The spot formerly known as Hillary Step

I vow to stop writing about the Hillary Step after this blog post. Because where nothing is, nothing has to be reported. “It is 100 percent that Hillary step is gone,” Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, expedition leader of the Nepalese operator “Imagine”, writes to me. On 14 May, the 32-year-old had climbed to a point between the South Summit (at 8,750 meters) and the former Hillary Step (8,790 meters), where he had waited for hours for the return of his summit team and thus had plenty of time, to take a close look at the spot. On the Hillary Step, says Mingma, “no more debate is required further in future”. No matter what the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism is saying. Before this spring’s season, the authority had actually subpoenally obligated all climbers not to make any statement about the Hillary Step to the media.

Small stone out of Everest crown

Hillary Step in 2013

Mountains are changing – even faster and more clearly visible than before due to climate change. In case of the Hillary Step, however, it was probably the devastating earthquake in Nepal on 25 April 2015 that made the rock fall. Everest-experienced British expedition leader Tim Mosedale already pointed out in 2017 that the former rock climbing passage was now just a snowy slope, much easier to overcome than before. Mosedale substantiated his claim with pictures. Even then the Government of Nepal considered this a kind of a lèse-majeste, though in fact only a rather small stone had been broken out of Everest crown. Actually, the Ministry of Tourism should even be happy about this alleged mishap: A bottleneck less, which used to be a frequent source of traffic jams, which had a negative effect not only on safety, but also on Everest marketing.

Twelve meters of rock

The first ascenders of Evereste: Edmund Hillary (l.) and Tenzing Norgay

Sir Edmund Hillary is probably laughing in climbers’ heaven at the government’s ridiculous attempts to hush up what hundreds of mountaineers have seen with their own eyes: the twelve-meter high boulder, a real hurdle that Hillary once had had mastered first, no longer exists. On the first ascent in 1953, the New Zealander had taken heart and had climbed up through a thin crack between rock and ice. “It was then for the first time that I knew that we were going to get to the top,“ the Everest pioneer once said about this last key section that had been named after him. The New Zealander died in 2008 aged 88.

As many successes as never before

Sir Ed was critical of commercial climbing on Everest. “There are people who hardly understand mountaineering,“ the Everest pioneer told me when I interviewed him in 2000. “They do not care about the mountain. They have paid $ 65,000 and all they want is to set foot on the summit, go home and boast about it.” In the just finished 2018 spring season, ten years after Hillary’s death, reportedly a total of more than 700 climbers reached the 8,850 meter high summit ascending from the south and the north side of the mountain. Even if Billi Bierling and her staff working for the chronicle “Himalayan Database” have yet to confirm the information, the season will probably be the most successful in Everest history, as measured by the number of summit successes. And the third one without Hillary Step.

Willie Benegas (l.) and Matt Moniz (r.)

All’s well that ends well. Today, 20-year-old American Matt Moniz and his mentor, 49-year-old Argentine Willie Benegas, reached the 8,850-meter summit of Mount Everest. “0459 Summit! We’re on top of the world,” Matt tweeted. On Wednesday, the two climbers also want to scale neighboring Lhotse (8,516 m) , the fourth highest mountain on earth. As reported, the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism had considered revoking Moniz’ and Benegas’ climbing permits. The reason: They had skied down the Lhotse flank during an acclimatization climb – without having a so-called “ski permit”. However, only a few knew about the existence of such a special permit. After about 150 Climbing Sherpas had campaigned for Matt and Willie in an open letter to the Ministry of Tourism for Matt and Willie, the people in charge gave in talking about a “very innocent mistake”. The way for today’s Everest summit attempt was free.

Bulgarian dies in camp 3

Since this spring’s first summit success on 13 May, north and south side summed, nearly 500 ascents have been counted. Meanwhile, there was another death on Everest. A 62-year-old Macedonian collapsed in Camp 3 and died. It was the fifth death this season on the eight-thousanders.

Further summit successes at Kangchenjunga

Kangchenjunga

On the 8,586 meter high Kangchenjunga today at least eleven climbers reached the highest point. The team of the expedition operator “Asian Trekking” was led by Dawa Steven Sherpa. Last Wednesday, as reported, five mountaineers had stood on top of the third highest mountain in the world, including the German Herbert Hellmuth. Maya Sherpa, who had tried to be the first Nepalese woman to scale Kangchenjunga, had to turn around at about 8,500 meters. She was too late, too tired and bottled oxygen run out, reported the 40-year-old on Facebook.

Nepal’s three highest mountains in one season?

Nima Jangmu Sherpa (r.) and Mingma Gyalje Sherpa (l.)

In the next few days, Nima Jangmu Sherpa will also tackle Kangchenjunga. The 27-year-old will be accompanied by Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the operator “Imagine”. If she reaches the summit, she would have accomplished the feat of climbing the three highest mountains in Nepal and thus three of the four highest peaks of the world within one season. On 29 April, Nima Jangmu stood on top of Lhotse, on 14 May on the summit of Mount Everest.

Soria will leave Dhaulagiri

Spanish “oldie” Carlos Soria has declared his Dhaulagiri expedition over. The 79-year-old had climbed up to 7,250 meters with his team. Strong wind had prevented a further ascent. Next fall, Carlos wants to tackle Shishapangma, which is also still missing in his eight-thousander collection besides Dhaulagiri. For spring 2019, Soria is already planning his next attempt on Dhaulagiri. It would be his tenth.

Update 21 May: Matt Moniz and Willie Benegas also reached the summit of Lhotse, a day after they had scaled Mount Everest.

Xia auf der Everest-Südseite

In the fifth attempt, Xia Boyu made it. As Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, expedition leader and head of the Nepalese operator “Imagine Trek and Expedition”, wrote on Facebook, the 69-year-old Chinese was among 14 members of his team, who today reached the summit of Mount Everest at 8,850 meters. Among the summiteers was also Nima Jangmu Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to scale Everest and neighboring Lhotse in one season. She had also been part of the Mingma-led team that had succeeded the first eight-thousander summit success of the spring season on 29 April on Lhotse.

He never gave up

For Xia Boyu finally fulfilled his lifelong dream to stand on the roof of the world. At his first try in 1975, his team had got into bad weather about 250 meters below the summit. The Chinese climbers had to spend two days and three nights at an altitude of 8,600 meters at temperatures of minus 25 degrees Celsius. The following night, at 7,600 meters, Xia left his sleeping bag to a teammate who had got into serious trouble. He paid his selflessness with severe frostbite, both legs had to be amputated. Later, he also fell ill with lymph node cancer. But Xia did not give up his hope of reaching the top of Everest. He began climbing again with prostheses – and returned to Everest in 2014. Because of the avalanche disaster in Khumbu Icefall killing 16 climbers Xia had to return home then empty handed, as well as in 2015 after the devastating earthquake in Nepal. In spring 2016, Xia failed due to bad weather about 100 meters below the summit.

Rope fixing team from the north on the summit too

Nordseite des Mount Everest

On Sunday, eight Sherpas had succeeded the season’s first Everest summit success. They fixed the ropes to the highest point, clearing the way for the commercial expedition teams. Mingma’s team was the first one to follow them. Also on the Everest north side, the ropes are now fixed to the highest point. This is reported by the operator “Climbalaya”. The Nepalese boy scout Anish Luitel was part of the successful team, it said. The 26-year-old wanted to climb Everest on behalf of all Scouts worldwide. For Anish it was the second Everest summit success after 2016.

Summit success on Cho Oyu

Cho Oyu

Another successful ascent is reported from Cho Oyu, where the German expedition leader of the operator “Summit Climb”, Felix Berg, one of his clients and Dawa Jangbu Sherpa reached the summit. In the run-up Felix had written to me that they wanted to ascend without breathing masks. Just over a week ago, a team of the US operator Alpenglow Expeditions led by Adrian Ballinger had reached the highest point of Cho Oyu – with bottled oxygen.

Reinhard Karl (1946-1982)

This coming weekend, the first summit successes of the spring season on Mount Everest are expected. So Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, expedition leader and head of the operator “Imagine”, who is known as an early starter, is aiming for Sunday as summit day with his five Chinese clients. The group wanted to climb to Camp 3 at 7,200 meters today. Exactly 40 years ago, the first German climber stood on the 8,850 meter-high summit of Mount Everest. “Oswald and I overcome the last steps arm in arm. We are on the top. We fling our arms around our necks. It’s twelve noon. Our wishes have come true, just below the sky,” Reinhard Karl later wrote about the moment on 11 May 1978, when he reached the highest point together with the Austrian Oswald Oelz. The two belonged to an Austrian expedition led by Wolfgang Nairz. Three days earlier Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler had succeeded their historic first ascent without bottled oxygen. Karl and Oelz used breathing masks.

A 68er as a climber

Mountaineering is not something Reinhard Karl is born with – in 1946 in the town of Heidelberg, far away from high mountains. Aged 14, Reinhard begins an apprenticeship as a car mechanic, the “dirtiest and lousiest of all dream jobs,” as he writes later. At the age of 17, he makes his first climb. Mountaineering on the weekend becomes his escape from the unloved job. When the owner of the garage dismisses him, Reinhard begins to study in Frankfurt and is caught up in the 1968 student movement in Germany. As a climber, his trips become more extreme. Reinhard climbs the Eiger North Face, the granite walls of Yosemite. In 1977 he opens with Helmut Kiene the route “Pumprisse” on the Southeast Pillar of Fleischbank in the Kaiser Mountains in Austria, a pioneering climbing route, the first one in the seventh UIAA grade.

Dream fulfilled

South side of Mount Everest

Reinhard has also made a name for himself as a mountain photographer. For a German magazine, he is to take pictures of the Everest Expedition in spring 1978. That’s why the then 31-year-old is invited. Karl’s highest peak so far was the 4,810-meter-high Mont Blanc. Now, he has for the first time the opportunity to tackle an eight-thousander, even the highest of all mountains. “For me, the chance to reach the summit in the beginning was 1,000 to one,” writes Reinhard. “I was not even a real expedition member. I was a Prussian run here by chance who should take pictures.” But Karl has a “standard daydream”, as he calls it: “To stand on top of Everest. Like I entered dozens of summits before. Alone, with others, exhausted, happy, during storm and in sunshine. The pictures I saw from other summit climbs have multiplied becoming my climbing dream movie.”

Reinhard and Oswald set off up from the South Col in light snowfall. The thermometer shows minus 35 degrees Celsius, the wind blows at 50 kilometers per hour. After six hours, the two climbers reach the summit. Back in Germany, Karl receives the “Silbernes Lorbeerblatt” (Silver Laurel Leaf), the highest honor of the Federal Republic for athletes. At the subsequent banquet, Reinhard says to former Interior Minister Gerhart Baum: “I tell you, if I had not become a mountaineer, I might have become a terrorist.”

Death in an ice avalanche

The Nepalese side of Cho Oyu

In 1979, Karl scales Gasherbrum II in the Karakoram, his second eight-thousander. Then his winning streak ends. Reinhard fails on Cerro Torre in Patagonia, has to give up on Nanga Parbat and K2. On 19 May 1982, while attempting to climb via the South Face of Cho Oyu, Karl dies in a tent at 6,700 meters in an ice avalanche. A chunk of ice has hit the 35-year-old in the face.

You are never really on the top

To date, Reinhard Karl’s writings and pictures enjoy cult status among the climbing scene in Germany – as do his words about the moment on the roof of the world: “We’re taking summit pictures for the family album: Me, the summit winner. Me, the superman. Me the breathless being. Me, Reinhard on a pile of snow. Slowly I become aware of the cold, the wind and my exhaustion. Slowly, the joy is followed by sadness, a feeling of emptiness: An utopia has become reality. I feel that even Everest is just a pre-summit. I will never reach the real summit.”

Lhotse (in the sun)

The early eight-thousander bird catches the worm. Mingma Gyalje Sherpa once again lived up to his reputation as an early starter and booked the first eight-thousander summit success of this spring season on the 8516-meter-high Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world. “We are on Lhotse summit now,” wrote the 32-year-old on Sunday morning on Facebook. “Thanks to ‘Madission‘ team for their hard work till 7800m and our team for further hard work till summit. Imagine Trek & Expedition team rocks.” Mingma is the head and expedition leader of the Nepalese operator.

Six times in the death zone

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

Also in spring 2017, Mingma had made the first summit success of the season, then on Dhaulagiri. At the end of the year, he had entered the death zone six times: on Dhaulagiri, Makalu, K2, Broad Peak and twice on Nanga Parbat. Four times he reached the summit (Dhaulagiri, Makalu, K2, Nanga Parbat), the fifth ascent on Broad Peak is disputed. This spring, he had set out to lead two Chinese clients to the top of Lhotse and five more to the summit of Everest. Part one of the plan is ticked off.

Fallen to death in his tent

R.I.P.

Meanwhile, the first death of the climbing season on the eight-thousanders is reported from Dhaulagiri. According to the newspaper “Himalayan Times” the body of the Italian climber Simone La Terra was found at 6,100 meters. A storm gust had blown the tent, where the 37-year-old had been staying, into the depth, it said. La Terra had already scaled five eight-thousanders.

High Camp in the Western Cwm

The preliminary work on Mount Everest and Lhotse is entering the final phase. According to Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, expedition leader and head of the Nepalese operator “Imagine”, today ten Sherpas were to climb up to Everest South Col at about 8,000 meters to pitch up Camp 4 . “Kilu Pemba and myself will fix Lhotse Camp 4,” Mingma wrote on Facebook yesterday. He wants to lead two Chinese clients to the 8516-meter-high summit of Lhotse. Five more Chinese from his team will tackle Mount Everest, including – as reported – the double amputee Xia Boyu, aged 69. Mingma is known as an early starter at the eight-thousanders. “I am quite sure that we will be the first team on the summit of Lhotse,” he told me in March when we met in Kathmandu. “We are planning to reach it at the end of April or in the first week of May.”

Rather safe route

Route through the Icefall

Most commercial teams have completed their first acclimatization rotation on the mountain with overnight stays in Camp 1 (6,000 m) or Camp 2 (6,400 meters) and are recovering at Everest Base Camp. The team leaders unanimously praise the quality and safety of the route through the Khumbu Icefall, prepared by the “Icefall Doctors”. An incident on Wednesday did not change that. A serac collapsed, two Sherpas were slightly injured. “Incidents like an ice collapse or small avalanches are normal on the mountains,” said Ang Dorjee Sherpa, head of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) to the newspaper “Himalayan Times”.

Camp 2 at 7,000 meters

On Saturday, Romanian Horia Colibasanu and Slovak Peter Hamor want to set off from Base Camp to pitch up their Camp 2 at 7.000 meters and spend four to five days there. The two Europeans want to traverse the summits of Mount Everest and Lhotse, without bottled oxygen, according to their own words on a new route. In 2017, Ueli Steck had also planned to do the Everest-Lhotse traverse. Next Monday is the first anniversary of Ueli’s death. The Swiss top climber had fallen to death during an acclimatization climb on Nuptse.

Update 28 April: “Today we fixed till 8200m on Lhotse(8516m). Tomorrow we hopefully get to Lhotse summit,” writes Mingma Gyalje Sherpa on Facebook.

Xia Boyu

The decision of the Supreme Court of Nepal to overrule the government’s new Everest rules has cleared the way for him: the double amputee Xia Boyu from China will tackle the highest mountain on earth this spring from the Nepalese south side. “Yes, we got his permit”, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head and expedition leader of the Nepalese operator “Imagine Trek and Expedition” writes to me. As reported, the Supreme Court in Kathmandu had rejected in early March the government’s new rule not to issue permits to double-amputee climbers and blind people as discriminating. Mingma Gyalje had shaken his head at the government’s decision: “There are a lot of disabled climbers who are more capable than non-disabled.”

Sleeping bag given to teammate

Xia on the Everest south side

For the 69-year-old Xia Boyu it is already the fifth attempt on Everest. At his first try in 1975, his team had got into bad weather about 250 meters below the summit. The Chinese climbers had to spend two days and three nights at an altitude of 8,600 meters at temperatures of minus 25 degrees Celsius. The following night, at 7,600 meters, Xia left his sleeping bag to a teammate who had got into serious trouble. He paid his selflessness with severe frostbite, both legs had to be amputated.

Narrowly failed in 2016

Later, he also fell ill with lymph node cancer. But Xia did not give up his hope of reaching the top of Everest. He began climbing again with prostheses – and returned to Everest in 2014. Because of the avalanche disaster in Khumbu Icefall killing 16 climbers Xia had to return home then empty handed, as well as in 2015 after the devastating earthquake in Nepal. In spring 2016, Xia failed due to bad weather about 100 meters below the summit. “If I was alone, due to my old age and the forty years I had fought for my dream, I might go up without considering the consequence”, said Xia Boyu in an interview with aponetv.cn. “But when I looked back, five Sherpas were looking at me. They have families. So I decided to retreat.”

Hari Budha Magar to Everest only in 2019

The double-leg amputee Hari Budha Magar had actually also planned to climb Everest this spring. However, the Nepalese postponed his plan for one year because of the new expedition rules in his home country. The 38-year-old had lost both legs above the knee as a soldier of the British Gurkha Regiment in a bomb blast in Afghanistan in 2010.

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

His secret of success? “Actually this is my job, because I run a company. So I need to lead my clients to the summit,” Mingma Gyalje Sherpa tells me as we sit opposite each other in a café in Kathmandu. In recent years, the 31-year-old has blossomed to the high-flyer among the Sherpas. In fall 2015, he succeeded the first ascent of the West Face of the 6685-meter-high Chobutse in Rolwaling, his home valley – and he did it alone. It was the first solo ascent of a Sherpa in Nepal. Even as an expedition leader, he made headlines. In 2017, no one climbed so often above the magical 8,000-meter-mark as Mingma. The head of the expedition operator “Imagine Trek and Expedition” entered the death zone six times: on Dhaulagiri, Makalu, K2, Broad Peak and twice on Nanga Parbat. Four times he reached the summit (Dhaulagiri, Makalu, K2, Nanga Parbat), the fifth ascent on Broad Peak is disputed. “I will return to this mountain this year,” Mingma announces. “Actually I am quite sure that we made the summit. But this time, I want to reach the highest point of Broad Peak without any doubt, on the one hand to end the debate, on the other for my own satisfaction.”

Better conditions in fall

On Nanga Parbat in summer 2017

Also on Nanga Parbat, Mingma had made a second ascent in last year’s fall because he had not been sure whether he had really found the highest point in bad weather during his first summit attempt in summer. More than three months later, he reached the summit beyond doubt with several clients. “Conditions were much better in September than in summer,” says Mingma. “Perhaps it is really the formula for success in the future to tackle this eight-thousander later in the year.”

First Lhotse, then Everest

Everest (l.) and Lhotse (in the middle)

At the beginning of April, Mingma will set off for a Lhotse-Everest expedition. First, he wants to lead two Chinese clients to the 8516-meter-high summit of Lhotse, then seven Chinese to the top of the 8850-meter-high Mount Everest. As in the previous year, the Sherpa is looking to be successful early in the season: “I am quite sure that we will be the first team on the summit of Lhotse. We are planning to reach it at the end of April or in the first week of May.” He then wants to turn to Everest that he has already scaled five times (with bottled oxygen). The prospect of a crowded normal route does not deter Mingma. “It’s okay for me,” says the expedition leader. “We take only very experienced Sherpas and make sure our teams are not too big.”

Good Climbing Sherpas cost money

Mingma on the summit of K2

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa does not like expedition operators who offer dumping prices. “Low budget means low safety. If you want to have experienced and well-trained Climbing Sherpas and thus more safety, you also have to pay them better,” says Mingma, who himself has a mountain guide certificate of the UIAGM (International Federation of Mountain Guide Associations). “The discounters should know that they are dealing with the people’s life. Actually, we need minimum standards for expedition operators, but I’m skeptical that we’ll ever get them.”

“Other rules are required”

Mingma puts little hope in the government. The new rule, which has meanwhile been overruled by the Nepalese Supreme Court, no longer to grant permits to double amputees and blind climbers, is discriminatory, says the Sherpa: “There are a lot of disabled climbers who are more capable than non-disabled.” Other rules are required to reduce the number of summit aspirants on Everest, finds Mingma: “So if someone wants to climb Everest, he must have scaled another eight-thousander before. Or he must have at least the qualification of climbing 7,000 meters.”

Goal: All 8000ers without breathing mask

Solo on Chobutse (in 2015)

For now Mingma Gyalje Sherpa puts his personal ambitions as a climber on the backburner. But that does not mean that he has given up his big dream. The 31-year-old wants to become the first Nepalese who has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen. “There are still three left in my collection,” says Mingma, meaning Mount Everest, Gasherbrum II and Shishapangma. If we add Broad Peak (see above), it would be four. “This year, I have to focus on leading my clients safely on Everest. That’s why I can not do it without breathing mask. But maybe I’ll try it in 2019.”

Nanga Parbat

It did not let him rest. “This time I have no doubt,” says Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, when he rings me out of bed after midnight our time. “We were at the summit of Nanga Parbat.” The 31-year-old calls me by satellite telephone from Camp 4. The connection is bad, I have to ask several times. Eight climbers were at the highest point, the Nepalese reports. “The weather was very good and the view too.”

For three weeks in Pakistan

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

Mingma had not wanted to shout the expedition from the rooftops. Since mid-September, he has already been with his team in Pakistan. Already on 11 June, the busy Sherpa had reached with clients the summit ridge of the ninth highest mountain on earth. Afterwards he had admitted that he could not say with one hundred percent certainty whether he and his customers had been really at the highest point. They had been en route for 43 hours. Mingma had paid the ascent with frostbite at his toe. He had announced that he wanted to return to the “Naked Mountain”, to make absolutely sure that he was really on the summit.

Success on K 2

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa on the summit of K2

Later he succeeded with a team the only ascent of K 2 this summer. He also reported a summit success from Broad Peak, but also there, like in June on Nanga Parbat, there were indications that his team had missed the highest point in driving snow. Mingma thought that he was on the summit but announced that he would come back also to this mountain in 2018 to end all discussions.

Six times over 8000 meters

No other climber was so often above 8000 meters this year. Mingma mastered the magical height six times:  In spring, he scaled with clients Dhaulagiri and Makalu in Nepal, followed by the three climbs on Nanga Parbat, K 2 and Broad Peak in summer, and now the second ascent on Nanga Parbat this fall. This man can hardly be stopped.

Update 5. October: “We eight climbers made Nanga Parbat,  8,125 m summit, on 02-10-2017 at 12:40pm”, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa wrote on Facebook. “We had really good weather during our climb and we are all safely back from mountain. By this climb, I understood that Pakistan’s tourism agencies need to focus on autumn climbing and trekking around Nanga Parbat area as the weather remains very fine and clear all the days.”

Broad Peak

Chroniclers of mountaineering in the Himalayas and Karakoram like the Germans Billi Bierling and Eberhard Jurgalski are in an unenviable position.  On the one hand, in the age of commercial climbing, they are facing a real flood of success reports which can hardly be overcome. On the other hand, summit successes are reported, which in fact are none because the climbers did not reach the highest point. “It’s getting harder and harder,” Billi Bierling told me some time ago. Following the retreat of the legendary chronicler Elizabeth Hawley (now 93 years old), Billi is now in charge of leading the Himalayan Database. “Actually, I’m inquiring closely. But sometimes I just want to have more time,” said Bierling. She assumed that most climbers were still honest, but sometimes the truth was “a bit distorted”, she complained.

It is disputed now whether the Nepalese expedition leader Mingma Gyalje Sherpa really led his group to the highest point of Broad Peak on 4 August, at the end of the summer season in Karakorum. Eberhard Jurgalski has compared Mingmas video, which was recorded in snow drifting, with other summit videos and photos from Broad Peak and concludes that the group has not reached the highest point of the eight-thousander but a different elevation on the summit ridge, at least 45 minutes away from the summit and about 25 meters lower than this.

In doubt, better once more

Really on top of Broad Peak?

The Swede Fredrik Sträng, who didn’t belong to Mingmas team, but reached along with them the turning point, has publicly stated that he was abandoning his claim of summiting Broad Peak. “I am not 100 % sure any more if we truly made it to the main summit or not,” Fredrik wrote on Facebook and announced that he would return next year to climb to the top of  Broad Peak without any doubt: “I don’t want to blame anything, but sometimes summiting in a snow-blizzard is perhaps not a recommended thing and blindly trusting someone who gets irritated when you ask him ‘Is this the summit?’ perhaps is not the best response.“ Sträng had asked a Pakistani companion three times whether they really were on top of Broad Peak. The Pakistani, who had scaled the mountain in good weather one week before, for the third time in his climbing career, had assured three times that this was the highest point.

In mid-June, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa had reached with some clients the summit ridge of Nanga Parbat – also in bad weather. Subsequently, the 31-year-old had publicly declared that he was not 100% sure whether they were really on the top. It’s not a new phenomenon that fore-summits are declared summits. So did some mountaineers on the eigth-thousander Makalu last spring. On Manaslu, it’s nearly common practice among commercial expeditions: After the fall season 2016, it turned out that most of the about 150 “summiters” had not entered the – admittedly not easily accessible – highest point but had made their “summit pictures”  nearby.

Broad Peak

“Mr. 8000” has done it again. “We all are on Broad peak summit,“  Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, expedition leader and head of the Nepalese operator Dreamers Destination wrote on Facebook today. All means according to Mingmas yesterday’s post: ten climbers. The summit success was confirmed by the data from the GPS tracker of John Snorri Sigurjónsson, one of Mingmas clients. For the 31-year-old Mingma, it was already his fourth success on eight-thousanders this year. Previously, the Sherpa had led clients to the summits of Dhaulagiri and Makalu in Nepal last spring and of K2 last Friday. In addition, he had reached with his team the summit ridge of Nanga Parbat not being sure if he had really found the highest point.

His dream: Everest without bottled oxygen

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

Having added Broad Peak, Mingma has now eleven of the 14 eight-thousanders on his account. Since he forewent bottled oxygen during his ascent on the 8051-meter-high mountain in the Karakorum, he has climbed ten of the 14 highest mountains without breathing mask. “I want to scale Everest at least once without bottled oxygen,” Mingma told me in an interview earlier this year. He has already been on top of the highest mountain on earth five times with breathing mask, three times (in 2011, 2012, 2016) from the Nepalese south side, twice from the Tibetan north side (in 2007, 2010). This year, Mingma has been in total five times above 8000 meters – what a performance! Only a week ago at K2, he had used bottled oxygen, otherwise, according to Mingma, “it would not have been possible to reach the summit.”

Winning formula works

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa is one of more than 40 Nepalese with a certificate from the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (UIAGM). “Our training taught us to focus on safety and security. You can only provide safety and security when you have well tested and technical equipment, well trained staffs, very accurate weather reports”, says Mingma. The winning formula seems to work. Mingma’s track record success story speaks for itself: within a week twelve climbers on the summit of K2 and now again ten on Broad Peak.

P.S.: I’ll leave now for three weeks in order to relax in the mountains – offline. Then I’m back for you. Promised!

Broad Peak (with the shadow of K2)

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa does not seem to get fed up with climbing eight-thousanders this summer. Five days after his summit success on K2, when under his guidance twelve climbers had reached the top of the 8,611-meter-high mountain in the Karakoram, the 31-year-old expedition leader of the Nepalese operator Dreamers Destination set off with a team for a late-in-season summit attempt on neighboring Broad Peak. According to the GPS tracker of his client John Snorri Sigurjónsson, the team today reached Camp 2 at about 6,200 meters. Last week, John had become the first Icelander on the summit of K 2, the second highest mountain on earth.

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

The Untiring

“We rested well after our successful ascent on K2,” Mingma wrote on Facebook yesterday. “We are the only climbing team in (the) whole Baltoro Glacier (area) now.” It is not yet clear who else is ascending Broad Peak besides Mingma and Sigurjónsson. In case of success the expedition leader would have climbed five times to a height of more than 8000 meters this year. Before K 2, Mingma had scaled along with clients the eight-thousanders Dhaulagiri and Makalu in Nepal last spring. At the beginning of the summer, he had reached with a team in blowing snow the summit ridge of Nanga Parbat not being sure if he had really found the highest point.

Update 3 August: Mingma G. Sherpa and nine other climbers pitched up their Camp 3 on Broad Peak at an altitude of about 7,000 meters. Scheduled summit push on Friday. Keep fingers crossed!

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa on the summit of K2

The base camp at K 2, the second highest mountain on earth, will turn empty in the coming days. Andrzej Bargiel and his Polish friends declared that their ski expedition was over after they had finished their summit attempt at the weekend because of too much avalanche danger. The Swedish Fredrik Sträng and his Pakistani companion also turned around. The commercial expedition operators Furtenbach Adventure and Himalayan Experience had previously thrown in the towel.

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the operator Dreamers Destination, can return to Nepal highly satisfied. Under the guidance of the 31-year-old a team of twelve climbers had reached the 8,611-meter-high summit on Friday. These were the first summit successes on K2 since 2014, when Mingma had also been one of the successful climbers there and had climbed up without breathing mask. In spring 2017, the extremely high performing Sherpa had already scaled along with clients the eight-thousanders Dhaulagiri and Makalu. This summer he had reached with a team the summit ridge of Nanga Parbat without knowing if they had really found the highest point. After his success on K2, I have sent Mingma some questions. Here are his answers:

Mingma, first of all congrats to you and your team. Great performance! Some expedition leaders turned around due to the avalanche risk which they valued as being too high. What made you feel confident that it could work?

A key part of our success was our good weather report. The weather remained very windy when we were in Camp 2 and 3. I was sure that all the fresh snow would be blown away by the wind what made us feel that there won’t be any avalanche. The best thing about our team was unity. My team listened to whatever I said and worked perfectly together, so we were successful.

Hard work on the ascent

How were the conditions on the summit day?

I think, the summit day of K2 is the hardest one among all 8000m peaks. The route to the summit is more on ice. These icy parts are covered by very thick snow which increases the risk of avalanche. We had to be very careful while breaking the trail. I found this year was more ice and it was really difficult to get to the summit ridge. However, the threat of avalanche was less high since most of the days were windy and snow was well frozen.

I assume there was a lot of trail-breaking to do because of the great amount of fresh snow. Who did this hard job?

Some carried rope, some belayed and some broke the trail. This was team work. We had to fix more ropes on those snow covered ice passages.

Was there anyone among the twelve summiters who was climbing without bottled oxygen?

Sorry, this time I used oxygen, otherwise it would not have been possible to reach the summit. But Nima Nuru Sherpa from Thame in Nepal and Fazal from Pakistan made it without bottled oxygen.

Successful team

You had a very strong Sherpa team at your side – with in total about 50 Everest summit successes under their belts. Was this the key to K2?

On the one part yes, but on the other part no. Our Sherpa team was strong and well experienced but Everest and K2 are located in different countries so climbing culture is different. Working on K2 is more difficult than on Everest because of far less teams on K2 and unpredictable weather conditions.

In my last blog post I called you the “8000er Climber of the Season” because of your achievements this year. Is their any time you get tired? What’s your secret of success?

Thanks for your compliment. I am only getting tired of sleeping in tent everyday. But I do like climbing by myself so I am not getting tired. And this is the reason I am successful.

K 2, seen from Base Camp

It was a tough piece of work. “Finally we are at the summit of K2,” Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the Nepalese expedition operator Dreamers Destination, wrote on Facebook. Besides him, eleven other climbers had reached the highest point at 8,611 meters, including six Sherpas, Mingma said. Obviously it took them about 16 hours to climb from the last high camp on the K2 Shoulder at about 7,650 meters up to the summit – no wonder considering the large amount of fresh snow, which had previously caused some teams to abandon their attempts due to the avalanche danger.

O’Brien’s fifth 8000er, Zhang’s 13th

Vanessa O’Brien

Among the lucky ones who reached the summit of the second highest mountain on earth was the American-British climber Vanessa O’Brien. For the 52-year-old, K2 was her fifth eight-thousander after Mount Everest (in 2010), Shishapangma, Cho Oyu (both in 2011) and Manaslu (in 2014). In the last two years, O’Brien had returned from K2 empty-handed. The Chinese Zhang Liang also reached the summit today. According to Mingma, the 53-year-old has now scaled 13 eight-thousanders. Since today, John Snorri Sigurjónsson is allowed to call himself the “First Icelander on K2”. The 44-year-old had already summited the eight-thousander Lhotse last May, also as the first climber of his country.

Sherpa power

Mingma had gathered a very strong and experienced Sherpa team around him. Dawa Gyalje Sherpa, Tsering Pemba Sherpa, Nima Tshering Sherpa, Lhakpa Nuru Sherpa, Nima Nuru Sherpa and Ang Tsering Sherpa have all climbed Everest, most of them even several times, in addition other eight-thousanders too. So much Sherpa power was also necessary to break the trail up to the summit of K2. Yesterday John Snorri Sigurjónsson had reported on fresh snow which was up to one meter deep.

Bravo, Mingma!

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

If there was to award the “Eight-thousander Climber of the Season”, this honor would have to be paid to Mingma Gyalje Sherpa. Last spring, the 31-year-old had already led clients to the summits of the eight-thousanders Dhaulagiri and Makalu in Nepal. At the beginning of the summer, Mingma reached along with his team the summit ridge of Nanga Parbat, but was not sure if they had really found the highest point. Despite frostbite on a toe, which Mingma had suffered during this climb, he now led his team to the summit of K2, which he had climbed for the first time in 2014 – without bottled oxygen. Hats off to Mingma’s performance! However, a climb is only really successful if all members are back in Base Camp safe and sound. This is even more true on the dangerous mountain K2. So, keep your fingers crossed!

Update 29 July: All climbers are back in Base Camp, Mingma reports on Facebook.