On the six-thousander Panmah Kangri

“My tactic of arriving later in the season didn’t work this time,” Thomas Huber tells me after his return from the Karakoram, adding that it was a “fully mixed” expedition. “It started incredibly well, but unfortunately it didn’t end the same way.” As reported before – the 51-year-old, the older of the two Huber brothers, had left at the beginning of August with 33-year-old South Tyrolean Simon Gietl, 59-year-old German climber Rainer Treppte and French cameraman Yannick Boissenot towards Latok I in order to tackle the 7,145-meter-high mountain via the north side.

Meeting with his brother

“In the beginning everything was in a flow,” reports Thomas. The journey was without any problems, and at the entrance to the Choktoi valley there was a very nice and emotional moment: “We met my brother Alexander and his climbing partner Fabian Buhl, who had experienced a great adventure on Choktoi Ri and were all smiles.” After the meeting with the two climbers, who started their way home, Thomas Huber and Co. pitched up their base camp.

After one week on top of a 6000er

Thomas Huber with Simon Gietl, Rainer Treppte and Yannick Boissenot (from r. to l.)

For acclimatization, the team then climbed the 6,046-meter-high Panmah Kangri. “It was going perfectly. After a week on site, we stood on our first six-thousander, the next stage was Latok III,” says Thomas. “We climbed up to Camp 1 at 5,700 meters and then down again.” Their plan was to climb via the South Pillar to the summit at 6,946 meters. “We calculated three days if everything went well and the conditions were good.”

Three weeks of dense clouds

But it turned out quite differently. The weather changed – and remained bad. “We didn’t see the summit for three weeks,” says Huber. Dense clouds were hanging over the Choktoi Valley, it snowed. Summit attempts were out of question. Once, says Thomas, they climbed up again to Camp 1 on Latok III but returned due to snowfall.

A lot of snow in the wall

North Face of Latok I, on the right the North Ridge

Huber, Gietl, Treppte and Boissenot also explored the approach to the not yet successfully climbed North Face of Latok I, “our actual destination this summer”, as Thomas says. “However, we totally rejected our plan.“ The wall was “snow-covered like in winter”, there was a lot of spindrift. “The Koreans and Russians who had previously attempted the North Face this summer had been injured by avalanches,” says Thomas. “Now I understand why.“

Touch and go!

The risks in the wall were not calculable, that already applied to the access, says Thomas. “The North Face seems invincible. If you go there, you have to say ‚Good-bye life‘ – and then touch and go!” According to Thomas, already the seracs on the way to the access, are “very active. You simply need luck there.“ Their possible alternative goal, the direct route via the North Ridge to the summit, is feasible, says Thomas – but not under the conditions that prevailed at the beginning of September.

Great atmosphere in the team

“We tried everything that was possible and justifiable from a reasonable climbers’s point of view,” Thomas Huber sums up. “More couldn’t be done, we simply have to accept that. It certainly wasn‘t the last time we were in the Choktoi valley. “I just like it over there,“ says Thomas. „We had a good time and a great atmosphere in the team. That’s what I took home with me.”

Climbing into the fog

No photo, no video, no GPS data. It’s not possible to prove clearly where exactly on the seven-thousander Latok I in the Karakoram the two Russian climbers Alexander Gukov and Sergey Glazunov finished their ascent on 23 July. The GPS tracker didn’t work properly. The mini-camera they had used to document the ascent was carried by Sergey when he fell to his death on 25 July. The body of the 26-year-old could not be recovered. Two days before, the two Russians had reached their highest point in the fog. “By 7 pm, Sergey climbed up a small col between a rock and a snowy serac. I was standing ten meters below him. The snow was almost vertical,” Alexander recalls on “mountain.ru”, where an English translation of his statements was published today.

“I did not feel the summit”

The versions of Glazunov and Gukov

„I started shooting the video, commenting that we climbed up somewhere. ‘What do you mean, ‘somewhere’: it’s Latok I, Sanya,” Sergey shouted. ‘Take me,’ I shouted to him. ‘This is unreal(istic), Sanya. Everything is covered with snow mushrooms and vertical slopes here,’ Sergey answered and began to descend.” Was Sergey really standing on the highest point of Latok I at 7,145 meters? He is still in doubts, Gukov admits: “I did not feel the summit, I don’t remember the pre-summit ridge, we did not stand together and hug one another and enjoy ourselves on the summit as I dreamt to,” Alexander writes on “mountain.ru”. “I think that it was the top of the North Ridge or the western ‚summit‘ of Latok I.“

Either on top of North Ridge or main summit, says Gukov

Alexander Gukov (r.) and Sergey Glazunov (l.) before their ascent

I ask the 42-year-old whether he is convinced that he and Sergey really have climbed the North Ridge to its end. “Of course I am sure,” Gukov answers me adding that the only alternative is that – as Sergey assumed – the highest point of their ascent was not the highest point of the North Ridge, but the main summit of Latok I. Actually, Alexander continues on “mountain.ru”, “it does not matter to me whether we climbed this 360m summit ridge or not.“ It was a good climb, writes Gukov, although he and Sergey were together en route for the first time, they harmonized well as a team.

After Glazunov’s fatal fall, Gukov had been trapped on the North Ridge at 6,200 meters for almost a week before being flown out of the wall by a Pakistani rescue helicopter on long line. He was severely dehydrated and suffered from frostbite on his feet. “I am getting better quite fast,” Alexander writes to me from Russia. Get well soon!

Jeff Lowe (1950-2018)

“The climb will go. Get rid of the rope. It’s only distracting you,” Jeff Lowe once said. He was an uncompromising climber. Lowe loved to be alone or in small teams on extreme routes. The American succeeded more than 1,000 first ascents in his climbing career. Jeff was born in 1950 in Ogden, Utah, as the fourth of eight children. When he was four years old, his father took him skiing and two years later climbing. The family was enthusiastic about mountain sports. Aged 14, Jeff climbed his first new route: on Mount Ogden, doing it solo. He was often en route with his brothers Greg and Mike and his cousin George Henry Lowe.

Legendary attempt on Latok I North Ridge

Two of Jeff Lowe’s projects in particular are legendary. In 1978, Jeff and George Henry Lowe together with their compatriots Jim Donini and Thomas R. Engelbach tried to reach the 7,145-meter-high summit of Latok I in the Karakoram in Pakistan via the extremely difficult North Ridge. 150 meters below the highest point they had to turn around in a storm. After more than three weeks in the wall, they returned exhausted, but safely from the mountain. More than 30 attempts to complete exactly this route to the summit have since failed. As reported, the Slovenians Ales Cesen and Luka Strazar and the Briton Tom Livingstone after all reached the summit of Latok I for the first time over the north side on 9 August. However, the trio had deviated from the North Ridge in the upper part of the mountain.

Spectacular route via Eiger North Face

Jeff Lowes legendary route “Metanoia”

No less spectacular was Jeff Lowe’s legendary route “Metanoia” through the north face of the Eiger. In a life crisis Jeff had come to Switzerland in the winter of 1991 and had opened the extreme Eiger route in nine days – solo and without using bolts. It was not until the end of 2016 that the German Thomas Huber and the two Swiss Stephan Siegrist and Roger Schaeli succeeded in repeating the route for the first time. “We were three, Jeff was alone then. During every pitch, that I led, I tried to imagine how it was for him climbing alone. He must have been totally stressed. But he did it!,” Thomas wondered afterwards. “I have left the route with a great deal of awe.”

Incurable illness

In recent years Jeff Lowe had been bound to a wheelchair and needed care. He suffered from a rare, still incurable illness, with similar symptoms like MS or ALS. When, in 2017, Lowe was awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the Mountaineers”, for his lifetime climbing achievements, he was no more able to collect the trophy personally.

R.I.P.

“I will miss him beyond measure and yet I am glad that he is free of his physical body and all the pain and suffering he has endured for many years,” Jeff’s partner Connie Self, who cared for him for the past eight years, wrote on Facebook. Jeff Lowe died at the age of 67 years.

Luka Strazar, Tom Livingstone, Ales Cesen (from l. to r.)

It is one of this year’s most spectacular successes on the highest mountains in the world: The two Slovenians Ales Cesen (36 years old) and Luka Strazar (29) and the British Tom Livingstone (27) managed the only second ascent of the 7,145-meter-high, extremely difficult Latok I in the Karakoram – the first ascent from the north side at all. Since the legendary first attempt in 1978 by the Americans Jeff and George Henry Lowe, Michael Kennedy and Jim Donini via the North Ridge, who were forced back by a storm about 150 meters below the summit, this task had been a too hard nut to crack for about 30 expeditions. ”The ridge itself remains a challenge for the future,” said Tom Livingstone modestly in an interview with the British Mountaineering Council (BMC).

Deviated from the North Ridge

The route of the successful trio

In the upper part of the mountain the trio left the North Ridge, climbed over an ice field to the right towards the West Col and then crossed to the left through the North Face to the highest point. “Our priority was climbing the mountain from the north side, doing that via the ridge was the second priority,” Tom said. For safety reasons, they decided to deviate from the route via the ridge. Livingstone recalled in this context the fatal fall of Russian climber Sergey Glazunov while abseiling from the upper part of the North Ridge and the subsequent helicopter rescue of his team mate Alexander Gukov. The trio had followed the drama of the two Russians during their acclimatization phase.

“Scottish conditions” at the summit

Strazar in the middle part of the North Ridge

Tom reported on consistently poor bivouac sites on small ledges in the snow: “We didn’t sleep much over six nights on the mountain. In terms of difficulty it wasn’t super-hard but the length of the route, the altitude and the sleeplessness made it feel very strenuous.” According to Livingstone’s words, there were “Scottish conditions” at the highest point of Latok I: very snowy with poor visibility. “There was no enthusiastic celebration at the summit, because we knew that we had only managed the half way,” expedition leader Ales Cesen reported in an interview with the broadcaster RTV Slovnija. “Only when we were back on the glacier below the wall, we shouted with joy and hugged.”

“More than just well done”

Luka just before the point where the route bends off the north ridge

German top climber Alexander Huber – who was tackling at the same time together with his 27-year-old compatriot Fabian Buhl the South Buttress of the 6166-meter-high Choktoi Ri, located near Latok I (both want to report their experiences shortly) – bows to Cesen’s, Strazar’s and Livingstone’s performance. “More than just well done,” the 49-year-old commented on the success on Instagram.

His older brother Thomas Huber (51) was at the time of the coup by the Slovenian-British trio with his climbing partners Rainer Treppte (59), South Tyrolean Simon Gietl and French cameraman Yannick Boissenot still on their way to Latok I. Their destination too: the northern side of the seven-thousander. Before their departure, Thomas had left open to me whether they wanted to tackle the North Ridge or the also still unclimbed North Face.

P.S.: Because of my vacation, which has meanwhile unfortunately ended, this report comes a few days later than you are used to from me.

Thomas Huber, Rainer Treppte and Simon Gietl (from l. to r.)

Thomas Huber is sitting on packed expedition barrels. “I’m really looking forward to the expedition,” says the 51-year-old. The older of the two Huber brothers is leaving for Pakistan this Saturday. Thomas wants to tackle the northern side of the 7,145-meter-high Latok I – together with 33-year-old South Tyrolean Simon Gietl and climbing old hand Rainer Treppte, aged 59, who comes from Saxony and has been living in the Allgäu region for a long time. “I have already climbed with them,” says Huber about his two climbing partners. Last spring, the trio succeeded in repeating for the first time the difficult “La Strada” route on the Cima Grande in the Dolomites, which the Poles Piotr Edelman and Jan Fialkowski had mastered for the first time in 1988. “We harmonize very well as a team, and we have every chance to tackle such a goal as Latok I,” says Thomas Huber. I also talked to him about the drama on this seven-thousander in the Karakoram that had kept us in suspense for days.

Thomas, yesterday we got the relieving message that the Russian climber Alexander Gukov was rescued from the North Ridge of Latok I. How did you experience this dramatic story?

Gukov rescued – after 19 days on the mountain

I checked “mountain.ru” every day to see what happened. I was hoping for good weather and studied the weather forecasts. My thoughts were always with Alexander Gukov on the North Ridge. Of course, it’s a very special feeling when you know that you will soon be on this mountain yourself. You just hope it ends well. But we should not forget the tragic death of Sergey Glazunov, who fell to his death while abseiling.

Things like that are never easy if you burn for a mountain. And for me, Latok is a very special mountain. My career on the very high mountains began with the first ascent of the Latok II West face in 1997 (together with his brother Alexander Huber, Toni Gutsch and the American Conrad Anker). And 21 years later I travel to Latok I – to a mountain where an incredible drama has just happened.

North Face of Latok I, on the right the North Ridge

Is that why you travel there with mixed feelings?

It’s not that easy. However, I am relieved at the moment that all the energy put into the rescue was finally rewarded and that Alexander could be brought alive and safe from the mountain. I think it was a salvation for him. I am glad that if everything goes well, we will pitch up our tents on the Choktoi Glacier only after another two and a half weeks. So some time will have passed, in which everything can calm down a bit.

Why do you set off so late in the season?

I believe it’s better to go later because of global warming. I think the mountain will be safer then. After all I read about the Russians and the Slovenes, it was extremely warm on Latok I in July and therefore also extremely dangerous. Alexander Gukov and Sergey Glazunov have nevertheless ascended. I don’t think the conditions were optimal.

I have to say, however, that I didn’t search information on these expeditions intensively. I rather went climbing. I wanted to get out of what was happening on Latok I because I felt the competitive situation. I am glad that I was not on the mountain at the same time, because definitely all decisions can no longer be made objectively when other expeditions are on the same mountain, on the same route, with the same goal. I look forward to us being alone on the mountain. We will seize our chance or even realize that it is too dangerous. We’ll try everything, of course. I enjoy taking up challenges that seem impossible. But I will also accept if the risk is incalculable. Then I’ll say: Okay, it doesn’t have to be.

Thomas sets out again

Have you already decided whether you want to try the North Face or the North Ridge?

No. I have a goal, an idea. But the mountain will always show you something new. The conditions and the weather will show you exactly the only way that is possible for you. The whole north side is so complex and so difficult. We’ll see.

This is your third trip to Latok I in four years after 2015 and 2016. Did you sink your teeth into this mountain?

I’ve never done this before, I’m not sinking my teeth into any mountain. But I have never really failed on Latok I, because it has always gone wrong in advance. I haven’t yet hit my ice tool a single time on Latok I. If I get a chance to make a serious attempt and Latok I shows me that it is too difficult for me, I will have made peace with this mountain.

Alexander in the rescue helicopter

Good news from the Karakoram: Alexander Gukov is saved. The 42-year-old Russian climber had been trapped for almost a week on the North Ridge of the seven-thousander Latok I at 6,200 meters, without food or equipment. With finally good visibility, but strong wind, Pakistani helicopter pilots managed to get Alexander off the mountain on a long line. Two helicopters were in action.

Flown to hospital in Skardu

After the pilots had discovered Gukov’s orange snow-covered tent on a small ledge, they tried to lower the lifeline to the climber. After 15 minutes Alexander managed to grab the line and latch on. He forgot, however, to remove his anchor to the mountain. Fortunately, the anchor gave way after a while. Gukov was first flown to the base camp and, after supplying him there first aid – to the military hospital in the northern Pakistan city of Skardu. In the past few days, the rescue helicopters had taken off a total of seven times, but had had repeatedly to return empty-handed due to thick clouds on the mountain.

Frostbite on his feet

Rescue near the North Ridge

Gukov seems to be doing as well as can be expected. He has frostbite on his feet and a slight injury to his chest due to transport with the lifeline, reports mountain.ru, citing the doctors in Skardu. Besides, Alexander is severely dehydrated. “I was about to hallucinate,” Gukov is quoted. “Avalanches went down day and night. I thought they wouldn’t rescue me anymore. I had no more strength to dig my feet out of the snow. I just lay there.”

Gukov had been on the mountain for 19 days. As reported, his 26-year-old rope partner Sergey Glazunov fell to his death on Tuesday last week while abseiling. The two Russians had tried to climb the North Ridge of Latok I up to the 7,145-meter-high summit for the first time. Apparently they turned back at an altitude of almost 7,000 meters.

First aid in BC

Since the legendary first attempt in 1978 by the Americans Jeff and George Henry Lowe, Michael Kennedy and Jim Donini, who were forced back by a storm about 150 meters below the summit, around 30 attempts to master the route failed.

In 2015, Gukov was awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the Climbers”, together with his compatriot Aleksei Lonchinsky for their new route via the South Face of the 6618-metre-high Thamserku in Nepal.

P.S.: Thanks to Anna Piunova from mountain.ru for the first hand information during the past days.

Russian specialists on their way

Gukov’s position on the North Ridge of Latok I (see arrow)

With the Slovenians Ales Cesen and Luka Strazar as well as the British Tom Livingstone, three other top climbers have arrived at Latok I base camp. The option of taking Gukov off the mountain by using a long line from the helicopter or at least supplying him with food and material still appears to be the most promising. It’d have to clear up for a while, though. Meanwhile, a Russian helicopter crew has set off for Pakistan, that has a great deal of experience with long line rescues. The two Russians are to support the Pakistani rescue forces.

No contact since Saturday

Because the battery of Gukov’s satellite phone has been exhausted since Saturday, there is no longer any contact with the climber. Alexander has been on the mountain for 18 days now. As reported, his 26-year-old rope partner Sergey Glazunov fell to his death on Tuesday last week while abseiling. The two Russians had tried to climb the North Ridge of Latok I up to the 7,145-meter-high summit for the first time. Apparently they turned back at an altitude of almost 7,000 meters. Since the legendary first attempt in 1978 by the Americans Jeff and George Henry Lowe, Michael Kennedy and Jim Donini, who were forced back by a storm about 150 meters below the summit, around 30 attempts to master the route failed.

Alexander Gukov (in 2014)

Alexander Gukov must persevere. This Friday, dense clouds covered the 7,145-meter-high Latok I in the Karakoram in Pakistan. The helicopter of the Pakistan army, with which the 42-year-old Russian mountaineer is to be rescued from the North Ridge, stayed on the ground. As reported yesterday, Gukov is trapped at 6,200 meters without equipment, his rope partner Sergey Glazunov had fallen to his death while abseiling. “Damn! Where do all the avalanches come from? I can’t even boil water,” Alexander wrote to Anna Piunova from mountain.ru by SMS today. Later he sounded a little more optimistic: “I managed to find half a Snicker and also drink some water.” His food supplies have run out after more than two weeks on the mountain.

Several options

Gukovs position where he’s waiting for help

It is not yet clear how to rescue Gukov. There are several options. The rescuers could try to get him off the mountain with a long rope from the helicopter. Or they supply Alexander from the air with food and equipment so that he can continue his descent on his own. Another possibility would be that other climbers move towards him on the ridge. The Italian Herve Barmasse and the German David Göttler, currently in the base camp of the almost eight-thousander Gasherbrum IV, have offered their help, but have not yet been able to get to Latok I. “Bad weather continues. No chance to fly to Latok I,” Herve wrote on Instagram. According to the weather forecast, a small window might open on Saturday morning. However, the weather is not expected to improve significantly until Sunday.

Update 28 July: Also today on Saturday no rescue flight was possible due to clouds on the mountain. The battery of Alexander Gukov‘s satellite phone is now empty, so that he can no longer send SMS from his position at 6,200 m on the North Ridge. – But there is a light at the end of the tunnel: “Weather has improved, sky is already visible here and there, but the mountain is still in clouds. Things are looking good for the morning,” reports Viktor Koval from Latok I base camp.

The weather on Sunday

Update 29. July: Again nothing. During the night from Saturday to Sunday 20 centimeters of fresh snow fell. Latok I remained in clouds. Only in the afternoon the rescue helicopter was able to take off. Apparently the pilots had no visual contact with Alexander Gukov. “Today the helicopters will no longer fly. I hope Sasha heard us. And he hears that we haven’t left him, haven’t forgotten him. We do everything possible, even in bad weather. Tomorrow it is predicted to be clear from morning to evening. Help us, Lord,” wrote Anna Piunova afterwards on mountain.ru.

Gukov’s position on the North Ridge of Latok I (see arrow)

Fingers crossed for Alexander Gukov! According to Anna Piunova from the website mountain.ru, the 42-year-old Russian climber is trapped at 6,200 meters on the North Ridge of the 7145-meter-high Latok I in the Karakoram. Gukov made an emergency call on Wednesday:  “I need help. I need to be evacuated. I’m hanging in the wall without equipment.” His 26-year-old climbing partner Sergey Glazunov fell to his death while abseiling, said Alexander.

Longline rescue?

Apparently, the two climbers had turned around on Tuesday at an altitude of almost 7,000 meters. Due to bad weather with rain and snowfall, a rescue helicopter of the Pakistan army has not yet been able to take off.  The rescuers want to get Gukov off the mountain by using a long line. Some climbers have offered to participate in the rescue operation – including Italian Herve Barmasse and German David Göttler, who want to tackle the Southwest Face of the 7,925-meter-high Gasherbrum IV this summer. They would have to be flown by helicopter to Latok I.

Two week on the mountain

Alexander Gukov (l., in 2014 with Aleksei Lonchinsky)

On 12 July, Gukov and Glazunov had set off to climb the North Ridge for the first time up to the summit. This goal has been so far a too hard nut to crack for many top climbers from all over the world. Since the legendary first attempt in 1978 by the Americans Jeff and George Henry Lowe, Michael Kennedy and Jim Donini, who were forced back by a storm about 150 meters below the summit, about 30 attempts to master the route failed. Gukov is well known in the climbing scene. In 2015, he was awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the Climbers”, together with his compatriot Aleksei Lonchinsky for their new route via the South Face of the 6618-metre-high Thamserku in Nepal.

With broken bones back from the North Face

Other members of the Russian Latok I expedition had tried to climb the North Face. They were forced back by rock fall. “(We) descended to Base Camp alive, but helmet, rib and bones are broken,” Victor Koval reported to Russia. “Finally, an avalanche hit us.” A Slovenian expedition is also on site to tackle the North Face. The two German climbers Thomas Huber (the older of the Huber brothers – the younger, Alexander Huber, is currently with Fabian Buhl en route on the 6,166-meter-high Choktoi Ri, in the Karakoram too) and Rainer Treppte as well as the South Tyrolean Simon Gietl have their bags packed. Their destination: the North Face of Latok I.

Update 27. Juli, 11 am: Alexander Gukov has contacted Anna again: “Damn! Where do all the avalanches come from? I can’t even boil water.” Meanwhile, it is being considered to supply the climber with equipment from the helicopter. It is possible that Alexander would then be able to descend on his own.

Thomas Huber at the ISPO

Thomas Huber radiates pure joie de vivre. “I’m doing well, more than in a long time,” says the 50-year-old German top climber, as we meet at the ISPO sporting goods trade fair in Munich. On 30 December, the older of the two Huber brothers had provided another highlight of his career: Along with the Swiss climbers Stephan Siegrist and Roger Schaeli, Thomas succeeded the second ascent of the legendary route “Metanoia” in the centre of the Eiger North Face: “How can a year end better? I have just taken this flow with me,” enthuses Huber.

“Wow, it’s okay!”

Jeff Lowes legendary route “Metanoia”

2016 was an extreme year for him. First the 16-meter-fall from a rock face in the Berchtesgaden region in Bavaria, which he survived with incredible luck; then the almost miraculous turbo recovery from the scull fracture he had suffered; the journey to Pakistan to climb the North Face of the seven-thousander Latok I; the unsuccessful rescue action for the US climbers Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson at the nearby Ogre II; then the veto of his companions against an attempt on Latok I. “These were all difficult moments, which I had to work up mentally,” Thomas admits. “I have accepted my fall, and that I had made a mistake there. I have also reflected that I simply need to be more conscious. Maybe I too – like Jeff Lowe – have become a new person through climbing Metanoia, because I can say now: Wow, it’s all right. I am strong. We had so much fun, although we were pretty close to the limit.”

Rare illness

For 25 years, the extreme route that Jeff Lowe had opened in winter 1991, climbing solo, without bolts, had been a too hard nut to crack for many climbers. The American had come to the Eiger North Face in a life crisis. “I’m not sure that he really wanted to return home,” says Roger Schaeli in the video on the second ascent.

Not for nothing, Lowe called his route “Metanoia”, which means “repentance”. Today, the climbing pioneer, who has made more than 1000 first ascents in his career, is sitting in a wheelchair. The 66-year-old suffers from a rare, still incurable illness, with similar symptoms like MS or ALS. Thomas Huber had visited Jeff Lowe before his expedition to Latok I. In 1978, Lowe had belonged to a rope team of four, who had climbed via the North Ridge of Latok I to a point not far below the 7,145-meter-high summit, when a storm had hit them back. 22 days after setting off, the quartet had returned to the base camp, completely exhausted, but safe.

Awe and gratitude

Huber, Schaeli and Siegrist (from l. to r.)

“I met Jeff and saw him confined to his wheelchair,” says Thomas. “I realized at once that I would like to repeat his route Metanoia. I wanted to roll out a red carpet to tell him: Hey, guy, what you did at that time was a doozie!” After the many failed attempts to repeat it, Lowe’s Route had become a “mystery”, says Thomas. “At some point everybody said: Metanoia, crazy, strange.” The American had spent nine days in the wall. In their second run, Huber, Siegrist and Schaeli needed two days to repeat the route. “We were three, Jeff was alone then. During every pitch, that I led, I tried to imagine how it was for him climbing alone. He must have been totally stressed. But he did it!” Thomas wonders. “I have left the route with a great deal of awe – and also gratitude: that I am still living.”

Kyle Dempster (l.) and Scott Adamson

Thomas Huber‘s new Karakoram adventure began with a rescue mission. The German top climber’s exact local knowledge on the Ogre (also called Baintha Brakk) was in demand. About a week ago (I report on it only now because I was on holiday in the Alps at that time) the 49-year-old was picked up by a Pakistani rescue helicopter to search along with the crew for the missing Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson. In vain. No sign of the Americans. In the end the search was canceled because there was no more hope of finding them alive.

Crowd funding on the Internet

The Pakistani expedition cook of the two Americans had seem them from Base Camp for the last time on August 22: About halfway up the still unclimbed North Face of the 6960-meter- high Ogre II. Then the weather changed, storm and heavy snowfall began. When there was still no sign of life from Dempster and Adamson even after days, families and friends of both started a crowd funding on the Internet to finance the helicopter rescue. Within days, they collected the required sum of nearly $ 200,000.

Two-time Piolet d’Or winner

Latok group and Ogre (r.)

Kyle and Scott had tackled the North Face already in 2015, then Adamson had broken his leg just below the summit ridge. With luck, both had survived the descent. Dempster and Adamson were well-known members of the international top climbing scene. The 34-year-old Adamson had succeded some first ascents in Nepal and Alaska. The 33-year-old Dempster loved the Karakoram, a “pretty mind blowing place”, as he once said. Kyle had been awarded twice the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar for mountaineers“: in 2010 (along with Bruce Normand and Jed Brown) for the first ascent of the North Face of the 6422-meter-high Xuelian West in China – and then in 2013 (along with Hayden Kennedy and Josh Wharton) for a new route on the southeast side of the Ogre I. In the previous year the trio had succeeded the only third ascent of the 7285-meter-high granite giant in Karakorum. The legendary first ascent of Ogre had been done by the British Doug Scott and Chris Bonington in 1977. Then it took 24 years until Thomas Huber along with the Swiss Iwan Wolf and Urs Stoecker reached the summit for the second time. Almost three weeks earlier they had already succeeded the first ascent of the 6,800-meter-high Ogre III.

Huber’s destination: Latok I

Thomas at Latok I in 2015

So Thomas Huber is familiar with this mountain massif. But even with his support the search for Dempster and Adamson remained unsuccessful. This fall, Thomas and his German climbing partners Toni Gutsch and Sebastian Brutscher are tackling the north side of the 7145-meter-high Latok I which is located not far from the Ogre. Neither the North Face nor the North Ridge have so far been climbed up to the highest point. “I have also the courage to say no at any moment,” the older of the Huber brothers told me before his departure to Pakistan. “If I feel that it doesn’t work physically, I’ll say no.” Thomas had survived a 16-meter fall from a rock face in the Berchtesgaden region on July 5 – “with incredible luck,” as he himself acknowledged. The two US climbers on the Ogre sadly were not favored by such a fortune.

Thomas Huber will set off again

Incredible – that describes Thomas Huber’s current life quite aptly. No wonder that the 49-year-old German top climber uses this word very often when we talk on the phone. Thomas was, as he himself says, “incredibly lucky” when he survived his 16-meter-fall from a rock face on 5 July. He recovered so “incredibly fast” that he – as initially planned before his fall – will shortly go “with incredible joy” on expedition to Pakistan. Truly incredible! The aim of the travel is the north side of the 7,145-meter-high granite giant Latok I in the Karakoram. Huber’s team includes Toni Gutsch – who, in 1997, first climbed the West Face of Latok II (7108 m) along with the Huber brothers and US climber Conrad Anker – and Sebastian Brutscher.

Legendary failure

The German trio will share their Base Camp with the Americans George Henry Lowe, Jim Donini and Thomas R. Engelbach who want to climb a bit on the six-thousanders in this area. Lowe and Donini, both now older than 70, made history on Latok I in 1978: Along with George’s cousin Jeff Lowe and Michael Kennedy, they opened the route via the Latok I North Ridge. 150 meters below the summit they had to turn back in a storm. “The most remarkable failure in alpine history”, Thomas Huber says appreciately. The four US climbers spend 26 (!) days in a row on the ridge before they returned completely exhausted, but safely to Base Camp.

Thomas during hypoxia training

Thomas, you’ll leave shortly to Pakistan, only a few weeks after your 16-meter-fall and surgery on your head? How can that work?

It was a skull fracture, which was fixed so that I could expect no permanent damage. We then made some medical tests, working with neurologists. I prepared myself for high altitude with a special program by Markus Goebel. By reducing oxygen you can thereby simulate altitudes of up to 6,000 meters. We have repeatedly measured the brainwaves and made MRIs. The result: It had no effect on my brain, no edema have developed. The doctors have given me a so-called “self-reliant release.” They said: “Thomas, in the end it’s up to you to decide it.” I have prepared step by step for this moment. Actually I haven’t been thinking of the expedition, I simply wanted to recover. With the energy that I have received from outside, from my personal environment, I recovered so incredibly fast that I now have the courage to start this expedition. I say yes to this expedition. But nobody has to worry about me. I have also the courage to say no at any moment. If I feel that it doesn’t work physically, I’ll say no.

You meanwhile did some climbs again. How did it feel?

Still a bit shaky. The three (broken) spinous processes of vertebrae have still not grown together optimally. I have to be patient. But I am already able again to carry a backpack. I climbed along with my son through the Watzmann East Face, via the “Wiederroute” up to the central summit. I also did a lot of mountain running. I can do all this without pain, without vertigo, without headache. Only the asymmetric strain of my back while climbing is still a bit painful from time to time.

Has the inner cinema started when you climbed, in the sense that you remembered your fall?

Only once for a short time. There is an automatic role in our climbing hall. After you have climbed up, you sit down in a loose strap and are moved back down to the floor. There I hesitated for a short moment. I looked down, 15 meters, exactly the height I had fallen down. First I climbed back. My daughter was with me and said: “Next time you sit down!” I did, and it was fine. If I am belayed, I have no problems. The fall happened because the rope was a non-standard one, it had been cut off. I was incredibly lucky and I gratefully accepted it. Therefore I have no nightmares or inner cinema in the sense that I would think: “Oh God, what happened?” I am grateful and happy that I am still alive and can look forward. For me this now means going to Latok I. I am still far from thinking of a summit success. Maybe I’ll reach the top, maybe not.

The North Face of Latok I

Actually the mountaineering season in the Karakoram is coming to an end. Why are you so late?

The Latok I North Face gets a lot of sunshine, because it also has an east component. From 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. there is constantly sun. Therefore we decided to go in fall, when the sun is much lower. Only when the wall is in the shadow, you have a chance to climb through it. Otherwise it’s impossible. I have looked at the weather information. There is also acceptable weather in fall, and it’s just colder.

You have now spoken about the North Face, earlier reports said you wanted to complete the route via the North Ridge. What exactly are you planning to do?

There is always far too much talk in advance. You have to face the wall, and then you take exactly the way that seems to you the coolest and best. Perhaps the North face is possible, maybe the North Ridge is the only possible way in this time of the year and in these conditions. You always have to be flexible. If you focus too much on a single goal on such a mountain, leaving no alternatives, you will most likely come back without summit success. On such mountains you may have a plan, but then you have to look for new ways, because the conditions are constantly changing.

Thomas at Latok I in 2015

Regardless of whether the North Face or the North Ridge of Latok I, both were too hard nuts to crack for dozens of expeditions. Is it possible at all to speak about a chance of success on the north side of this mountain?

No, you can’t. But in mountaineering it’s itching to go where many have failed before. That’s why I back then went to the Ogre, an incredible mountain. (In 2001, Thomas succeeded, along with Swiss climbers Urs Stoecker and Iwan Wolf, the second ascent of the 7,285 meter-high-mountain in the Karakoram). Similarly, I see the Latok I North Face. This is a very nice goal. Perhaps inspired by the fact that so many did not make it, you think you climb it first due to your experience, your skills, maybe your luck. That’s enormously attractive.

Do you think that you’ll now, after your fall, enjoy even more to be on the road, regardless of whether you’ll be successful or not?

I’ll travel there with incredible joy. It is a tremendous gift. Whether I get to the top of Latok I or not, the very fact to be under way now at that place is beyond all description. I take this joy and energy with me. Sometimes you have to leave behind the high expectations and say: “Now I no longer think of what I want to achieve, I just go on my journey and engage in the project.” I have a wonderful team. And I believe that if this energy is setting up a dynamic process you can do crazy and great things. But even if I return home without summit success, I will do it with a laughing heart, because I may be healthy again – and wild.

Thomas Huber (in 2014)

Approximately 1.8 seconds. That was the time it took when Thomas Huber fell 16 meters deep from a rock face on the Brendlberg in the Berchtesgaden region in Bavaria – now two weeks ago. As previously reported, the 49-year-old German top climber, the older of the two Huber brothers, landed on soft forest floor. As it turned out later, Thomas suffered a skull fracture and had to undergo surgery immediately. The doctor’s reassuring prognosis afterwards: no permanent damage. Meanwhile, Thomas has left the hospital and is recovering at home. I have phoned him.

Thomas, first things first: How are you?

I’m doing very well. I am aware of the immense luck that I had. I received it gratefully. I don’t look back what could have happened, I’m just happy that it happened the way it happened. Of course, it would have been better if I had avoided it and the accident had not even happened. But that’s what’s happening in climbing. I felt totally safe in my routine, and that’s often where the devil is in.

The rock face on the Brendlberg

Are all your injuries curable?

It’s like a miracle that nothing more happened to me. That’s what the surgeons have told me too. After all, I fell 16 meters deep, we have measured it. All my injuries are curable. And it seems I’ll be 100 percent fit in the near future.

16 meters, that’s as high as one and a half single-family houses. Have you still thought anything during your fall or was it just pure instinct?

All was instinct. You do no longer think but only act. At every second I was fully conscious and obviously I have instinctively done everything right. But I was no longer able to control it. It happened so quickly and it was so surprising. You are then no longer in reality, it is like being on a second level, where only your body reacts and makes you survive in the end. I had 1,000 guardian angels. I’m sure there was anything that has made me survive. Otherwise I would not have been able to get back on my feet afterwards and walk down the mountain without help. I’ve not a single bruise. I have suffered only the skull fracture, a dislocated finger and a few broken spinous processes of vertebrae that had scraped over the rock.

Thomas after the surgery

You have probably abseiled already ten thousands of times in your life. One wonders how this incident could happen to you at all? Was it just a short moment lack of concentration?

No, the routine was to blame. When you are climbing a wall for the first time, it is frightening, not only on El Capitan, but also on Brendlberg, even though this wall is only 70 meters high but very steep, very alpine. I have been constantly climbing there in the last two months and have opened several routes. The wall has become for me a kind of a living room, I felt totally comfortable there. It was my second home, my summer job before the expedition. We filmed in the route “Watzmannflimmern”, which is a (difficulty) 9+. I wanted to fix a rope for the cameramen. When I had trained in the route that I finally climbed during the preceding months, I had always used a 60-meter rope. It was long enough to get to the ledge, five meters were still left then. But the rope, I used now, belonged to a friend. I did not know that it was cut off.
I abseil and remove three quickdraws from the first pitch of a neighboring route. Everything is good, I abseil to the ledge. And – tamm! – I fall. I was really fully concentrated. It was another story that was responsible, just the full routine that everything had always gone well during the previous months. Just like a master carpenter who, after 10,000 cuts with a circular saw, cuts off his finger.

Going to climb on

It was very close, you have cheated death. Do you ask yourself: Do I continue as before?

If you are not able to deal with a story, you really have to ask this question. But if you are aware of this immense luck you had and if you are grateful that you are staying alive, then you can continue to go the mountains. You simply always have to be aware of what you are doing. The most dangerous thing is when you think you have everything under control. I have learned from my accident: Actually you must not rely on anyone or anything except on yourself. Put on your harness and check that the buckle is closed! Even if it is routine, look always at it, as a backup! Even though I have abseiled there for the 20th time, a new rope means just a new situation. Michael Schumacher (the Formula 1 record world champion had a serious ski accident in 2013)  has not fallen so deep as I did, and alas he is not well. Others fall half a meter deep and may be dead. I just say: Thanks, thanks, for staying alive.

Initially you had planned to travel along with some friends to the seven-thousander Latok I in Pakistan to tackle the legendary North Ridge route. Of course, this plan is out-of-date now. What will you do now?

Actually, I don’t want to talk about it now. I’m under medical treatment. I just had a first EEG, which was very positive. Now let’s see that I recover and get perfectly healthy again. Too often, people make the big mistake to look too far into the future. I look at the present. And I am just happy now and grateful that I am still living.

Thomas Huber

“Contrary to all the reports: I am okay,” Thomas Huber writes on Facebook. “I had 1000 guardian angels.” According to the website bgland24.de, the 49-year-old German top climber fell 20 meters deep from a rock wall on the Brendlberg in the Berchtesgaden region in Bavaria, when he was preparing for filming on Tuesday. Thomas meanwhile said it was a 12-meter-fall. He had opened a new route in the wall in late May. The climber was taken to the hospital of the town of Traunstein. Thomas is said to have suffered a fracture of the skull in the fall. Reportedly he was immediately operated for a blood clot.

Latok I climb has to be postponed

The rock face on the Brendlberg

Thomas had actually planned to fly to Pakistan in August along with Toni Gutsch and Sebastian Brutscher. Their goal: the completion of the route via the North Ridge of the 7,145-meter-high Latok I in the Karakoram. Since the legendary first attempt in 1978 by the Americans Jeff and George Henry Lowe, Michael Kennedy and Jim Donini, who were forced back by a storm about 150 meters below the summit, more than 20 attempts to master the route have failed. In June Thomas had visited these climbing pioneers in the United States.

This plan of the older of the two Huber brothers (Alexander is just on expedition in Greenland) has to be buried in the files again for a while. Now it is important that he will recover completely. Thomas, get well soon, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you get quickly back on your feet!

Thomas Huber on Choktoi Glacier, behind him the North Face of Latok I (l.) and Ogre (r.)

It was a hot, but from the climbers’ perspective a meager summer in the Karakoram: Most expeditions left Pakistan without summit successes. The German “Huberbuam” Thomas and Alexander, the Swiss Dani Arnold and the Austrian Mario Walder also returned empty-handed, but alive and “in one piece” – which was not a matter of course considering their experiences at the Latok group. Thomas, aged 48, the elder of the Huber brothers, told me the story.

Thomas, this summer you actually wanted to tackle the North Face of the 7,145-meter-high Latok I which has not yet been climbed. This did not happen. Why?

We have seen the North Face only from afar. We realized pretty soon that is was impossible to climb the wall under these conditions. It would have been possible to tackle the North Ridge. But this did not happen too, because another mountain battered us so that we lost our motivation and courage to push ourselves to the absolute limit again.

Latok III (arrow shows the pillar and the huge serac above)

Which mountain did batter you this way?

It started with the fact that there was a lot of snow in the Karakoram. We had about one and a half meters fresh snow in our Base Camp. At the same time it was very, very warm. This led to wet snow avalanches. We tried in vain to climb a 6000-meter-high mountain that we had chosen to acclimatize. We then switched to Latok III to acclimatize for Latok I. Latok III is nearly 7,000 meters high. We wanted to take a safe route via the south pillar. At night in Camp 1 at 5600 meters, we were surprised by an ice avalanche. Although it hit the ground 500 meters from our tents, the blast wave literally blew us in our tents from our campground. We stopped just before the abyss. We all were ashen-faced. Dani Arnold, who has already experienced a lot, said that never before in his life it had been so close. We then digged our tents one meter deep into the snow and fixed them. During the night, three more ice avalanches came down from the serac. In the morning, we saw the huge avalanche cone below our tents and only said: “We descend. Let’s get out of here!” We lost a backpack with crampons and all the other staff. So we were also forced to continue our descent.

Nevertheless you have already experienced many dangerous situations such as this. Why did this impress you so much?

We have already experienced a lot, but we’ve never before been so much in the hands of fate. That was a new experience in our lives as climbers.

On the left, the serac from where the ice avalanches came down

Did all four climbers feel like this?

Yes. We sat in the Base Camp and talked about what had happened. We were glad that we had survived. But then there were also discussions. As the temperatures were not decreasing but the weather was incredible good, I said: “We should dig ice caves for our tents and always climb at night. Then we might have a chance to climb Latok III.” But Alexander, Dani and Mario opposed. It was clear that I had to accept the team’s decision.

Then we tried a second time to climb the mountain that we had chosen for acclimatizing before, but failed again, because it was just too hot. I proposed to bring the material down and move to the North Ridge of Latok I because I thought it was safer. This was rejected again. At the end the weather forecast was so bad that we finished our expedition two weeks earlier than initially scheduled. I climbed alone to Camp 1 on Latok III to recover our material. Alexander, Dani and Mario could warm their climbing hearts with a summit. At the third attempt they were able to scale the 6000-meter-high mountain that was probably still unclimbed. They named it Panmah Kangri.

Latok I

Had you already written off Latok I when you experienced the ice avalanche on Latok III?

We realized at a very early stage early that it was impossible to climb the North Face of Latok I. We also talked to the Slovenians with Luka (Lindic – The Slovenians also quit their project to climb the wall). They called it the “Suicide Line”. It would have been like joining a death squad to climb one the two possible lines through the wall. We are climbers because we love life and not because we want to be dead heroes. In my opinion, the North Ridge would have been feasible because it is later illuminated by the sun. But there was a 3: 1 team decision against me. I was a bit unhappy, but in the end also grateful and happy that we survived. We have returned as friends, and that was okay.

Have you now given up the project Latok I North Face?

In this style, definitely. But you can not forget this wall. If you’ve ever stood below it, you, as a climber, are thinking: How can I make the impossible possible? I have some ideas about it, but I still have to think about it a bit longer. Never say never! Maybe I will go back there again.

Survived!

Alexander has three children, you too. Does that hold you back in extreme situations like now on Latok III?

I’m a family man for already a long time, so I can not say that it has the effect to hold me back generally. I know this situation for 16 years. I don’t think about my family any more when everything is going well on the mountain. But they are in my mind again when the danger lies directly in front of me. I definitely believe that in this case I decide, because of my children, with a more positive approach to life, rather than simply saying: “Go on! It’ll be all right!” I think, I start saying no earlier now. But if something happens like on Latok III, I can assess this very rationally afterwards. Seracs can just collapse. Whenever you go to the mountains or anywhere else, life itself is life-threatening. But I think, if you are really aware of the danger, you can handle even extreme situations in a safe way.

The entire team

Last year, you cancelled your Latok I expedition shortly before departure – due to the uncertain situation in Pakistan. How did you experience the country this time?

I have experienced Pakistan in a very nice way, not to say in a completely unspectacular way. Sure, you have to get used to the armed police. On every street corner, someone is standing with a Kalashnikov. But we were always safe, even driving twice over the Karakorum Highway. Actually, I can only recommend to anyone who has a good travel agency: Go to Pakistan! It’s an incredibly beautiful travel destination, especially in the Karakoram. For me it’s one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Unfortunately, the media often wrongly call Pakistan a terrorist country. In the meantime there is terror all over the world. You have to act correctly, choose the right place and the right route. Then you can travel in Pakistan in very safe way.

Without a queasy feeling?

I hadn’t this feeling this time. And I’m sure that I won’t have it the next time. I think the Pakistani military does a very good job and has the situation more or less under control.