The “King of the Eight-Thousanders”

K2 remains the only eight-thousander still unclimbed in winter. Krzysztof Wielicki declared the Polish winter expedition on the second highest mountain on earth over. “The priority of the expedition is the safety of the participants,” wrote the expedition leader on Facebook. Adam Bielecki and Janusz Golab found during their exploration climb that all ropes up to Camp 1 on the Abruzzi route were blocked. It had to be assumed that the Camps 1, 2 and 3 were destroyed, said Wielicki. In the last week, there had been 80 centimeters of fresh snow. This had increased the avalanche danger, especially in the upper part of the mountain. In addition, only around 11 March a good weather window was expected, but probably it was too short for a summit push, explained Wielicki.

A lot of disquiet

Adam Bielecki after being hit by a stone

The expedition, which brought together the best Polish high altitude climbers, was not running smoothly. First, a part of the team was involved in the rescue operation for Elisabeth Revol and Tomek Mackiewicz on Nanga Parbat. Then, within a few days, two climbers were injured by falling rocks on the Basque route. Bielecki broke his nose but was able to continue the expedition. Rafal Fronia broke his forearm and had to leave early. The team switched to the Abruzzi route. The solo ascent of Denis Urubko, who had not consulted his plan with expedition leader Wielicki, caused further disquiet. The 44-year-old reached an altitude of 7,600 meters, before storm and deep snow stopped him. After returning to the base camp Urubko left the expedition.

Rafal Fronia

For the Polish climber Rafal Fronia, the winter expedition on K2 is over. “Today, at 2pm local time, while approaching to Camp 1 (5,900m), a smoldering falling stone hit Rafał Fronia in the forearm causing a fracture,” expedition leader Krzysztof Wielicki informed from the base camp on Facebook. “After descending to the base and medical supply, he expects to be evacuated by a helicopter to the hospital in Skardu.” Fronia is to return home. In spring 2017, the Polish climber had scaled the eight-thousander Lhotse in Nepal without bottled oxygen.

Cesen route (E), Abruzzi route (F)

Only on Wednesday, Adam Bielecki was hit by a stone after his return from the rescue operation on Nanga Parbat, also just below Camp 1. He had suffered a broken nose and had to be sewn with several stitches. Bielecki wants to rest for a few days and then ascend again.

Update 10 February: After the two injuries by rockfall, the Polish K2 winter expedition abandons the Cesen route “for reasons of safety” – and announces that they are looking for another ascent route. I guess they will choose the normal route via the Abruzzi Spur.

Mount Everest

The summit of Mount Everest was probably quite crowded today. From the north side, maybe 60 climbers tried to reach the highest point on earth at 8,850 meters, Ralf Dujmovits wrote on Instagram. The number of summit aspirants on the Nepali south side might have been much higher. Dujmovits, the so far only German who has climbed all 14 eight-thousanders, wants to reach the summit of Everest without bottled oxygen. The 55-year-old plans to wait for the current run being over and only then start his own attempt: “At my age climbing without supplemental oxygen one needs to climb at a very steady pace – can’t speed up for overtaking (loosing too much body warmth) or can’t wait at typical cueing points (loosing body warmth by just waiting).”

With stomach age to the summit

Kilian Jornet on ascent

Last midnight, Kilian Jornet has reached the summit of Mount Everest – “in a single climb without the help of oxygen or fixed ropes”, his team wrote on Facebook. 38 hours after the start of his speed climb at Rongbuk Monastery at an altitude of 5,100 meters, the 29-year-old was back in the Advanced Base Camp. There he decided not to return to Rongbuk Monastery as previously planned but to end his speed project at the ABC because of health problems. “Until I reached 7.700 m, I felt good and was going according to my planning, but there I started to feel stomach ache,” Kilian was cited. “I guess due to a stomach virus. From there I have moved slowly and stopping every few steps to recover. However, I made it to the summit at midnight.”

Holzer completes “Seven Summits”

According to the Kathmandu-based newspaper “The Himalayan Times”, more than 70 climbers have been on the highest point on Sunday. Among them was the team of the Austrian expedition operator Furtenbach Adventures, including the blind climber Andy Holzer and his two companions Wolfgang Klocker and Klemens Bichler. “We are so happy. It’s done,”Andy wrote in an email to his wife Sabine. “It was extremely hard. Eight hours for the ascent, five hours for the descent to Camp 3.”

Andy Holzer (2nd from r.) with his companions

The 50-year-old had already been on the south side of Everest in 2014 and on the north side in 2015. Both climbing seasons had ended prematurely, 2014 because of the avalanche disaster in the Khumbu Icefall killing 16 climbers, 2015 because of the devastating earthquake in Nepal. “We are very proud, it really was a four-year program,” said Holzer. “Three times on Everest, it has cost a lot of money, many disappointments, and now we have finally reached the summit.” With his success on Everest, Andy has also completed his “Seven Summits” collection, that is, he has scaled the highest mountains of all continents. He is the first blind mountaineer to have reached the summit of Mount Everest from the Tibetan north side. The first blind man at all on the highest mountain on earth, the American Erik Weihenmayer, had ascended from the south in 2001.

The 26-year-old Anja Blancha also belonged to the successful Furtenbach team. She will be listed now as the youngest German female climber on Everest. Anja replaces Claudia Bäumler, who had been successful in 2002 as a 33-year-old, told me Billi Bierling from the “Himalayan Database”.

R.I.P.

Four dead

On Sunday, not only successes, but also fatalities were reported from Everest. An American and a Slovak, both 50 years old, died on the south side, a 54-year-old Australian on the north side. An Indian climber, who was missed on the Nepali side, was meanwhile found dead near the South Col.

Polish summit successes, Revol on top of Lhotse

Polish Media report, that on Sunday the Pole Janusz Adamski  summited Mount Everest climbing alone, without bottled oxygen ascending from the North, descending to the South. His compatriot Rafal Fronia reportedly  scaled Lhotse without supplemental oxygen.

According to her own words, the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol reached the summit of the Lhotse already on Saturday. “I did the summit, I could only send a message 30m down after doing it, because too much wind at the top, I even lost my glove (He flew away) to send a message!,” Elisabeth wrote on Facebook. “Happy.” Less than two weeks ago, Revol had tried to scale Makalu, but had turned back at the 8,445-meter-high fore-summit because of too much wind.

Update 24 May: The Pole Adamski has meanwhile admitted that Sherpas carried tents for him to Camp 1 and 2 and that he used bottled oxygen above Camp 3. Obviously he had no permit for his traverse to the Nepalese south side.

Update 9 June: I have removed the information that Andy Holzer completed his Seven Summits collection. The Austrian confirmed reports that, in 2008, he had reached on Denali, the highest mountain of North America, not the main summit but only the Kahiltna Horn, the 70m lower foresummit. “The temperature was far below 40 degrees minus, and for me it was known at the time and now that this point was and is valid as a ‘bad weather peak’,” Holzer wrote to bergsteiger.com. Strange reasoning.