No matter whether you curse it, praise it to the skies or just use it pragmatically, no one will deny: the Internet has changed our lives and actually we can hardly imagine life without it. This also applies to mountain adventurers. Almost forgotten are the ancient times of Himalayan mountaineering, when expeditions were sent out, which were intended only to explore alpine destinations. Many of today’s best climbers prepare their projects on the screen – and make no secret of it. “I’ve looked a bit on Google Earth and more or less ‘found’ this mountain,” Austrian top climber Hansjoerg Auer told me before he set off to the almost 7,000-meter-high Gimigela Chuli East in Nepal. Along with his countryman Alex Bluemel, Auer wants to tackle the North Face of the mountain, which is located near the eight-thousander Kangchenjunga: “It’s not possible without a picture. Then I check out: How does the access look? Is it mega-dangerous or is the risk acceptable? What does the Base Camp look like?” Auer has not yet returned, but already now this fall season in the Himalayas once more proves: The mountaineering highlights are currently set even more on unknown five-, six- or seven-thousanders than on the eight-thousanders.

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This does not happen often. Within days top climbers from Slovenia and the UK opened two challenging new routes on a shapely 6000-meter-peak in the Indian Himalayas. The 6515-meter-high Hagshu is located in the district of Kishtwar in the crisis-hit region of Kashmir. The Slovenians Marko Prezelj, Luka Lindic and Ales Cesen reached the summit on 30 September, after they had climbed for the first time through the steep north face of Hagshu. Then the Britons Mick Fowler and Paul Ramsden opened a new route via the previously unclimbed north east face and stood at the top of the mountain on 6 October.

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