaving the Advanced Base Camp.  

No third attempt

If Boehm and Haag fail again, there will be no third attempt. In this case, the two Germans want to leave Shishapangma on Thursday and cycle with their  mountain bikes to Cho Oyu. The original “Double8” project would be buried. The two German ski mountaineer want to climb and ski down Shishapangma and Cho Oyu and in between cycle from one to the other eight-thousander – all within seven days.

Ueli Steck is an expert for speed climbing on 8000ers. In 2011, the Swiss climbed solo via the 2,000 meter high Shishapangma South Face in only ten and a half hours. In 2013, Ueli mastered the Annapurna South Face in 28 hours – for solo ascent and descent. The 37-year-old is actually on Shishapagma to climb this eight-thousander together with his wife Nicole.

Advanced Base Camp on Shishapangma

Got stuck. At about 7600 meters, 400 meters below the summit of Shishapangma, the first summit attempt of the ski mountaineers Benedikt Boehm and Sebastian Haag ended. On Thursday morning, the two Germans, their Italian companion Andrea Zambaldi and the Nepalese Sherpa Norbu decided with a heavy heart to turn around. There was hip-deep snow in the summit area, the risk of avalanches was too high. “I wanted to give a try to the summit”, says Basti, really frustrated, in the video that you can watch below. “But in the end I was alone because nobody wanted to come with me – I think because it was a kamikaze mission.” The team skied down to the Advanced Base Camp. “We failed”, says Bene. “There are two opportunities. One is to give up, the second one is to try it again. And that’s what we will do.” During their Double8 Expedition Boehm, Haag and Zambaldi want to climb and ski down the eight-thousanders Shishapangma and Cho Oyu and bike the distance between the two mountains – the whole thing within seven days.

P.S. Sorry for the delayed update, I was on a two-day-trip to Belgium.

Bene Boehm (r.) and Basti Haag

The clock is ticking. The German ski mountaineers Benedikt Boehm and Sebastian Haag started in Tibet their attempt to set a speed record on the two eight-thousanders Shishapangma and Cho Oyu. “The only thing I can think of is that it’s gonna be the hardest seven days of my life. That’s for sure,” says Benedict in the video, which you can watch below. Sebastian is even more clearly: “This is the start button for seven days of torture, for seven days of suffering, seven days of bleeding and sweating.” Within a week, Bene and Basti want to climb the 8027-meter-high Shishapangma, ski down, cycle with their mountain bikes to Cho Oyu, climb up and ski down this eight-thousander too.

Steck: “A cool idea”

Boehm and Haag started today at 2.00 p.m. local time from Advanced Base Camp (ABC) at 5600 meters. Later their Italian friend Andrea Zambaldi and Norbu Sherpa will join the two Germans at Camp 3 at 7300 meters. If everything goes well, the team will reach the summit of Shishapangma early in the morning on Thursday. Over the past few days, the team had trained with ski touring up to 7000 meters. In ABC they got tips from top climber Ueli Steck. This fall, the Swiss wants to climb Shishapangma together with his wife Nicole. Steck is taken with the speed project “Double8 Expedition”. “That’s a cool idea”, says Ueli. “Right now, climbing an 8000-meter-peak on a normal route is not something outstanding, it’s like commercial expeditions. But doing it in this style, trying to climb from basecamp to summit without resting in a high camp, is a really good challenge.”

P. S. Watching the video of the ski run down Shishapangma, I am itching to do it like them. Do you feel the same way?