Everest Southwest Face

What did Nobukazu Kuriki really intend on Everest? This question has been bothering me ever since the 35-year-old Japanese climber was found dead on 21 May at an altitude of about 6,600 meters. Nobukazu had made a secret of his exact plan in the weeks before. He wanted to climb through the Southwest Fall, his office said after Kuriki’s death. Solo and without bottled oxygen, as he had claimed for himself? If Nobukazu had only fulfilled one of these two conditions, he would have already made Everest history.

Only one Southwest Face success without breathing mask

Nobukazu Kuriki (1982 -2018)

Since the first ascent by the British Doug Scott and Dougal Haston in fall 1975, only about 30 climbers have successfully climbed the Southwest Face – only once without bottled oxygen: Jozef Just was the only climber of a four-man Slovak team to reach the summit in fall 1988. During the descent he and his three other team mates died. There had never been a serious solo attempt on the steep and dangerous Southwest Face before Kurik’s entry into the wall. The Slovak Vladimir Strba had announced that he would tackled it solo in spring 2017, after he had had to turn back in the wall the year before with his compatriot Zoltan Pal at 7,200 meters. However, Strba then switched to the normal route. The 48-year-old died of high altitude sickness on the South Col after climbing up to the South Summit at 8,750 metres without breathing mask.

How sick was Kuriki really?

Against this background alone, Kuriki’s chances of success had to be rated as extremely low – even if he had been in top form. However the Japanese wasn’t. After arriving at base camp, he suffered from severe cough and fever. Two days before he died, Kuriki said he still had a slight cough, adding that it was almost gone. Kuriki entered the wall and pitched up his tent at 7,400 meters. There he assured by radio that he would be careful. He must have gotten worse at night. The next morning, his team informed that Kuriki was ill and was therefore descending. After that, there was no sign of life from him. Members of the camera crew, who were to film his ascent from the slopes of Nuptse, searched for him and finally found Nobukazu. “Considering condition of his body, it can be assumed that he probably slipped 100 to 200 meters,“ Kuriki’s office said.

Having set the bar even higher than lower

Kuriki at 6,800 m in the Everest North Face in fall 2016

Did Kuriki really believe that he could master the Southwest Face? The Japanese climber Ken Noguchi told the newspaper “Asahi Shimbun” that he doesn’t think so: “It seems to me that at some point, his goal was no longer about stepping foot on the summit but exposing himself to the toughest conditions imaginable and sharing that with people.” Also on his seven previous attempts on Everest, six of them in fall, Kuriki often seemed to overestimate his abilities. In 2012, he suffered severe frostbite during an attempt via the West Ridge. Nine of his ten fingers had to be amputated. Nevertheless, he returned to Everest, first to the normal route on the south side, where he was alone in 2015, then to the North Face, finally to the Southwest Face. Instead of setting the bar lower, Kuriki even increased his ambitions.

Unrealistic goals

“He would have had a good chance of ascent without oxygen if only he had taken the Southeast Ridge (the normal route),” said Yasuhiro Hanatani, a climber and friend of Nobukazu, “but that would have meant not doing it solo.” Obviously Kuriki was also under pressure. A Japanese friend of mine told me that the local media had lost interest in the 35-year-old over time because he always made big plans that realistically did not promise success. Maybe Nobukazu Kuriki finally overtightened the screw – which often ends deadly on the highest mountains on earth.

Nobukazu Kuriki (1982 -2018)

The Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki has been found dead today on Mount Everest. The 35-year-old had reported yesterday from Camp 3 at 7,400 meters via Facebook. It was hard, said Kuriki, assuring he would be careful. This morning, his team informed that Nobukazu was in bad shape and that he was descending. Later, he did not respond to radio calls. His camera crew climbed up and found Kuriki lifeless near Camp 2.

Fever in Everest Base Camp

Kuriki en route to Everest in April

The Japanese had pre-acclimatized in his homeland by hypoxia training, then in Nepal did a very fast ascent of the 6038-meter-high Chulu Far East in the Annapurna area and subsequently trekked through the Khumbu to Everest Base Camp. Arriving there, he suffered from a strong cough and fever. He still had a slight cough, but it was almost gone, Kuriki had said two days ago on Facebook.

Solo and without bottled oxygen

Kuriki at 6,800 m in the Everest North Face in fall 2016

It was already Nobukazu’s eighth attempt on Everest. He had set his mind on climbing the highest mountain in the world without bottled oxygen and solo. In 2017, the Japanese had planned to climb through the Everest North Face. Because of the poor conditions in the wall, he switched from the north to the south side late in the spring season – with the aim of ascending via the West Ridge and the Hornbein Couloir in the upper part of the North Face to the highest point at 8850 meters. Bad weather prevented his project. In previous years, Kuriki had tried six times in vain to climb Everest in fall: five times from the Nepalese, once from the Tibetan side (in 2016).

Only one complete finger

After his Everest attempt in fall 2012

In October 2012, the Japanese had made headlines worldwide when he had tried to reach the summit via the West Ridge. The then 30-year-old said that he had to turn back at about 8,000 meters because of a storm. On his descent, Kuriki sent an emergency call. Sherpas climbed up to him, and the Japanese was flown by rescue helicopter from Camp 2 at 6,400 meters to a hospital in Kathmandu. Kuriki suffered severe frostbite. Nine fingers had to be amputated; only stumps were left – and only one complete thumb. The handicap did not stop his ambition to climb Everest – quite the contrary.

Dujmovits: “No Harakiri guy”

Kuriki (l.) and Dujmovits (r.) in spring 2017

“I have not experienced him as a Harakiri guy or as a daredevil,” says Ralf Dujmovits, who – as reported – is currently staying with his partner, the Canadian climber Nancy Hansen for a scientific study in a hypoxia chamber of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne for a month. Ralf had met Kuriki on the Everest north side in spring 2017. “He was pleasant, very open-minded and well organized. And he really listened to me.” On Dujmovits’s advice, the Japanese had finally given up his plan to ascend via the North Face. I ask Ralf whether Kuriki was obsessed with Everest. “When you do things like that, you have to be a little bit obsessed with an idea,” says Dujmovits. “He always wanted to be alone on the road, that says a lot about him.”

Kuriki en route to Everest

He kept his word. At the end of the 2017 spring season, Nobukazu Kuriki had promised after his seventh failed attempt on Mount Everest: “I’ll be back.” Now the 35-year-old Japanese is again on the way to the base camp on the Nepalese south side, where he is expected on Thursday. To pre-acclimatize, Nobukazu had climbed in late March in four days to the summit of the 6038-meter-high Chulu Far East in the Annapurna region. As on his previous Everest attempts, Nobukazu wants to be en route on the highest of all mountains solo and without bottled oxygen. First, he plans to climb to the top of the 8516-meter-high Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain on earth, Kuriki writes on Facebook. Afterwards he wants to return to the base camp and then tackle Everest. Only immediately before his departure, Nobukazu wants to reveal his climbing route. “I will not give up,” he announced almost defiantly.

Six times in fall, once in spring

On top of Chulu Far East

Last year, the Japanese had planned to climb solo through the Everest North Face. Because of the poor conditions in the wall, he switched from the north to the south side late in the spring season – with the aim of ascending via the West Ridge and the Hornbein Couloir in the upper part of the North Face to the highest point at 8850 meters. Bad weather prevented his project. In previous years, Kuriki had tried six times in vain to climb Everest in fall: five times from the Nepalese, once from the Tibetan side (in 2016).

Only one complete finger

After his Everest attempt in fall 2012

In October 2012, the Japanese had made headlines worldwide when he had tried to reach the summit via the West Ridge. The then 30-year-old said that he had to turn back at about 8,000 meters because of a storm. On his descent, Kuriki sent an emergency call. Sherpas climbed up to him, and the Japanese was flown by rescue helicopter from Camp 2 at 6,400 meters to a hospital in Kathmandu. Kuriki suffered severe frostbite. Nine fingers had to be amputated; only stumps were left – and only one complete thumb. The handicap did not stop his ambition to climb Everest – quite the contrary.

Janusz Adamski

This was not a good week for Janusz Adamski. First, the Nepalese government seized his passport and informed the Pole that he would be not allowed to enter Nepal for mountaineering in the next ten years. And now, the Chinese authorities made the 48-year-old the scapegoat for not issuing any permits next fall for the three eight-thousanders in Tibet. Adamski, who “illegally” scaled Mount Everest from the north side and then traversed to the south side on 21 May, was responsible that the rules and regulations had to be “adjusted and improved”, informed the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA). To ensure that the problems were solved in time by 2018, there would be no climbing permits for fall 2017, said the CTMA.

Moro also without permit for his Everest traverse

Janusz points to Mount Everest

Adamski did not have an Everest permit from the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism, but only a CTMA permit allowing him to ascend and descend via the Tibetan north route. After his descent from the summit on the Nepali south side, the Pole said that neither the authorities in China nor those in Nepal issued permits for a cross-border summit traverse. “It is not the climbers’ fault that the officials are not interested in issuing such permits,” Adamski wrote on Facebook and recalled Simone Moro’s Everest traverse in 2006, also without permit.

In fact, the Italian had tried in vain for years to obtain an approval for his project from the Chinese authorities. Simone had ascended with a Nepali permit on the south side and descended to Tibet. Later Moro told the Chinese authorities that he had lost the way and run out of oxygen on the summit. And when he had realized he was missing the way, Simone said to the liaison officers, he had been already too low to go back. Moro got away with a fine for an illegal climb.

Negotiations are possible

Nobukazu Kuriki

But there have also been “legal” Everest traverses with permits, e.g. in 2007 by the British David Tait and the Sherpa Phurba Tashi. And also the Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki proved in the just finished Everest spring season that it is possible to negotiate with the authorities. Originally, the 34-year-old had planned to climb from the Tibetan side via the North Face to the summit. But then he changed his plan: Nobukazu ascended from the Nepali south side to the West Ridge, from where he wanted to cross into the North Face. In the end, it did not happen. However, the Japanese returned to his home country without having got any problems with the Chinese or Nepali authorities.

Indications for the decision already in March

But is Adamski’s illegal traverse really the reason for the cancellation of the fall season on the Tibetan eight-thousanders? I think it is more of a pretext for the Chinese authorities. As early as mid-March it was clear that they would not issue any permits for Everest and Shishapangma, and probably only about 50 for Cho Oyu. “Obviously there will be a kind of event in Tibet this fall. The Chinese are afraid that there may be unrest and therefore want as few foreigners staying in Tibet as possible,” told me then Dominik Mueller, head of the German expedition operator Amical alpin. At that time, hardly anyone outside Poland was aware that the first Polish Everest traverse was planned. Janusz Adamski, by the way, informed on Facebook today that he had agreed not to speak in public about the accusations against him until his departure from Nepal.

Northern route on Everest

Mount Everest has shown his teeth again on the past weekend – just on the day when eight climbers were on their summit push without bottled oxygen. Contrary to expectations, on Saturday wind gusts and snowfall in the summit area made the ascent difficult. The result: two summit successes without breathing mask on the north side, one on the south side. Two climbers, who used supplemental oxygen at all and reached the highest point at 8,850 meters. And three summit aspirants, who turned back because of concerns for their health.

Wenzl’s eighth eight-thousander

Latorre, Wenzl and Graziani back in BC (from l.)

All of these mountaineers have arrived safely in the base camps – which is the most important of all news. The only one who reached the summit on Saturday from the south without bottled oxygen was the Austrian Hans Wenzl. For the 46-year-old Carinthian, Everest was his ninth eight-thousander after Broad Peak, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I and II, Manaslu, Cho Oyu and Makalu. He climbed them all without supplemental oxygen. According to Spanish media reports, Wenzl reached the summit around Saturday noon, a few hours after Ferran Latorre, who – as reported before – finally had used a breathing mask because of the adverse weather conditions. By summiting Everest, the 46-year-old Catalan completed his eight-thousander collection. Ferran had climbed the other 13 eight-thousanders without the use of bottled oxygen. The Frenchman Yannick Graziani turned back at 8,500 meters – his countrywoman Elisabeth Revol “halfway” to the summit, as she wrote today on Facebook: “But it was an incredibly beautiful and intense adventure.”

Double ascent without breathing mask

Kilian Jornet on Everest

On the north side, the Spaniard Kilian Jornet climbed up to the summit on Saturday for the second time in a week without the use of bottled oxygen: in a single push from the Advanced Base Camp at 6,400 meters. After 17 hours he reached the summit. It had been hard to move fast, the 29-year-old said: “I think summiting Everest twice in one week without oxygen opens up a new realm of possibilities in alpinism and I’m really happy to have done it.” Without diminishing Kilian’s really great performance in any way – Pemba Dorje Sherpa succeeded a double ascent of Everest within a week already in 2007, at the time also ascending from the north.

“Only pain and gratitude”

Ballinger on the summit

The American Adrian Ballinger, who reached the roof of the world for the seventh time, but for the first time without supplemental oxygen, was happy too. “So much more to say, but my brain isn’t ready to process anything more than pain and gratitude right now,” wrote the 41-year-old on Instagram. His companion Cory Richards, who did not feel good during the ascent, used bottled oxygen to support Ballinger on the way up to the summit.

Turned back ahead of Second Step

The German Ralf Dujmovits, according to his own words, reached an altitude of 8,580 meters, just ahead of the Second Step, the most striking rock step on the Northeast Ridge. The 55-year-old decided to abandon his summit attempt when he began to lose feeling in his hands and feet due to the wind and snowfall – a careful decision. For the eighth time, Ralf had tried to reach the summit without supplemental oxygen. On his successful climb in fall 1992, the only German so far who has summited all 14 eight-thousanders, had used bottled oxygen in bad weather above the South Col. Dujmovits had climbed the other eight-thousanders without breathing mask.

Does Kuriki try it again?

On Sunday, the Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki ascended to Camp 2 at 6,400 meters on the south side of Everest. After his failed attempt on the West-Ridge last week, the 34-year-old had announced that he wanted to climb up again. The weather forecast predicts for the next days light snowfall and wind with speeds between 20 and 30 km/h.

Ralf Dujmovits above Everest North Col

So far, the summit attempts of the climbers, who are currently tackling Mount Everest without bottled oxygen, are on schedule (with one exception, see below). According to his life partner Nancy Hansen, Ralf Dujmovits today reached Camp 2 on the Tibetan north side of the highest mountain on earth: “Ralf just called me from 7,700 m, where he will sleep for the night,” the Canadian climber wrote on Facebook. “It is stormy now, but the winds should come down. Tomorrow he will move up to 8,300 m. He feels good!” The 55-year-old has already – as the only German climber so far – scaled all 14 eight-thousanders. Only on Everest in 1992 he had used a breathing mask. The current attempt without bottled oxygen is his eighth and in his own words the “definitely last one” on Everest.

Little surprising discomfort

North side of Everest

The two Americans Adrian Ballinger and Cory Richards also arrived in Camp 2 on the northern route. “Our move to 25,000 feet felt mellow. A bit of discomfort (headache and nausea) now, but that’s to be expected,” Adrian wrote on Instagram. Ballinger, head of the operator Alpenglow Expeditions, has climbed Everest six times with clients, using breathing masks. In spring 2016, he had had to abandon an attempt without supplemental oxygen – in contrast to his team partner Richards, who had climbed up to the summit.

Chilling out at 7,300 meters

South side of Mount Everest

On the Nepalese south side of Everest, the Frenchman Yannick Graziani and the Spaniard Ferran Latorre will spend the night from Thursday to Friday in Camp 3 at 7,300 meters. “Beautiful weather but very warm,“ said Yannick. Ferran feels comfortable too: “I am chilling out in Camp 3. Again a little closer to the summit of Everest and closer to my dream.” If Latorre reaches the highest point on 8,850 meters, he would have climbed all eight-thousanders without oxygen. Graziani and Latorre are accompanied by the Austrian Hans Wenzl and the Sherpa Dawa Sangay. For Wenzl, Everest would be his ninth eight-thousander, all climbed without breathing mask. Elisabeth Revol reported from Camp 2 at 6,400 meters. “I’m good,” the Frenchwoman wrote on Facebook. Tomorrow she wants to climb up to the South Col at 7,950 meters, where she will probably meet Graziani, Latorre, Wenzl and Sangay.

Kuriki announces new attempt

The Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki has abandoned his summit attempt on the Hornbein route – i. e. via the West Ridge, crossing into the North Face and through the Hornbein Couloir to the summit – and has descended to the Base Camp on the Nepalese south side. The 34-year-old announced another attempt for the coming days. “It’s not yet over,” Nobukazu said.

Who are the four dead?

Confusion reigns as to the identity of the four climbers who had been found dead yesterday in a tent on the South Col. Possibly they were climbers who have been missing since spring 2016, Nepalese officials said. The four mountaineers, who were actually considered to be the dead, have reportedly arrived safely in Everest Base Camp.

Ralf Dujmovits, in the background Mount Everest

If everything works, there could be a “topless” party on the summit of Mount Everest next Saturday. Some climbers who want to scale the highest mountain on earth without breathing mask have started their summit attempts. Among those who set off from the Advanced Base Camp on the Tibetan north side was Ralf Dujmovits. The 55-year-old, so far the only German who has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders, wants to succeed in his eighth attempt climbing Everest without supplemental oxygen. In his successful attempt in fall 1992, Ralf had used a breathing mask above the South Col, due to bad weather. All other eight-thousanders he had climbed without bottled oxygen. His plan now: today North Col (7,050 m), tomorrow Camp 2 (7,700 m), on Friday Camp 3 (8,300 m) and on Saturday “hopefully towards the summit” (8,850 m), as Ralf writes to me: “I am confident, I feel good and I think that the extremely warm temperatures (probably minus 20 degrees Celsius) might help me.”

Another speed ascent of Kilian Jornet?

The Americans Adrian Ballinger und Cory Richards have the same schedule as Dujmovits. In spring 2016, Richards had reached the summit without bottled oxygen, Ballinger had had to turn back. There is continuing speculation that the Spaniard Kilian Jornet might set off for a second attempt to improve his ascent time from last Monday. Despite of stomach ache, the 29-year old had run and climbed from Rongbuk Monastery at 5,100 meters up to the summit in only 26 hours – without breathing mask.

Unstoppable Revol

South side of Mount Everest

Also on the Nepalese south side, some mountaineers who want to climb without bottled oxygen have chosen Saturday as summit day. In case of success the Spaniard Ferran Latorre would complete his eight-thousander collection and then would have scaled all the 14 highest mountains on earth without breathing mask. Yannick Graziani and Elisabeth Revol, both from France, want to ascend without supplemental oxygen too. Elisabeth seems to be unstoppable this spring. On Makalu she had reached the foresummit, afterwards she had made it to the summit of Lhotse.

Kuriki down, not up

The Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki, also en route without breathing mask, who originally wanted to reach the summit already on Thursday, descended from his camp at 7,200 meters on the West Ridge to a lower camp, due to physical problems. That was announced by the team of the 34-year-old that had informed some hours earlier Kuriki had started climbing further up. The Japanese wants to make the first solo ascent on the Hornbein Route: via the West Ridge, crossing into the North Face, through the Hornbein Couloir to the summit. This would be the first re-run of the route which the Americans Tom Hornbein and Willy Unsoeld had opened in 1963 (with bottled oxygen). In a failed attempt on the same route in fall 2012, Kuriki had suffered severe frostbite so that nine of his ten fingers had had to be amputated.

Four more dead

The Kathmandu-based newspaper “The Himalayan Times” reports that four climbers were found dead in their tent on the South Col – two Sherpas and two foreign clients. Presumably they died of suffocation. This recalls an incident last year on Makalu  , where two Sherpas from a German expedition team had died in a high camp of carbon monoxide poisoning. Thus the number of this spring’s fatalities on Everest has risen to ten.

Nobukazu Kuriki

Nobukazu Kuriki has changed Everest sides. The 34-year-old Japanese today reported on Facebook from Gorak Shep, the 5207-meter-high last inhabited settlement below Everest on the Nepalese south side. Apparently, Kuriki has managed the necessary formalities with the Nepali authorities. Previously, Nobukazu had pitched his tent on the Tibetan north side: on the Central Rongbuk Glacier below Everest North Face. The reason for his change of location, says Kuriki, was that he had changed his previous plan for the ascent. Originally, the Japanese had wanted to climb the North Face, solo and without bottled oxygen, via the so-called “Supercouloir Route”, a system of gullies that stretches almost through the entire wall.

Too much blue ice

Kuriki’s scheduled route

In the lower part of the wall, however, there is currently a lot of blue ice, writes Kuriki on Facebook. Because he lost nine of his ten fingers due to frostbite in his Everest attempt in fall 2012, it is too dangerous for him to climb there, says Nobukazu. That’s why he now wants to ascend from the south side to the West Ridge, from there crossing into the North Face and climbing via the Hornbein Couloir to the summit. “Actually, this route is the one I tried in fall 2012,” writes Kuriki. “I feel like I’m still there at that time.” He plans to leave Gorak Shep on Friday, hoping to reach the summit on 23 May, next Tuesday. Then, according to the weather forecast, the wind from the west will have calmed down, says Kuriki. It is his already seventh attempt on Everest. Six times he had tried in vain to reach the summit, five times from the Nepali, once – last year – from the Tibetan side.

More than 2000 m of height in six hours

Kilian Jornet on Everest

Kilian Jornet, who, like Kuriki, had also failed on the north side in fall 2016, is currently acclimatizing on the Tibetan normal route for his speed attempt without bottled oxygen. On Monday, the Spaniard told on Facebook, that he had climbed within six hours from the Advanced Base Camp at 6,300 meters to an altitude of 8,400 meters. “Good vibrations,” the 29-year-old stated. Kilian had prepared himself for his Everest project with an ascent of the eight-thousander Cho Oyu – in heavy snowfall and very bad visibility: “Honestly, I am not sure that this was the summit as I could only see my feet, but I was at some point around.”

Kuriki (2nd from l.) in Everest Base Camp

Actually, both wanted to return to the highest mountain on earth next fall. But the Chinese put a spoke in their wheels. The authorities in Tibet will not issue any permits for Mount Everest in fall 2017. For this reason, the Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki as well as the Spaniard Kilian Jornet join the crowd of those who want to climb Everest from the Tibetan north side this spring. The 34-year-old Kuriki has already arrived in Chinese Base Camp at 5,200 meters. Kuriki has announced that he wants to climb up to 7,500 meters on the normal route. Subsequently, he wants to try again to climb through the North Face, solo and without bottled oxygen.

Seventh attempt

Kuriki in the Everest North Face last fall

Last fall, Kuriki had capitulated at an altitude of 7,400 meters before the snowmasses in the wall. It had been his first attempt on the north side of the mountain. Previously, he had failed five times on the Nepalese south side, always in fall. In an attempt via the West Ridge in 2012, he had suffered such severe frostbite that nine of his fingers had to be amputated, only stumps were left. “It’s not over yet,” Kuriki announced almost defiantly before his now seventh attempt.

Speedy to the summit?

Kilian Jornet on Everest in 2016

Kilian Jornet still has all his fingers. The 29-year-old Catalan had failed last fall at his first attempt on Everest. Kilian had originally planned to climb the highest mountain in a single push after acclimatization, from the Rongbuk Monastery (located about 30 kilometers from the Advanced Base Camp below the North Col), speedy, without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support. However, this had not happened. According to his own information, he had ascended with his companions on the normal route up to 7,950 meters when the snowmasses on Everest had stopped also him.

With his girlfriend

Kilian Jornet

His plan has not changed. For the time being it remains Jornet’s secret how he wants to realize his speed ascent if so many summit aspirants will be on the mountain as this spring. Again Jornet is accompanied by the Spanish top climber Jordi Tosas. The team also includes Kilian’s girlfriend, the Swedish mountain runner and ski mountaineer Emelie Forsberg. Their trip will start next weekend.

Small light in the big wall

Gone! Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki has abandoned his summit attempt in the Everest North Face and descended to the bottom of the wall. He would return to the Advanced Base Camp (ABC) on Central Rongbuk Glacier to gather new strength for another attempt, weather permitting, the 34-year-old said by radio. According to his own words, Kuriki decided to return after having reached an altitude of 7,400 meters during the night. “There was the feeling of wanting to continue. But judging the snow conditions and my physical condition, I decided to descend,” Nobukazu said. A picture on his Facebook page, taken from ABC, shows a light point clearly to the right of the planned route towards the Hornbein-Couloir.

Bad weather approaching

Nobukazu Kuriki

As reported, the Japanese had climbed into the snow-covered North Face, solo and without bottled oxygen. On Thursday, he was confident that he would be able to reach the 8850-meter-high summit before the weather change expected for Saturday. At that moment he still had to climb more than 2,000 meters difference in altitude – an ambitious schedule. And afterwards he would have had to descend. For the next days, snowfall and stronger wind is expected on Everest. Against this background Kuriki’s decision sounds reasonable.

Nobukazu Kuriki

He is hell-bent. “I think the chance is there because the wind is weak”, Nobukazu Kuriki reported via Facebook from his Camp 3 at 6,800 meters in the North Face of Mount Everest. The Japanese wants to reach the summit solo and without bottled oxygen, in the upper part of the wall via the Hornbein Couloir. “The oxygen saturation of my blood is 81 percent and very stable,” the 34-year-old climber said and announced that he would continue to climb up still that Thursday evening (local time). If everything goes smoothly, he believes that he can possibly reach the summit on early Friday evening (local time). For Saturday, according to Kuriki, bad weather is expected.

With nine finger stumps

Everest North Face

The Japanese has already proved in 2012 that he is ready to go to the extreme if necessary. At that time, he suffered severe frostbite during a solo attempt via Everest West Ridge, where he, in his own words, had reached an altitude of about 8,000 meters. He had lost nine of his ten fingers. However, Kuriki returned to Everest, with his nine remaining finger stumps and only one intact thumb. The current attempt is already his sixth on the highest mountain on earth, all of them in fall season. In 2015, Nobukazu climbed up to 8,150 meters on the normal route on the Nepalese south side of Everest before deep snow and strong winds had forced him to turn around. “I will enjoy climbing including all the hardship that comes with it,” he had written to me before. Will he this time be rewarded for his perseverance? Hopefully he will not overwind the screw.

Nobukazu Kuriki

That sounds like a dance on a volcano, although Mount Everest isn’t one. According to his team Nobukazu Kuriki has started climbing the snowy Everest North Face. The 34-year-old Japanese wants to climb via the Hornbein Couloir to the 8850-meter-high summit, it said. Probably the “Supercouloir” route is meant, which combines the Japanese Couloir in the lower part with the Hornbein Couloir in the upper part of the wall. The route was opened by the Japanese climbers Tsuneo Shigehiro and Takashi Ozaki in spring 1980. “I am fully focused and start now”, Kuriki said by radio. In recent weeks Nobukazu had repeatedly explored possible ascent routes from the bottom of the wall and referred to high avalanche danger. For this reason, Kilian Jornet – as reported – had abandoned his Everest expedition. The Spaniard, known for his high-speed climbs, to his own words had climbed on the Tibetan normal route up to an altitude of 7,950 meters.

Mountaineers from lovesickness

Snowy Everest North Face

Nobukazu Kuriki has announced to climb Everest solo and without bottled oxygen. He is trying for the sixth time to scale the highest mountain in the world in the post-monsoon period, for the first time, however, on the north side. He had got a first impression of the North Face in 2012. In this failed attempt via the West Ridge he had suffered so severe frostbite that later nine fingers had to be amputated almost completely. In 2014, he had summited with only one remaining intact finger the 8051-meter-high Broad Peak in Pakistan. By the way, the Japanese became a climber from lovesickness. His girlfriend, a passionate mountaineer, had jilted him. To find out what she had wanted for Kuriki himself began to climb – he says, anyway.

Update, 2.30 p.m.: Kuriki reports to this team that he has climbed up to 6,800 meters where he will spend the night. He says, he is “quite worried” about the snow conditions in the couloir.

Kilian Jornet

I was right on track with my feeling yesterday: The Spanish climber Kilian Jornet gives up due to the snow masses on Everest. The 28-year-old announces that he will return from the highest mountain on earth without having climbed it. Bad weather conditions forced him to abandon his plan to speed climb Everest via the North Face, says Jornet: “During the first few weeks we were acclimatising well and the conditions were good. However, when we were getting ready to prepare the attempt the weather began to change. There were some heavy snow storms and a large accumulation of snow. As a result, although we were in good physical shape, there was a high risk of avalanches and in the absence of good safety conditions it was impossible to climb.”  

„We would change some things“

Snowy Everest North Face

Jornet says, though “there’s a sense of frustration because we’re well acclimatized and we feel good“, he is satisfied with his experience on Everest: “Being alone on Everest is incredible as there was no one else there. Now we’ll go home to recover and plan the future. I think that if we come back, there are some things we would change, but it’s been a great experience and a good lesson for next time.” Jornet has spent three weeks at Base Camp acclimatizing and preparing his climb. As reported, Kilian wanted to speed climb Everest: in a single push from the Rongbuk monastery to the summit, without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support. Now only the 34-year-old Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki is left on Everest who has announced an attempt to climb through the North Face, solo and without breathing mask.

Everest North Face (now)

I know this view. But how different is Mount Everest looking now this fall. The Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki has pitched his Advanced Base Camp (ABC) exactly where our tents stood eleven years ago. In spring 2005, I accompanied the Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, the German Ralf Dujmovits and the Japanese Hirotaka Takeuchi to Everest North Face and reported from ABC at 5,500 meters on DW Radio and the Internet on the progress of the expedition.

Having survived a cerebral edema

North Face (in 2005)

Originally, the trio had planned to climb via the so-called Supercouloir route to the summit at 8,850 meters: in the lower part through the Japanese Couloir (first climbed by the Japanese Shigehiro and Ozaki fin 1980), in the upper part through the Hornbein Couloir (named after the US climber Hornbein, who was in 1963 along with his compatriot Unsoeld the first who dared to climb into the steep North Face at an altitude of about 7,600 meters). The conditions in the wall made it impossible, the three professional climbers turned to the normal route. In the end the expedition failed because Hiro suffered from a cerebral edema above 7,000 meters, which he survived with luck. Seven years later, in 2012, Takeuchi became the first Japanese who climbed all 14 eight-thousanders.

High danger of avalanches

In spring 2005, the wall was significantly less snowy than now. Nobukazu Kuriki has announced that he would try to reach the summit of Everest via the “Great Couloir”, solo and without supplemental oxygen. The Australian climbers Tim Macartney-Snape and Greg Mortimer had opened the route “White Limbo”  through the Norton Couloir in 1984, without breathing masks. At that time the wall was also covered in snow. Since then the route has not been repeated.

The 34-year-old Japanese has already been at the foot of the wall and spoke of high danger of avalanches. As reported before, Kuriki is trying for the sixth time to climb the highest mountain in the world in the post-monsoon period, for the first time, however, on the north side. He had got a first impression of the North Face in 2012. In this failed attempt via the West Ridge he had suffered so severe frostbite that later nine fingers had to be amputed almost completely.

Jornet: “A lot of snow”

The Spaniard Kilian Jornet is informing the public significantly more incommunicative than Kuriki about the progress of his Everest expedition, also on the north side. “We continue with the acclimatization,” the 28-year-old tweeted a week ago. “There’s a lot of snow, but everything is okay.” Since then there has been silence. Kilian wants – as you could also read in my blog – to speed climb Everest: in a single push from the Rongbuk monastery to the summit, without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support. It is possible for both Kuriki and Jornet will get stuck in the snow or they will battle through it. So it will remain interesting.

Nobukazu Kuriki

He is going to make it a round half-dozen. For the sixth time, Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki wants to tackle Mount Everest in the post-monsoon season. The 34-year-old says, he is planning to climb the highest mountain on earth solo, without bottled oxygen, this time via the Tibetan north side. Last year Kuriki had tried to reach the summit from the Nepalese south side – and had failed on Everest for the fifth time: He climbed up to 8,150 meters, about 200 meters above the South Col, before he abandoned his summit attempt due to deep snow and strong winds.

Only one complete finger

After his Everest attempt in fall 2012

In an attempt via the Everest West Ridge in fall 2012, Kuriki had suffered severe frostbite. Nine fingers had to be amputated; only stumps were left – and only one complete thumb. Last spring, the Japanese tried to climb the Annapurna South Face, but didn’t reach far due to bad weather. To finance his new Everest adventure, Kuriki launched a crowdfunding. The targeted amount of the equivalent of almost 160,000 Euros was significantly exceeded.

Patience is needed

Kuriki 2015 on Everest

The Spaniard Kilian Jornet has already traveled to the Himalayas a week ago. As reported before, he also wants to climb Everest from the north, without bottled oxygen – and in a single push. He is targeting an ascent in mid-September. “You need to go for it so if conditions are good and if I’m feeling good, I should try,” said Kilian. “But it’s important to have the patience to wait for this good moment.” Nobukazu Kuriki should also bear that in mind.
The last ascent to the top of Everest in fall dates six years ago: In October 2010, the American Eric Larsen and five Sherpas reached the highest point at 8,850 meters.