Ralf Dujmovits

“It would have been a dream to take this beautiful route, but I do not dare to climb in this crumbly zone.” Ralf Dujmovits sounds a little bit disappointed when he calls me via satellite phone from the Advanced Base Camp (ABC) on the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest. Actually, the 52-year-old wanted to scale Everest via the route that Reinhold Messner had opened during his solo ascent in 1980: beneath the North Ridge, then through the upper part of the Norton Couloir, onto the summit plateau. The wind was the reason that he abandoned his plan, explains Ralf: “It is blowing for 14 days now. There is a rocky interruption in the upper section of the Norton Couloir, where it is the steepest. There is no snow, probably it is rather sandy.” Even the point where Messner had left the couloir is free of snow now. This challenge at an altitude of more than 8000 meters is too big for him, because he will be climbing alone and without bottled oxygen, says Ralf. “This is too difficult, too exciting. I’m getting older, I have not enough power for that.” Now he will try to climb to the summit on the normal route, “though it pains me”.

Alone on the mountain

Little snow in and around the Norton Couloir

Dujmovits is the first and by now only German who has climbed all 14 eight-thousanders. Only on Everest, in 1992, he used bottled oxygen. Ralf wants to wipe out what he thinks is a mistake. But his sixth attempt on Everest would definitely be his last, he said before his departure.

Ralf is feeling fit, so far he has been spared from colds or other illnesses. His acclimatization is completed. Actually Dujmovits wanted to stay in his camp at 7600 meters for a second night last weekend, but it was too windy. Therefore, he descended to ABC at 6400 meters on Sunday. Previously, he had deposited a material bag at 7700 meters, with a tent, sleeping bag, stove and food. “I carry my stuff by myself”, says Ralf. “Yesterday I was completely alone on the mountain.”

Cannot risk to get stuck in a jam

Everest North Col (r.) with Changtse

Even the ABC is still rather empty, says Ralf. A Chinese group is there, and a few single climbers. These are not the forerunners of the first major summit wave of the season as speculated on the Internet, says Ralf. He expects that 25 and 26 May could be possible summit days. Maybe a first weather window will open already on 23 May, “but still with too much wind to climb without oxygen.” Probably most of the nine groups on the north side focus on the later date, believes Dujmovits. Therefore he has not still decided when to start himself. “Without bottled oxygen I can not risk to get stuck in a jam.” He also wants to consult with the experienced meteorologist Charly Gabl from the Austrian town of Innsbruck. Maybe there could be another weather window at the beginning of June.

Two Sherpas left their groups

Of course the news of the avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall, which killed 16 Nepalis on Good Friday, had spread quickly on the north side too, the 52-year-old climber told me: “Almost all Nepalese Sherpas who work for the teams here have lost in the disaster relatives or friends. There was deep sadness at Chinese base camp for two or three days. Two Sherpas left their expeditions. Meanwhile one of them has returned. Apart from that we have not noticed much of the trouble on the south side.”

David Goettler(© The North Face)

That was a short home leave. Just one month after his return from Nanga Parbat David Goettler has packed his bags again. His goal this spring: Mount Everest. “To climb Everest via the normal route without supplemental oxygen is challenging enough. That would be interesting”, David had told me last August when I had asked him whether the highest mountain in the world was an attractive goal for him. Now the 35-year-old climber is putting this project into action. He wants to climb Everest via the normal route on the Nepalese south side of the mountain, David writes me while trekking from Lukla to Namche Bazaar. “Without bottled oxygen and high porters.” I want to know whether he is a member of a team. “I and 600 others … ;-)”, replies Goettler. “As a team, I have only myself !”

At 7200 meters on Nanga Parbat

David at the summit of Nuptse in 2012

The mountaineer from the town of Munich has already climbed five eight-thousanders, lastly Makalu in May 2013. Previously he was often in a team with Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits. In 2012 with Gerlinde, he succeeded in climbing the 7861-meter-high Nuptse within sight of Mount Everest. Early March this year – as reported – David’s attempt failed to make the first winter ascent of the 8125-meter-high Nanga Parbat in Pakistan along with the Italian Simone Moro. But after all, the German reached the Mazeno ridge at 7200 meters with the Polish climber Tomek Mackiewicz. No one went up higher on Nanga Parbat this winter. Even though he has been in thin air for two months then, David has to acclimatize again. The effect disappears within seven to twelve days in the lowlands. In this respect, David’s home leave has actually taken too long.