Thomas Lämmle on top of Lhotse

Having scaled the fifth and fourth highest mountain on earth, without bottled oxygen and a High-Altitude Sherpa by his side – the spring season in Nepal went like clockwork for the German climber Thomas Lämmle. The 52-year-old from the town of Waldburg in Baden-Württemberg summited the 8,485-meter-high Makalu on 13 May. Only eight days later, on 21 May, Thomas stood on top of the 8,516-meter-high Lhotse, in the immediate vicinity of Mount Everest. Lämmle has now scaled seven eight-thousanders after Cho Oyu (in 2003), Gasherbrum II (in 2005 and 2013), Manaslu (in 2008), Shishapangma (in 2013) and Mount Everest (in 2016). I asked him about his experiences.

Thomas, last year your four summit attempts on Makalu failed due to bad weather. How have you been during your successful summit bid this spring?

Everything carried by himself

Last year’s failure was virtually the prerequisite for success this year. Last year I started four times from Makalu La (7,500 m) towards the summit. I had to do the trail-breaking by myself during all four summit pushes and was mostly alone en route. The biggest problem was the changing weather and snowfall, which hindered the ascent. Despite all the capricious weather, I reached an altitude of 8,250 meters. However, I realized that with the 2017 tactic, Makalu could not be climbed alone and without oxygen.

The Advanced Base Camp (ABC) is located at 5,700 meters, too high for real regeneration. The way from Camp 3 to the summit is too long. Moreover, you reach the Camp too late to prepare properly for the summit. This is only possible from Camp 4. Based on my experiences from 2017 and my knowledge from 25 years of research in high altitude physiology, I prepared a detailed ascent plan for Makalu. And it worked!

View to the main summit of Makalu

Already in March, I trained and pre-acclimatized on Kilimanjaro. On 10 April, I arrived in Nepal. On 23 April, I reached the ABC on Makalu for the first time. After setting up Camp 2 (6,600 m) and Camp 3 (7,500 m) in the following days and staying overnight in Camp 3 on 3 May, I descended to 4,400 meters for regeneration, to a yak-alp in Langmale. There I waited until (the Austrian meteorologist) Karl Gabl informed me about a good weather window: Summit day should be on 12 May, but with stormy days ahead, he said.

On 7 May, I set off for my ascent and finally reached Camp 3 on Makalu La on 10 May. Unfortunately Karl had made a mistake of one day, so that I was stuck in the storm for three days. In the afternoon of 12 May, however, the storm calmed down and I was able to move my tent to Camp 4 (7,600 m).

On top of Makalu

The following night, I set off at 1 am for the summit bid. I was the only climber on Makalu La at that time. Because of the storm, no one had been able to climb up to the pass. A beautiful, windless day lay before me. Unfortunately there were no fixed ropes above Camp 4 at first, which I could follow. So I used my last year’s GPS track and after some searching I reached the fixed ropes in the steep terrain towards the summit. At 3 pm, after 14 hours of ascent, I reached the main summit with the prayer flags. Five hours later I was back in Camp 4. On the descent, I met numerous Sherpas with clients who were all using bottled oxygen.

Eight days after that success, you stood on top of Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain on earth. Was that rather easy compared to Makalu or did you have to toil the same way?

Descent from Makalu

On 16 May, I reached Everest Base Camp. I was shocked by the crowds and the helicopter noise. I just wanted to get away. I descended to Lobuche (4,900 m) to regenerate in a lodge. Actually I wanted to stand on top of Lhotse on 23 May. However, Karl Gabl predicted heavy snowfall after 22 May and advised me to wait for this precipitation period and only then to start a summit attempt. I was uncomfortable with this thought, perhaps the snowfall was already the harbinger of the monsoon. So I choose a “slap bang” action to reach the summit before 22 May.

View down from Camp 4 on Lhotse

On the morning of 18 May, I returned to Everest Base Camp, packed my things and entered the Khumbu Icefall at 3 am the following night. Twelve hours later I reached Camp 3 in the Lhotse Face, where I spent the next night. On 20 May I ascended to Camp 4 at 7,700 meters. From there I started at 11.30 pm towards the summit. Shortly behind the tents the fixed ropes started, which led me to the Lhotse Couloir. I had been warned several times of this couloir, which is only two meters wide in some places. The danger of being hit there by stones or ice is immense. However not on 21 May – the Lhotse Couloir was filled up with hard snow along its entire length. There was no rope team in front of me, so I could climb up the couloir comfortably and relaxed. I had a very macabre meeting just below the summit: The mummified corpse of a Russian climber is sitting there, over which you have to climb. At 8.30 am, I reached the top of the summit cornice. It was windless and I had a wonderful view over Makalu to Kangchenjunga. Afterwards I was able to abseil down the fixed ropes very quickly and already two hours later I stood in front of my tent in Camp 4.

Lhotse Couloir (seen from Everest)

Two eight-thousanders within a week without bottled oxygen – that demands a lot from the body and the psyche. What does it look like inside you after your return to Germany?

It may sound astonishing, but with my acclimatization tactics and the breathing technique I developed, Makalu was easy to climb this year. Due to the ascent from 4,400 meters and the following fast descent, my performance loss was relatively low. So I went to Lhotse very well acclimatized and hardly weakened. There the conditions were extremely good: a stable high pressure area with correspondingly high oxygen partial pressure, plus super conditions in the Lhotse Couloir. The ascent of Lhotse felt very easy and very relaxed. If I had had the money for an Everest permit, I probably would have climbed Everest as well. Of course, I am very happy to have scaled two relatively challenging eight-thousanders “by fair means” – my number six and seven.

Anything but appetizing pictures from the Everest high camps have rekindled the debate on the waste problem on the eight-thousanders. How did you experience the situation?

Unlike Everest, there is no “waste concept” for Makalu. At the end of the season, the ABC on Makalu is like a burning landfill site: all the waste is collected, poured with kerosene and lit. The ABC looks like that. Waste from the high camps is not transported away and is usually sunk into crevasses. However, there is far less climbing activity on Makalu than on Everest, so pollution is limited and concentrated in relatively small areas.

Garbage in Everest high camp

Things are a little different on Everest and Lhotse. There we have about 2,000 clients and Sherpas in the high season. Waste management works quite well in Base Camp and Camps 1 and 2 – where no oxygen has to be used to move around or transport waste. Especially the South Col (Camp 4), on the other hand, resembles a large garbage dump at the end of the season, because there oxygen would be required to remove the garbage. Of course, these costs are avoided. The National Park administration doesn’t check it at that high altitude. It looks a bit better in Camp 3, even though most of the rubbish is not removed, but disappears into crevasses.

For me personally, a far bigger problem than the garbage on the South Col is the helicopter noise in the whole Solu Khumbu. On sunny days, Everest Base Camp is like a major airport. Every five to ten minutes a helicopter takes off or lands. The noise is sometimes unbearable and doesn’t even fit into Everest National Park. According to a helicopter pilot, there are now 38 helicopters in Nepal, which are mainly used in Solu Khumbu for tourist flights and so-called “rescue flights”. A nice example of this was the members of a Chinese expedition who flew from Base Camp to their hotel in Kathmandu because of bad weather prospects. One week later, after a better weather forecast, they flew back and climbed the mountain with personal Sherpa and bottled oxygen above Camp 2.

South side of Mount Everest

The fog is clearing. The climbers mentioned in my last blog post have spoken. For days, the false report had been tenacious that Tenjing (mostly called “Tenji”) Sherpa and Lakpa Dendi Sherpa were the only mountaineers this season to climb Everest without bottled oxygen. “I think the confusion arose because Sherpa Dendi radio ahead of us on the summit to say we had all made it,” Jon Griffith, Tenjing’s British rope partner, wrote in a comment to my article on Facebook. “Given that Tenji was attempting a no O2 climb and given that radio comms is pretty poor from the summit I suspect that Base Camp assumed that he had climbed without O2 and hence the rumour spread.”

Griffith: Not a bad intent

Tenjing’s post on Instagram

When they returned to Base Camp, Jon said, they had no Internet connection either, because the transmission tower of the Nepalese provider had fallen down: “I don’t think it was an attempt by Iswari [Poudel, head of the expedition operator Himalayan Guides, who spread the news] or anyone to be dishonest, just a lack of information combined with excitement in the Nepalese community that Tenji had (incorrectly) summited without O2, and a heavy dose of the rest of our climbing team being cut off from the internet for a week after the fact.”

Wait for confirmation

Back in Kathmandu, Tenjing Sherpa had informed via Instagram that he had used  a breathing mask above the South Summit at 8,750 meters due to strong winds. What can we learn from it? That expedition operators sometimes overshoot the mark, full of enthusiasm for team’s success (and probably also for marketing reasons). And that it is therefore advisable to wait for confirmation instead of spreading it immediately on the “news market”.

Seven days over 7000 meters

Lech (l.) and Wojciech Flaczynski in the rescue helicopter

Also a summit success of the Polish climbers Lech and Wojziech Flaczynski on Makalu had been reported hastily. In the meantime, Wojziech has clarified this matter. Only he had reached the highest point at 8,485 meters on 24 May, without bottled oxygen, he informed on the Polish website “wspinalie.pl”. His 69-year-old father Lech, who used a breathing mask above Camp 4, had to give up just below the summit. He had suffered from such severe stomach ache that he had been hardly able to move. Therefore, said Wojziech, they had called for emergency help and made an unplanned bivouac at about 8,200 meters.  Due to strong winds and because Lech became weaker and weaker, they had to spent a total of seven days above 7,000 meters. Wojziech reports that it was not until 31 May, a week after his summit success, that they were flown out of Camp 2 by rescue helicopter; his father underwent surgery in a hospital in Kathmandu and is currently recovering. Get well soon, Lech!

Everest (l.) in the first daylight

Actually, it’s quite simple. An Everest summit success without bottled oxygen means that the climber did not use a breathing mask. And that’s exactly why the only two alleged climbs without bottled oxygen reported this spring season from the highest mountain on earth were indeed only summit successes, but nothing more! The German mountaineer and journalist Billi Bierling, head of the chronicle “Himalayan Database”, informed me today that on 24 May Tenjing Sherpa (often also called “Tenji”) had used bottled oxygen from the South Summit at 8,750 meters, 100 meters below the main summit. It had been windy, the 26-year-old had not wanted to risk frostbite, Billi said after the debriefing with Tenji and his British climbing partner Jon Griffith. The chronicler informed me that Lakpa Dendi Sherpa had used a breathing mask even above the South Col, at nearly 8,000 meters.

No correction

On the summit day, it had sounded completely different. Iswari Poudel, head of the Nepalese expedition operator “Himalayan Guides”, had told the newspaper “Himalayan Times” that both Tenjing and Lakpa Dendi Sherpa had not used bottled oxygen during their ascents. Was something misunderstood during radio communication? Hadn’t people talked about whether the climbers had used breathing masks? Or was a false report deliberately launched in order to make headlines? Anyhow, the information that Tenjing and Lakpa Dendi had climbed Everest without breathing mask spread worldwide. And neither the two climbers nor the expedition operator subsequently set it right. I find that not only unsportsmanlike, but also dishonest.

False report also from Makalu

Makalu

Unfortunately, it’s not unusual any more. So it was reported this week that the 69-year-old Polish climber Lech Flaczynski and his son Wojciech had reached the summit of the eight-thousander Makalu. According to Billi Bierling, however, only the son was at the top, but not the father. Later Lech had to be flown out by rescue helicopter because he was suffering from severe stomach pain.

There are more and more cases where primarily expedition operators bend the truth or withhold important details. I find this development worrying – and a pity. How about some honesty?

Update 8 p.m.: I have to correct myself in the sense that Tenji Sherpa posted on Instagram three days ago that he was using bottled oxygen above the South Summit. However, nothing of the same could be heard from the expedition operator.

Thomas Lämmle on top of Makalu

Persistence pays off. The German high altitude climber Thomas Lämmle reached, as he wrote on Facebook yesterday, on last Sunday the 8,485 meter high summit of Makalu, the fifth highest mountain on earth. The 52-year-old from the city of Waldburg in Baden-Württemberg climbed without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support. Last year, Thomas had returned empty-handed from Makalu after four summit attempts, all of which had failed due to bad weather. Now, according to his own words, he also wants to tackle Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world, “before the snowfall – means May 21st”. Makalu was Lämmle’s sixth eight-thousander after Cho Oyu (in 2003), Gasherbrum II (in 2005 and 2013), Manaslu (in 2008), Shishapangma (in 2013) and Mount Everest (in 2016).

Five summit successes on Kangchenjunga

West, Main, Central and South Summit of Kangchenjunga (from left to right)

From Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain of the world, this spring’s first summit successes on this eight-thousander were reported. According to confirmed information, five climbers reached the highest point at 8,586 meters on 16 May, including Australian-New Zealand climber Chris Jensen Burke. It was already her tenth eight-thousander success. Chris reports an extraordinary feat: Pemba Gelje Sherpa from the operator “Expedition Base” climbed in a single push from the base camp to the highest point. The day before, he had accompanied a client from Camp 3 down to BC, wrote Chris.

German summiteer

Among the summiteers was also the German Herbert Hellmuth. For the 49-year-old from the town of Bamberg it was his third eight-thousander success after Manaslu (in 2011) and Mount Everest (in 2013). In 2015 on K2, he had to turn around at 7,000 meters.

Two more deaths

R.I.P.

Meanwhile, no day passes by on Mount Everest without dozens of summit successes. However, there is also sad news. A Sherpa who had reached the highest point on Monday with a team of the operator “Seven Summit Treks”, but had stayed behind on the descent, has since been missing. There is no hope of finding him alive. In addition, yesterday a Russian climber died in Camp 2 at 6,400 meters from the consequences of high altitude sickness. He had tried to climb Lhotse without bottled oxygen and had turned back 100 meters below the summit.

Soria’s first Dhaulagiri summit attempt failed

Carlos Soria

On Dhaulagiri, the 79-year-old Spaniard Carlos Soria and his comrades abandoned their first summit attempt. They had spent the previous night in Camp 3 at 7,250 meters. The wind was too strong, the expedition team said. The climbers are returning to the base camp. It is already Carlos’ ninth attempt on Dhaulagiri. Besides this mountain, he lacks only Shishapangma in his eight-thousander collection.

Update: Early this morning the news was spread on Facebook that also Maya Sherpa had reached the summit of Kangchenjunga. After having read it on several platforms, I included it in this summary. Obviously too hasty. Chris Jensen Burke wrote to me from the base camp that on 16 May, definitely only five climbers had reached the summit and that there had been no more ascents since then. Currently a summit attempt of the expedition operator “Asian Trekking” was on, wrote Chris: “Reports that Maya Sherpa summited are not correct.” I then removed the information about Maya’s supposed summit success from the report.

Tibetan north side of Everest

Now, also from the Tibetan north side, the first climbers out of commercial teams have scaled Mount Everest. Swiss expedition leader Kari Kobler reported that three of his clients reached the highest point at 8,850 meters today. On Monday, the team responsible for fixing the ropes via the Northeast Ridge to the summit, had finished their work. This had already happened a day earlier on the Nepalese south side. On Monday about 50 mountaineers had climbed to the highest point on the southern route. Among them was the Australian Steve Plain. The 36-year-old set a new time record for climbing the Seven Summits, the highest mountains of all continents.

And now the Triple Crown?

Steve Plain

Plain completed the collection within 117 days, achieving his goal of scaling the Seven Summits in under four months. Until then, the Pole Janusz Kochanski had held the record with 126 days. And Steve is not yet tired. Today, one day after their Everest summit success, he and British expedition leader Jon Gupta also scaled the neighboring eight-thousander Lhotse. Thus, for Plain and Gupta only the 7861-meter-high Nuptse is missing to complete the so-called “Triple Crown”, the ascent of the three highest peaks in the Everest massif within a season. Their first summit attempt on Nuptse had failed in early May, 200 meters below the highest point. “I didn’t name him ‘Strong Steve’ last year for nothing”, writes Tim Mosedale on Facebook about Plain.

Sherpa dies on Makalu, summit attempt on Dhaulagiri

Makalu

Meanwhile, a death is reported from the eight-thousander Makalu. According to the newspaper “Himalayan Times”, a 32-year-old Sherpa died of high altitude sickness in the base camp. He had worked for a Chinese expedition. On Dhaulagiri, 79-year-old Spaniard Carlos Soria and his team set off for their summit attempt. Carlos is tackling the 8,167 meter high mountain in western Nepal for the ninth time. Should he succeed this time, it would be his 13th of the 14 eight-thousanders. Besides Dhaulagiri only Shishapangma in Tibet is missing in Soria’s collection.

Simone Moro

It does not hurt more than usual. I can say that from my own experience. It is rather a mental challenge to realize that the first 50 years are over and the second half of life has definitely begun. Time to take stock. This Friday, Simone Moro celebrates his 50th birthday. The Italian can already be more than satisfied with his career as a high-altitude climber. No one else besides Simone has four winter first ascents of eight-thousanders on his account.

In 2005, Moro summited along with the Polish climber Piotr Morawski the 8027-meter-high Shishapangma for the first time in the cold season. Three other first winter ascents followed: In 2009 with the native Kazakh Denis Urubko on Makalu (8,485 m), in 2011 with Urubko and the American Cory Richards on Gasherbrum II (8,034 m) and in 2016 with the Spaniard Alex Txikon and the Pakistani Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” on Nanga Parbat (8,125 m). Simone did all these eight-thousander climbs without bottled oxygen. Last spring, Moro and the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger had planned to traverse the four summits of the Kangchenjunga massif, but had to turn back without having reached a single summit. Two attempts ended at 7,200 meters, because Simone suffered from stomach ache. Moro is married to the South Tyrolean climber Barbara Zwerger and has a 19-year-old daughter and a seven-year-old son. Simone has also earned his merits as a rescue helicopter pilot in the Himalayas.

Simone, half a century in your legs, how does that feel?

Well I’m still alive, with all toes and fingers and with motivation. My body weight is the same as when I was 25, same volume of training. So I feel happy and lucky.

Simone with Muhammad Ali (l.) on top of Nanga Parbat

You succeeded first winter ascents on the eight-thousanders Shishapangma, Makalu, Gasherbrum II and Nanga Parbat. Is there any of these climbs which is particularly important to you and why?

With Shisha Pangma I reopened the winter games on the 8000ers after 17 years of “silence”. Makalu came after 39 years of winter attempts and we were just two members in super light style. Gasherbrum II was the first ever winter ascent of an eight-thousander in the entire Karakoram. And on Nanga Parbat I became the first man who succeeded first winter ascents on four different 8000ers. So how can I choose?

What is for you the fascination of climbing the highest mountains on earth in winter?

Solitude, wilderness, adventure and exploration feeling, very low possibility to succeed, no discount on difficulties, wind, rare good weather windows. A winter expedition is NOT just the cold version of a summer expedition!

Last spring on Kangchenjunga, you suffered from health problems. Do we need to worry?

Not at all. I made just very stupid mistakes. I drank simply coke, sprite and other shit in BC, and on the mountains I drank not enough. Don’t worry, I feel and I’m strong and healthy like before at the moment.

Strong team: Moro with Tamara Lunger (l.)

Recently you have been regularly en route with the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger. Do you see yourself as her mentor?

Yes, I was and I had been. Now Tamara is 31 and she learned a lot and is absolutely independent. But we work so well together and it is a rare condition to find, so (it’s) better to keep our team spirit as our extra power.

Where will your next expedition take you?

Unfortunately I can’t declare yet where I will go. I can tell you that it will be this coming winter and will be probably the coldest climb I ever attempted.

If you had three wishes for the second half of life, which would it be?

Health, health and health. All the rest I will provide myself. I had and I have everything and only GOD can give me health even though I work a lot in protect to as much as I can with a healthy life…

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

He deserves more and more the nickname “The early starter”. While most of the others are still busy setting up their base camps in the Karakoram, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the Nepalese expedition operator, Dreamers Destination, already last Sunday led a team to the 8125-meter-high summit of Nanga Parbat. The success on the ninth highest mountain on earth was the first of this summer season on the eight-thousanders in Pakistan. Also in the past spring season in Nepal and Tibet, Mingma had achieved the first 8000er summit success: On 30 April, the 31-year-old reached along with his team the summit of the 8167-meter-high Dhaulagiri. Not even two weeks later he stood with Tashi Sherpa and a client from China on the 8485-meter-high main summit of Makalu – also on this peak, Mingma was the first this spring.

Soon number twelve?

Summit of Nanga Parbat in evening light

Nanga Parbat was Mingma’s eleventh eight thousander. Except for Mount Everest – which he has summited five times so far – he has climbed them all without breathing mask. “I would also like to climb Everest without oxygen at least once,” the Sherpa told me recently. At first, however, he is ready to climb his eight-thousander number twelve. Coming from Nanga Parbat, Mingma set out with a team from Dreamers Destination to Broad Peak and K 2. His goal: He wants to climb also these two eight-thousanders this summer. The 8051-meter-high Broad Peak is still missing in Mingma’s collection. In 2014 he had already scaled the 8611-meter-high K 2, the second highest mountain on earth.

Making climbers from Nepal visible

Mingma on top of Makalu last May

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa belongs to a new generation of Sherpa entrepreneurs: young, well trained, reliable and successful. The 31-year-old has a mountain guide certificate of the world association UIAGM, his company Dreamers Destination enjoys a very good reputation in the climbing scene. In addition, Mingma is an excellent climber. In fall 2015 he made headlines by first climbing a difficult route via the West Face of the 6,685-meter-high Chobutse solo. Nepalese mountaineers are not appreciated as they actually deserve, says Mingma: “They are the reason for successful expeditions on 7000ers and 8000ers. But they remain invisible. I want to make them visible.” The Sherpa is still single: “I want to make my beautiful climbing memories first. Once I have family, I won’t be able to do that.”

Summit of Annapurna I

Unpredictability is an essential part of adventure. And the more ambitious a mountain project, the greater is the uncertainty as to whether it really ends with a success. Thus the Italians Tamara Lunger and Simone Moro, who had planned to traverse the four summits of the Kangchenjunga massif without bottled oxygen, had to turn back without having reached a single summit. Two attempts ended at 7,200 meters, because Simone suffered from stomach ache. The German Thomas Laemmle returned empty-handed from Makalu, after four (!) failed summit attempts without supplemental oxygen and Sherpa support, always forced back by bad weather. And on the Northwest Face of Annapurna, the 33-year-old Pole Adam Bielecki, the 63-year-old Briton Rick Allen and the 36-year-old German Felix Berg had to capitulate halfway. “It was completely the right decision to turn around,” Felix tells me. “On the day of our descent, there was heavy snowfall. It would not have been possible with the weather.”

Alternative destination searched and found

Bielecki, Berg, Rousseau, Allen (from l. to r.)

From the beginning, the expedition was star-crossed. After the arrival in Kathmandu the team, at that time still including the 40-year-old Canadian Louis Rousseau, had to change their plan at short notice. Originally, the four climbers had wanted to open a new route through the Cho Oyu North Face, but the Chinese refused to issue entry visa for Tibet for all those who had stayed in Pakistan for more than a month without a break during the last three years. The difficult search for an alternative destination goal began. “Where can you find a beautiful wall on an eight-thousander?”, asked Felix and Co. They decided for the rarely tried Northwest Face of Annapurna, with the goal of finding a new, direct route to the summit. A first attempt to scale Tilicho Peak near Annapurna for acclimatization failed due to bad weather. Then Rousseau had to return home because his time budget for the expedition had run out. Bielecki, Allen and Berg managed in the second attempt to reach the summit of Tilicho Peak and finally tackled the Annapurna Northwest Face.

Tent torn, sleeping bag lost

On the second day in the wall

“We had food for eight days when we entered the wall,” says Felix. “It was continuously about 50 degrees steep, never less than 40 degrees. We had difficulties to find bivouac places.” For the first night, they managed to pitch up their tent on a small platform so that they at least could sit in a row next to each other. For the second bivouac, they had to use a small, sloping rock sledge at 6,500 meters. “By contrast, the sitting bivouac of the previous night had been luxurious,” Rick Allen wrote. “A portaledge would have been more appropriate than a tent,” says Felix. The tent tore, and through the hole, one of the sleeping bags fell into the depth. This was the final signal for turning around. Back in the Base Camp, the three climbers wanted to leave for Kathmandu. But first there were no helicopters available. “They were all on Everest, for rescue flights,” says Felix Berg.

After all, there was a helicopter that brought Bielecki, Allen and Berg back to Kathmandu. “It was an extremely spontaneous expedition,” says Felix. “But even though we were a rather mixed bunch of climbers, we got on and worked together very well. For sure we were not the last time together en route.”

Annapurna

The good weather window predicted for the coming weekend has not only led to a huge number of teams starting their summit attempts on Mount Everest. Also on other eight-thousanders climbers have left the base camps. On Makalu, for example, the German Thomas Laemmle, who is climbing solo and without bottled oxygen, has today pitched up his tent already far up, on Makalu La at 7,400 meters. On Dhaulagiri, the 78-year-old Spaniard Carlos Soria and his team-mates are planning to reach the summit on Sunday. On Annapurna, the Pole Adam Bielecki, the Briton Rick Allen and the German Felix Berg have started their summit attempt on Wednesday.

“Difficult Action”

Annapurna Northwest Face

As reported before, the trio wants to open a new route through the rarely climbed Northwest Face of the 8091-meter-high mountain. The fourth climber previously involved in the project, the Canadian Louis Rousseau, returned home at the beginning of May, because his time available for the expedition had run out. After he had left, Adam, Rick and Felix succeeded, in the second attempt, an ascent of the 7134-meter-high Tilicho Peak in order to continue their acclimatization. “We gained a glimpse of the NW face of Annapurna, our next objective”, Felix Berg wrote in his blog.

According to Felix’ girl friend, yesterday’s weather on Annapurna was “not ideal” with a lot of wind. In addition, the three climbers reported a lot of snow and avalanches. They bivouacked on a small ice plateau in the wall at about 6,000 meters. “Difficult action, as expected,” it was said. “Quite exciting.” So keep your fingers crossed!

Gheychisaz on top of Lhotse

The Iranian climber Azim Gheychisaz, by his own account, reached today the 8516-meter-high summit of Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain on earth – thus completing his 14 eight-thousander-collection without breathing mask, as his team said on Facebook. According to the mountaineering website “Altitude Pakistan”, there are still questions marks over his ascent of Manaslu in 2012.

Top of Everest (from the Northeast Ridge)

The Everest wave rolls, at least on the Tibetan north side of the mountain. According to an Indian operator, six clients of their commercial expedition team reached the summit on Saturday, accompanied by ten Sherpas. Among those who stood on the highest point on 8,850 meters was reportedly also Lhakpa Sherpa. It was her eighth summit success on the highest mountain on earth. The 43-year-old Nepalese who lives in the USA remains the woman with the most Everest ascents. Other commercial expeditions have started their first summit attempt.

No rope to the main summit

“That lower summit is Makalu summit on 10 May. We opened route from there to main summit on 11 May,” writes Mingma.

Meanwhile, there is more clarity about the ascents on Makalu last Wednesday. As the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol did before, Masha Gordon, who was born in Russia and lives in London, also confirmed that they climbed only up to the lower pre-summit. “We all reached the foresummit deeming the last few meters of the corniced ridge too fragile and hyper dangerous to cross,” the 43-year-old wrote to me via Twitter. Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, who said, he reached the summit of Makalu one day later, on Thursday, described the situation on Facebook as follows: “Rope was not fixed to the main summit.” He did it himself, says Mingma adding that afterwards his two companions, Tashi Sherpa and a Chinese client, climbed up to the highest point. “I felt like it’s completely nonsense to say Makalu is one of the easy 8000ers.”

North side of Mount Everest

The ropes are fixed up to the summit of Mount Everest – at least on the north side of the highest mountain on earth. On Thursday, according to consistent reports, nine Sherpas of an Indian team, responsible for securing the normal route on the Tibetan side, reached the highest point at 8,850 meters. The Nepalese operator Arun Treks, who had organized the expedition, dedicated these first ascents of the Everest season to the Swiss climber Ueli Steck, who had fallen to death on Nuptse on 30 April.

Summit, pre-summit or even below?

Meanwhile, the situation on Makalu remains confused. Who was how far up? On Wednesday – as reported – some teams had reported summit successes on the fifth highest mountain on earth. The German climber Thomas Laemmle, who is staying in the Advanced Base Camp after he had canceled his own summit attempt, wrote on Facebook, these were “fake news”: “So far nobody summited Makalu this season! Not even the fore-summit was reached due to lack of 100m fixed rope.”

Elisabeth Revol on Makalu

The Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol had informed via Facebook: “We stopped at the antecime (pre-summit). To the main summit too much snow, wind patches and too much wind. We were only 3 without oxygen on 20 climbers.“ I asked her via email whether this applied to all of the 20 climbers she had mentioned. “Yes, everyone turned back on antecime … not safe to climb,” Elisabeth replied.

On Thursday, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the Nepalese expedition operator Dreamers Destination, announced: “We are now on Makalu summit. Clear weather and great view.” On 30 April on Dhaulagiri, the 31-year-old Mingma had succeeded the first summit success on an eight-thousander this spring, along with two more Sherpas and two clients. If his success on Makalu is confirmed, it is Mingma’s tenth eight-thousander. Only on Mount Everest, which he has climbed already five times, he used bottled oxygen.

Makalu

Still, it is only news snippets. But it looks as if today for the first time this spring climbers have reached the summit of Makalu. With an altitude of 8,485 meters, Makalu is the fifth-highest mountain on earth. “We had summits!” twittered the British expedition operator Altitude Junkies from Makalu. “Everybody is safe.” Details are to be published on Thursday. The newspaper “BonDia” from Andorra reported that Domi Trastoy, a 36-year-old climber from the mini-state, had reached the summit without the use of supplemental oxygen. For him, Makalu was the second eight-thousander after Mount Everest, it was stated.

“First Russian woman”

Maria, also called Masha Gordon sent via satellite a success message of her “Grit & Rock” team, writing that she had become the first Russian woman to have climbed Makalu. The 43-year-old businesswoman, born in the Russian region of North Ossetia, lives with her husband and two children in London. In 2016, Masha had completed the so-called Explorers Grand Slam in just seven months and 19 days, means she had scaled the “Seven Summits” (the highest mountains of all continents, including Mount Everest) and reached the North and South Pole on last degree expeditions (on skis from 89 degrees latitude to the poles).

Honest Elisabeth

Elisabeth Revol on Nanga Parbat (in 2016)

The Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol, known in the scene for her winter attempts on Nanga Parbat and latest on Manaslu, did not quite make it to the top of Makalu. “We stopped at the antecime (pre-summit). To the main summit too much snow, wind patches and too much wind,” Elisabeth wrote on Facebook. “We were only 3 without oxygen on 20 climbers. I’m blown up! Big wind & super cold.” Hats off to her honesty! The last fall season on Manaslu has proved that many climbers are tending to bend the truth. It turned out that most of the approximately 150 supposed “summiteers” had not set their feet to the – admittedly not easily accessible – highest point of Manaslu and had taken their “summit pictures” close by.

Ralf Dujmovits above Everest North Col

Everybody is writing about how crowded Mount Everest is. “The mountain is almost completely deserted,” Ralf Dujmovits tells me today via satellite phone. The only German who has so far climbed all 14 eight-thousanders has just returned from his second acclimatization climb on the Tibetan north side of Everest. He spent a night in Camp 2 at 7,700 meters, then he descended, as scheduled, to the Advanced Base Camp (ABC) at 6,300 meters.

Fixed ropes up to 8,300 meters

Sherpas on descent from Camp 3

The ABC is, of course, only temporarily deserted. “Almost all have descended further down,” says Ralf. Before their first summit attempt, the members of the commercial expeditions were to breathe “thicker air” in the so-called “Chinese Base Camp” at 5,200 meters or even further down. According to Dujmovits, the route has been secured with fixed ropes up to 8,300 meters, on Thursday or Friday the work should be completed up to the summit. There are about 140 climbers from abroad on the north side, in addition about as many Sherpas – only half as many mountaineers as on the Nepalese south side of Everest, where a total of around 750 foreign and local climbers are en route.

Regeneration at 6,300 meters

View down to the North Col (on the left Cho Oyu)

“I will take a three, four days break to regenerate completely,” says Ralf. “I will stay here in ABC and will not descend further down. I see no reason for that. I feel really well. Let’s see how the weather is developing.” The 55-year-old wants to make one more attempt – his eighth – to scale Everest without bottled oxygen. During his summit success in fall 1992, he had used a breathing mask above the South Col, in bad weather. Dujmovits had summited the other 13 eight-thousanders without supplemental oxygen. Only on Everest, he failed again and again – for different reasons. In his “definitively last” attempt, he treats himself to a safety feature: Ralf has engaged Mingma Sherpa, a Sherpa from the Khumbu area, who will be carrying a bottle of oxygen for the German – just in case of an emergency. Should he be forced to use the bottle, Ralf wants to descend immediately.

Hardly wind

Evening mood in Camp 2

It does not look like this at the moment. “I am quite confident,” says Ralf. After his pre-acclimatization trip in the Khumbu, where he had scaled the six-thousander Cholatse along with his partner Nancy Hansen, he feels “in an above-average good shape”. The night at 7,700 meters, however, was “mixed”, admits Dujmovits. “I had probably eaten something wrong before.” This morning he had packed up in snowfall and descended: “It has been nearly windless for days. That’s why clowds are forming, and it begins to snow.”

Visibility to the feet

The partly heavy snowfalls in the Himalayas have thwarted some summit attempts on eight-thousanders. So the German climber Thomas Lämmle, who wants to scale Makalu without bottled oxygen, today turned around in Camp 3 at nearly 7,500 meters. The Spaniard Kilian Jornet, meanwhile on the way to Everest, in his own words reached on Sunday in heavy snowfall a point on Cho Oyu he thought to be the highest: “Honestly, I am not sure that this was the summit, as I could only see my feet, but I was at some point around (the summit).”

Heidi Sand (in Patagonia last November)

Impossibly Heidi Sand could have foreseen that Denali would change her life in this way. When the German mountaineer and sculptor descended from the summit of the highest mountain of North America (6,190 m) in 2010, the then 43-year-old suddenly had strong stomach pain. Soon after the shattering diagnosis: advanced colorectal cancer. After the emergency surgery, chemotherapy followed. “If I survive, I want to reward myself with an eight-thousander,” Heidi then promised herself – and fulfilled this dream of her life: On 26 May 2012 the mother of three children stood on the summit of Mount Everest.

Meanwhile Heidi Sand has passed the critical five-year mark after her cancer diagnosis. She is considered to be cured – and has realized further climbing projects after having summited Everest. In autumn 2013, for example, Heidi scaled Cho Oyu without using bottled oxygen and in spring 2014 she stood on top of Makalu (with breathing mask). With Billi Bierling, Heidi shares the honor of having been the first German women to reach the summit of Makalu. Sand dedicated her three successes on eight-thousanders to her children, for her husband remained the Eiger North Face which she succeeded to climb a year ago, in December 2015. And last November, she tackled, along with the Swiss mountain guide Lorenz Frutiger, the legendary granite giant Fitz Roy in Patagonia – in vain, the weather put a spoke in their wheel. I asked the 50-year-old four questions about her climbing.

Heidi, what do you owe to the mountains, especially Mount Everest?

At Mount Everest (© Athlete / Bob Berger)

It is simply an incredible feeling to be able to stand on the highest point on earth. Knowing that your mental strength and physical fitness have brought you up there. Every new summit gives me a new perspective – not just the surrounding area, but also particularly on myself, on my life. It gives me strength and confidence.
I set the goal of climbing Everest during the chemotherapy, and this goal drew me out of my valley. Do not sit down and fall into self-pity, get up! Move and find the light at the end of the tunnel!

As a cancer sufferer you cheated death. Has this experience made you more courageous or at least more willing to take risks in the mountains?

I am now focusing more on things that really matter to me, which are close to my heart. We owe it to ourselves and the others to make use of every day. You have only one life. Use it!
I am not more willing to take risks than before. But since I am now more often in the mountains and pursue my goals more consistently, I take, at large, higher risks, but it’s worth it.

Heidi on Fitz Roy

After Everest you also climbed Cho Oyu and Makalu. That’s it? Or are you planning to scale other eight-thousanders?

I had a score to settle with Cho Oyu and in addition wanted to climb an eight-thousander without bottled oxygen. Makalu is climbed far more rarely than Everest and is a technically much more challenging mountain. Each project was planned in detail, but of cause sometimes things happen that can not be foreseen. So I was very lucky to be able to climb all three of them. At the moment I don’t want to say that I will never again climb an eight-thousander. We will see what the future holds. But there are many more mountaineering challenges for me, which are defined not only by altitude, such as the Eiger North Face (which I climbed on 20 December 2015), Fitz Roy in Patagonia, Mount Foraker in Alaska and many other mountains in the Alps and worldwide.

What pattern do you use to select your mountain destinations?

I don’t have any sophisticated strategy. A mountain destination must be attractive to me. Emotionally, visually, because of its history or its mountaineering challenge. There are usually several of these factors.
On the descent from Everest, I fell in love with Makalu. This overwhelming rock pyramid had beckoned to me. It is also considered to be a difficult 8000er, because of his height and technical challenges. The Eiger North Face – at the foot of which I had often been skiing and devoured the book “The White Spider” (by Heinrich Harrer about the first ascent of the wall in 1938) – of course fascinated me because of its tragic history. Only when I have found such a mountain, I start out to plan and prepare the project.

On the way to Makalu

One eight-thousander is still missing. Then Nives Meroi and Romano Benet would be the first couple who would have scaled together the 14 highest mountains in the world – always without bottled oxygen and without Sherpa support. On 12 May, the two 54-year-olds from Italy stood at the top of their eight-thousander No. 13, the 8485-meter-high Makalu in Nepal.
Nives was 19 years old when she met Romano. First he was her climbing partner, then her life partner. They are married for 27 years. In 1998, they scaled Nanga Parbat, it was their first eight-thousander. In 2003, they succeeded in climbing the Karakorum trilogy of Gasherbrum I, II and Broad Peak in just 20 days. In 2007, Meroi was the first Italian woman who climbed Everest without oxygen mask.

Life-threatening disease

But there were also setbacks.  In 2009, Meroi had a good chance to become the first woman on all 14 eight-thousanders. On Kangchenjunga, at 7500 meters, Romano suddenly became increasingly weak. He tried to persuade Nives to climb on alone. But she refused and supported him during the descent. The reason for Benet’s weakness was serious: aplastic anemia. Two bone marrow transplants were necessary to save Romano’s life. They returned to the Himalayas. In 2014, Romano and Nives climbed Kangchenjunga. And now Makalu. Five questions to and five answers by Nives Meroi:

Nives, Romano and you have managed to climb Makalu, your 13th eight-thousander. If you compare it with the other twelve, was it rather one of the more difficult or easier ascents?

Technically, apart from the last 500 to 600 meters below Makalu-La (saddle at 7,400 m on the normal route), it is not very difficult and in addition the conditions in the wall were good. The problem was mainly the wind, which forced us to stay at Base Camp for a long time, and the cold, which caused slight frostbite at my toes.

After scaling Mount Everest in 2007

It was your third attempt on Makalu after one in fall 2007 and another in winter 2007/2008. Now you tried it in spring, and you were successful. Was it the secret of success to take this season of year?

In fall 2007, Romano and I were the only expedition on Makalu. Upon our arrival, a disturbance had dumped two meters of snow onto the Base Camp. Breaking trail again and again, we reached Makalu-La, but it was too late. While trying to climb to the top, the jet stream arrived and forced us to climb down.
In contrast, in winter 2007/2008 the sky was clear and the conditions in the wall were exceptional, but the wind, with gusts up to 100 km/ h at Base camp, prevented us from climbing. There were only two days in a month without wind and we managed to climb up almost to Makalu-La. But on 9 February, a strong gust destroyed our Base Camp. I was torn from the ground and broke my ankle. My two companions, Romano and Luca (Vuerich; he died in 2010), carried me for two days on their shoulders along the glacier to Hillary Camp, from where we were rescued by helicopter.
Climbing an eight-thousander, you also need luck with the weather!

Makalu Base Camp

This spring, there were also some commercial expeditions on the mountain. You and Romano are always climbing without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support. Was it difficult for you to arrange with these teams?

Yes, from year to year more energy must be wasted at Base Camp to defend ourselves from the overbearing attitude and the arrogance of commercial climbing.

In your book, that was recently published in German, you describe Romano’s disease, aplastic anemia, as the “15th eight-thousander” that you had to climb. In which way has this experience changed your and Romano`s perspective?

After a first period, when he was angry about the years which, according to him, the illness had “stolen” from him, Romano is taking it now more dispassionate. I perhaps have become more anxious, the memory of the disease still frightens me.

Nives and Romano Benet on Kangchenjunga in 2009

Now there is only Annapurna left to complete the 14 eight-thousanders. Taking the fatality rate into account, it’s the most dangerous eight-thousander. How do you assess the difficulty of this climb and when do you want to try it?

We prefer to make no plans. We’ll see if we get a chance, physically and economically. This would be our third attempt. The first time, in 2006, we tried it from the north, the second time, in 2009, from the south and in both cases we abandoned our attempts because the conditions were too dangerous.
I and Romano are experts in the “art of escape without shame”, and if we return there, we’ll face it again this way.