Route of the Spaniards on Gasherbrum II (blue)

Once again the weather in the Karakorum is a grab bag. “We are all still at Base Camp with the same 4 seasons in one day, sun, cloud, rain, snow, wind,” the New Zealand expedition leader Russell Brice wrote this week from K 2, the second highest mountain on earth. About 20 kilometers as the crow flies from there, Alberto Inurrategi, Juan Vallejo and Mikel Zabalza regardless of the freak weather started their ambitious attempt to traverse Gasherbrum I and II in Alpine style without descending to the base camp – 33 years after Reinhold Messner’s and Hans Kammerlander’s pioneering on these two eight-thousanders which has not yet been repeated to date.

Too strong wind

Originally, the Spaniards had planned to climb G I and then G II, in reverse order to the way of the two South Tyroleans in 1984. However, too much fresh snow on G I and expected strong winds on this mountain forced them to replan. The trio decided to tackle G II first, as Messner and Kammerlander had done, but on the route of the two Poles Jerzy Kukuczka and Wojciech Kurtyka from 1983 via the East Ridge. Today they turned around there at about 7,100 meters and descended, as their GPS tracker showed. “The ridge was too risky due to the intense wind, “ their team confirmed on Facebook.

Strong team

Vallejo, Zabalza, Innurategi (from l. to r.)

The three Spaniards are a well-coordinated and highly experienced team. In 2002, Alberto Inurrategi, today aged 48, was the tenth climber who completed his collection of the 14 eight-thousanders and the fourth who did it without bottled oxygen. He scaled twelve eight-thousanders along with his older brother Felix, who died in an accident during the descend from Gasherbrum II in 2000. Juan Vallejo, 47 years old, has climbed nine of the 14 eight-thousanders. Mikel Zabalza, aged 47 too, reached the summits of K 2 in 2004 and Manaslu in 2008. As a trio, Alberto, Juan and Mikel opened a new route to the 8011-meter-high Central Summit of Broad Peak in 2010. The Main Summit is 40 meters higher. However, they also failed with some of their ambitious projects, for example on the Makalu West Pillar (in spring 2009), in the Hornbein Couloir on Mount Everest (in fall 2009) or also in the summer of 2016, when they first tried to traverse Gasherbrum I and II.

K 2 Base Camp

With this monarch is not to be joked. K 2, the “king of the eight-thousanders”, is moody and therefore dangerous. “This morning at 8:12 am, we saw (a) big avalanche coming from (the) Abruzzi route,” Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the Nepalese expedition operator Dreamers Destination, writes on Facebook. The Abruzzi route, following the path of the Italian first ascenders in 1954, leads via the Southeast Ridge of the mountain (look at the picture below, route F). “We feel all (that) Camp 3 (at about 7,300 m) is swept away again. I am sure we have all our deposit near Camp 4 because our Sherpa team made it on (a) ice cliff, but it is likely sure that all the fixed ropes are washed away.” Tomorrow his Sherpa team will go up again to assess the situation.

Strong wind in the summit area

Russell Brice

According to Mingma, the weather forecast for the coming days is anything but rosy. “It shows snow at 8,000 m every evening and very high wind at (the) summit which delays our summit plan. (We are) Waiting for good weather to come.” It is the same with the other teams in the Base Camp at the foot of K 2, with an altitude of 8,611 meters the second highest mountain on earth. For many, time is slowly running out. Russell Brice, head of the New Zealand expedition operator Himalayan Experience, points out that his team has to leave the Base Camp on 4 August at the latest to catch the booked home flights. “We all know our backs are against the wall,” writes Brice. “But everyone is prepared to work hard, carry loads, dig tent platforms and the like and not just leave it for the Sherpas and HAP (Pakistani high altitude porters) to do.”

Sleepless nights

Routes on the Pakistani south side of K 2

Russell also points to the strong wind to be expected in the upper part of the mountain, which is unlikely to allow fixing ropes up to the highest camp at about 8,000 meters before 20 July. His team is climbing the Cesen route (on the picture route E), via the Southsoutheast Ridge. Brice is not quite euphoric about the situation. “So let’s see what happens in the coming days and what adventures lie ahead,” writes the 65-year-old experienced expedition manager who’s up to every Himalayan and Karakoram trick. “But I am sure this is going to involve many sleepless nights.” The king of the eight-thousanders is rarely granting summit audiences.

Collecting garbage on Everest

Such big garbage bags have guaranteed not yet been brought down from Mount Everest. The Expedition Operator’s Association Nepal (EOA) has delivered canvas bags, capable of holding 80 kilograms, to Everest Base Camp. They are to be used in particular for transporting old tents and garbage, which have accumulated in Camp 2 at 6,400 meters due to the premature end of the climbing seasons in 2014 and 2015, down to the valley. 80-kg bags are, of course, too heavy to be shouldered by porters and carried through the Khumbu Icefall to Everest Base Camp.

Two dollars per kilo

For this purpose, the helicopters are to be used that are currently transporting equipment of the expedition teams for the upcoming spring season to Camp 2. On the return flight to Base Camp they are empty and therefore can take back the full garbage bags. The New Zealander Russell Brice, head of the expedition operator Himalayan Experience, said, he was paying his Sherpas two dollars per kilo of trash they bring on their way back from Camp 3 (7,300 meters) or Camp 4 (7,950 meters) down to Camp 2. The “Eco Everest Expedition” run by the operator Asian Trekking has once again committed itself to bring down “old garbage, in addition to our own”.

Comparatively low deposit

South side of Mount Everest

For many years, the mountaineers have been obliged to dig or burn their organic waste. Recyclable material such as plastic or glass must be returned to Kathmandu as well as empty oxygen bottles or batteries. Any expedition team that breaches the rules risks not getting back their garbage deposit of US $ 4000. It remains to be seen whether this small sum – compared to the overall turnover on Everest – can really deter polluters.

Glacier melt reveals old garbage

Of course, there is also old garbage on the mountain, from times when environmental protection was still a foreign word. In addition, the increasing glacier melt on Everest as a result of climate change reveals tents or oxygen bottles from the 1990s or even earlier which the mountaineers had once thoughtlessly disposed in crevasses.

Mount Everest

Before the season, actually all agreed: Commercial climbing on Everest would hardly cope with another year with accidents and without summit successes. It turned out differently. More than 400 ascents via the Nepalese south side of Everest, more than 100 on the north side, five deaths in the summit area. Everything back to normal? Any problems to point out? I’ve asked some expedition operators, who were on Everest this spring. The first three have already replied: Phil Crampton, Adrian Ballinger and Russell Brice. There are some coincidences. But read for yourself!

Crampton: “Why not regulate the mountain like Chinese do?”

For Phil Crampton, born in UK, living in the US, it was the 14th and final season on Everest. He had announced in advance that his company Altitude Junkies would focus from 2017 on “less crowded” mountains like the eight-thousanders Makalu, Dhaulagiri and Kangchenjunga. Crampton himself has scaled Everest six times. This season, the Altitude Junkies team recorded 16 summit successes. Here is Phil’s balance:

Phil Crampton

“The Everest spring season was as normal as it could have been after the devastating 2014 and 2015 seasons. The mountain was not as crowded as usual this year but that still didn’t stop the bottlenecks on summit day from the crowds of climbers that were reported from May 19th. Expedition operators and the government are already talking in Kathmandu about the increased number of foreign climbers expected for the 2017 season as many people still have permits that will be honored from the previous two years. I continue to see climbers with inadequate high altitude experience on her flanks and most of these climbers are signed up with low budget less experienced operators. Everest climbers and their experience is not regulated by the government and it seems that anyone willing to pay the $11,000 permit fee is allowed to climb. Why not regulate the mountain like the Chinese government do requiring all Chinese nationals to have previously climbed an 8,000-meter peak before being issued a permit for the north side?”

Ballinger: “Trash on the mountain, inexperienced climbers”

Adrian Ballinger tried this spring along with his US compatriot Cory Richards to climb Everest from the north without oxygen. The world could follow their ascent in real time via Snapchat under the hashtag #everestnofilter. Adrian turned around at an altitude of about 8,500 meters when he noticed symptoms of altitude sickness. Cory reached the summit. Ballinger’s company Alpenglow Expeditions had a commercial team on Everest too. That’s what Adrian wrote to me:

Adrian Ballinger

“2016 was a great season for Alpenglow on Everest. 100 percent of our commercial team summited (four climbers, three Sherpa) in great conditions. The north side route was in great condition, and much safer than my experience of the south side the past eight seasons. The CTMA (China Tibet Mountaineering Association) rope-fixing was, for the most part, excellent. Issues on the mountain do exist and need addressed, primarily problems caused by low-budget operators without western guides. These problems included leaving trash and human waste on the mountain, accepting inexperienced climbers on teams, and utilizing other teams’ resources due to a lack of their own. None of these problems are insurmountable, but regulation and enforcement of commercial companies on the mountain is necessary.” 

Brice: “New Nepal operators with too little Sherpa stuff”

The New Zealander Russell Brice can also be satisfied with this spring’s season on the south side of Everest from his perspective as head of the operator Himalayan Experience. Six of his clients, including German Andreas Friedrich, reached the highest point. Russ has encouraged me to shorten his season record on the Himex website. That’s what I did:

Russell Brice

“After I saw so many people going to the summit on the 19th I was not surprised to see the events that unfolded later in the season happen. Like one news article headlines, it was back to “Business as Usual on Everest” but I really wonder if we never learn from our past mistakes! There are now many more new Nepal operators here, and we see that they have limited numbers of Sherpa staff, so often these teams are unable to offer any Sherpa support to get equipment up the hill or to actually fix ropes. It was a very democratic decision to have nine different teams being involved for summit rope fixing, but it was not efficient what so ever. It would have been better to have two or three companies involved with Sherpas who all know each other and who can work well together, and also who have one Sirdar or leader to follow the instructions from. This would mean that the rope fixing would be more efficient and subsequently would be done more quickly and therefore put the Sherpas in less danger.”

Andreas Friedrich on top of Mount Everest

Happiness can not be planned, but to a certain extent the presuppositions. “I reached the summit, and I and my Sherpa Son Dorjee had it for us,” Andreas Friedrich, who, on 13 May, was the first German this spring season on the top of Mount Everest, tells me. “It was an incredible luxury to stand alone up there. I was very lucky.” He owes it to the foresight of his experienced expedition leader Russell Brice, says Andreas. The old stager from New Zealand, head of the operator Himalayan Experience, had stayed with his group at Base Camp, when almost all of the teams who planned their summit attempt for the days around 20 May had flown by helicopter to lower regions to recover in “thicker” air. “So we had an advantage of a few days and reached the summit as the first team of a commercial operator,” says Friedrich.

“Experiences were worth frostbite”

“Although the weather was really lousy – minus 30 to 35 degrees, gusty wind – I was fully in high spirits up there.”After he had taken some summit pictures, the German climber took his time for another quarter of an hour and “absorbed these views: the mountains suddenly shrunken to miniature size, the glaciers that were only brushstrokes”. The 54-year-old flight captain from the town of Munich suffered second to third degree frostbite at all fingertips during his stay on the summit. “The hand will remain sensitive for the rest of my life,” says Andreas. “But it was absolutely worth it. The experiences I made, the lessons I learned and all these new feelings by far outweigh the problems I’ll have with my five fingers in future.”

Like in the 1970s

This spring more than 400 climbers reached the summit of Everest from Nepal, more than 100 from Tibet. That seems back to normal – after 2015 without summit successes on both sides of the mountain because of the devastating earthquake in Nepal and after the premature end of the season on the south side in 2014 due to the avalanche incident in the Khumbu Icefall. However, it has been different in the Khumbu area, says Andreas Friedrich: “The tea houses were empty. Namche Bazaar was like a ghost town.” Even at Base Camp it was emptier as usual, only about 290 foreign climbers had pitched their tents, says Andreas: “The atmosphere felt like in the 60s, 70s: very relaxed. There was enough space on the glacier. And that continued on the mountain.”

No playground

Dangerous Khumbu Icefall

Only on their descent from the summit, Andreas and his teammates got into a jam – just in the dangerous Icefall, they met all the summit aspirants who had chosen 19 or 20 May as summit days. There were some among them who actually were not up to the challenges of Everest,” says Andreas, who scaled the eight-thousander Manaslu (in 2012) and other high mountains in the Himalayas before he tried Everest: “People who didn’t know how to go with crampons and cross the ladders in the Icefall or how to use a jumar (ascender). I saw it with my very eyes and shook my head. Everest is not a mountain for practice, no playground.”

Emergency oxygen lacking

He was not surprised that five climbers lost their lives on Everest this spring, says Andreas Friedrich. “I think it could have been avoided if all, like Russell Brice, had deposited enough oxygen for the case of emergency at the South Col or in Camp 3.” But local discount operators like Seven Summits Treks had abstained from doing it, says Andreas. “Everyone who books a local operator’s expedition for 18,000 Euros, may rub his hands for five minutes because of this bargain. But it comes at a price. You pay for it with much less knowhow and with extras which must be bought.”

Brice: “They would have been turned around in my expedition”

Russell Brice

Expedition leader Russell Brice is also tackling this thorny issue: “Once again the cheaper Nepal operators who actually have very little back up and who continue to take unsuitable climbers who spend far to long trying to get to the summit and then end up with problems are the main cause of death this year.” Such members would have been turned around by his expedition much earlier, the head of Himex writes to me: “All these clients who go with cheaper local teams should understand that there is a reason that these teams are cheaper, and that there is very little support.”

Andreas Friedrich agrees. He had to dig deep into his pockets to finance his Everest adventure, but he is convinced that the money was well spent: “If I botch it up or something happens, I can 100 percent rely on the risk minimization and crisis management of Russell and his Sherpas. And that’s worth its price.”

P.S.: Everest climber Andreas Friedrich is also the founder of the aid campaign “Mountain Projects”, aiming inter alia to build a school at the Nepalese village of Kagate.

Russell Brice

He is the doyen of the western expedition operators. The New Zealander Russell Brice has been leading expeditions to the Himalayas since 1974. Hardly any of his colleagues has so much experience as the 63-year-old head of Himalayan Experience, not only in organizing trips to the eight-thousanders but also in dealing with the authorities. It is something that has almost been forgotten, that Russell at an earlier age was an excellent high altitude climber – and an Everest pioneer: Along with the Briton Harry Taylor he first climbed the Three Pinnacles on the Northeast Ridge in 1988.
I wanted to know what Brice thinks about the current situation in Nepal:

Russ, for this spring Himalayan Experience is offering expeditions in Nepal to Mount Everest and Lhotse. How great is the demand?

Very small numbers compared to past years.

Do you notice an impact of the events in 2014 (avalanche in Khumbu Icefall) and 2015 (earthquake and avalanche that hit Everest BC) on your client’s attitude?

Yes very much so, many people want to see a safe and successful season before they book. So the 2016 season will be quite important as an indication that we can still climb Everest relatively safely.

South side of Mount Everest

In 2015, the Nepalese authorities announced stricter rules for climbers on Everest – restrictions on age (denying access to climbers younger than 18 and older than 75), a minimum of high mountaineering experience (at least having scaled a 6,500 m peak) and physical requirements. What do you think about this?

Nepal authorities are always making announcements but then it takes them forever to actually formalise. Yes I think that it is a good idea to make a minimum and maximum age limit as this can stop some ridiculous pursuit by some.

To climb 6,500m means nothing. You can climb a relatively easy summit like Aconcagua and this would be admissible, but a more difficult summit like Denali is not admissible. Do you think the Nepal authorities have any idea if people have climbed these summits or not, of course not, and they do not take any interest in any case, and most people will just lie. Much better to ask that Everest climbers have climbed another 8,000m summit before Everest, and then the Nepal authorities actually have a chance to check.

Two and half months before the beginning of the spring season, these new regulations have not yet come in effect – as little as the promised extension of 2015 climbing permits. Are you annoyed at the government’s apathy – or maybe used to it?

Yes totally I am extremely disappointed in the lack of effort by the government to distribute earthquake funds to those who need help, and the lack of interest to try and rebuild the tourist industry. So easy to make statements and then do nothing.

I heard that there will be a climbing permit credit for those that were on expeditions last year, for two years, but again this has not been passed at parliament level, and we have no details of how it will be implemented. So how can we pass this on to our members.

Last year we got our previous permit credits at 8 o’clock the night before we left for BC at 06.00 the next morning. So it was us as operators who took a big risk in bringing these members to Nepal, with no support from the authorities.

North side of Mount Everest

Despite of the fact that there were no summit successes from the Nepalese side of Everest in the past two years, you don’t switch over to north. Why not?

I am not geared up to operate in Tibet, but also still do not trust the Chinese authorities like Tibet was closed again this last autumn season. When Tibet was closed 3 days before I was supposed to go there in 2008 I lost a quarter million dollars, I cannot afford to have this happen again.

But also I need to try and help the Nepal people as much as I can, the government certainly isn’t.

The situation in Nepal is still difficult – also due to the continuing blockade of the Nepalese border with India. Do you look forward to the upcoming spring season with optimism or mixed feelings?

I am ashamed and embarrassed that the new Nepalese government has not been able to resolve the embargo after so many months. I am also very worried that it will not be resolved by the time that the climbing season starts, and this is going to have a big impact on us as operators with the cost of food, fuel, transport and the like.

I am not looking forward to the next season, but we need to be there and be positive, because if the local authorities cannot offer that, then we had best do our best. Too many people rely upon us to bring tourists to Nepal, so we need to do our best to try and rebuild this business.

Everest Base Camp

A few climbers are incorrigible. „I wish it was all so simple, but I am afraid not. I still have expedition members who call me to say that they have not experienced any death, or any disadvantage and that it is my responsibility to continue climbing“, Russell Brice, head of the New Zealand expedition operator Himalayan Experience, wrote in his newsletter from Everest Base Camp on the Nepalese side of Mount Everest. On Friday, Brice had abandoned all Himex expeditions in Nepal: „Now having considered all facts, I can tell you that we will not be continuing any of our ascents in Nepal this season.“ Before he called off the climbs, Russ had to take a lot of criticism, because he had said that his team would stay in Base Camp for a few days and decide only then whether to stop or to continue the expedition. He now reported that he had a call from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) that the „Icefall doctors“ would not return to restore the route through the Khumbu Icefall. „At the same time I even have some members who now want to climb by themselves. Thus I have decided that they are no longer part of my team. I will continue to look after my team and staff to the best of my ability under difficult conditions“, Brice wrote.

Arnette: A war zone

Base Camp after the avalanche from Pumori

These climbers should read what US climber and blogger Alan Arnette wrote after his return to Kathmandu about the avalanche that hit Everest Base Camp on 25 April: „Rocks flew into humans at supersonic speeds, they never had a chance. Doctors there to climb or serve were pressed into duty out of service or deep commitment. Everyone there was impacted from carrying corpses, picking up body parts, communicating with loved ones back home, greeting helicopters with climbers rescued from the Western Cwm – yes, it was horrific and not to be glorified, capitalized or minimized – it was a war zone and most there rose to the challenge and will be changed forever.“

Help from China

Meanwhile a first group of 160 Chinese police officers with heavy equipment crossed the Friendship Bridge and entered Nepal at Kodari to clear the heavenly damaged road to Kathmandu. A total of 500 officers together with 180 units of engineering machinery were detached, the Chinese official news agency Xinhua reported. Nepal had asked the neighboring country for support. According to the Nepalese government meanwhile more than 7,000 dead (among them 57 foreigners) and more than 14,000 injured persons have been registered, eight days after the devastating earthquake.

North side of Everest

First of all:  Compared to the suffering in Nepal after the earthquake of last Saturday – now more than 5,000 deaths and 10,000 injuries have been counted – it seems almost insignificant what is happening on the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest. But I also give reports on the consequences of the terrible tragedy in Nepal for the climbers in the region – and there are still several hundred mountaineers in Tibet, including many Sherpas from Nepal. All will go home now. Whether they like it or not, they have to. “It’s official: Everest is closed for this season”, expedition leader Dominik Mueller, head of the German operator Amical alpin, writes from “Chinese Base Camp” on the north side of Mount Everest. Yesterday Mueller had abandoned his expedition, one day before the decisive meeting of the expedition leaders with representatives of the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA) in Base Camp at 5,150 meters.

Road to Nepal closed

Other climbers confirm that the Chinese authorities have forbidden any further activities on the highest mountain on earth and on other Tibetan mountains too. “Dreams are just gone”, Austrian climber Alois Fuchs writes in his internet diary. “It is supposed that earthquake activity will shift towards Mount Everest (Tingri) and has not yet finished. No one is able to assess accurately the danger of falling rocks and avalanches, therefore all mountains in this area have been closed. For us, this means: Mount Everest cancelled, we have to collect our equipment, to rebook flights and to wait in BC (Base Camp) for the mates who are still in ABC (Advanced Base Camp).” Ralf Dujmovits, the most successful German high altitude climber, is in ABC too. Ralf will now pack his things, his office in Germany confirms. According to Adrian Ballinger, head of the US operator Alpenglow Expeditions, the road between Tibet and Nepal is closed. Therefore his team wants to leave the country like many others via the Tibetan capital Lhasa.

Insufficient surgical equipment

Matthias Baumann confirmed that the road link between the two countries was interrupted again. “There have been new landslides, some regions are cut off”, the German doctor and mountaineer told me by phone from Nepal. The trauma surgeon is helping in a hospital on the outskirts of Kathmandu. “We have been operating mainly fractures of arms and legs, and spinal fractures too.” There is a lack of surgical equipment such as plates, nails and screws. He is now trying to organize supplies from Germany. “We have to treat so many fractures that there would be a lack of equipment in any hospital in the world.” Matthias is sleeping in a tent. “That’s what a lot of people do here.” He counted three aftershocks on the first day of his stay. Baumann said that caring for the earthquake victims in Kathmandu in his opinion was “quite well, but there are still so many mountain regions cut off. And there are far too few helicopters.” Those helicopters which were used for rescue on Mount Everest until yesterday are therefore urgently needed. On Tuesday evening, there were reports about an avalanche in the region Langtang with at least 250 people missing.

Only after helicopters come free

Although many climbers have already started to make their way home, the season is officially not yet finished on the Nepalese side of Mount Everest – despite the terrible avalanche disaster after the earthquake. “Our Himex team will stay at Everest BC for the next few days and we will then decide if we will continue or not”, writes Russell Brice, head of the New Zealand organizer Himalayan Experience. This morning, when he was at the airport, he had a meeting with the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) and the Tourism Minister. “He gave us permission to fly loads to Camp 1, but only after the helicopters come free from rescue operations which we of course totally agree with.”

Russell Brice

The decision of the Nepalese Government to extend last year’s Everest permits until 2019 came late, very late. “The Everest season starts in a few days, my staff are already on their way to Base Camp, so our planning has been going on for months”, Russell Brice, head of the New Zealand expedition operator Himalayan Experience, writes to me. “Food, oxygen and equipment are already in the Khumbu and members will be arriving in Kathmandu as from Monday next week.” He has some members that were at Everest last year coming back this year, says Russ. There is no sign of euphoria in his words about the decision to prolong the permits. “For the Nepalese government to take so long in making this decision is detrimental to Nepalese tourist business and devastating to employment opportunities for local people and the local economy.” It is unacceptable, says Brice, “that operators like us take the risk and continue with our planning, at huge financial risk.”

Small paper

The 62-year-old New Zealander has been leading expeditions to the Himalayas since 1974. Due to his strong experience, in a way Brice is something like the voice of the foreign expedition operators. He obviously doesn’t believe any more in the competence of the responsible persons in Kathmandu: “From a government that cannot rewrite the National Constitution for Nepal after nine years, what does one expect? So we are lucky that they could ‘push’ through a small paper in one year.”

Russell Brice

Russell Brice breathes out. “At last”, the 62-year-old New Zealander, head of the expedition operator Himalayan Experience, replies to my question on what he thinks about the planned new route through the Khumbu Icefall on Mount Everest. “We have been asking the SPCC (Note: The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Comitee is responsible for the route through the icefall.) to put the route more central since 2012. Now at last they have listened to the foreign operators instead of the local Sherpas who asked for the route to be moved so as they could travel faster … but not so safely.” Brice doesn’t expect that the new route will take the clients as much time as SPCC president Ang Dorjee Sherpa estimates: “It will take only about one hour longer, not three to four hours. You see there are not many people around these days who have been this way. But I have.”

Old wounds

It seems that I touched a sore spot when I confronted Russell with Adrian Ballinger’s tweet about the new route through the Khumbu Icefall (“The Everest Icefall ‘route change’ announced by Nepal is not a solution. It’s an excuse to maintain the status quo.“). Until 2012, Ballinger was the lead Everest guide for Himex. After that season they went their separate ways, obviously not in agreement. “What would Adrian Ballinger know, is this the same person who used to work for me and was told not to come through the icefall in the afternoon, but disagreed with me, and did come, and was almost killed when the Popcorn (Note: A section with a high risk of falling ice) moved, and then had to return to Camp 1 because the ropes had all been buried?”, Russell writes to me. “His opinion is not worth anything.”

Wait and see

Tim Mosedale, expedition leader from the UK, recommends waiting until the new route through the Khumbu Icefall is established. “Never mind what any government or ministry officials say!”, Tim writes to me. “It will go where it goes and that will be decided by the guys who put it in place.”

South side of Everest

The same procedure on Everest as every year? Probably not, but a reliable forecast is difficult. “There seem to be less people on expeditions and also less people trekking in Nepal”, the New Zealander Russell Brice replies to my question which influence the avalanche disaster on Good Friday 2014 and the subsequent end of all great expeditions on Everest south side will have on this year’s spring season on the highest mountain in the world. “It seems that more people want to go to North side, and less people to South side”, says the head of the expedition operator Himalayan Experience. However, Brice withdrew his tendered Everest expedition in Tibet and decided to just operate on the south side this year.

Less climbers on the south side?

SummitClimb offers an expedition to the north and one to the south side of the mountain. “It seems in 2015 more of our SummitClimb members are interested in climbing the Tibet side of Everest than the Nepal side of Everest”, the US-British climber Dan Mazur, who founded SummitClimb in 1987 and has led many Everest expeditions since then, writes to me. “The result of which might be that this could be better for those people who choose to go to the Nepal side, because it might be less crowded than in previous years.” There were “more people expressing interest in our 2015 Post Monsoon Autumn Everest Expedition”, says Dan.

A little bit of uncertainty

“Would I have more clients if the 2014 incident hadn’t happened? I’m not sure”, says Tim Mosedale. The British climber will lead an Everest expedition in Nepal this spring: “Certainly there’s a little bit of uncertainty and people are looking for extra reassurances.” Simone Lowe, head of the British expedition operator Jagged Globe, is “not seeing any appreciable difference. Of course, people may be anxious but more so, that there will not be another tragedy, anywhere on the mountain.”

The price decides

The Tibetan side

Dominik Mueller, head of the German operator Amical alpin, will lead an expedition on the Tibetan side during the upcoming season. “We don’t have less or more requests for Everest than in the previous years”, says Dominik. “Certainly some clients were considering to switch to the north side – but I think regardless of the events in 2014. At the end of the day, the conditions on the mountain play the key role.” He expects that it will take a few years to identify a real trend. Ultimately, the price will decide, says Dominik: “If China continues its policy of demanding more and more money, some operators may consider to switch back to the south side again. And those operating in Nepal may decide to stay there instead of switching to the north side.” The DAV Summit Club informed me that it  cancelled its scheduled Everest spring expedition in Tibet due to a lack of participants.

“Fickle posturing”

The US operator Peak Freaks hit the brakes for other reason and called off its scheduled expedition in Nepal. Among other things Peak Freaks refers to “the local government’s fickle posturing and vague statements regarding possible rule changes for mountaineering permits”. An untenable situation, Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineeering Association (NMA), also considers: “With less than 90 days remaining to start climbing, it’s the government’s responsibility to clear the confusion at the earliest.”

South side of Mount Everest

Maybe it will turn out to be not quite as bad as it looked first. A report of the Himalayan Times about the Everest permits has upset many mountaineers worldwide – including myself. The report said that the extension of last spring’s Everest permits by five years would apply strictly to groups not to individual climbers. Means: If even one member of an expedition would scale the mountain, permits of the other group members would be cancelled. After the avalanche accident in the Khumbu Icefall last April that had killed 16 Nepalese climbers and led to the premature end of the spring season, the government had announced that the 318 departed climbers could use their permits even within the next five years.

“It is next to impossible to regroup the same climbers for new expedition, as they reside in different parts of the world”, the Himalayan Times quoted Dambar Parajuli, president of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal (EOA). “It’s a time to facilitate climbers rather than creating hurdles in the name of regulation.” Reportedly the members of an expedition operated by Himalayan Experience had already lost their Everest permits because Chinese climber Wang Jing, who used the group permit, had reached the summit on 23 May, after she had been flown to Camp 2 by helicopter.

Brice: Wait and See

I asked the New Zealander Russell Brice, owner of Himex, for a statement about the permit topic. “I had a meeting with the EOA yesterday and apparently all the new ministers in the Ministry are in verbal agreement for the five year individual permit”, Russ writes to me. “At the moment the document concerning this is at the Legal Department, from there it goes to the Finance Department and then to Congress. So there are still a few parts to the process to be considered before we will know the definite outcome.”

Russell Brice

He kept silent for weeks, but now he has found very clear words. “This is my 20th year of operations for Himalayan Experience but never before have I experienced such a variety of emotions as I did this year” writes Russell Brice at the beginning of a five-part series of reports about what happened on and around Mount Everest this spring. At this point I can only sum up the content but you should really take time to read Russell’s first hand reports in its full length. The owner and expedition operator from New Zealand was at Everest Base Camp when the devastating avalanche went down over the Khumbu Icefall and killed 16 Nepalese climbers on 18 April. “It appears that there was already a traffic jam in this area at the time of the avalanche, so it is not surprising that there were so many killed and injured.”

Where did the money go?

More than 150 people were in the Icefall at that time, Brice estimates. He commends all people who got involved in the rescue operation that started quickly after the avalanche: “To see so many people running up the hill un-hesitantly putting themselves in danger in order to help others is most creditworthy.” Russell blames the Nepalese Tourism Ministry for the fact that on the day of the avalanche there were only three of 39 Liason Officers at Base Camp. “Remember that each Liason Officer is paid $ 2,500 plus travel expenses so we as expedition teams have just paid a little under $100,000 for nothing which begs the question as to where did this money actually go?”

“Corrupt people”

Rescue helicopter over the Khumbu Icefall

“Without consultation” the Ministry sent a large military helicopter to Pheriche to collect the bodies of the victims and take them to Lukla for further identification by the police, the 61-year-old reports: “A job that the Liaison Officers at Base Camp should have been able to do. Then the military helicopter had a mechanical fault so apparently had to stay overnight causing total indignation to the grieving families.” Russell excoriates the Ministry, especially the current Under Secretary Madhu Sudan Burlakoti: “Sometimes we have a good person who wants to understand whilst at other times like right now we have corrupt people who do not want to be helpful. Having been to several meetings in the past week with the Under Secretary, I am appalled by the lack of understanding, the conceited and abusive manner that this man deals with my staff and others of considerable repute.”

Same faces, same problems

Mount Everest (from Kala Pattar)

The expedition operator from New Zealand confirms that some Sherpas in Base Camp were ready to use violence. Russell asked his Sirdar Phurba Tashi if the Sherpas were still prepared to climb on Everest and Lhotse. “He told me that they all were, but advised that it would be unwise for Himalayan Experience to continue with the expedition as word was around that other Sherpas would break the legs of our staff and would firebomb our Kathmandu offices if we continued. It was with deep concern and reluctance that I eventually decided that it was best to cancel our expeditions.” Brice accuses certain Sherpas of having poisoned the atmosphere not only this spring but also after the avalanche on Manaslu in fall 2012 which killed eleven climbers and in the dispute with Simone Moro and Ueli Steck in spring 2013. “I see the same faces causing problems.”

They did not respect the agreement that each team should be able to make its own decision to climb or not, and that there should not be pressure put on teams, says Russell. “For this I have totally lost the respect of that particular Sherpa community that pushed these events through and hijacked the Everest season.”

Facing difficult times

After weeks of negotiations with the Tourism Ministry in Kathmandu the New Zealander is disenchanted. “This is the very best opportunity that the Ministry has ever had to make meaningful and progressive changes that will be appreciated by the Sherpa community and would demonstrate to the international community that they are serious about administration of this important tourist business”, writes Russell Bruce. “But no, they have done nothing, which is disappointing. What is even worse is that they are now embroiled in corruption, lies and deceit.” Russell expects that Nepal is facing difficult times. “It is now hard for the climbing and sponsorship community to have faith in the administration of mountaineering tourism in Nepal, the long term effects will probably be quite drastic and this will have an effect on the amount of employment of the local community; not only Sherpas, but hotels, airlines, food suppliers, porters, lodges, taxi drivers and even post card sellers.”

Russell Brice

Just now Russell Brice has a lot on his plate. The 60-year-old climber from New Zealand, owner of Himalayan Experience, is leading his 18th commercial expedition to Mount Everest. The most prominent of his ten clients who want to climb the highest mountain of the world is Evelyne Binsack. In 2001 she was the first woman of Switzerland who scaled Everest coming from the Tibetan north side of the mountain. This time Evelyne, aged 45, will try it from the south, for a documentary she also wants to carry her camera to the summit. Russell will stay at the bottom as basecamp manager, also looking after six climbers for Lhotse and four women who want to scale the 7861-metre high Nuptse. German journalist and mountaineer Billi Bierling is a member of this last mentioned team. Although Russell is „quite busy”, as he wrote me, he has taken time to send me his thoughts on occasion of the 60-year-jubilee of the first ascent of Mount Everest.

Hillary „a great leader with much foresight”

„Nepalis an extremely poor country, but fortunately it has the ‚Hidden Giant’ Everest”, Russell writes. „This one notable feature of Nepal has been responsible for practically all of its tourism income, either directly or indirectly.” Sir Edmund Hillary, who climbed Everest first in 1953 together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, had „proved to be a great leader with much foresight”. He had used his fame to help the local population of Nepal. „We can easily sit outside of Nepal and have great personal ideas about Everest, but it is harder to actually make a meaningful contribution to the local people”, says Russell. „I hope that Everest will continue to be a source of income for the poor people of Nepal in a respectful way.” (You find his full statements on the two Everest-60-pinboards on the right side of the blog.)

Enough routes for all

Brice established Himalayan Experience in 1996

As someone who offers commercial expeditions Russell considers the great number of climbers on the normal routes understandably less critical as others. „Crowding we as operators can deal with between ourselves”, he wrote me in February. Now Brice points out that there were enough routes on Everest, also for mountaineers who want to climb in alpine style or any other style. „But I do not see many teams or individuals actually taking on these challenges. There are still new routes to do on Everest, and some route to be completed in their entirety.”

Russell calls on mountaineers and media to show respect for Mount Everest. He would like to „see those who climb Everest to respect the mountain and their own passions without having to make excuses of being the oldest, youngest, fastest, or whatever, any ascent is still a worthy achievement.” Brice appeals to the media „to respect the mountain rather than making it an excuse to make wild stories for the sale of publications”.

Russell Brice

In spring 2012 Russell Brice put the brakes on. The probably most experienced operator of commercial expeditions to Mount Everest cancelled his expedition, because he considered the conditions in the Khumbu icefall and on the Lhotse face as too hazardous. „The danger is certainly past my parameters“, Brice said. Russell has been leading expeditions to the Himalayas since 1974. For this spring his agency Himalayan Experience offers Everest South Side again. I asked the 60 years old New Zealander per email: 

„Russell, last year you cancelled your Everest expedition due to dangerous conditions and crowds of climbers in the route. Most likely this won’t change this season. But for all that, what has motivated you to come back?

I cancelled because of dangerous conditions, and not because of crowding. Crowding we as operators can deal with between ourselves. I disagree, I do not expect the conditions to be as bad as last year again this year. I feel that last year was a very special year because of the lack of snow and the stone fall. 
I have clients who still want to climb Everest and they still want to go with a safe operator, so of course I will return this year. I also have a responsibility to establish work for the local people of Nepal.

Do you think it’s possible to minimalize the risks to a responsible level?

Climbing Everest or for that matter any mountain in the world involves risk. How to manage this is important, we cannot change the environment, but we can change how we react as climbers.

For many years you offered expeditions from the Tibetan side of Mount Everest. Were you tempted to return to the north side after your experiences on the south side in 2012?

No, not really, the political environment on the Tibet side is not so stable either. I would prefer to deal with the natural circumstances rather than the political ones.

After ten people died on Everest in spring 2012, prominent climbers demanded to limit the number of climbers, for example by requiring another 8000-m-peak-climb before someone can get a permit for Everest. What do think of these proposals?

Yes, we have been promoting these ideas to the authorities for many years, not just after last year. But it is one thing to propose such things and another for the authorities to listen and change rules.“