Furdiki Sherpa (l.) and Nima Doma Sherpa (r.)

Mount Everest took their husbands. And the fathers of their children. Nevertheless, Nima Doma Sherpa and Furdiki Sherpa want to climb the highest mountain on earth this spring. “We are doing our expedition for the respect of our late husbands because they were mountaineers too,” Nima Doma replies to my question about the purpose of their project. “And we want to motivate all the widows.” Everest has left a lot of single mothers behind. According to the mountaineering chronicle “Himalayan Database”, 37 Sherpas have died there in the past 20 years alone. Furdiki’s husband, Mingma Sherpa, belonged to the so-called “Icefall Doctors” who set up and secure the route through the Khumbu Icefall every year. The 44-year-old died in a fall into a crevasse on 7 April 2013. One year later, on 18 April 2014, Nima Doma Sherpa’s husband, Tshering Wangchu Sherpa, was one of the 16 Nepalese victims of the major avalanche accident in the Icefall. 

Move to Kathmandu

During the ascent on Island Peak

When Everest’s fate struck, the two Sherpanis each worked in the small tea houses of their families: Furdiki in Dingboche, a small village in the Everest region at 4,340 meters, Nima Doma in Khumjung, further down the valley at 3,780 meters. Their income was too low to make ends meet for their children in the long run. Both moved to Kathmandu and started working as porters and later guides of trekking groups. Furdiki wanted to give her children greater opportunities for the future than she could finance herself. The 42-year-old found adoptive parents in the USA for her three daughters, who are now 14, 17 and 20 years old. Nima Doma has a ten-year-old son and an eight-year-old daughter. When the 34-year-old is on the road as a trekking guide, her mother looks after the children in Kathmandu.

On top of two six-thousanders

Nima Doma (l.) and Furtiki in the climbing wall

In order to prepare for their “Two Widow Expedition”, Nima Doma and Furdiki attended several climbing courses of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA). Last November they scaled the 6,584-meter-high Chulu East in the Annapurna region and the 6,189-meter-high Island Peak in the Everest region, two popular trekking peaks. Is that enough experience for Everest? I asked the two Sherpani if they were not afraid that something might happen to them on the highest mountain on earth and that their children would then be orphans. “We are not afraid of the mountains because we believe we gain basic technic that is need in the mountains and well wishes from all the people who know us and our story,” replies Nima Doma Sherpa. “Every mother loves her children and so do we. But after the death of our husbands all the responsibility suddenly lay on our shoulders. We want to show our children that we can be independent. This will motivate them and make them proud.”

P.S. Nima Doma and Furdiki still need more money to finance their expedition. On 19 October, they will be hosting a fundraising dinner party in a hotel in Kathmandu. If you want to support the two Sherpani, you can also send them money online. Here is the link to their crowdfunding campaign.

Mount Vinson

Christmas with the family beneath the Christmas tree – this might not happen for about 40 mountaineers in Antarctica. For about a week now, several teams have been stuck in the base camp at the foot of the 4,852-metre-high Mount Vinson, the highest mountain of the continent. Severe storm with speeds of around 100 kilometers per hour and heavy snowfall have been preventing aircrafts from taking off or landing there for days. “We rationed the food for one warm meal a day,” writes Manuel Möller, with whom I was on an expedition to the 7,129-meter-high Kokodak Dome in 2014, where we succeeded the first ascent. Manuel had actually wanted to be home again on 21 December: “We are now prepared for still spending Christmas here.”

Turned around 150 meters below the summit

The Vinson Massif

Jürgen Landmann, who like Manuel belongs to the five-member team of the German expedition operator Amical alpin, writes on Facebook about a possible “mini good weather window” on 27 December: “Let’s hope that we get away from here then!” According to him, the team had to turn around 150 meters below the highest point during their summit attempt. One of the climbers suffered frostbite on her nose and cheek during the ascent, Manuel adds, “but things are looking better again”.  The team had good weather only on two out of ten days on the mountain, he says.

Mood in base camp still calm

“The season here is completely crazy,” writes Manuel. “The rangers said they’d never seen so much bad weather before. Yesterday there was 15 centimeters of fresh snow. Normally it snows here one centimeter a year.” The atmosphere in the base camp is calm despite the delay, says Manuel, adding that there is enough food for another two weeks, and petrol is still available too. “So there is no immediate danger of starving or dying of thirst,” reassures Manuel. “Nevertheless it is somehow stupid, since it is not foreseeable when the conditions will improve.” So keep your fingers crossed!

Tendi Sherpa

He leaves the records to others. “I could do something to set a record on Everest, but I don’t want to do that because I have so much respect to the mountains,” Tendi Sherpa tells me. “I have no problems with others who do records. But for myself, my interest and my aim is: I just want to keep climbing mountains, keep leading and working as a normal guide. I don’t need to be super popular.” Tendi is already known. He has scaled Mount Everest eleven times so far, eight times from the south, three times from the north. Summit success number twelve could follow this spring. The 34-year-old will be the Sirdar, the head of the Sherpas, on an expedition of the US operator “Climbing the Seven Summits” on the Nepalese south side of the highest mountain in the world. Five of his clients want to climb Everest, two Lhotse.

Tendi: No Everest record man

At the age of seven to the monastery

Tendi with his brother Karma Nima (r.)

I would not have taken much more and Tendi Sherpa would be a Buddhist monk today. When he was seven years old, his parents sent him as the eldest son to the monastery. Aged twelve, he returned to his home village near the eight-thousander Makalu, because it turned out that his younger brother was better suited for a religious career than Tendi: “My brother was more interested in becoming a monk. I myself played a lot and always wanted to explore.” His father earned the family’s living as a porter of trekking groups. “Every time when he came back home, he brought chocolate and toys. And he said: ‘That is a gift from the tourists.’ And I really wanted to see those tourists,” recalls Tendi.

Barefoot in Kathmandu

He annoyed his parents until they let him go to Kathmandu at the age of 13. „I had neither shoes nor sandals. I didn’t know that they existed,” says the Sherpa. “I said: What happened? Where are your feet? I have all my fingers and toes, and you have nothing!”

Tendi: Without shoes to Kathmandu

Tendi got his first job as a porter, although the owner of the trekking agency had actually rejected him as too young and too weak. A friend of his father advised him to hide in the bus and only stir when they were already en route. “I was just little enough to fit under the seat,” recalls Tendi. “I still look now every time under the seat of a bus and ask myself: How did I fit in there?”

Tendi: Hidden under the seat of the bus

43 kilos on his back

Thorong La, highest point of the Annapurna Circuit

For three and a half weeks, the little Sherpa carried a load of 43 kilograms on the Annapurna Circuit – for a wage of one and a half dollars a day. “At first, I could not move my neck in the evening. I had to turn my whole body,” says Tendi. “The first thing I learned from this trek: You should not work as a porter at the age of 13, not even 15. You should not work as a porter unless you are 18.” Today he always hires for his groups a porter guide who has knowledge about the mountains, climbing techniques and high altitude sickness and who takes care of proper clothing and equipment of the porters.

On the roof of the world

For the eleventh time on top of Everest (in 2016)

In 2003, Tendi first worked on Everest, as a member of a Japanese cleaning expedition. At that time, 25 Sherpas brought eight tons of garbage off the mountain, and Tendi climbed up to the South Col at about 8,000 meters. “It was something very important for me to begin my profession on Everest this way,“ says Tendi. “It taught me a lot of respect towards the mountain, towards the people, towards the environment, how we should keep the mountain clean.” In 2004, he reached the summit of Everest for the first time, leading a client via the Northeast Ridge: “We keep going, going and going. Suddenly there are a lot of prayer flags. What is it? Actually, that is the summit. I realize I am at the top of Everest, now everything is great.”

Tendi: First time on Everest summit

On the descent, Tendi saved the life of his Bulgarian client when he left his breathing mask and oxygen bottle to him at 8,700 meters. “The summit of Everest was not a real summit for me,” says the Sherpa. “When you come back to your home, see your family, celebrate your success, share your experience, see them get excited about your story, I think that’s a bigger summit. If you have lost your life on the way up there, there is no point.”

Tendi: The real summit of Everest

Always with breathing mask

Mount Everest

As a co-owner of the Nepalese expedition operator “TAGnepal”, Tendi’s top priority is safety. That’s why he always uses bottled oxygen on Everest. “If I get sick on the way down or the way up, is it my client who will rescue me, his guide? That would be awful,” says Tendi and laughs. “That’s why I always make sure that I use oxygen and that I am strong enough to help my clients in case he or she needs help.”

Tendi: Not without O2

Helicopter rescue on Everest is dangerous

Experienced in helicopter rescue

The Sherpa has a international mountain guide certificate from UIAGM (International Federation of Mountain Guide Associations). In 2011 he also completed training in longline helicopter rescue in Sion in Switzerland. He warns Everest candidates to rely on help coming from the air in an emergency: “Longline rescue above 6,000 meters is actually too dangerous and really tough. The helicopter has to fly through a super narrow corridor between Nuptse, Lhotse and Everest. Only if there are no clouds and no wind, a rescue is possible.” Above the South Col, climbers who get into trouble have to be brought down anyway, says Tendi. “The higher you get, the more difficult it is for the rescuers.”

Never made a knot

Tendi in the Khumbu Icefall

Tendi complains that in recent years many inexperienced climbers have tackled Everest: “Some people have no knowledge on any rope, they don’t know what crampons mean, they don’t know what a harness is, they never have done one knot with a rope.” Last year, he received 28 requests for Everest, reports the guide. “I have not accepted any of them.” Tendi Sherpa advises such people to first gain alpine experience on lower mountains: “You are rich, you have money, just don’t jump on Everest! Try to make sure that you first make a training!”

Tendi: Don’t just jump on Everest!

Tino Villanueva (l.) and Alan Rousseau (r.), in the background Rungofarka (the middle of the three peaks)

Better late than never. There was always something coming up, so I did not have the time to report on one of the most impressive climbing achievements of last fall. In the beginning of last October, Tino Villanueva and Alan Rousseau succeeded the first ascent of the six-thousander Rungofarka in the Indian Himalayas. The two American mountain guides first attempted a direct line through the North Face, but turned around at 6,000 meters. Later they reached in five days the summit of the well-shaped mountain via the North Ridge. Finally, I contacted Tino, and he answered my questions:

First of all congrats on your great performance. You succeeded the first ascent of the 6,495-meter-high Rungofarka. How far to your limits did you have to go?

Thank you for following our climb! The route on Rungofarka was long and sustained. Once we started up it never let up. The first day on-route the terrain we encountered was fairly moderate, 250m of AI3 up a fluted ice face. After that, however, the climbing became much harder mixed climbing largely on rock. While the climbing was not at our limits, it was committing, difficult climbing at high altitudes in a remote area. All-in-all, the climbing felt technical, thoughtful and difficult, but managable.

Route via the North Ridge (l.)

You had to abandon your attempt to climb via the North Face and switched to the North Ridge. Did it feel like a second-best option or simply the better option?

Whenever we go into expeditions like this we have a few options in mind. We will have a primary route in mind but feel it is important to provide for some wiggle-room for options if conditions or hazards are working against us or if the planned route doesn’t go. In the case of Rungofarka, we had talked about a couple routes on the North Face, as well as the North Ridge, as options. One of the routes on the North Face did not look like it was in condition and also looked like it was more severely threatened and had recently been hit by an ice cliff overhead. Our attempted route on the North Face appeared to be far less threatened by the ice cliff. We believed the North face would provide a more elegant line to the summit and we were also unsure if a vertical step in the North Ridge would be climbable. After attempting the North Face and succeeding on the North ridge, I think the North ridge provided a very elegant, high quality alpine climbing route – the better option.

How do you rank this first ascent in the Indian Himalayas in your personal climbing vita?

The North Ridge of Rungofarka definitely ranks in at the highest mark on my personal climbing resume. It was one of those climbs where everything just works out perfectly. The weather was spectacular (aside from a bit of snow on day 2), we found two awesome bivy sites (and one that was marginal but suitable), the terrain was challenging enough to keep us guessing if we would be able to climb through it, and the climbing was committing enough to be very mentally engaging.

On the ascent

You both work as guides for the expedition operator Mountain Madness. How was it for you to climb “on your own account”?

Alan and I have done a lot of climbing together. This trip to India was our third big expedition together in the Himalaya. While we are guiding expeditions we strive to provide a fun and challenging experience for our clients, while maintaining a high margin of safety. Expeditions for personal climbing are much the same but we adjust the parameters of the expedition to line up with our skills as climbers. We are able to move faster and climb harder and therefore can move through more severe terrain. Still, I’m sure the expedition experience is similar in that it is at the same time exciting and scary, fun and dreadful. The one word to describe the entire experience: challenging. We continue to embark on alpine climbing expeditions to challenge ourselves physically, mentally and to see what we can accomplish in the big mountains of the world.

Mick Fowler

First I had to swallow. He has cancer? That cannot be for real. “For us in the ‘Club of 50+’, people like Mick Fowler are acting like an antidepressant,” I once wrote about the British extreme climber. In my view, the now 61-year-old proves that true adventure knows no age limits.  Year after year, Mick sets out to remote Himalayan regions to enter unexplored climbing terrain. And with great success: Mick has been awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the Climbers”, already three times. Again this year, he had planned another first ascent in the Indian Himalayas, as in 2016 with his compatriot Victor Saunders, another “oldie”, aged 67. But then, a few months ago, Fowler received the devastating diagnosis: “‘You have cancer’ was both a shock and a relief,” Mick writes looking back. “The uncertainty was over. No more dithering. The trip would have to be cancelled. But what would lie ahead?”

Very odd

Mick during the chemotherapy

It began when Mick noticed one or two unusual coloured faeces and a little weight loss. However, the climber actually felt fitter and healthier than for some time. In addition, he had to organize the expedition. “I had slipped comfortably into a ‘monitor the situation’ mindset,” Mick writes. It was his wife Nicki who urged him not to treat these things lightly and to go to the doctor. A colonoscopy and a biopsy were made. The result: Fowler suffered from colon cancer. “I felt well but the doctors told me I was very ill,” Mick recalls. “But they also told me that if all went according to plan then in six weeks time they would class me as well (all cancer cells wiped out) but I would feel ill (after radiotherapy and chemotherapy). It all felt very odd.”

Positive prognosis

Fowler (r.) and Saunders on the summit of the 6000er Sersank (in 2016)

The treatment in a hospital in Sheffield is now behind Fowler. “I would like to reassure those that ask if I am about to die that I am not,” Mick writes. “The prognosis is positive and Victor and I are getting on with re-arranging our Himalayan trip for 2018.” Fowler has started out to gently running and climbing. Mick recommends everyone to take care of their own body: “And get straight down to the doctor if you sense anything odd going on. Nothing (even a Himalayan trip) is more important.” In addition, there is the offer of regular cancer screening that everyone can and should use. After all, climbers do not have an anti-cancer gene, this can happen to any of us. All the best, Mick! I keep my fingers crossed.

P.S. I would like to point out once again the initiative “Outdoor against Cancer” (OAC) founded by the German journalist and mountaineer Petra Thaller. It offers outdoor activities for cancer patients. “I just realized that my psyche benefitted from my sporting activities,” Petra told me at the trade fair ISPO in Munich last February. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of 2014 after an expedition to the Carstensz Pyramid in Papua New Guinea.

Hans Kammerlander on Manaslu

That’s it. Hans Kammerlander closes the book Manaslu. “I had a nice, very good time here on this mountain. That was worth it,” said the 60-year-old South Tyrolean, after he and his North Tyrolean team partner Stephan Keck had decided last weekend to abandon their late fall expedition to the eighth highest mountain in the world (8,163 m). “I have made peace with Manaslu. Above all, I’ve finished this part of my way. That was what I had planned. It was never really about the summit itself. That would have been a highlight at best.”

High avalanche danger

Above camp 1 (© Stephan Keck)

The two climbers were on Saturday on their way to Camp 2 at 6,600 meters, when they, in Stephan Keck’s words, “sunk in the powder snow up to the armpits”: “I probably do not have to explain to anyone how strenuous, slow and therefore dangerous it is to move under these conditions.” Because of the snow masses and the consequential high avalanche danger, they pulled the emergency brake. “If we tried it, it would have been Russian roulette and probably all of us would have lost our lives,” Kammerlander said.

Coping with trauma

His team partner also realized that Hans’ main goal was to cope with his Manaslu trauma of 1991. Kammerlander had taken the decision to end the expedition “quite relaxed”, Stephan Keck wrote in his blog: “It becomes clear that he rather wanted to return to Manaslu itself than to scale his 13th main summit of an eight-thousander.”

With ups and downs

Too much snow on Manaslu (© Stephan Keck)

On an expedition led by Kammerlander 26 years ago, his two friends Friedl Mutschlechner and Karl Großrubatscher had been killed in severe weather during a summit attempt. Hans had declared at the time that he would never return to Manaslu. He now revised his decision for shootings for a film that is to be released in the cinemas in November 2018 – “a portrait of my life, with ups and downs,” as Kammerlander had told me last spring.

No further attempt

Even if a summit success of Kammerlander more than a quarter of a century after the 1991 tragedy would had given the film a special point, the film crew will nevertheless return with impressive footages: of a base camp that was no longer overcrowded like just a few weeks earlier, of a lonesome Manaslu in a snow dress – and of a protagonist who returns home safe and sound and has made peace with the “Mountain of the Spirit”. Kammerlander definitely ruled out another summit attempt next spring.

Bill Burke in front of Burke Khang (the lower summit on the right)

Something seems to be wrong with “his” mountain. The third year in a row, the 6942-meter-high Burke Khang was not first climbed by the man, after whom the mountain in the Everest area is named. Bill Burke called off the expedition, this time even without having set foot on the almost seven-thousander. A two-day snow storm had caused a lot of fresh snow in the Gokyo Valley. In addition, the weather forecast for the remaining time of the expedition predicted storm with gusts up to hurricane force. “Plowing through waist-high snow in extremely vertical 75 plus degree terrain at high altitude is one thing,” Burke writes in his blog. “Doing so facing winds exceeding 75 mph in subzero wind-chill temperatures would be an act of suicide.”

Bill entering the Gokyo Valley

Funereal atmosphere at Base Camp

The 75-year-old American had wanted to give it a try once again. “Burke-Khang kicked my butt twice, with 2016 being a particularly ruthless and humiliating thrashing,” Bill had written before the start of the expedition. “But, I am beginning to understand its terrain and feel its personality.” Before Burke arrived at the foot of the mountain, his Sherpa team, headed by Naga Dorjee Sherpa, had already explored the route to the summit by helicopter. When Bill finally reached Base Camp after two days snowstorm, which he himself had waited out in Gokyo, there was a “funereal atmosphere”, said Bill. The storm had also undermined the morale.

Big-league mountain

Puja (prayer ceremony) at Base Camp

Nevertheless, the Sherpas fought up the mountain during the next two days. “It took five veteran Sherpas 25 hours over two days to put the lines in place and establish Camp 1 on the snowfield,” says Bill. “Naga said, the conditions on the mountain were deplorable because of deep, waist-high, snow, ice, rocks, rockfall and strong winds.” When he received the depressing weather report, Burke canceled the expedition. Before he headed back to Kathmandu, however, he was flown over the summit of Burke Khang by helicopter. “The mountain is fearsome, awesome, magnificent and very dangerous,” Bill describes his impressions. “I saw massive crevasses, icefalls, cornices and towering seracs. The rounded summit is flush with these features and appeared almost impossible to scale. This is definitely a big-league mountain suitable only for extreme mountaineers with the right experience and equipment.”

Fourth attempt?

Bill Burke became a climber in the senior age after a successful career as a lawyer. Aged 67, he 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 announced that the still unclimbed almost seven-thousander near Mount Everest was now called Burke Khang. Bill was never given a reason for this action. Burke left it open whether he will return to the mountain once more after his third failed attempt: “Now, I need to think about what’s next.”

North side of Everest in the last daylight

It could be a record season on Mount Everest. After the successful 2016 season, experts are expecting a run on the highest mountain on earth – especially since many climbers want to use their extended permits from 2014 (valid until 2019) and from 2015 (which will run out this year). In 2014, the season in Nepal had been finished prematurely after an avalanche accident in the Khumbu Icefall with 16 deaths. In 2015, there had been no ascents on both sides of the mountain due to the devastating earthquake in Nepal.

Dominik Mueller, head of the German expedition operator Amical alpin, will set off to Everest with a “small but strong team” on 8 April. Three clients, four Climbing Sherpas and he himself will try to reach the 8,850-meter-high summit via the normal route on the Tibetan north side. “I will use bottled oxygen because I believe that I can only support other people as best as possible when using a breathing mask,” says the 46-year-old. “Anyone who climbs Everest without supplemental oxygen is so preoccupied with himself that he probably has no resources left to look after others.” I talked to him about the upcoming season.

Dominik, with what expectations do you set off to the Himalayas?

Dominik Mueller

There will probably be more climbers, especially on the Everest south side. But on the north side too.

China has once more fueled the price spiral, by more than 30 percent. A permit for climbing Everest now costs nearly 10,000 dollars. What will be the effect?

This will affect not only Everest but Tibet as a whole, because clients will switch back to the Nepali side. I do not think it’s going to change much on Everest. With regard to the objective dangers, I consider the route on the north side as the safer route, although more logistics is needed. But for the other eight-thousanders in Tibet, it will mean that there will be much less climbers.

Many organizers still prefer the Nepali side because they consider China’s policies in Tibet to be more unpredictable. Do you share this reasoning?

It is not more unpredictable than it was eight or ten years ago. For me, the Chinese have been so far very reliable partners in Tibet. You could refer to what you had agreed on. This has always worked well. For example, only a few permits will be sold for Cho Oyu next fall. This was previously communicated. We decided, however, to go to Manaslu instead of Cho Oyu this fall.

The Nepalese side of Cho Oyu

Permit restrictions for next fall are reported not only for Cho Oyu, but also for Shishapangma. Have they told you a reason?

Obviously there will be a kind of event in Tibet this fall. The Chinese are afraid that there may be unrest and therefore want as few foreigners staying in Tibet as possible. I would have had the chance to get permits for Cho Oyu, but I would have had to confirm these permits already now. According to my information from China, only 50 permits will be sold for this fall. The advantage will be that you are quite lonely on the mountain. But there are also disadvantages. For example, you need manpower after heavy snowfall. If you are only with small teams on the mountain, you will have difficulties to secure the route.

Top of Everest (from the Northeast Ridge)

The Swiss expedition operator Kari Kobler has recently pointed out the corruption of Chinese politicians in Tibet. Do you have also problems with this?

There is, of course, corruption – not only in China, but also in other countries around the world, which we visit as climbers. It’s presumptuous to believe that we could change the whole world on this point. We must arrange with it. The only possible consequence would be to stop traveling to these countries. But in this case we would not be able anymore to give jobs to the ordinary people – like Sherpas, cooks or kitchen boys.

In the meantime, more and more Chinese mountaineers are appearing on the eight-thousanders, in Tibet and in Nepal as well. Is China the market of the future?

I don’t believe this for European operators. Chinese climbers will travel more likely with local agencies. I think it would also be difficult to unite Chinese and European clients in a team – just due to the language barrier.

Billi in Tibet

Anyone who has been on expedtion in Nepal more than once should have met her. Billi Bierling has been working as an assistent to Elizabeth Hawley, the legendary chronicler of mountaineering in the Himalayas, for many years. The meanwhile 92-year-old American is regarding Billi as her successor as leader of the Himalayan Database. What many people don’t know: the 49-year-old German does not only visit arriving and departing expedition members in the hotels of Kathmandu to interview them for the chronicle but is an ambitious high altitude mountaineer herself. She has climbed four eight-thousanders so far: in 2009 Mount Everest, in 2011 Lhotse and Manaslu (she reached this summit without bottled oxygen) and in 2014 Makalu. This fall she is tackling the 8188-meter-high Cho Oyu in Tibet. “I have chosen Cho Oyu for this year because I was here eleven years ago and reached just Camp 2 (at 7,200 meters). It was my first eight-thousander, and at that time I was convinced that I am not strong enough for such high mountains“, Billi writes to me. “Now I’m here again, and I really hope that the sixth highest mountain on earth will accept me this time. And like on Manaslu, I would like to reach the summit without supplemental oxygen.”

Billi, Cho Oyu might be your fifth eight-thousander. In preparation for expedition you did hundreds of kilometers mountain running. How high do you estimate your chance of success?

The Nepalese side of Cho Oyu

I believe that I benefit especially from my participation in the “Zugspitz Ultratrail” (the race around the Zugspitze, Germanys highest mountain covers a distance of about 100 kilometres and a total of more then 5,000 meters difference in altitude; last summer Billi finished the Ultratrail in 23:36.57 hours). During the training for this event I ran hundreds of kilometers in the mountains and I’m benefiting from that now. I feel very well acclimatized, and even after four days on the mountain, I still feel strong.

How are the conditions on Cho Oyu?

There is quite a lot of snow on the mountain, but it is very will consolidated. Until now I have been only at about 6,800 meters, above the ice wall, and until there the conditions were good. In the next days an Austrian colleague and I want to climb to Camp 2 and spend two nights up there. After that our acclimatization would be complete.

Billi Bierling

Besides Manaslu, Cho Oyu is the most requested eight-thousander this fall. Has the Base Camp the dimension of Everest BC?

It’s interesting, because in the last ten years Manaslu and Cho Oyu have got very commercialized. Both mountains are offered by commercial operators in preparation for Everest. Until ten years ago, most aspirants climbed Cho Oyu without breathing mask, now the majority is using supplemental oxygen. I estimate the number of climbers here at 250 to 300. A large Tibetan-Chinese expedition alone consists of about 150 people. For this reason it is good that I am here, because usually these expeditions slip through our fingers for the Himalayan Database.

Ski course in Nepal

Certainly they won’t be the most elegant skiers on Mera Peak, but motivation and enthusiasm will surely not be missing. Six Nepalese mountain guides have set out to ski down the 6476-meter-high “trekking peak” in Nepal in September. They will be accompanied by two ski instructors from Europe, German Julius Seidenader and Austrian Michael Moik. What’s remarkable: The Nepalese have been for the very first time on skis only last February. “I am confident that they will be able to ski down along with us,” says Julius.

Adolescent folly

These Nepalese mountain guides have already gained their first skiing experience at an “almost six-thousander”. After their three-week ski training near the village Naa at 4,200 meters in Rolwaling in February, they ascended the 5,925-meter-high Ramdung Go with touring skis and skied from the summit to the valley. “They did a good job,” told me Julius, who had mounted the ski course along with some Nepalese friends. “It was certainly a bit of adolescent folly to ski down their first 6000er after only three weeks training. But they managed it without broken bones and all reached the valley unhurt.”

Totally motivated

Julius Seidenader

The 24-year-old is one of the founding members of the “Ski and Snowboarding Foundation Nepal”, which has set the goal of teaching young Nepali skiing, snowboarding and ski touring. “I’m not a crazy European who enforces his ideas on Nepali people,” Julius makes clear. “It was a Nepalese idea and it will be implemented there. The guys are totally motivated.” His Nepalese friend Utsav Pathak, who is studying tourism in Kathmandu, had told him his idea, says Seidenader: “We wanted to work with young people and to teach also girls skiing and snowboarding what has happened never before in Nepal.” So last February in Rolwaling, about 30 young Nepali were standing for the very first time on skis, under the guidance of five ski instructors from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, in rather bad snow conditions. “The first ski school in Nepal and the highest in the world,” the initiators of the project cheered. The equipment, 25 pairs of used skis and four snowboards, had been donated.

Nepali people want to work as ski guides

The young people involved in the project dream of opening up a new branch of tourism for Nepal. “We don’t want ski alpinism as we have here in Europe with ski lifts and snow cannons,” says Julius, who comes from Munich and is now studying in Vienna. “We are striving for sustainable tourism and focus on ski touring.” Their long-term goal is to train Nepali people as ski instructors and also to offer skiing skills to local mountain guides. “Nepali people find it cool if they, in the long term, get the opportunity to work as ski guides,” says Seidenader.

There are already trekking agencies who offer ski expeditions in Nepal, for example on Mera Peak. But they are not led by local but by foreign mountain guides with ski experience. There are many options for ski touring in Nepal, for instance in Dolpo in the far west of the country, but there still lacks the necessary infrastructure, says Julius. “We need the ability to sit still and be patient” – and they need money: The “Ski and Snowboarding Foundation Nepal” has launched a crowdfunding for their project on the Internet.

Before Julius will return to Nepal in September, he will make a stopover in Dubai. The head of the local skiing hall contacted him: “He said there were already Nepalese ski instructors: in his skiing hall. And they would like to work in a ski school in Nepal for a few weeks per year. For free!”

Luanne Freer (© Marmot.com)

“Never open your mouth, unless you’re in the dentist’s chair.” These were the words Salvatore Gravano called “Sammy the Bull”, a mafioso from New York, used to describe the “Omerta”: the unwritten law of the underworld to be silent no matter what happens. Even athletes using doping substances usually say nothing unless they are found to be guilty. In this respect, mountaineering is not an “island of bliss”. Anyone who has ever been on expedition has probably met some climbers who carelessly use medicine that actually should be used in case of emergency – or even performance enhancers. Just nobody of these climbers admits to do so. Luanne Freer is the “Everest doctor”. For twelve years, she has treated climbers in “Everest ER”, the emergency room at the Base Camp on the Nepalese side of the highest mountain on earth. I asked the 57-year-old about her experiences on the topic of doping on Mount Everest.

Luanne, in 2003 you founded “Everest ER”, the highest infirmary in the world. Since then, you have spent many climbing seasons in Base Camp. How widespread is doping among Everest aspirants?

We aren’t really sure, because it tends to not be talked about openly. Our doctors tend to discover it only after there has been a complication or if the patient comes in with a possibly related issue. That’s why Dr Luks, Hackett, Grissom [Andrew M. Luks, Peter Hackett and Colin K. Grissom are internationally renowned high-altitude physiologists from the United States] and myself did a confidential and anonymous survey of Everest climbers. We collected a lot of data and are still sifting through all of it.

Luanne working at Base Camp

Have you noticed that climbers are thoughtlessly using emergency medication?

I will say that I’ve seen some climbers using very powerful drugs without much thought or insight into the potential harm they might do themselves.

What do you estimate, how many accidents on Everest are due to drug abuse?

I know of just one or two in which I’m pretty sure that a non medically approved use or dosage probably contributed to a death or accident.

Who is more to blame: the climbers who use drugs on Everest or the doctors who recommend them to do so?

I can’t blame climbers. But I do implore healthcare providers who prescribe these medications to educate themselves first about the science behind their safe use, and then educate their patients if they prescribe to them. It’s imperative that anyone with a bottle of pills knows exactly how and why to use them safely. It’s our duty as healthcare providers to insure that.

Do you see any trend that high altitude climbers want to find back to a drug-free sport?

I have heard opinions from every corner – those who advocate using every possible enhancement for speed and safety, and those who feel that even the use of oxygen is ethically repugnant.

Everest ER after the 25 April avalanche

The last two climbing seasons on Everest ended prematurely, in 2014 due to the ice avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall, in 2015 due to the avalanche that was triggered by the earthquake and hit the Base Camp. Do you as an Everest doctor wish for a quite normal Everest season next spring?

All of us hope for a safe and uneventful season. Unfortunately that is rarely the case, so we instead hope that weather is good, the earth is stable, and climbers come with great experience and in the best shape of their lives.

Mick Fowler (l.) and Paul Ramsden

Real adventurers should be young? Fiddlesticks! The Briton Mick Fowler and his long-time climbing partner and compatriot Paul Ramsden prove that you can do extremely ambitious climbs in the Himalayas even if you are older than 50. Mick is going to celebrate his 60^th (!) anniversary next year – unbelievable! Many young climbers would turn green with envy comparing their efforts with Mick’s and Paul’s achievements in recent years. Again and again they succeed in first climbing amazing routes on six-thousanders in Nepal, India, China or elsewhere. They were already awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar for climbers”, twice: in 2003, for their new route through the North Face of the 6250-meter-high Siguniang in western China and in 2013, for their first climb of the Northeast Ridge of the 6142-meter-high Shiva in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. And they have a good chance to win the Golden Ice Axe for the third time – for their latest expedition. This October, Mick and Paul completed the first ascent of Gave Ding, a six-thousander located in a very remote valley in far west Nepal.

Mick, year after year you and your climbing partner Paul Ramsden discover ambitious new mountains or routes, tackle them and succeed. What is your secret of success?

Lots of hard research, a good partnership and a shared approach of not retreating unless there is a very good reason to do so.

Mick’s and Paul’s route on Gave Ding

This fall, you first climbed the 6,571-meter-high Gave Ding in western Nepal via the steep North Face. How did you find this new goal?

We found it from distant shots of the west side taken by friends which gave us a gut feeling which was supported by setting the time of day on Google Earth and seeing that the North Face sported the longest shadow in the area.

How did you experience your climb on Gave Ding?

Experience was wonderful. Great climbing, great company, great valley not previously visited by westerners. No-one else around, unclimbed summit, different descent route, challenging good quality varied climbing. Everything we look for.

Extreme climbing

This mountain is located in a very remote region. Did you feel like explorers?

Yes in that we didn’t know what the face would be like until we actually saw it. It could have been rubbish!

Some time ago, I called people like you and Paul in one of my blog posts an “antidepressant” for all folks older than 50. What do you think, how long will you be able to do such amazing climbs?

As long as I enjoy it and my body can cope. No thoughts of giving up yet!

Dawa Steven Sherpa

There is a jinx on it. Two spring seasons on Everest in a row remained without summit successes (I ignore those of the Wang Jing team in 2014 because they were flown by helicopter to the high camp). In 2014, all commercial expeditions were cancelled after an avalanche had killed 16 Nepalese climbers in Khumbu Icefall. This year, the devastating earthquake in Nepal triggered an avalanche from the seven-thousander Pumori hitting Everest Base Camp and killing 19 mountaineers and support staff. Once again the spring season ended before it had really begun. What does this mean for the Sherpa people?

I called Dawa Steven Sherpa. Along with his father Ang Tshering Sherpa, the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), the 31-year-old is managing “Asian Trekking”, a Kathmandu-based leading operator for expeditions and trekkings in the Himalayas. Dawa Steven scaled Everest twice (in 2007 and 2008) and in addition the eight-thousanders Cho Oyu (2006) and Lhotse (2009). Under his expedition leadership more than 150 climbers have summited Everest. But Dawa Steven is also a tireless fighter for environmental and climate protection in the Himalayas. Furthermore he is leading “Resilient Homes”  , a project of the “Himalayan Climate Initiative” to help earthquake-affected communities to rebuild their houses and other buildings – one more reason to talk to him about the current situation in Nepal.

South side of Mount Everest

Dawa Steven, do you also notice in your company a low demand for trekking and expeditions this fall?

Yes, we definitely have less demand. We did not have cancellations from people who already booked before the earthquake. But we did notice that there are less bookings altogether. I think for the first time ever we don’t have an expedition. We had to cancel our two expeditions in Tibet because the Chinese did not give any climbing permits for this autumn. We tried to divert the expeditions from Cho Oyu and Shishapangma to Manaslu, but our clients were not interested.

What does this mean for Sherpa guides, cooks, kitchen aids, porters as well as for the owners of the lodges?

Of course that is not good news. We employ 62 Sherpas who depend on this work. If possible, we give them the opportunity to lead the treks in the Everest or Annapurna region. But of course it’s not the same level of income as they would get from mountaineering. That is not a good situation for anybody.

Rescue in Everest Base Camp

What is the mood like in the Sherpa community after two Everest spring seasons with deadly avalanches, earthquake and abandoned expeditions?

It’s not good, as you can imagine. Most of our Sherpas are ready to go climbing. We were lucky because both last year and this year none of my Sherpas and team members were affected by the avalanches. There were, thank God, no deaths and injuries in my team. But of course they saw other Sherpas and climbers being hurt and killed. A lot of Sherpas are a little bit nervous. Thankfully most of my Sherpas have a lot of experience. The older Sherpas are emotionally and psychologically strong. And that has a good effect on the younger Sherpas who have been for the first or second time on expedition and who are more nervous now about going to the mountains because all their experience has been so bad. No Sherpa comes to me and says: “I don’t want to climb any more.” But I definitely know that inside their families some Sherpas are receiving pressure from their wives, mothers and fathers telling them: “Don’t go climbing any more, just only lead trekking groups!”

How is the financial situation of the Sherpa families after these two bad spring seasons?

A lot of Sherpas have been hit very badly, because they not only lost a lot of their income. They also had to spend more money to rebuild their houses after the earthquake. Luckily we should say that Sherpas have a very strong culture of saving money. Many Sherpas have stored some money for times like this. From a financial point of view Sherpas are stronger than the rest of Nepal. They were able either to use their own money or to borrow it. People trust them because they have the income to pay it back later. In addition many Sherpas also received direct funding from previous clients who live in other countries. So Sherpas are lucky in that way because they have so much international support for them.

Since May, Nepal has a Tourism Minister who is a Sherpa. Do you now notice more awareness within the government for the needs of mountain people?

There is, of course, a better mood for us in the tourism industry because we have a Sherpa minister. But he is also challenged in many ways, because he is part of a political party which has its own agenda. He has to work with the bureaucracy which was used doing things in their own way such a long time. The minster has fast tracked a lot of things and he also understands a lot of the challenges that the tourism industry faces. So we are happy in that way, but on the other way we are also a little bit nervous now because there are talks again that very soon the prime minister and his cabinet is going to change. If the Tourism Minister will change, we will have to start at zero again.

Everest Base Camp

What is the most important thing that has to be done to improve the situation in tourism?

The first thing that the government has to do is to address the needs of the climbers, especially the ones who came for Everest, to build up the confidence so that Nepal does not just take their money like the permits for 11,000 dollars. The impression should not be given to the climbers and the rest of the world that Nepal does not care about the tourists who come to Nepal. So Nepal has to be very quick and say: “We understand, there was a big earthquake and that you had to cancel your expedition on Everest. We will extend your permit for another three or five years and will not charge more money!” That is one way to gain some confidence back and a very simple thing that the government should do. The government of Nepal has had a real, real bad reputation last year after the avalanche for not addressing the situation seriously and it is running the danger of doing the same thing this year and again losing their reputation or making that reputation even worse.

Do you fear that many climbers will switch to the Tibetan north side?

I do not only fear, I know that many have switched. For example this year, I had three climbers who went to the north side who were on the south side last year. Other climbers, who had to cancel their expedition because of the 2014 avalanche and returned to Nepal this year, are now asking me to go to Tibet next year. And I also have new climbers who have expressed very clearly that they don’t want to come to the Nepalese side of Everest, they want to go to the Tibetan side.

But you still have requests for your expedition on the Nepalese south side?

I do have requests for the expeditions on the Nepali side. And I should say I have more requests on the south side than on the north side. But more people are now asking for the China side than before.

What do you think about the media hype about this fall’s Everest expedition of the Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki?

Nobukazu initially wanted to go to the Tibetan side, but due to fact that Tibet is closed now he decided to come to Nepal. I don’t know whether he came here specifically to promote tourism and climbing again. He wanted to climb Everest anyway. But it happens to be a very symbolic move in a time when most people are afraid to travel to Nepal. I appreciate that he has come back to climb.

What would you answer people who ask you whether it is safe to travel to Nepal now or next spring?

I would say: “It is safe” because I have been to the mountains myself and I am going back up again on the 14th this month. My friends are out there, we are doing a lot of relief work. So we know: It’s safe. I don’t fear any danger. Where there is danger, it is clearly marked out. The government will not allow going to dangerous areas, like for example in the Langtang region. But most of Nepal is safe.

What is your feeling: Are you optimistic that Nepal will come back to its feet again?

Yes, sooner or later, because the Nepali people have a very different attitude than I think most of the people in the world. They never expected the government to help. They built the houses, that were destroyed now, with their own hands and they will rebuild them with their own hands again. The government may come and help a little bit as well as some international organizations will do but the majority of houses throughout Nepal will be rebuilt by the people themselves.

The Nepali people are really pragmatic. They are always smiling, they look at the brighter side of any situation. In western world everything is planned and precise, in Nepal things don’t work this way. There people shrug their shoulders and say: “Ke garne!” That’s how it is, what to do? This “Ke garne!”-attitude has become quite important after the quake because people don’t sit there talking: “Everything that I built has now gone, bla, bla, bla.” They just say: “What to do? This is life. We carry on!”

First view on Makalu (© Adrian Ballinger/Facebook)

“We walked into base camp, dropped our packs, threw on our down jackets, and looked up. Makalu chose that moment to expose her summit”, Adrian Ballinger wrote on Instagram after yesterday’s arrival at the foot of the fourth highest mountain on earth. “Awe is the only word to describe the feeling.” Ballinger is leading a team of US climbers that is remarkable in several respects. First, it is even the only expedition on this eight-thousander in Nepal this fall. Second, the team will try to realize the first ski descent from the 8,485-meter-high summit. And third, three of the five expedition members are women, two of them mothers, and that’s not just commonplace in high-altitude mountaineering.

This time without oxygen

Ballinger, head of the US operator Alpenglow, is an experienced expedition leader. The 39-year-old has reached the top of eight-thousanders twelve times, he scaled Mount Everest six times. Adrian succeeded in skiing from Manaslu and Cho Oyu. His team members are his countrywomen Emily Harrington, Kit DesLauriers and Hilaree O’Neill and, as the second man in the team, Jim Morrison. The 29-year-old Emily, Adrian’s girlfriend, wants to climb Makalu without supplementary oxygen. It would be her second eight-thousander after Mount Everest, the summit of which she had reached in 2012 with breathing mask. Kit, aged 45, was the first woman who set off by skis from the highest point on earth in 2006. But it was not a complete Everest ski descend due to the dangerous conditions in the upper part of the mountain. DesLauriers plans to ski from the summit of Makalu. The 42-year-old Hilaree wants it too. She already made a ski descent from Cho Oyu. In 2012, O’Neill managed to reach the summits of Everest and Lhotse within 24 hours. Jim Morrison is a building contractor from California who has made a name for himself in the scene with some first ascents and extreme ski adventures.

Opened up some doors

Quinn and Grayden in Nepal (© Hilaree O’Neill / Facebook)

O’Neill and DesLauriers are mothers. Hilaree has two sons, Kit two daughters. O’Neill’s husband Brian, the eight-year-old Quinn and the six-year-old Grayden accompanied the team on the trekking to the base camp. “Having our boys on the trek has opened up some doors with the locals”, Hilaree wrote on Facebook. “And they have been making lots of friends so far.” Her sons have already been several times at an altitude of 14,000 feet and are therefore well prepared, says O’Neill.

Incorporating adventure into family life

The two daughters of DesLauriers, aged six and seven, have stayed at home with Kit’s husband Rob. Not all people understand that she is going on an eight-thousander expedition as a mother of two children, DesLauriers admits: “Thankfully for me, there are those in contrast to the naysayers who believe that it’s a priceless example to children of both genders when women continue their passionate pursuits after becoming mothers.” She prefers shorter trips in favor of being with her children as much as possible. “Each time I leave home is hard for me, and I’m sure it’s not easy on the kids either”, says Kit. “Yet each time I return I’m more present as a parent and full of ideas about how to next incorporate adventure travel into our family life.”

Enthusiasm for Japanese climber Kuriki

The despair in Nepal must be great. There is no other explanation for the fact that the government in Kathmandu called a press conference these days only to hand out a permit for an expedition. Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki received the written permission to climb Mount Everest this fall from the hands of Tourism Minister Kripasur Sherpa. “Kuriki is climbing at a time when there is confusion in the world about the safety in Nepal after the earthquake”, the Minister said. “This will be an example for other visitors to come to Nepal which is safe for mountain climbing.” The 33-year-old Japanese climber sang the same tune: “The main purpose of my climb is to spread the message that Nepal is safe for climbers and trekkers even after the earthquake.”

Kuriki – as reported – wants to climb Everest from the Nepal side, after the Chinese authorities gave all expeditions to Tibet the cold shoulder. Today Kuriki flew from Kathmandu to the Khumbu region for acclimatization. In 2012, in his last attempt to climb Everest in fall, the Japanese had suffered severe frostbite. Nine fingers had to be amputated. Like then, Kuriki again plans to climb solo and without bottled oxygen, this time on the normal route. The “Icefall Doctors” will prepare for him the route through the Khumbu Icefall.

A handful of expeditions

On Everest Base Camp Trek

The PR offensive of the Nepalese government is neither to express a special admiration for Kuriki because of his prior Everest adventures nor to give him major support for an outstanding sporting goal. In fact, the government fears a slump in tourism market by 50 percent this fall season in consequence of the devastating earthquake on 25 April. The authorities in Kathmandu issued not much more than a handful of permits for fall expeditions. That alone would not be so dramatic, but the demand for trekking trips in Nepal, the main source of income in the post-monsoon period, was poor too.

Light at the end of the tunnel

German operators confirm to me this trend. Amical alpin recorded for the upcoming fall season a drop in bookings for trekking trips to Nepal by about 30 percent and for expeditions by 50 percent. The DAV Summit Club also estimates the market slump for Nepal to be about 50 percent. However, both agencies see light at the end of the tunnel. “For several weeks now, we can say that the demand for traveling to Nepal, especially to the Annapurna and Everest region, is increasing again”, Marcus Herrmann, product manager at DAV Summit Club, writes to me. “We expect a significant recovery of the market for spring 2016.” Amical also registered new bookings for Nepal since early August and is cautiously optimistic for next spring season. The recovery of the tourism market would be really desirable for the troubled country and its people who were hit by the disaster. In this case the government in Kathmandu might no longer be forced to organize press conferences for the handing over of permits.