The last meters to the summit of Lunag Ri (picture taken by a drone)

“I traverse the last few metres over wind packed snow that sticks to the granite on the Nepalese side of the mountain. Even though my head is full with the impressions that I absorb every moment up here, my thoughts are somehow empty. The knowledge that I must not make any mistake is constantly present and dominates all other feelings. It results in an intense, almost exhausting concentration – a feeling I know only from other solo ascents in the mountains,” Austrian top climber David Lama writes on his website about the moment when the 28-year-old was the first to set his foot on the summit of the 6,907-metre-high Lunag Ri about a month ago (see video below). The technically difficult mountain is located in the Rolwaling Himal on the border between Nepal and Tibet, more than 35 kilometers as the crow flies northwest of Mount Everest. “Having arrived at the very front of the summit spur, I stand still. It feels strange that suddenly I have no more further to go. I sink down to my knees, tired and happy, even though I wouldn’t be able to express it that way right now. Briefly I think about Conrad. He is the only one I would have liked to share this moment with.”

Successful in the third attempt

David Lama alone en route

In their first joint attempt in fall 2015, Lama and US climber Conrad Anker, who’s up to every Himalayan trick, had to turn back 300 meters below the summit because of a tactical mistake. A year later, Conrad suffered a heart attack on the mountain and had to leave early. David then tried a solo ascent reaching a point about 250 meters below the summit. After the 56-year-old Anker, meanwhile having recovered from his myocardial infarction, had cancelled for the third attempt this fall out of consideration for his family, David meticulously planned another solo attempt and was – as reported – successful on 25 October. Since then, the mountaineering scene had been eagerly awaiting further information from Lama.

“Quite close to my limit”

On the ridge

According to David, he fought his way up the mountain for three days in icy temperatures of up to minus 30 degrees Celsius and stormy winds of up to 80 kilometers per hour via the Northwest Ridge. In challenging combined terrain, Lama had to overcome steep snowfields and fragile ice as well as rock passages. David says, he belayed himself only in particularly exposed passages and climbed most of the time without rope. The Austrian spent two nights in the bivouac tent, after the summit success he descended in one go and reached the base camp in the dark. “On the last day I came quite close to my limit,” David says in retrospect. “The three days at Lunag Ri were sometimes the most intense time I have ever experienced on a mountain. Being alone has reinforced this feeling, as well as everything I have experienced since my first attempt with Conrad Anker in 2015.”

David Lama

It looks as if he has made it. David Lama is said to have succeeded the first ascent of the 6,895-meter-high Lunag Ri in Nepal.  I am even a little more cautious than many other media from all over the world, because the 28-year-old top climber himself has not yet confirmed his coup. Even his office at home in Austria is still in silence. My inquiry there remained so far unanswered. The only source so far is American climber Conrad Anker, who congratulated David a few days ago on the social networks, “on your successful solo ascent and descent of Lunag Ri. Third time is a charm!“

With light backpack

Lunag Ri

In the first two attempts in 2015 and in 2016, Lama and Anker had tried together to first climb the technically difficult mountain in the Rolwaling Himal at the border between Nepal and Tibet, about 35 kilometers as the crow flies northwest of Mount Everest. During their first try via the Northeast Ridge, they had had to turn around 300 meters below the summit. In the second attempt one year later Conrad had suffered a heart attack on the mountain and had had to leave the expedition prematurely. David had then tried it spontaneously solo, reached a little higher than the first time, but then returned. “It was no longer about reaching the summit – that would have been suicidal – it was about gathering my strength to descend safely,” David summed up his experiences at that time.

After Conrad Anker had cancelled his participation this time with consideration for his family, David Lama had prepared himself for a solo attempt from the beginning. He decided to climb up with as little material as possible in order to be able to climb long passages without rope.  Obviously his tactics worked. It seems extremely unlikely that Conrad Anker would congratulate him without having been informed on David’s success from a safe source.

Hansjörg Auer on top of Lupghar Sar West

This is a real milestone. The Austrian Hansjörg Auer says, he succeeded the first ascent of a big wall of a seven-thousander in the Karakoram – solo. “I climbed the West Face of Lupghar Sar West for the first time. I took a line on the left side and finished my route up the steep Northwest Ridge with very loose rock to the top at 7,157 meters,” the 34-year-old extreme climber wrote on Instagram. Hansjörg had set off to Pakistan in mid-June for his solo project. His originally planned climbing partner and friend Alexander Blümel had to call off due to health problems.

Four years of dreaming

The mountain seen from Hunza valley

“This ascent is very unique to me, because I was dreaming of it for the last four years,” writes Auer. “Since Kunyang Chhish East in 2013 (when he, his brother Matthias Auer and the Swiss Simon Anthamatten made the first ascent of this 7400-meter-high mountain in the Karakoram) I always wanted to know how it feels to be alone in high altitude. And I’m happy that I made this experience now.“

In memoriam Gerry Fiegl

Gerry Fiegl (1988-2015)

Hansjörg Auer dedicates the first ascent of the West Face to his late friend Gerry Fiegl. In fall 2015, Auer, Blümel and Fiegl had mastered the South Face of the 6839-meter-high Nilgiri South in western Nepal for the first time. Gerry had shown symptoms of high altitude sickness at the summit and had fallen to his death on the descent.

The rarely attempted seven-thousander Lupghar Sar – which means “top of the big rock” – has three almost equally high summits and is located in the Hunza region in northern Pakistan. The West Summit was first climbed on 18 June 1979 by the German brothers Hans and Sepp Gloggner, who were part of an eight-member expedition team from Tegernsee.

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.

On ascent via the West Ridge

It does not have to be the Lhotse South Face. For strong and ambitious climbers, who neither belong to the “extremes” nor the professionals, the Himalayas also offer other attractive destinations to experience great adventure. Three of my buddies from the first ascent of Kokodak Dome in 2014 proved that in Nepal this fall.  On 19 October, Jürgen Schütz, André Günzel and Manuel Möller, together with the Nepalese Dawa Gyalje Sherpa and Pasang Gomba Sherpa, succeeded the first ascent of the West Ridge of Chulu West. The 6,419 meter high mountain is located in the area around the eight-thousander Annapurna. Chulu West, first climbed in 1952 by a Japanese expedition, is a popular “trekking mountain” without major technical difficulties – but this only applies to the normal route via the Northeast Ridge.

Many crevasses

The new West Ridge Route on Chulu West

“There was no passage that was just easy,” André writes to me about the almost 1,000-meter-high West Ridge. “The steepest passages should be around 55 degrees. And the real ridge spots are narrow (not much wider than two feet) and quite steep,” adds Jürgen, who had the idea for this first ascent. “In the middle section the ridge opens to a flank with many crevasses. After two huge crevasses, which we scirted on the left, we reached via a small plateau the knife-edge of the South Ridge.”

Having turned around at the end of the West Ridge

Jürgen on the knife-edge

During a first exploration ascent, the mountaineers had previously deposited equipment at an altitude of 5,480 meters. In the second run, they climbed in a single push up to the end of the West Ridge. “That day we were en route for eleven hours. Actually we had planned to continue via the South Ridge to the summit,” writes Jürgen. “We had to give up this part, as we would have had to fix ropes over a distance of 300 meters on the South Ridge, which was corniced on both sides. This would have taken us more time than we had.”

Without high camp to the summit

The three Germans and the two Sherpas decided to descend to the base camp via the newly opened route and to take the equipment from the depot with them. Two days later, the five climbers made up for the summit success. Without any high camp they ascended via the normal route to the highest point and descended to the base camp within a total of 14 hours.

“Committed amateurs”

Jürgen Schütz, Manuel Möller, André Günzel, Dawa Gyalje Sherpa (from l. to r.)

“Since we are not professionals, I am even more pleased that it is still possible to find as a committed amateur a place in these fascinating mountains where you can develop your own ideas and put the plan into action with friends,” says Jürgen Schütz, who earns his money in his “normal” life as a laboratory chemist. For management consultant Manuel Möller, the expedition to the West Ridge of Chulu West was a real adventure: “Somehow it’s still the best to try something new in the mountains. Less commercial hype, more mountain.” Professional soldier André Günzel puts it this way: “With friends to a beautiful mountain, on a wonderful, new and challenging route! It couldn’t be better.”

In the Northwest Face

In the pictures, it almost seems like they were climbing on the legendary granite walls of El Capitan – were it not for the snow and the chilled faces. In mid-October, the two Swiss Stephan Siegrist and Julian Zanker and the German Thomas Huber first climbed the central Northwest Face of the 6,150-meter-high Cerro Kishtwar in the Indian part of the crisis region Kashmir. The three top climbers needed two attempts before reaching the summit on 14 October. It was only the fourth ascent of the remote mountain. Overall, the trio spent ten days in the extremely steep, partially overhanging wall – three days on the first attempt, seven on their successful second one.

From start to finish difficult

“The wall outdid my expectations regarding its difficulty,” enthuses Stephan Siegrist. “There’s probably no other wall with that height and such homogenous grades anywhere else.” The 44-year-old Swiss had fallen in love with the central Northwest Face, when he had succeeded with his compatriot Denis Burdet and the Austrian David Lama the second ascent of Cerro Kishtwar on a new route to the right of the wall. In 1993, the Briton Mick Fowler and the US American Steve Susted had climbed the six-thousander for the first time. The year before, the Brits Andy Perkins and Brendan Murphy had tackled the central Northwest Face, however, after 17 days, had had to give up completely exhausted 100 meters below the summit.

Having underestimated the wall

Route through the wall

Siegrist, Zanker and Huber entered the wall on 1 October, with the goal of reaching the highest point within five days. “Looking back we can say that we underestimated the wall and our project,” reports Thomas Huber. After three days they “hadn’t even climbed a third of the wall”. The team, says the 50-year-old, then reconsidered the tactics: “It was we either radically reduce our food rations or we put everything into a new attempt. We decided to discontinue our attempt.”

Frostbite on toes

With renewed strength and motivation, the trio started their second attempt on 8 October. The weather was stable, however anything but cozy: cloudless in the morning, but snowfall in the afternoon, temperatures down to minus 20 degrees Celsius. The extreme conditions left marks: Stephan suffered from a tenosinovitis on his left hand, all three climbers got frostbite on their toes. “It hit Thomas and Julian pretty hard. That’ll accompany them for quite a while,” says Siegrist.

Unique moment at the summit

At the finish: Stephan Siegrist, Julian Zanker, Thomas Huber (from l. to r.)

When they finally reached the summit, “the emotions really got to us,” recalls Stephan. This is confirmed by Thomas Huber: “The days were always variable but like a miracle we had the best weather on summit day. We almost felt like we weren’t alone and that we were being rewarded for all what we had gone through with a unique moment. Cirrostratus clouds were passing just 500 meters above us in the jet stream and we were standing there, in the complete calm. We all knew we were only able to make it because we felt like one courageous alliance!”

“Get a grip!”

Total commitment required

Julian Zanker, who will celebrate his 27th birthday on Sunday, was by far the youngest in the team. For him, it was “a huge opportunity” to be en route with the routiniers Siegrist and Huber, says Julian. “It was six weeks filled with wonderful moments, new experiences, and a beautiful line on an amazing mountain to top it all off.” The three climbers named their new route after the title of a popular Hindu song “Har-Har Mahadev” – “in Bavaria we’d say: Get a grip!”, as Thomas Huber explains.  Cerro Kishtwar “enriched my life with a wild story,” summarizes the older of the two Huber brothers. For Stephan Siegrist, Cerro Kishtwar is now finished after two ascents on new routes. “But Kashmir in general is not yet completed for me,” the Swiss climber adds. The remote region still offers many untouched peaks and walls. Were it not for this endless smoldering conflict between India and Pakistan.

Ascent (red) and descent route (green)

Who says that there are no playgrounds for top climbers in the Himalayas anymore? Yury Koshelenko and Aleksei Lonchinskii have erased a blank spot on the map of the six-thousanders. 0n 28 October the two Russians succeeded the first ascent of the 6,538-meter-high Phungi, located west of the eight-thousander Manaslu in Nepal. The 54-year-old Koshelenko and  Lonchinskii, aged 35, climbed on a rather direct route through the about  1,500-meter-high Southeast Face of the mountain. It took them three days for the ascent in Alpine style and two more days for the descent on a different route.

Sharp ridge

At the summit ridge

According to Yury, they entered the wall with ice passages of 60 to 80 degrees in good weather on 26 October. After the second bivouac, five pitches below the summit ridge, the weather deteriorated rapidly. It became very cold and windy, Koshelenko reports. Over the sharp, corniced firn ridge the duo worked their way to the summit, which they reached on 28 October at 4:30 pm. The descent through an icefall in bad weather was sometimes tricky, reports Yury.

Piolet d’Or winner

Yuri Koshelenko (r.) and Aleksei Lonchinskii

Koshelenko and Lonchinskii belong to the elite of Russian climbers. Both were already awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the climbers”: Koshelenko in 2003 for his first ascent of 7,804-meter-high Nuptse East via the Southeast Pillar (with Valerij Babanov), Lonchinskii for the first ascent of the Southwest Face of the 6,623-meter-high Thamserku (with Alexander Gukov).

Kobusch’s route on Nangpai Gosum II

“The feeling was more than overwhelming to stand in a place that no one ever entered before me,” writes Jost Kobusch about his first ascent of the 7296-meter-high Nangpai Gosum II in the east of Nepal. As reported, the 25-year-old German had scaled the till then fourth-highest unclimbed mountain on earth two weeks ago. “Such ascents are still pure, real alpinism,” Jost writes to me. “This is exactly the direction I want to take – because a solo on a route with other climbers is not a real solo. I would like to enjoy alpinism in its purest form. For me, this is the maximum of minimalist mountaineering.” In the meantime, Kobusch has also given details of his route, which he graded to me as “TD”, which means “very difficult” (in the International French Adjectival System (IFAS) ,TD stands for “Tres Difficile”, with sustained snow and ice at an angle of 65-80 degrees and rock climbing at grade V and VI). He was en route with a very small team: the Nepali cook Ngima, kitchen helper Phurba and cameraman Raphael Schardt, who, according to Jost, only joined him once on the way to the Advanced Basce Camp (ABC) at the beginning of the expedition, later only filming with a large telephoto lens from the Base Camp.

Near-accident

Difficult conditions

He had originally planned to ascend via the route through the South Face, where a team of French mountain guides had failed two years in a row, Jost reports. At an altitude of about 6,300 meters, Kobusch nearly fell out of an ice flank. The strong sunlight caused the ice screw and the ice tool, which he had used for belaying at the stand, to be “melted out within 20 minutes”. An “only on the half way hammered in piton” saved his life.

Waist-high snow

Kobusch on top of Nangpai Gosum II

Jost descended to the Base Camp and decided to set off for a “light and fast solo” on a different route. After having left the Advanced Base Camp at 5,600 meters and having spent one night in Camp 1 (6,400 meters) and the next in Camp 2 (6,840 meters), he reached the highest point of Nangpai Gosum II on the third day. On the final part of his climb he once again had to clench his teeth, says Jost: “The plateau on top let me struggling through almost waist deep powder to the summit which I reached on 3 Oktober at 10.25 am. Wind speeds of shortly up to 60km/h made my stay at this untouched place short though.” The first ascent of Nangpai Gosum II,  Jost writes to me,  “is for me personally the beginning of many further expeditions in this style: No support above the base camp, all alone on a route and of course (also on higher mountains) no bottled oxygen.”

Annapurna without bottled oxygen

Kobusch (r.) with summit certificate

For the Westphalian Kobusch – born in Bielefeld, where the highest point called “Auf dem Polle” is not a mountain, but a 320-meter-high knoll – it was the second great success of his career as an high-altitude mountaineer. In spring 2016, Jost had scaled his first eight-thousander, Annapurna. A year before, Kobusch had become well known all over the world. The young German had shot a video of the giant avalanche – triggered by the devastating earthquake on 25 April 2015 – which had destroyed the base camp on the Nepali side of Mount Everest and had killed 19 people.

Kobusch on top of Nangpai Gosum II

A blank spot less on the map of the highest mountains: According to his own words, the 24-year-old German climber Jost Kobusch made the first ascent of the 7,296-meter-high Nangpai Gosum II. The mountain, till then the fourth highest unclimbed peak of the world, is located in the border area between Nepal and China, not far from the eight-thousander Cho Oyu. The slightly higher Nangpai Gosum I (7,351 meters) is also known as Jasemba, in Nepal it is officially called Pasang Lhamu Chuli, named after the first Nepali woman on Mount Everest. “I’ve been climbing very fast. Shortly below the summit it got once again exhausting because there was a lot of deep snow,” Jost said in a podcast published on his website. “Standing up there was liberating. All these pains, the efforts before, suddenly subsided. I think I had not really believed that it would work.”

Almost fallen down

Jost in Kathmandu

Kobusch had had to abandon a first attempt on his originally planned route. “It was too dangerous,” said Jost. “In sunshine I reached a place where the ice had become so thin and fragile that it just wasn’t safe anymore. I almost fell there. At that moment I thought the whole expedition had failed.” He then decided to climb on a different route where “it worked relatively well”, Kobusch reported, adding that he hadn’t spent much time on the summit of Nangpai Gosum II: “When I was up there, my focus went down immediately. I thought: Get me down of here!”

On Annapurna in 2016

In Annapurna Base Camp in 2016

In spring 2016, Jost had scaled his first eight-thousander, Annapurna. Shortly below the summit, he had been playing blitz chess with another climber. A year before, Kobusch had become well known all over the world. The young German had shot a video of the giant avalanche – triggered by the devastating earthquake on 25 April 2015 – which had destroyed the base camp on the Nepali side of Mount Everest and had killed 19 people.

Burke Khang

The very big point was missing. The 6,942-meter-high Burke Khang was successfully first climbed – but Bill Burke, the man after whom the mountain in the Gokyo Valley near Mount Everest is named, was not at the top. According to the Nepali expedition operator Asian Trekking, the Northern Irishman Noel Hanna and the Sherpas Naga Dorje Sherpa, Pemba Tshering Sherpa and Samden Bhote reached the summit of Burke Khang on Thursday. Bill had ascended up to Camp 1 but had decided not to climb higher, it said. Bummer! He would have deserved to be among the first ascenders, just only because of his persistance. For the fourth time – after in fall 2015 and 2016 and in spring 2017 – the 75-year-old American had traveled to Burke Khang. The previous attempts had failed due to bad weather or dangerous conditions on the mountain.

Late career as high altitude climber

Bill Burke

Bill had become a climber in the senior age after a successful career as a lawyer. Aged 67, he had scaled Mount Everest from the Nepalese south side, aged 72, from the Tibetan north side. Four days before his second Everest coup, the government in Kathmandu had announced that the then unclimbed almost seven-thousander near Mount Everest was now called Burke Khang. “I was never given a reason for this generous action“, Bill said in an interview on the website pythom.com in 2015.

Hanna was eight times on top of Everest

Noel Hanna, who was now successful on Burke Khang, is an experienced mountain guide. The 50-year-old, who was born in Northern Ireland and lives in South Africa, has scaled Mount Everest eight times, twice with his wife Lynn. They were the first couple to reach the highest of all summits both from the north and south. Noel has scaled the Seven Summits, the highest mountains of all continents, and is also a successful ultra mountain runner.

Summit successes on Dhaulagiri

Dhaulagiri

After the Spaniard Carlos Soria had failed on the 8,167-meter-high Dhaulagiri this fall, summit successes have now been reported from the seventh-highest mountain on earth. On 29 September, the Bulgarian climber Boyan Petrov stood on the top of Dhaulagiri. For the 44-year-old, it was his tenth eight-thousander. Two days later, on 1 October, the Russian climber Yuri Kruglov and Ang Phurba Sherpa as well as a little bit later Dendi Sherpa reached the summit.

Auer (l.) and Bluemel on top of Gimmigela East

“It was one of those expeditions where it all fit together perfectly,” says Hansjoerg Auer. The 31-year-old Austrian and his countryman Alex Bluemel succeeded the first ascent of the North Face of the 7005-meter-high Gimmigela East, in Alpine style, means without ropes and high camps, without Sherpa support and without bottled oxygen. The sub-peak of Gimmigela Chuli (7350 m) is located in the far east of Nepal, on the border with India, quite hidden in the area around the eight-thousander Kangchenjunga, the third-highest mountain on earth.

Exposed bivouac place

North Face of Gimmigela East

For five days, Auer and Blümel trekked along the Tamar River and then across the high plateaus of the Ghunsa Valley before pitching up their Base Camp at the foot of Gimmigela East. For acclimatization, they spent three nights at an altitude of 5,900 meters on the South Ridge of the trekking peak Dromo Ri. On 8 November Hansjoerg and Alex set off to climb the 1200-meter-high North Face. “Due to a wet monsoon with high precipitation we found the face in perfect conditions,” Auer writes on his website. The two climbers spent a first bivouac in the ice wall, which was up to 85 degrees, and a second on the summit ridge. This second night was a serious challenge “due to the small ledge extremely exposed to the strong winds,” says Auer. On 10 November, at 7.30 a.m, the two Austrians reached the summit. “A cold, windy but clear morning allowed us to see far into Sikkim’s great mountain range and to the unexplored east face of Kangchenjunga.”

“King’s Line”

In the wall

According to Auer, it was the first expedition ever to the North Face of Gimmigela East and only the third ascent after two Japanese expeditions in 1993 and 1994 ascending from the Indian south side of the mountain. Hansjoerg’s summary of the expedition is entirely positive: “A great project, an even greater friendship and a very efficient first ascent of a ‘King Line’ on a 7000m peak in one of the most remote places in the Himalayas.“ In fall 2015, Auer and Bluemel had – along with their countryman Gerry Fielg – first climbed the South Face of the 6,839-meter-high Nilgiri South in western Nepal. In the summit area Fiegl had shown symptoms of high altitude sickness, on the descent Gerry had fallen to death. “It was one of the saddest moments of my career,” Hansjoerg told me when we met last October just before he left for Gimmigela East. “I believe I cannot forget it for the rest of my life.”

Piolet d’Or winners Mick Fowler (r.) and Paul Ramsden

The tireless have done it again. The British Mick Fowler and Paul Ramsden once again set climbing highlights, but, for a change, they were separately under way, with other team partners. Fowler, meanwhile 60 years (!) old, succeeded, along with his countryman Victor Saunders, the first ascent of the North Buttress of the 6100-meter-high Sersank in the North-Indian part of the Himalayas. Paul Ramsden and Nick Bullock climbed the North Face of the 7046-meter-high Nyainqentangla South East in Tibet for the first time. Last April, Fowler and Ramsden had won the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the climbers”, for their first ascent of the 6571-meter-high Gave Ding, a remote mountain in northwestern Nepal. It was already the third “Golden Ice Axe” for the successful British team of two.

Reunited after 29 years

Fowler and Saunders (l.) on top of Spantik in 1987

“Sersank ticked,” Fowler wrote from the North Indian city of Manali in the state of Himachal Pradesh. “Five days to climb the north buttress and an eight day round trip from base camp. Absolutely brilliant.” 29 years ago, Fowler and Saunders had climbed together for the last time: In 1987, they succeeded the first ascent of the so-called “Golden Pillar” (which really looks golden in the sun), the Northwest Pillar of the 7027-meter-high Spantik in Pakistan. Then they went their separate ways. Saunders later climbed Mount Everest six times as a mountain guide. Working on a book project, Mick and Vic reunited and decided to climb together again.

Monster Matterhorn

Summit selfie of Ramsden and Bullock (r.)

It took Ramsden (born in 1969) and 50-year-old Bullock five days to first climb the North Face of Nyainqentangla South East. The wall “was almost impossible to describe without using superlatives,” Nick wrote on his website. “It was a dream, it had runnels, ice, fields of snow, arêtes – the face twisted and turned in some warped massive monster Matterhorn way”. Nick called the face a “mouth-puckering 1600 m”. On the fifth day after leaving Base Camp, the British team reached the summit and needed another day for the descent via the East Ridge. The first ascent of Nyainqentangla South East had been made by the Austrians Stefan and Erich Gatt via the south side of the mountain in 2001.

Nancy at 6,400 m at Gasherbrum VI

The seven-thousander Gasherbrum VI in the Karakoram in Pakistan remains unclimbed. 54-year-old Ralf Dujmovits, Germany’s most successful high-altitude climber, and 47-year-old Canadian Nancy Hansen abandoned their attempt to first climb the 6,973-meter-high mountain (other elevation: 7,004 meters) in the Karakoram. They turned around at an altitude of 6,400 meters. “We did our best,” Ralf tells me via satellite phone. “Nancy fought in the slabs like a bear. It just was not meant to be. Finally we don’t want to commit suicide.”

In the gully

Spectacular campground

Just getting from Base Camp to the Col at 6,197 meters was difficult. The 700-meter-high, up to 60 degrees steep snow and ice gully was interspersed with seracs, says Dujmovits, so far the only German who has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders. In their second try, Nancy and Ralf reached the Col, “with the view on Chogolisa, Masherbrum and Muztagh Tower, one of the most spectacular places where I have ever pitched my tent.”

Belaying was not possible

Ralf above the Col

The rock barrier above the Col was a too hard nut to crack for the two climbers. “We had hoped for a thicker snow or ice crust so that more ice climbing would have been possible,” says Ralf. “But the marble-like slabs, covered with a thin layer of ‘sugar’ snow, didn’t offer any opportunity to set even the thinnest knifeblade piton.” After two failed attempts, Dujmovits and Hansen decided reluctantly to abandon their attempt to first climb Gasherbrum VI. “It was exciting to enter unknown ground,” says Ralf. “Of course, we are a bit disappointed. We have invested a lot of time and effort into this project.”

Next goal: Praqpa Ri

Nancy Hansen (l.) and Ralf Dujmovits

There is yet another chance remaining. On Thursday, Ralf and Nancy will break their Base Camp at the foot of Gasherbrum VI and move it about nine hours’ walk away to a place near K 2. There they want to have a try on Praqpa Ri, another unclimbed seven-thousander (there are different altitude data: 7,134 and 7,152 meters). “There we will able to do more ice climbing,” says Dujmovits. After three nights at 6,200 meters on Gasherbrum VI, he and Nancy feel well acclimatized and in good health. “We remain positive and hope that it will work on Praqpa Ri.”

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!

Stephan Siegrist

Who says that there is nothing left to explore! During their expedition in northern India this fall, the Swiss mountaineers Stephan Siegrist, Dres Abegglen and Thomas Senf first climbed three shapely mountains, all of them almost 6,000 meters high: Bhala (also called “Spear”, 5,900 m), Tupendeo (5,700 m) and Te (translated “Crystal”, 5,900 m), each of them on challenging routes. Indian Kashmir is still regarded as an insider tip among climbers. Because of the conflict with Pakistan, the mountain area had been closed to foreign visitors for a long time, until it was reopened in 2003. “The region was simply somewhat forgotten”, Stephan Siegrist tells me. The 42-year-old top climber has become almost an expert for Kashmir in recent years.

Stephan, three first ascents during an expedition cannot be matched by many other climbers. Have you been on a roll?

The motivation was very high. We climbed the first two peaks rather quickly. It is a great advantage that the time you need to acclimatize for altitudes up to 6,000 meters is much shorter, you almost don’t need any time. And the weather conditions were great.

“Crystal” – with the distinctive secondary peak

How did it happen that you climbed as many as three mountains?

First we climbed Spear. We had a picture that showed this mountain from the north side. It was technically much easier than we had thought before. Then we set off to climb Tupendeo. We still had time, the weather was fine. So we tried it three days later and were successful. We found that it was exactly the mountain we had seen and photographed from Kishtwar Shivling last year. After two and a half weeks the good weather was over and it was snowing for a week. But we had still enough time left, our expedition was planned to take six weeks. Further down the valley, there was another very aesthetic, distinctive mountain, the Crystal. Our primary goal was not the main summit but the secondary peak that really looks like a crystal. It has steep rock walls on all sides and a snow cap. After we had made it up to the top, we abseiled and climbed up to the main summit.

Siegrist, Senf and Abegglen (l. to r.)

That sounds like real adventure. Did you feel like explorers?

Yes, that’s exactly what we are interested in. It’s not just about performance but adventure and experience too. We have not looked for the simplest possible routes. There would have certainly been easier ones. We also wanted to test our abilities. Then it may happen that your attempt is a complete flop. I think we do some kind of exploring where a good performance is needed too.

There is only a single village in this remote valley. I assume that it is very rarely visited by western climbers. How did the local people receive you?

It is still an adventure to visit remote villages like Kaban in this Kashmiri valley. Especially the children have most probably never before seen a Westerner wearing these funny clothes and carrying climbers’ equipment. We are always trying to take enough time for these contacts. We had a liaison officer who spoke the language of the locals. The people there are extremely helpful. Immediately, you are invited to eat and spend the night in the village. The locals are also interested in what you are going to do. But they can hardly understand why you want to climb this or that mountain.

Stephan in action

You’ve been in Indian Kashmir, a political conflict area. Didn’t you worry about your safety?

I was in this region for the third time now since 2011. There are members of three religions, living absolutely peacefully in their separate valleys. But on our way back, there was a new conflict between Muslims and Hindus. You must be aware that you are traveling in a not entirely stable region. If you behave not arrogant but quite normal and cautious, you – as a visitor from the west and as a Christian – are not affected. But it’s no longer really dangerous. In Kathmandu, it is no less dangerous. I would even go there with my family.

In 2014, you found your destination for this year’s expedition. Did you pick out a new goal again?

There are still very interesting mountains in the north.

Means that you have not been there for the last time?

(He laughs) It is very possible.