Kim and Co., in the background Annapurna I

“The man without fingers” wants to get his twelfth eight-thousander. Kim Hong-bin is the only foreign mountaineer to whom the Government of Nepal issued a permit for the eight-thousander Annapurna this spring. However, that does not mean that the 53-year-old Korean will be traveling alone. In the picture from the north side of the 8091-meter-high mountain, which was published by the South Korean newspaper No Cut News, I count 20 other people besides Hong-bin. “He probably has a large base camp support team,” Billi Bierling from the chronicle Himalayan Database writes to me, adding, that the Korean will be accompanied during his climb by four Sherpas.

Accident on Denali

Kim Hong-Bin

In 1991, Kim Hong-bin had suffered severe frostbite on the 6190-meter-high Denali in Alaska, the highest mountain of North America. All ten fingers had to be amputated. In 2017, he scaled Lhotse in spring and Nanga Parbat in summer, his eight-thousanders number ten and eleven. Apart from Annapurna, only Gasherbrum and Broad Peak, both located in Pakistan, are still missing in his collection. Under optimal circumstances, he could climb all three mountains this year.

Paralympics athlete

The 1.76 meter tall South Korean, who lives in the city of Gwangju in the south of the country, has never let his disability slow him down. Kim is also a ski racer. So he took part in the Paralympic Games 2002 in Salt Lake City and finished both Slalom and Super G ninth. In winter 2017, he won – at the age of 52 – the gold medal in slalom at the Korean alpine ski championships of disabled athletes.

On top of the Seven Summits

On the summit of K 2 in 2012

In spring 2007, Kim Hong-bin scaled Mount Everest. Barely two years later, in early 2009, he completed his collection of the “Seven Summits” by climbing Mount Vinson in Antarctica. “If the accident at Denali hadn’t happened, I would have remained an ordinary climber,” Hong-bin once said. “The hardship made me challenge the seemingly impossible. I overcame the handicap a mountain gave me by climbing mountains.”

Billi Bierling (l.) and Susanne Mueller Zantop (r.)

Anyone who has ever returned from of a summit attempt on a very high mountain – whether successful or not – , knows how German climber Billi Bierling is feeling now. All energy is used up, the adrenaline too – and the exertions of recent days are taking their toll. It takes a while before you revive. Of course, a summit success helps. Not only Billi – as reported – can be pleased about having been on top of Cho Oyu. Her team mate Susanne Mueller Zantop also reached the 8,188-meter-high summit, unlike Billi with bottled oxygen. The 60-year-old thus became the oldest German woman so far who has been on top of Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world. For Billi Bierling it was already her fifth summit success on an eight-thousander. Despite of her tiredness, the 49-year-old has answered my questions.

Billi, you have climbed Cho Oyu without bottled oxygen. How did you feel on your ascent?

I hadn’t any problem without supplemental oxygen, I felt good, but of course you are much slower and more sensitive to the cold during the ascent. Now, two days later, I feel the aftereffects. I have little energy, burning lips and my sense of taste is gone. But I hope that it will come back until I’m back in Kathmandu, where some very delicious Bavarian pretzels are waiting for me.

Upper slopes on Cho Oyu

Could you enjoy the summit experience? What did go through your mind up there at 8,188 meters?

Cho Oyu was much more strenuous and steeper than I had expected. On the summit plateau I was very tired. I knew that it would certainly take an hour to the top. At that moment I actually only wanted to arrive. Since it started snowing at the time and Tundu (the Sherpa who accompanied Billi) and I knew that a lot of snow was coming, we quickly took some pictures and then returned. The descent was very hard for me. Since I had already spent four nights above 7,100 meters, my body was already very weak, and I had no more reserves. It took me six hours back to Camp 2, all in all 17 hours since my departure, so not quite as long as I was on the way running the Zugspitz Ultra Trail (Billi had startet at this more than 100 km long mountain run last summer and finished it in about 23.5 hours). For me personally, the summit was very important because in 2005 Cho Oyu had been my first eight-thousander – and the only one where I had failed to reach the summit due to lack of my own abilities. At that time I had also been climbing without bottled oxygen.

Nepalese south side of Cho Oyu

There was really much traffic on Cho Oyu last weekend. How did you experience that?

I mean, 1 October was the best day for an ascent without supplemental oxygen, because only about 15 people were on the way to the summit. The advantage was that I had to let pass only a few people and all of those who did I knew from my work for Miss Hawley. Actually it would be a good opportunity now to interview some expeditions that are still here, but I just lack in energy.

P.S.: To reassure Billi: After my (first) ascent on the 7129-meter-high Kokodak Dome in China in July 2014, I also could not taste sweet for a time. After a while it eased off. Today chocolate tastes to me as good as always.

Norbert Joos (1960 – 2016)

Again one of the really great high altitude climbers was torn out of his life: The 55-year-old Swiss Norbert Joos fell to death on Piz Bernina in the canton Grisons. According to Swiss media reports, Joos had guided a group to the 4049-meter-high summit. On the descent the roped party of three, to which Joos belonged, fell 160 meters deep. Joos was found dead, the other two climbers, a woman and a man from Italy, survived seriously injured.

Stroke on Kangchenjunga

Joos had climbed 13 of the 14 eight-thousanders, all without bottled oxygen. Only Mount Everest was missing in his list. In 2006, after his fifth failed attempt on Everest, the Swiss said finally goodbye to the eight-thousanders. Two years earlier he had suffered a stroke during the descent from Kangchenjunga. Nevertheless, he tried Everest once more. “I just had to go there again and feel what was possible. Otherwise I would have kept Everest always in mind. Now it’s okay for me,” Joos later said in an interview. He criticized commercial climbing on the highest mountain on earth: “As a real climber you should stay well clear of Everest.”

“Only for young and crazy guys”

As the “most important thing I have achieved as a climber” Joos described the first ascent of Annapurna East Ridge with the first traverse of this eight-thousander from south to north in fall 1984, along with his Swiss compatriot Erhard Loretan (who fell to death in 2011). “Of course, we were very good climbers then, but we were also lucky,” Joos later recalled. “On the basis of my experience to date, I wouldn’t do it anymore. Only young and crazy guys can do things like this.”

On the way to Makalu

One eight-thousander is still missing. Then Nives Meroi and Romano Benet would be the first couple who would have scaled together the 14 highest mountains in the world – always without bottled oxygen and without Sherpa support. On 12 May, the two 54-year-olds from Italy stood at the top of their eight-thousander No. 13, the 8485-meter-high Makalu in Nepal.
Nives was 19 years old when she met Romano. First he was her climbing partner, then her life partner. They are married for 27 years. In 1998, they scaled Nanga Parbat, it was their first eight-thousander. In 2003, they succeeded in climbing the Karakorum trilogy of Gasherbrum I, II and Broad Peak in just 20 days. In 2007, Meroi was the first Italian woman who climbed Everest without oxygen mask.

Life-threatening disease

But there were also setbacks.  In 2009, Meroi had a good chance to become the first woman on all 14 eight-thousanders. On Kangchenjunga, at 7500 meters, Romano suddenly became increasingly weak. He tried to persuade Nives to climb on alone. But she refused and supported him during the descent. The reason for Benet’s weakness was serious: aplastic anemia. Two bone marrow transplants were necessary to save Romano’s life. They returned to the Himalayas. In 2014, Romano and Nives climbed Kangchenjunga. And now Makalu. Five questions to and five answers by Nives Meroi:

Nives, Romano and you have managed to climb Makalu, your 13th eight-thousander. If you compare it with the other twelve, was it rather one of the more difficult or easier ascents?

Technically, apart from the last 500 to 600 meters below Makalu-La (saddle at 7,400 m on the normal route), it is not very difficult and in addition the conditions in the wall were good. The problem was mainly the wind, which forced us to stay at Base Camp for a long time, and the cold, which caused slight frostbite at my toes.

After scaling Mount Everest in 2007

It was your third attempt on Makalu after one in fall 2007 and another in winter 2007/2008. Now you tried it in spring, and you were successful. Was it the secret of success to take this season of year?

In fall 2007, Romano and I were the only expedition on Makalu. Upon our arrival, a disturbance had dumped two meters of snow onto the Base Camp. Breaking trail again and again, we reached Makalu-La, but it was too late. While trying to climb to the top, the jet stream arrived and forced us to climb down.
In contrast, in winter 2007/2008 the sky was clear and the conditions in the wall were exceptional, but the wind, with gusts up to 100 km/ h at Base camp, prevented us from climbing. There were only two days in a month without wind and we managed to climb up almost to Makalu-La. But on 9 February, a strong gust destroyed our Base Camp. I was torn from the ground and broke my ankle. My two companions, Romano and Luca (Vuerich; he died in 2010), carried me for two days on their shoulders along the glacier to Hillary Camp, from where we were rescued by helicopter.
Climbing an eight-thousander, you also need luck with the weather!

Makalu Base Camp

This spring, there were also some commercial expeditions on the mountain. You and Romano are always climbing without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support. Was it difficult for you to arrange with these teams?

Yes, from year to year more energy must be wasted at Base Camp to defend ourselves from the overbearing attitude and the arrogance of commercial climbing.

In your book, that was recently published in German, you describe Romano’s disease, aplastic anemia, as the “15th eight-thousander” that you had to climb. In which way has this experience changed your and Romano`s perspective?

After a first period, when he was angry about the years which, according to him, the illness had “stolen” from him, Romano is taking it now more dispassionate. I perhaps have become more anxious, the memory of the disease still frightens me.

Nives and Romano Benet on Kangchenjunga in 2009

Now there is only Annapurna left to complete the 14 eight-thousanders. Taking the fatality rate into account, it’s the most dangerous eight-thousander. How do you assess the difficulty of this climb and when do you want to try it?

We prefer to make no plans. We’ll see if we get a chance, physically and economically. This would be our third attempt. The first time, in 2006, we tried it from the north, the second time, in 2009, from the south and in both cases we abandoned our attempts because the conditions were too dangerous.
I and Romano are experts in the “art of escape without shame”, and if we return there, we’ll face it again this way.

Nives Meroi (l.) and Romano Benet (on Kangchenjunga in 2009)

Never let it be said that climbing was not for romantics. The Italian couple Nives Meroi and Romano Benet prove the contrary. For them, it is out of the question to climb an eight-thousander without the partner. Last Saturday, Nives and Romano reached the 8586-meter-high summit of Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. As always together, as always without using bottled oxygen, as always in a clean style. “Our achievements are defined by a smooth alpine style: simple and genuine, we remain true to ourselves at all the times and in harmony with the mountains”, Nives once said. Kangchenjunga is the eight-thousander number twelve for Meroi and Benet. Now only Annapurna and Makalu are still missing in their collection.

Fracture on Makalu

Nives was 19 years old when she met Romano. First he was her climbing partner, then her life partner. This year they celebrate their silver wedding, both are 52 years old. In 1998, they scaled Nanga Parbat, it was their first eight-thousander. In 2003, they succeeded in climbing the Karakorum trilogy of Gasherbrum I, II and Broad Peak in just 20 days. In 2007 Meroi was the first Italian woman who climbed Everest without oxygen mask . But there were also setbacks. In 2007, while attempting to climb Makalu in winter, Nives broke her fibula. Romano was carrying his wife two days through the fog down to the until a rescue helicopter could land .

The 15th eight-thousander

After scaling Mount Everest in 2007

Two years later, on Kangchenjunga, it was Benet who needed help. At that time,  in 2009, Meroi had a good chance to become the first woman on all 14 eight-thousanders. At 7500 meters, Romano suddenly became increasingly weak. He tried to persuade Nives, to climb on alone. But she refused and supported him during the descent. The reason for Benet’s weakness was serious: aplastic anemia. Two bone marrow transplants were necessary to save Romano’s life. Having beaten the disease together, Romano described as “climbing the fifteenth eight-thousander, the most important”.

Wrong summit

Climbing was out of the question for two years. But in 2011, the couple was back in the Himalayas, a year later Meroi and Benet tried again to climb Kangchenjunga. It endet with a mishap: They climbed the wrong way, to the lower middle summit (8473 meters) instead of the main summit. When they realized their mistake, they descended. Back in Kathmandu, when Nives in an interview confessed why they had failed, she began to laugh and could not stop. “Her laughter was infectious, everyone joined”, remembered Elizabeth Hawley, the legendary chronicler of Himalayan climbing. This time, Nives and Romano did not lose their way.

Ralf Dujmovits and Mount Everest (in 2012)

How could the Portuguese explorer Fernando Magellan see so many campfires at the southern tip of South America in 1520 that he named the region “Tierra del Fuego”? Actually, the typical constant rain there should have extinguished any flame. During their expedition to Monte Sarmiento in Tierra del Fuego Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Ralf Dujmovits, Ralf Gantzhorn and Rainer Pircher had only two half days without rain. Furthermore wind speeds up to 150 kilometers per hour at a height of 1800 meters. Thus the plan failed to climb the main summit of the 2246-meter-high, pyramid-shaped mountain via the North Face. In addition to bad weather the team had bad luck. A snow cave at 1600 meters, where the climbers had deposited their gear during their first attempt, had disappeared, when they climbed up for the second time.

No problem with excess baggage

“We had marked the cave by GPS data and an avalanche probe that was showing two meters above the snow. But probably the snow cave collapsed due to very the warm weather and heavy rains and slipped off with the whole slope”, Ralf told me after returning home to Germany. “The only advantage we had by loosing all our equipment was that we hadn’t any problem with excess baggage.” The 52-year-old mountaineer was staying at home only for a short stopover. Late on Monday he flew to Nepal and afterwards will travel on to Tibet. Again, Dujmovits will try to reach the summit of Mount Everest without bottled oxygen. The highest of all mountains is the only one of the 14 eight-thousanders, which (in 1992) he has climbed with a breathing mask.

“Definitely my last attempt”

Ralf at the South Col in 2012

Ralf , two years ago you said: “For all time, I will make no more ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and without Sherpa support. I have promised Gerlinde.” Why did you change your mind?

You know, never say never! I have made this mistake in 2012. Last fall, I was very well prepared to climb Mount Everest, when my Australian colleague (Andrew Lock) finally cancelled the project. But I realized that I was still able to train hard to be in top form. I wanted to use it for my winter attempt on Nanga Parbat, but even that didn’t work. However, I’ve noticed that I can still achieve the necessary physical fitness. That’s why I am going to Mount Everest again. Even if you are older than 50, you should take a chance like this.

Do you still feel that you must make amends for having climbed Everest with bottled oxygen?

In a certain way, yes. I am still itching to do it. I would like to be successful. But this is definitely (he laughs) my last attempt without oxygen. Afterwards I will close the chapter Everest, no matter how my attempt will end. Now I’m going to climb on Everest for the sixth time, and I hope that I will succeed. I will do my best, let’s wait and see.

With Gerlinde and Hirotaka Takeuchi (r.) at the North Face of Everest in 2005

You have already failed to reach the summit of Everest without oxygen three times, twice on the north side. Once again you want to climb up on the Tibetan side of the mountain. Why?

I will not take again the route that I have tried twice with Gerlinde, the combination of Japanese Couloir and the Hornbein Couloir (“Supercouloir”) in the North Face (in 2005 and 2010). I would like to climb further to the left of the wall. First I will take the normal route up to the North Col, then I want to cross over to the Norton Couloir. This couloir has a slanting end, where already Reinhold Messner climbed during his solo ascent in 1980. However, this was in fall. In 2010, I saw that even in early summer there were much better conditions compared to the Supercouloir. I want to see whether it is like that again. If everything fits together, I would like to take this route.

And if it doesn’t fit, would the normal route be an alternative for you?

I think it depends very much on the conditions, on how I feel, how I have acclimatized. I really want to leave open all options. I don’t want to commit myself by now. With over 50, I’m well along in years. I have to explore my opportunities. And I can do this only on the mountain.

There will definitely be many climbers on Everest. Will this not be a problem for you, climbing without oxygen?

That’s the advantage of this other route, where no one else will climb. If you are on the normal route – whether on the Nepalese or the Tibetan side – you run the risk of getting stuck in traffic jams with the climbers who are using bottled oxygen. In that case, due to the deep cold, you will have no chance climbing without oxygen. The low oxygen partial pressure is not the only problem up there. By breathing rapidly, the body heat is lost. And if you do it for a long time at high altitude, you really have a high risk of frostbite. I would like to exclude that by climbing a route where I can walk at my own pace.

Ralf on Nanga Parbat last January

In our last conversation you told me that you wanted to act completely independently up on Everest. Also on Nanga Parbat you wanted to try a solo. Do you meanwhile feel better climbing alone at the highest mountains?

Let me put it this way: I know that I must have the chance to climb at my own pace. That means that I don’t want to be part of a rope team. I’ve become slower, I know that, and I have realized it on Everest in 2012 too. But if I can climb at my own pace – I really walk for many hours at a very steady pace without stopping – I get ahead very well. I also listen very carefully to the messages sent by my body. I really feel it as a relief when I can do it this way. Before, I felt better and safer when I was climbing in a rope team. But in the end it is only a false sense of security. And having got older, I have no more problems with loneliness.

There is a narrow ridge between fighting it out and being dogged. Do you put yourself under pressure?

Stefan, I’ll do it as relaxed as always before. I will certainly do my best to implement my plan. But I have turned around so often, and I would do it again. The most important thing, that I have, is my health, all my toes and fingers. I love climbing and I want to continue to be able to do so. I wouldn’t gamble with it. I’ll try to do my best, but first of all I want to come down healthy.

As you mentioned, you have been on Mount Everest five times since 1992. Now it’s your sixth attempt. Have you developed something like a personal relationship to this mountain? Has it grown close to your heart?

Of course! It has grown even very strong to my heart. Although it is Everest, about which you have heard so many bad and negative things. But I was often there in total silence and loneliness, with Gerlinde too. In 2012, I climbed to the South Col almost quite alone, ahead of the great masses. You can find your peace even there, and so you can live some way this relationship to the mountain. For me, this relationship to Everest has to do with the incredible height that allows unimaginable panoramic views. It’s amazing climbing up there. I love it. And I can enjoy it because I’m free of all these constraints. Of course there have been all these setbacks, after my success in 1992 with oxygen. But this story is a part of my life that I consider important. And now I return to Everest once again, really with pleasure.

Makalu

In one point it is the same for mountaineers who want to climb an eight-thousander and for everyday travellers: Shortly before departure the dates are accumulating. They have to pave the way for their long absence in their jobs, meet friends and family and – last but not least – make the last preparations for the upcoming project. That applies to Luis Stitzinger, too. We met last weekend in Oberstdorf in the Alpes, the day before Luis’ departure to Nepal. The 45-year-old German and his wife Alix von Melle want to climb again Makalu, at the height of 8485 meters the fifth highest mountain in the world. In 2010, the couple had to turn back on 8050 meters at temperatures of minus 45 degrees Celsius. Alix and Luis have already climbed six eight-thousanders: Cho Oyu, Gasherbrum II, Nanga Parbat, Dhaulagiri, Broad Peak and Shishapangma, all without using bottled oxygen. This makes the 43-year-old Alix the most successful German women at the highest mountains in the world.

Luis, soon you will start to Makalu.  Do you feel something like stage fright?

No more stage fright because we have made too many expeditions, but of course we are a little bit excited. Preparations drag on. When the time comes, it’s like a spring that is released. We are looking forward to our expedition.

Luis Stitzinger

This is already your second attempt on Makalu. Will you have a different attitude?

Yes, I do think that it is different. We have tried so far no mountain twice, not even those where we did not reach the summit. This is actually the first time that we will it the second time. We are really prejudiced.

In what way?

We just remember the last time. And we are also a little bit more under pressure.

Will you be doing anything different?

First, we are staffed differently. We have a friend in our team, Florian Huebschenberger, who was already with us on Nanga Parbat. So we are three now. Maybe we also want to try a different route. But generally, expeditions are never quite the same. The weather is different, the conditions are too. Therefore, the schedule will always be a little different.

How much time do you have?

We have a maximum of two months for the whole trip. This is more than what is needed. But if it takes shorter, we would not say no.

Until now you have been climbing the eigth-thousanders via the normal routes. Will you do it on Makalu too? You suggested that you may choose a different route.

We will climb on the normal route, but maybe we want to try a variant in the upper part. We need to see what the conditions are like. Only then we will decide whether we really want to try it.

In 2013, there have been only a few ascents, Makalu has defied many attempts in recent years. How do you estimate your chance to reach the summit?

It’s always hard to express in figures.  I always say that the odds are fifty-fifty. When we were on Makalu in 2010, everything looked fine, the weather seemed to be good. But on these high mountains a single factor – then it was just the continuing jet stream which had parked over the Himalayas for weeks – can be sufficient to keep you from climbing up. And then you sit at basecamp in perfect, sunny weather, twiddling your thumbs and you can do nothing.

Alix in the upper part of Makalu in 2010

This year, the Nepalese government has adopted a lot of new regulations on Mount Everest. So there is a guarded post at the basecamp as an arbitration board. In addition, each climber must bring down eight kilos of rubbish from the mountain. Are there similar rules on Makalu?

Everest is just a hotspot where international mountain tourism meets. By comparison, Makalu is very rarely visited. We have learned that this year there are some more climbers on the way to the mountain, but compared to Everest it is only a small fraction. Makalu is still a relatively lonely mountain where usually not even a liaison officer is staying, because he does not want to take on the long trekking to basecamp.  Usually you are amongst yourselves there.

Will you contact the members of the other expeditions to share the work or will you act completely independently?

You always come together and coordinate your actions. We know many of the others who will be there. With some of them we have been on other mountains. I also know the operators of the expeditions. You will always try to pull together. But we actually plan to work on the route independently, we do not want to wait until all ropes are fixed to climb up using jumars.

Alix (r.) and Luis at the summit of Shishapangma in 2013

Makalu would be your seventh 8000-meter-peak. Did you approach the project in a different way compared to your first expeditions to eight-thousanders?

I do think that we have got something like routine or at least experience. If you have succeeded in climbing your first eight-thousander, you wonder before trying the second: Have we only been lucky or have we done everything right? But if you have summited a few 8000ers, you realize that some systems have proved to work and that you can count on that.

Makalu would be you highest eight-thousander so far.

Yes, up to now we have summited the lower eight-thousanders. Our highest was Cho Oyu with 8201 meters. Now we try to climb up about 300 more meters, which means that we step into the upper half of the eight-thousanders.

You will not be using bottled oxygen. For this reason you will climb in a different league if you try to get to a summit of one of the high eight-thousanders.

Definitely. We are eager to climb without bottled oxygen. We would rather turn around if we realize that we do not succeed. But because we want to achieve all our goals without breathing mask, we have been moving higher very carefully. Some other mountaineers climb Gasherbrum II and then directly turn to Mount Everest, perhaps even trying it without oxygen. That would be too risky for us. We know from our own experience that every 100 meters in high altitude mean playing in a different league. There is a big difference between a mountain which is 8500 meters high and one that scratches just above the 8000-meter-mark. We climb high and higher very carefully, because up there we have minimal safety reserves without bottled oxygen.

Alix and you are climbing as a couple. Have you discussed what happens if one of you loses his or her power at high altitude?

Sure, we have talked about. Therefore we feel better now climbing as a trio. One helper cannot do much, but in twos it is looking already better. Two helpers, who feel good, may have a chance to bring down a weakened climber. That’s a safety factor. But if you don’t have any oxygen – due to weight reduction we will not even carry oxygen bottles for medical emergency to the high camps -, you have only limited safety reserves. This is evident.