North side of Everest in the last daylight

If a mountain could breathe a sight of relief, Mount Everest would probably do it now. A total of more than 1,000 climbers on both sides of the highest mountain on earth have left the base camps and have returned home. There is silence again on Chomolungma, as the Sherpas call the mountain. Time to take stock. The exact figures are not yet available, but this spring some 600 summit successes have been recorded, increasing the number since the first ascent in 1953 to more than 8000.

Discussion about Jornet’s double ascent

Kilian Jornet on Everest

The most spectacular performance was made by the Spaniard Kilian Jornet, who climbed up to the summit twice within a week without the use of bottled oxygen. He set off for his first ascent from Rongbuk Monastery and climbed in a single push to the highest point, with only a short stopover in the Advanced Base Camp (ABC) at 6,400 meters. Only 38 hours after his departure from the Monastery he returned to ABC. A few days later he made his second ascent. This time it took him 17 hours from ABC to the summit at 8,850 meters. Afterwards, discussion arose because the 29-year-old did not present summit pictures or GPS data to document his ascents. Jornet promised to publish the data of his GPS clock. Already in 2007, Pemba Dorje Sherpa had made an Everest double ascent without breathing mask within a week.

Three eight-thousanders in five days?

Nirmal Purja

Nirmal Purja, a soldier of the British Gurkha regiment, also climbed Everest twice this spring, albeit with the use of bottled oxygen: on 15 and 27 May. Eight hours after his second summit success on Everest, the 34-year-old stood on top of Lhotse – and on 1 June he reached the summit of Makalu. Three eight-thousanders in five days? According to the Nepali Ministry of Tourism, the information is still being examined.

Kuriki wants to return

Overall, there were at least five successful Everest ascents without supplemental oxygen this season, possibly even nine: According to Indian media reports, four members of an Indian army expedition reached the summit without bottled oxygen. Other mountaineers failed, like the German Ralf Dujmovits in his eighth and, according to his own words, “definitely last” Everest attempt without breathing mask. The Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki also returned without summit success – from his now seventh attempt. He had wanted to climb via the West Ridge and the Hornbein Couloir to the summit. “I’ll be back,” the 34-year-old said.

Seven deaths

A total of seven people did not return from Everest this spring. Six climbers and a base camp cook died. Above all, the death of the Swiss top climber Ueli Steck made headlines all over the world. The 40-year-old fell to death during an acclimatization climb on Nuptse. A report on four dead climbers found in a tent on the South Col proved to be a hoax.

For the 21st time on top of Everest

Kami Rita Sherpa on the summit

Two records were achieved by Sherpas. The 46-year-old Kami Rita Sherpa from the village of Thame in the Khumbu area summited Everest for the 21st time. So he closed the gap on Apa Sherpa (also born in Thame), and Phurba Tashi Sherpa from the village of Kumjung, who have also 21 ascents under their belts. Lhakpa Sherpa had already been the woman with the most Everest ascents before this season. The 43-year-old Nepalese, who lives in the USA, bettered her own record to eight summit successes now.

Anything else? As the second blind climber after the American Erik Weihenmayer, the 50 year-old Austrian Andy Holzer reached the summit of Everest. The 26-year-old British Mollie Hughes was ranked number 15 in the circle of female climbers who summited the highest mountain on earth from both the north and the south side.

10-year ban for mountaineers without a permit

The fact that morality on Everest is not exactly the best was proved again this season. Some climbers missed oxygen bottles, which they had previously deposited in high camps and obviously had been stolen. The South African Ryan Sean Davy was caught on the south side trying to climb the highest mountain without a permit. The Pole Janusz Adamski, who climbed from the north to the summit and then descended via the southern route, had no permit for the Nepali side too. Both of them were banned from mountaineering in Nepal for the next ten years. The actually due fine of $ 22,000 was not imposed in both cases. Why, remained open.

Where is the Hillary Step?

Has the Hillary Step gone?

There has also been much talk about this spring’s weather on Everest, which according to meteorologists was as difficult to predict as never before. And, of course, about the Hillary Step, which – in the opinion of the six-time Everest summiter Tim Mosedale – is no more. Sherpas contradicted, and the Nepalese government said: “The Hillary Step is still intact and is covered with snow.” Last year too, there had been speculation as to whether the striking rock formati

Kuriki at 6,800 m in the Everest North Face

See you! After the Spaniard Kilian Jornet had already left Mount Everest in mid-September, the Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki also broke down the tents on the Tibetan north side of the highest mountain on earth. Simply too much snow, the 34-year-old said. In his summit attempt two weeks ago he had sunk into the snow up to the hip.  As reported, Kuriki had ascended to an altitude of 7,400 meters, solo and without bottled oxygen, until he had been forced back by the masses of snow.

Tears in the tent

Everest North Face

After returning to the Advanced Base Camp camp, Kuriki tried to extend his permit and his visa. In vain. “I crawled into the corner of the kitchen tent and cried,” says the Japanese, who finally realized that also his sixth attempt to scale Mount Everest in fall had failed. In 2012, he had suffered such severe frostbites that nine fingers had had to be amputated.

Part of the inventory

Kuriki would not be Kuriki, if he did not immediately announce that he wants to return. Due to his experience this year he is also considering a winter attempt on Everest, says Nobukazu. Because of the icy temperatures, the air is even thinner in winter, assumes Kuriki, but possibly the strong winds in fall will have blown the snow out of the wall. We will probably see him again at Mount Everest, whether in autumn or winter. Somehow, he’s almost a part of the inventory – at times when nobody else or hardly anyone is trying to climb the highest mountain on earth.

Departure in the night

The Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki has turned around again. The 33-year old abandoned his second summit attempt at 8,150 meters, about 200 meters above the South Col. „Deep snow and high winds“ stopped him, Kuriki tweeted. “I did my best. I’m really disappointed.” Indeed he sounded exhausted and frustrated talking via radio with his team. 

Marathon ends prematurely

Kuriki’s route

The Japanese descended to his last camp at 7,800 meters and further down. His first attempt one and a half weeks ago had ended just above this camp, also due to deep snow and the time that had been running out. Kuriki was climbing without bottled oxygen. Kuriki was aware, that his summit day with a difference in altitude of 1,100 meters would be a “marathon”. He didn’t finish this race. Thus Mount Everest still remains unclimbed this year, since the spring season had been cancelled without summit success due to the earthquake on 25 April and the huge avalanche triggered by the tremors that had killed 19 people in Base Camp.

Respectable performance

Nobukazu Kuriki

Kuriki is on Everest in post-monsoon for the fifth time. In his last attempt via the West ridge in fall 2012, he had suffered severe frostbite. Nine fingers had to be amputated almost on entire length, only stumps remained. Against this background and the fact that the route above the Khumbu Icefall was not prepared, Nobukazu’s two summit attempts were respectable performances. Reaching an altitude of 8,150 meters, he would have summited six of the 14 eight-thousanders; on three more only one, two dozen meters would have been missing. But Everest is even 800 meters higher.

Nobukazu Kuriki

It would have been a real bang. And probably the headline was already prepared: “Historical Everest climb with only one complete finger”. But this headline will be put away in a drawer until further notice. Nobukazu Kuriki has abandoned his first summit attempt on Everest. “I tried hard taking all my energy, but it took too much time to move in the deep snow”, the 33-year-old Japanese tweeted. “I realised if I kept going, I wouldn’t be able to come back alive.” It is still unclear how high exactly he climbed. According to his GPS signal messenger, he did not reach the South Col. Kuriki had made his “last Camp”, as he wrote, at about 7,700 meters, at about the level of the Geneva Spur, 200 meters below the South Col. From there, it would have been a real marathon stage up to the 8,850-meter-high summit – in particular because the Japanese was climbing solo above Camp 2, not using bottled oxygen, and the route was neither prepared nor secured with fixed ropes.

Solo above 6,400 meters 

South side of Everest

Strictly speaking, it would not have been an Everest solo climb anyway because Kuriki had climbed on the route through the Khumbu Icefall that had been prepared by the “Icefall Doctors”, and he had been accompanied up to an altitude of 6,400 meters. But when at all is a climber truly alone on Everest, especially on the normal route? So Kuriki’s attempt was really quite close to a solo climb. The only pure one in Everest climbing history, that was successfully finished without breathing mask, was made by Reinhold Messner. The South Tyrolean scaled the highest mountain on earth in August 1980, in the midst of monsoon, thus outside of the climbing season, solo and on a new route from the north side. 

Only one complete finger

Kuriki after his Everest attempt in fall 2012

It was already Kuriki’s fifth attempt to climb Mount Everest in fall. In October 2012, the Japanese had made headlines worldwide when he had tried to reach the summit via the rarely tried West Ridge. The then 30-year-old said that he had to turn back at about 8,000 meters because of a storm. On his descent, Kuriki sent an emergency call. Sherpas climbed up to him, and the Japanese was flown by rescue helicopter from Camp 2 at 6,400 meters to a hospital in Kathmandu. Kuriki suffered severe frostbite. Nine fingers had to be amputated; only stumps were left – and only one complete finger.

One more try?

Will Kuriki dare another attempt? He would have enough time for it. But the question arises, whether he is able to recover sufficiently for a second attempt and to build up the necessary tension and concentration for a new start. The last Everest ascent in fall without bottled oxygen took place 22 years ago. On 9 October 1993, the Frenchman Hubert Giot succeeded. The first climber ever who reached the summit of Everest in the post-monsoon-period without breathing mask was a German: Hans Engl on 14 October 1978.

Update 28 September: Kuriki reportedly wants to try it again. “He is staying at base camp for a few days but will try again for the summit starting 1 October”, Tikaram Gurung, managing director of Bochi-Bochi Trek, which is handling Kuriki’s expedition told AFP. “He is in good physical condition and experienced no major problems on the climb.”

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!”

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.

South side of Everest

It has gone out of style to climb Mount Everest in fall. This happened even though some of the most spectacular summit successes on the highest mountain in the world have been made in the post-monsoon period: Remember only the first ascent through the Everest Southwest Face by the British Doug Scott and Dougal Haston in September 1975 or the success of the US-American Carlos Buhler, Kim Momb and Lou Reichardt via the East Face in October 1983. However, the climbing season has moved more and more into spring since commercial expeditions have taken over on Everest – due to higher temperatures compared to fall and to the usually lower risk of avalanches. Since 2000, only 36 summit successes have been recorded in September or October – next to nothing compared with over 5,000 ascents in spring since the turn of the millennium. The last ascent to the top of Everest in fall dates from five years ago: In October 2010, the American Eric Larsen and five Sherpas reached the highest point at 8,850 meters. This fall, there will be another attempt to climb Everest from the Nepalese south side. According to the “Himalayan Times” the so-called “Icefall Doctors” – a group of high specialized Sherpas – arrived at Base Camp in order to fix a route through the Khumbu Icefall.

Kuriki’s comeback

Kuriki after his Everest attempt in fall 2012

The Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki and Masaru Kadotani want to scale Everest in fall, the newspaper reports referring to Tika Ram Gurung, head of the Nepalese expedition operator Bochi-Bochi Trek. In fall 2010, Kuriki had tried to climb Everest solo without bottled oxygen via the rarely used West Ridge. The then 30-year-old said that he had to turn back at about 8,000 meters because of a storm. On his descent, Kuriki sent an emergency call. Sherpas climbed up to him, and the Japanese was flown by rescue helicopter from Camp 2 at 6,400 meters to a hospital in Kathmandu. Kuriki suffered severe frostbite. Nine fingers had to be amputated; only stumps were left. Nevertheless, the Japanese did not want to bury his dream of adventures on eight-thousanders.

In July 2014, Nobukazu claimed to have scaled Broad Peak in Pakistan without breathing mask (look at his summit video below). Actually, Kuriki planned to tackle Mount Everest from the Tibetan north side this fall. But the Chinese authorities put a spoke in his wheel by announcing that they will not give any expedition permit for Tibet before spring 2016.

South Korean Lhotse Expedition

The Icefall Doctors will prepare the route not only for the Japanese. According to Gyanendra Shrestra from the Tourism Ministry, a South Korean team wants to climb Lhotse in fall. Twice in a row, spring season on Mount Everest has been stopped prematurely: In 2014 after the avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall that killed 16 Nepalese climbers, this year after the devastating earthquake in Nepal. The tremors triggered an avalanche, at least 18 people died in Base Camp.