Tibetan north side of Mount Everest

The expedition operators in Nepal might have been so shocked that they dropped their pencils. In the “New Regulations for Foreign Expeditions 2019” in Tibet (available to me) it says under point 6: “In order to ensure the healthy and orderly development of mountaineering and minimize the occurrence of mountaineering accidents, mountaineering teams which were organized in Nepal temporarily will not be accepted.” As I have learned from a reliable source, a delegation from Nepal immediately traveled to China to have this regulation removed or at least weakened. Apparently the delegates of the Nepali operators were at least partially successful. Some agencies, however, are supposedly to receive no more approval. The Chinese and Tibetan Mountaineering Associations announced to cooperate in future only “with expedition companies with good social reputation, strong ability of team formation, logistic support, reliable service quality, excellent professional quality, and (who are) law-abiding”.

One client, one Sherpa

Garbage cans in Everest Base Camp

From spring 2019 onwards, every client commercial expeditions on one of the Tibetan eight-thousanders will have to be accompanied “by a Nepalese mountain guide”. There are also new regulations regarding environmental protection and mountain rescue. For example, each summit aspirant on Everest will have to pay a “rubbish collection fee” of 1,500 US dollars, on Cho Oyu and Shishapangma 1,000 dollars each. Nepalese mountain guides will be exempted from this fee, as well as the base camp staff. In addition, all members bar none will be required after the expedition to hand in eight kilograms of garbage per person from the mountain to the responsible Chinese liaison officers in the base camp.

Rescue team in ABC

In future, a team provided by the Tibetan authorities and the local operator “Tibet Yarlha Shampo Expedition” will be responsible for mountain rescue on Everest, Cho Oyu and Shishapangma. During the time of summit attempts, four to six rescuers are to stay permanently in the Advanced Base Camps. For each expedition, the Chinese-Tibetan authorities will collect a deposit of 5,000 US dollars, which will only be refunded if there have been no accidents within the group and if all environmental protection requirements have been met.

Shishapangma

The Central Peak is not the main summit of Shishapangma. Climbers and expedition operators who tackle this eight-thousander in Tibet should know this. The Central Peak is at 8,008 meters. From there, the normal route continues over a ridge to the 19 meter higher main summit at 8,027 meters. Only when this is reached, Shishapangma is officially considered as scaled. Many are not too particular about this rule. And so the news was premature that a Chinese expedition had scaled Shishapangma on 29 September and that Luo Jing was the first woman from the “Middle Kingdom” to complete the 14 eight-thousanders. Just a few days later, a Basque mountaineer, who had ascended the same day, piped up and said that nobody had climbed the ridge to the main summit due to bad weather. “They were clearly only on the Central Peak,” tells me Eberhard Jurgalski, German chronicler of mountaineering in the Himalayas and Karakorum, who had received a video of the Chinese group from their turning point. “Luo Jing has already admitted this publicly.”

“True Explorers Grand Slam” also not complete

Hong-Juan Dong (l.), Luo Jing (2nd from l.), Zhang Liang (3rd from l.), Liu Yongzong (r.)

Thus also the news that Zhang Liang, Hong-Juan Dong and Liu Yongzong, three more Chinese who belonged to Luo’s team, completed the 14 eight-thousanders, is not true. “Dong is not only missing the main summit of Shishapangma, she was demonstrably not on the highest points of some more eight-thousanders she claimed for herself,” says Jurgalski.

Zhang Liang had already let himself be celebrated in 2017 for being the first Chinese to complete the eight-thousander collection. But even then his list “only” included the Central Peak of Shishapangma – which he has now reached for the second time. This summer’s news that the 54-year-old had finished second after the South Korean Park Young-Seok the “True Explorers Grand Slam” (14 eight-thousanders, Seven Summits, North and South Pole) proved to be premature too. “His performance cannot be compared with that of the South Korean Park anyway,” says Eberhard Jurgalski. “Zhang Liang only did a last-degree expedition to the South Pole, while Park Young-Seok walked the entire way from the edge of the continent to the Pole.” Park died in an avalanche on Annapurna in fall 2011.

Queue on Manaslu

I had a déjà vu. When I saw the pictures of the queue of people who climbed up towards the summit of the 8163-meter-high Manaslu this fall, I winced again. Just like in 2012, when Ralf Dujmovits, Germany’s most successful high-altitude mountaineer, photographed the queue of Everest summit candidates on the Lhotse flank. How the pictures resemble each other! No wonder, since Manaslu has turned more and more into “Fall’s Everest” in recent years: Several hundred mountaineers pitch up their tents in the base camp, the route is secured up to the summit with fixed ropes. And if the weather is fine, it’s getting narrow at the highest point.

More than 200 summit successes, one death

Crowded summit

According to the newspaper “The Himalayan Times”, at least 120 foreign climbers and more than 100 Sherpas accompanying them reached the summit of the eighth highest mountain on earth this fall. One death was to be lamented. A 43-year-old Czech is missing. After his summit success, his trail was lost.

Soria fails for the ninth time

The other eight-thousanders offered in the catalogues of commercial operators this fall were much less crowded. While in Tibet low double-digit summit successes were reported from Cho Oyu and Shishapangma, the highest point of Dhaulagiri, located like Manaslu in western Nepal, remained untouched this fall. Two and a half weeks ago, a 24-year-old Sherpa was killed in an avalanche on this eight-thousander.

Soria has to return once again

“I have never experienced Dhaulagiri with so much snow and so dangerous”, said the Spaniard Carlos Soria on desnivel.com after he had abandoned his expedition. The 79-year-old tried his luck on the 8167-meter-high mountain for the ninth time. Next spring Carlos wants to return to Dhaulagiri once again. Apart from this mountain, only Shishapangma is still missing in his eight-thousander collection.

Too much snow on Dhaulagiri

“The tropical storm from Pakistan, which had been raging here in the Marshyangdi Valley for more than 48 hours, left a lot of snow on our route for which we had worked so hard,” wrote the German mountaineer Billi Bierling, who made her way back to Kathmandu with the team from the Swiss operator “Kobler & Partner”. Also the Spaniard Sergi Mingote, who, after his summit success on Manaslu, actually wanted to attach Dhaulagiri, packed up because of too high avalanche danger.

Luo Jing (in 2016)

Also from the eight-thousander Shishapangma in Tibet, the first summit successes of this fall season were reported today. According to their own announcement, a team of the Russian expedition operator “7 Summits Club” reached the 8,027-meter-high summit , as did a team of the Nepalese operator “Seven Summit Treks”. SST-Board director Dawa Sherpa informed on Facebook, that Chinese Luo Jing was among those who stood on the summit of Shishapangma. It was the last of the 14 eight-thousanders that the 42-year-old still lacked in her collection.

All 14 in almost seven years

Luo (r.) on K2 in 2014

After South Korean Oh Eun-sun, Spaniard Edurne Pasaban, Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and  Italian Nives Meroi, Luo is now the fifth woman to have scaled all 14 eight-thousanders. Kaltenbrunner and Meroi did all their ascents without bottled oxygen. Luo Jing scaled her first eight-thousander in fall 2011: Manaslu. Since then, hardly a year passed without her successes on eight-thousanders. In less than seven years she completed the 14. In 2012, she stood on top of Makalu, in 2013 on the summits of Kangchenjunga, Gasherbrum I and II. In 2014, the Chinese scaled Dhaulagiri and K2, in 2016 Annapurna, Mount Everest and Cho Oyu. In 2017 Luo summited Lhotse, in summer 2018 Nanga Parbat and Broad Peak and now in fall Shishapangma.

“Mountains accepted me”

“After climbing so many mountains, I realized that I did not conquer the mountains, but the mountains accepted me,” the computer expert from Beijing told the newspaper “China Daily” last summer after her success on Broad Peak. Luo Jing is the first woman from China in the “14 Eight-Thousanders Club”.

Her compatriot Zhang Liang was the first Chinese to complete the 8000ers collection in 2017. This summer, he was the second person after South Korean Park Joung-Seok to succeed in the so-called “True Explorers Grand Slam”: he scaled Denali, the highest mountain of North America, and thus the last mountain of the “Seven Summits” still missing from him. Thus the 54-year-old had climbed all eight-thousanders as well as the highest mountains of all continents – and also reached the North and South Pole.

Update 4 October: According to a Spanish climber, who was also on Shishapangma at that time, Luo Jing reached “only” the 8008-meter-high central summit, not the main summit. Should this be confirmed, she would not have completed the 14 eight-thousanders yet.

South side of Mount Everest

Mount Everest was scaled for the first time in this spring season. Today, eight climbers from Nepal reached the highest point at 8,850 meters after climbing up on the south side of the mountain. Pasang Tenjing Sherpa, Pasdawa Sherpa, Lakpa Dendi Sherpa, Jen Jen Lama, Siddi Bahadur Tamang, Pemba Chhiri Sherpa, Tenzing Gyaljen Sherpa and Datuk Bhote fixed ropes up to the summit, paving the way for the clients of the commercial expedition teams.

“Man without fingers” on top of Annapurna

Kim Hong-bin

The summit success of South Korean Kim Hong-bin is reported from Annapurna. For the 53-year-old, it is the twelfth eight-thousander. In 1991, Kim suffered severe frostbite at Alaska’s highest mountain, 6,190-meter-high Denali, and all ten fingers had to be amputated. He was accompanied on the Annapurna by four Sherpas.

No trace of Petrov

R.I.P.

Meanwhile, the partner of the Bulgarian climber Boyan Petrov, who has been missing for ten days on the eight-thousander Shishapangma, has asked to stop the search for the 45-year-old above Camp 3. That’s too dangerous for the rescuers, Radoslava Nenova wrote on Facebook. Reportedly, the Sherpa team nevertheless wants to climb up to the summit on Monday if the weather permits. Petrov had set off for a summit attempt on 29 April, alone and without bottled oxygen. He had already scaled ten of the 14 eight-thousanders without breathing mask. He is the most successful high altitude climber of Bulgaria.

Rescue helicopters from Nepal at the foot of Shishapangma

Nobody puts it bluntly. But to be honest, the hope of finding the most successful Bulgarian high altitude climber Boyan Petrov alive on the eight-thousander Shishapangma in Tibet is beginning to fade. On 3 May, nine days ago, the 45-year-old was last seen by telescope from the base camp. Since then, there has been no trace of Boyan. Bad weather had delayed the rescue operation for days. On Saturday, two helicopters of the Nepali company Simrik Air, specialized in rescue operations, started to search for Petrov. Without success. What the crew members found, photographed and filmed as “suspicious objects” near Camp 3 at an altitude of about 7,300 meters, turned out to be stones and rocks when the material was subsequently viewed. The helicopter teams had to return to the Nepalese capital because the fuel ran out. “We are standby at Kathmandu for the same mission,” Simrik Air said. Also the rescue team on the slopes on the mountain, three Sherpas and three Chinese climbers, have not yet found Petrov. The rescuers were spending the night in Camp 2. On Sunday, the search is to be continued.

On top of ten eight-thousanders

Boyan had set off for a summit attempt on 29 April, alone and without bottled oxygen. Petrov has already climbed ten of the 14 eight-thousanders, all of them without breathing mask. In the past two years alone, he had succeeded five summit successes on the highest mountains in the world: In 2016 on Annapurna, Makalu and Nanga Parbat, in 2017 on Gasherbrum II and Dhaulagiri. Petrov works as a zoologist at the National Museum of Natural History in the Bulgarian capital Sofia and is a specialist in wildlife in caves. The climber has survived cancer two times. As a result of chemotherapy, Boyan has been suffering from diabetes for 18 years.

Shishapangma

There is still no trace of Boyan Petrov. As reported, the most successful Bulgarian high altitude climber has been missing for days on the eight-thousander Shishapangma in Tibet. The Bulgarian government has joined the rescue operation. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said they were in constant communication with the authorities in Nepal and China, as well as with Petrov’s family. According to Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva, a helicopter suitable for flights in high altitude is now available to search for the 45-year-old. Directly on the slopes of the mountain, a rescue team of three Chinese climbers and three Sherpas is in action. Despite bad weather, the rescuers had climbed to Camp 2 at 6,900 meters, it said.

Nothing is impossible

Boyan Petrov about three weeks ago

Petrov had set off on 29 April for a solo attempt without bottled oxygen. Six days ago, on 3 May, he was last sighted by telescope from the base camp, roughly at the level of Camp 3 at about 7,300 meters. Last Saturday, another team arrived at the high camp and found Boyan’s half-open tent, with his sleeping bag inside. Petrov has already scaled ten of the 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen. His partner Radoslava Nenova still hopes that Boyan is alive and can be rescued: “In a world full of possibilities, do not tell me something is impossible,” she wrote on Facebook. So keep your fingers crossed for Boyan!

Update 11 Mai: Two helicopters of the Nepali company Simrik Air , which is specialized on mountain rescue, flew to Tibet to Shishapangma Base Camp today. They are to be involved in the search for Petrov.

Boyan Petrov some weeks ago in Kathmandu

The most successful Bulgarian high altitude climber, Boyan Petrov, has been missing for several days on the eight-thousander Shishapangma in Tibet. This was confirmed today by his partner Radoslava Nenova on Facebook. According to her, a search for Petrov is to begin tomorrow. Previously, the team of the Hungarian climber David Klein reported that the 45-year-old Bulgarian had set off on 29 April for a solo attempt without bottled oxygen. On 3 May, last Thursday, Petrov was seen from base camp by telescope at the level of Camp 3. On Saturday, an Ukrainian and three Sherpas reached Camp 3 at about 7,400 meters and found Boyan’s semi-open tent with his sleeping bag, covered in snow. Obviously, Petrov had left for the summit.

Ten eight-thousanders without breathing mask

Shishapangma

Petrov wished to scale his eleventh eight-thousander, the 8,027-meter-high Shishapangma, like the ten others before without breathing mask. Subsequently he wanted to move on to Everest. In the past two years alone, Boyan had succeeded five summit successes on the highest mountains in the world: In 2016 on Annapurna, Makalu and Nanga Parbat, in 2017 on Gasherbrum II and Dhaulagiri. Petrov works as a zoologist at the National Museum of Natural History in the Bulgarian capital Sofia and is a specialist in wildlife in caves. The climber has survived cancer two times. As a result of chemotherapy, Boyan has been suffering from diabetes for 18 years.

Carlos Soria

Carlos Soria doesn’t give up. The now 79-year-old Spaniard set off again to Nepal to climb his 13th of the 14 eight-thousanders. Already for the ninth time, Carlos will tackle Dhaulagiri. Last year, Soria and Co. had had to abandon their only summit attempt in the upper part of the 8,167-meter-high mountain because they had missed the right route while the fog had become denser. Later heavy snow had impeded a second try. “This time I am sure that we will succeed,” said the probably fittest of all climbing seniors optimistically before his departure for Kathmandu.

Family trip to the Khumbu region

Trekking with daughter and grandchildren

Soria is going to acclimatize with a trekking tour in the Khumbu region, which is also a family trip: his daughter Sonsoles and his 10-year-old grandchildren Andrea and Carlos will accompany him. Afterwards, he will make his way to Dhaulagiri along with three Spanish friends and his Sherpa team. They plan to arrive at the base camp in mid-April. Only just before the start of the expedition, Carlos had managed to find a sponsor for his journey to the seventh highest mountain in the world.

Shishapangma in fall?

Carlos Soria on Dhaulagiri (in 2017)

In case he achieves the long-awaited success on Dhaulagiri this spring, Soria wants to try in fall to scale Shishapangma and thus complete his eight-thousander collection. In 2005, Carlos had stood on the Central Peak of Shishapangma, which is – with a height of 8,008 meters – beyond the eight thousand mark, but just 19 meters lower than the main summit. In 2103 and 2014 Soria had returned empty handed from Shishapangma.

Already eight age records on eight-thousanders

Carlos holds the age records at K 2 (65 years old), Broad Peak (68), Makalu (69, there he climbed solo and without bottled oxygen), Gasherbrum I (70), Manaslu (71), Lhotse (72), Kangchenjunga (75) and Annapurna (77). If he succeeds also on Dhaulagiri and Shishapangma, Carlos Soria would be by far the oldest man who stood on all 14 eight-thousanders. This “record” is held by the Spanish climber Oscar Cadiach, who scaled his last eight-thousander, Broad Peak, in 2017 at the age of 64. Fitness seems to be in Carlos’ genes: “My mother reached the age of 96 years”, the Spaniard said in an interview of desnivel com. “Until she turned  90, she made it to the third floor without a lift.”

Simone Moro

It does not hurt more than usual. I can say that from my own experience. It is rather a mental challenge to realize that the first 50 years are over and the second half of life has definitely begun. Time to take stock. This Friday, Simone Moro celebrates his 50th birthday. The Italian can already be more than satisfied with his career as a high-altitude climber. No one else besides Simone has four winter first ascents of eight-thousanders on his account.

In 2005, Moro summited along with the Polish climber Piotr Morawski the 8027-meter-high Shishapangma for the first time in the cold season. Three other first winter ascents followed: In 2009 with the native Kazakh Denis Urubko on Makalu (8,485 m), in 2011 with Urubko and the American Cory Richards on Gasherbrum II (8,034 m) and in 2016 with the Spaniard Alex Txikon and the Pakistani Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” on Nanga Parbat (8,125 m). Simone did all these eight-thousander climbs without bottled oxygen. Last spring, Moro and the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger had planned to traverse the four summits of the Kangchenjunga massif, but had to turn back without having reached a single summit. Two attempts ended at 7,200 meters, because Simone suffered from stomach ache. Moro is married to the South Tyrolean climber Barbara Zwerger and has a 19-year-old daughter and a seven-year-old son. Simone has also earned his merits as a rescue helicopter pilot in the Himalayas.

Simone, half a century in your legs, how does that feel?

Well I’m still alive, with all toes and fingers and with motivation. My body weight is the same as when I was 25, same volume of training. So I feel happy and lucky.

Simone with Muhammad Ali (l.) on top of Nanga Parbat

You succeeded first winter ascents on the eight-thousanders Shishapangma, Makalu, Gasherbrum II and Nanga Parbat. Is there any of these climbs which is particularly important to you and why?

With Shisha Pangma I reopened the winter games on the 8000ers after 17 years of “silence”. Makalu came after 39 years of winter attempts and we were just two members in super light style. Gasherbrum II was the first ever winter ascent of an eight-thousander in the entire Karakoram. And on Nanga Parbat I became the first man who succeeded first winter ascents on four different 8000ers. So how can I choose?

What is for you the fascination of climbing the highest mountains on earth in winter?

Solitude, wilderness, adventure and exploration feeling, very low possibility to succeed, no discount on difficulties, wind, rare good weather windows. A winter expedition is NOT just the cold version of a summer expedition!

Last spring on Kangchenjunga, you suffered from health problems. Do we need to worry?

Not at all. I made just very stupid mistakes. I drank simply coke, sprite and other shit in BC, and on the mountains I drank not enough. Don’t worry, I feel and I’m strong and healthy like before at the moment.

Strong team: Moro with Tamara Lunger (l.)

Recently you have been regularly en route with the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger. Do you see yourself as her mentor?

Yes, I was and I had been. Now Tamara is 31 and she learned a lot and is absolutely independent. But we work so well together and it is a rare condition to find, so (it’s) better to keep our team spirit as our extra power.

Where will your next expedition take you?

Unfortunately I can’t declare yet where I will go. I can tell you that it will be this coming winter and will be probably the coldest climb I ever attempted.

If you had three wishes for the second half of life, which would it be?

Health, health and health. All the rest I will provide myself. I had and I have everything and only GOD can give me health even though I work a lot in protect to as much as I can with a healthy life…

The Potala Palace in Lhasa

Nasty surprise for some climbers heading for destinations in Tibet this spring: I have been confirmed by several sides that China currently does not allow tourists to enter Tibet in case that there is a visa for Pakistan issued in the past three years in their passport. Especially professional climbers, who like to tackle the impressive mountains of the Karakoram in summer, run the risk of not obtaining a visa for Tibet. Some mountaineers are stuck in the Nepali capital Kathmandu, because they have learned too late about this new regulation. So if you want to travel to Cho Oyu, Shishapangma or the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest and do not want to experience a bad surprise, take a look at your passport!

No problem without Pakistan visa

It is unclear why China suddenly reacts so allergically to former Pakistan travelers. Without a Pakistani visa stamp or sticker, the entry is obviously problem-free. So an expedition operator informed me that his group had arrived in Lhasa without being bothered by the border authorities.

Tibetan North side of Mount Everest

Climbing on an eight-thousander in Tibet is getting more expensive, not only on Mount Everest. According to documents available to me, the Chinese Mountaineering Association (CMA) has significantly increased the prices for the climbing permits on Everest, Cho Oyu and Shishapangma, on average by more than 30 percent. Since the beginning of the year, the CMA claims 9,950 US dollars per mountaineer for the climb of the highest mountain on earth in case of four or more team members. So far the Everest Permit cost about 7,000 dollars per head. 7,400 dollars are now due for Cho Oyu, 7,150 dollar for climbing Shishapangma from the north side and 7,650 dollars for an ascent from the south side of the mountain. For smaller teams of up to three, the permit costs are even in a five-digit range: 19,500 dollars per person on Everest, 12,600 dollars each on Cho Oyu and Shishapangma.

Prices converge

For comparison: The Nepalese government requires 11,000 dollars for Everest in spring and  1,800 dollars for the other eight-thousanders in the country. However, this is the “naked” permit, while in Tibet some services are included, such as transportation to the base camp or the services of the liasion officer. Nevertheless, slowly but surely the expedition prices in China and Nepal are converging.

Market of the future

China has obviously discovered mountaineering as a growth sector. No wonder, after all more and more Chinese buy into commercial expeditions – not only in the local mountains, where they are forbidden to travel with foreign agencies. “China is the future market,” Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the Nepalese operator “Dreamers Destination”, writes to me. “The Chinese have now started travelling and climbing in foreign countries.”

By train to base camp

Construction work along the road to Cho Oyu

The Chinese authorities are investing massively in infrastructure in Tibet. The road from the capital Lhasa to the 5,200 meter high Everest Base Camp – formerly on many sections only a dirty road  – has meanwhile been paved completely. “As a tourist attraction, it’s one of the coolest roads I’ve seen anywhere on the planet,” the US expedition operator Adrian Ballinger enthused in spring 2016.
In the town of Gangkar, also known as Old Tingri, a huge mountaineering center is to be built by 2019, including a landing site for helicopter rescue flights. In Tingri, also an incineration plant is currently being built, the Swiss expedition operator Kari Kobler writes to me. Within three to four years there should be a railway connection close to Shishapangma Base Camp, Kari adds.

Unpredictable policy

North side of Everest in the last daylight

The 61-year-old is an old hand on the Tibetan side of the Himalayas. Kobler has been organizing expeditions there for many years. Kari believes that the big changes will take place only in the coming years. “Up to now Everest has been very quiet, and we had an almost familiar relationship on the north side,” says Kobler, referring to the lower number of peak climbers, “only about 30 percent of the guests on the south side”. However, corruption is still a big problem, says Kari: “It’s incredible how autonomously Chinese politicians are operating in Tibet.” Shouldn’t the Tibetans be autonomous in China, according to the official version of the government in Beijing?
Despite higher prices and political uncertainties, Kobler does not think about switching to the Nepali side. The objective dangers are larger on the south side of Mount Everest, says Kari: “From my point of view, it is only a matter of time before something bad happens again. That’s why I prefer the unpredictable policy to of unpredictable dangers.”

Billi Bierling on top of Cho Oyu

Done! „Summited Cho Oyu at 1 p.m. today without supplemented O2”, Billi Bierling tweeted. “It was a long and exhausting day. Thanks to all of you for keeping fingers crossed.” For the 49-year old German journalist and mountaineer it was her fifth successful eight-thousander ascent and after Manaslu in 2011 the second without breathing mask. In her first attempt on Cho Oyu eleven years ago she had not been able to climb further than 7,200 meters. “It was my first eight-thousander”, she wrote to me one and a half weeks ago. “At that time I was convinced that I am not strong enough for such high mountains.”

One of two who did it first

The Nepalese side of Cho Oyu

Later she proved that black is white. In 2009, the assistant to the legendary Himalayan chronicler Elizabeth Hawley scaled Mount Everest, in 2011 with Lhotse and Manaslu even two eight-thousanders in a year and in 2014 Makalu. With Heidi Sand, who reached the summit on the same day, Bierling shares the honor of having been the first German woman on Makalu. Billi is missing only one success to catch up with Alix von Melle, Germany’s most successful female high altitude mountaineer who has climbed six eight-thousanders so far.

Congrats!

Most climbers who frequently go to Nepal know Billi Bierling as assistant and designated successor of the legendary Himalayan chronicler Elizabeth Hawley. Also our paths crossed for the first time in Kathmandu, before an expedition. Since then she has often provided me with first-hand information – always friendly, helpful and competent. Therefore, I am particularly pleased about her successful climb on Cho Oyu. Well deserved, Billi, congratulations!

Many climbers took the opportunity of the good weather window on Friday and Saturday for their summit attempts on the most visited eight-thousanders this fall, Manaslu and Cho Oyu. According to the newspaper “The Himalayan Times” a total of more than 150 climbers have reached the summit of Manaslu alone on these two days.

Two Sherpas died in avalanches

R.I.P.

But there is also bad news: Two Sherpas died in avalanches this week. On Tuesday, Mingmar Sherpa (from Taksindu in Solukhumbu) was buried on the 7,126-meter-high Himlung Himal in western Nepal. On Friday, Temba Sherpa (from Taplejung in eastern Nepal) died in an avalanche on the eight-thousander Shishapangma in Tibet.

Update 7 p.m.: The American climbers Adrian Ballinger and Emily Harrington also reached the top of Cho Oyu today and skied down from the summit. Thus they are right on schedule of their “instant” expedition. “And we even get a day to celebrate with friends in ABC tomorrow”, says Adrian. Ballinger and Harrington want to be back at home in the US within 14 days after departure.

Shishapangma

A chewing gum is not getting better by chewing it endlessly. There must come a time to spit it out. Stories are a similar ballgame. At a certain moment everything has been devoured a 1000 times. Then you should have the courage to draw a line under it before it becomes a never ending story, which is still only annoying. This will be my last blog post on the avalanche on Shishapangma which happened on next Saturday, exactly two years ago. Maybe not yet everything is said, but in my view it’s enough to close the chapter – and hopefully learn from it.

False impression

It was good that Martin Maier – as reported – kicked off the debate with his interview with the German magazine “Bergsteiger”. Now we have a fairly accurate idea of what really happened at that time, and in some details it defers from what had been previously reported. He wanted to correct this false impression, Martin said in a TV documentary of the German broadcaster “Bayerischer Rundfunk” (BR) on the events on Shishapangma in 2014, “because things that were said have been published somewhere and are accepted by the people as true and as a fact.”

Basti Haag (l.) and Andrea Zambaldi (r.) died in the avalanche

The avalanche had killed the German Sebastian Haag and the Italian Andrea Zambaldi. Like the two, Maier had been swept down the slope 600 meters deep but unlike his climbing partners he had remained lying on the snow surface. In the end he was able to escape, seriously injured, by his own strength to the high camp. Benedikt Boehm and the Swiss Ueli Steck, who had had a lucky escape from the accident, had seen no possibility to traverse to the avalanche cone and had already descended when Martin reached the high camp.

Boehm: “I’m sorry”

Maier proved with pictures that had been taken with a high resolution camera from Base Camp: It was not Basti Haag who did the trail-breaking when the avalanche swept down – as Benedikt Boehm later said in various interviews – but Boehm himself. After long hesitation, Benedikt commented in the BR documentary for the first time on the accusation that he possibly had wanted to blame Haag for the accident. “If it has been understood this way, I’m very, very sorry,” Benedikt said. “It was never my intention to accuse anyone of having triggered the avalanche. Even if a single foot was decisive for what happened, it’s completely irrelevant, because we five had made a joint decision to go up there, of our own accord and of our own risk.” However, Boehm didn’t say why he had not corrected his first statements earlier – as Maier, according to his own words, had repeatedly asked him to do.

“Worst moment”

Bene Boehm (r.) and Basti Haag on Shishapangma

Also new was the information that Boehm and Steck had recognized from above that one of three other climbers was lying on the snow. “We have seen a colored dot,” Ueli told BR. “There was someone lying out there, you could see that. First he was moving, then he stopped and just lay in the snow.” Due to the great danger of avalanches, Boehm and Steck had decided not to traverse into the slope. “For me it was the worst thing I have ever experienced”, said Ueli. “You see someone down there, and you cannot get there.” In the BR film also Boehm described the decision to descend as “the worst moment of my life. I later did not want to go into detail because this story is so deep inside me. But in retrospect this was a mistake.”

“Very own responsibility”

He is still blaming himself for not having traversed to the avalanche cone to help Martin, Ueli Steck writes on his website under the headline “My principles on the mountain”: “I thank him for not reproaching me for that. I’m going to use the experience of this accident for similar decisions – which hopefully will never be necessary.” However, accidents like the avalanche on Shishapangma cannot be completely ruled out. “Mountaineering is one of the few activities that are not fully regulated, and thus each individual is allowed to determine the risks he is willing to take,” Ueli wrote. “But freedom also means responsibility. We all know that in the end we have to bear our very own responsibility for the risks of this beautiful sport.”
And what else can we learn from the debate about the avalanche on Shishapangma? One should stick with the truth, says Martin Maier. Absolutely!

Advanced Base Camp on Shishapangma

24 September 2014, 6.55 a.m.: Five men are climbing at 7,900 meters towards the summit of the eight-thousander Shishapangma when the avalanche releases. The Germans Sebastian Haag and Martin Maier and Italian Andrea Zambaldi are swept several hundred meters down the slope. German Benedikt Boehm and Swiss Ueli Steck have a lucky escape and get away from the snow masses. The 36-year-old Haag and the 32-year-old Zambaldi die. Maier miraculously survives and is able to escape by his own strength to the high camp. The news of the incident first appears in my blog. The first interviews about the avalanche with Bene Boehm and Martin Maier can also be read on “Adventure Sports”.

“Time does not heal everything”

More than one and a half year later, Martin has opened up a debate on the incident by giving an interview to the German magazine “Bergsteiger”. The 41-year-old industrial engineer is in his own words still suffering from long-term effects which are not only health problems: “Time does not heal everything – neither injuries that have remained to this day nor the sadness and bitterness about the fact that people want to increase their self-esteem at the expense of others.” Maier accuses the other two survivors of the avalanche, Boehm and Steck, of not having told the truth and of having abandoned him too quickly.

Who was where?

Using pictures that had been made with a time-lapse camera from Base Camp, Maier documented that Benedikt Boehm was walking ahead of the group when the avalanche released (see video).

Benedikt had told me three weeks after his return in an interview: “Basti (Haag) was breaking the trail and went a bit away from the ridge. He just turned to me when suddenly the entire slope began to move. It just broke off. (…) I could jump to the side because I was close to the ridge. Ueli too, who was just below me.” After I had published the interview, Boehm asked me to remove two passages (one is quoted at the beginning of the video) that might have created the impression that Haag was to blame for the incident. I complied with his request – also with regard to Sebastian’s parents, who had just lost their second son on a mountain.
However, the key message still remained, which Benedikt had confirmed during the interview once more: “I was already in Basti’s track, but then I turned around instinctively and walked a few steps out of the slope.” I requested Boehm to comment on Maier’s accusation that he had “constructed things that are simply not true”. Benedikt replied that he first wanted to clarify the whole issue directly with Martin and then go public. According to him, a joint TV appearance is scheduled at the end of July or at the beginning of August.

Steck: “Closer to the ridge”

At the trade fair ISPO in Munich in February 2015, more than four months after the accident, Ueli Steck had described to me the situation at the moment of the avalanche in this way: “It was only luck that Beni (Boehm) and I were standing a bit further up. We also stood in the avalanche zone, but just a little bit on the side where not so much snow slipped away.” Just after the expedition he had given a similar statement to the Swiss newspaper “Sonntagszeitung”. The picture now published in the German magazine “Bergsteiger” shows that the Swiss top climber was ascending as second last of the group. This is not inconsistent to his previous statements, Ueli writes to me: “What I wanted to express was that I was from my perspective further up towards the ridge – and not above the others. I have told exactly what the picture shows.”

Rescue attempt delayed?

Basti Haag (l.) and Andrea Zambaldi (r.) died in the avalanche

Maier’s second allegation weighs even more serious: Boehm and Steck had seen that someone was lying on the snow. With their categorical statement via walkie-talkie that it was impossible to traverse to the avalanche cone, they had at least delayed, even almost prevented a rescue or recovery action, said Martin in the interview of the magazine “Bergsteiger”: “I don’t even want to say that they themselves had to help me. But they could have said, we are not able to do it because we think the avalanche danger is too great instead of: There is no chance, any rescue attempt is hopeless.”

Boehm: “Most difficult decision of my life”

Boehm and Steck disagree. Boehm told the German newspaper “Sueddeutsche Zeitung”, it had been “the most difficult decision of my life that will haunt me for the rest of my life” not to traverse to the avalanche cone. Maybe, says Benedikt, he should have expressed more differentiated on radio and later also to Norbu Sherpa, who had climbed up to meet them, but he “had certainly not wanted to prevent a rescue operation”.

Steck: “I was lucky, others less so”

As well as Boehm, Steck points out that they had tried everything to get across. Alas avalanche danger cannot be measured, Ueli writes to me: “I have discussed back and forth with Suzanne (Hüsser from the expedition operator Kobler & Partner) what we should do.” Someone, who back then heard Steck’s radio message at Base Camp, told me that the Swiss climber was “emotionally really down”. “I find it absolutely incorrect to point a finger at us in retrospect”, Ueli writes to me. “It’s easy to judge afterwards those who were on the mountain and had to take the decision in this situation.” It was wrong to ascend at all, says Ueli. “The fact that we all together triggered an avalanche was the mistake for which we have to bear the consequences. I was lucky, others less so.” In fall 2014, no climber had reached the summit of Shishapangma due to the snow masses on the mountain.

Maier: “Needed but undesirable in media presentation”

During acclimatization

Initially Steck had wanted to climb the eight-thousander along with his wife Nicole. The Swiss had joined the “Double 8” expedition team only for this summit attempt. The expedition’s goal: speed ascent on Shishapangma, ski descent from the summit, cycling with mountain bikes to Cho Oyu, speed ascent and ski descent. The expedition had initially been media-accompanied by the German Internet portal “Spiegel online”. Maier was the only non-professional climber in the team, his name was not mentioned in the reports. Reading his name for the first time in the first message of Benedikt’s team about the accident I wondered: Who is Martin Maier? and then googled him. “On the day of the second summit attempt I had broken the trail almost 1,000 meters high from Camp 1 to Camp 3,” Maier said in the “Bergsteiger” interview. “So I was probably a needed, but in the media presentation undesirable member of the expedition.”

Please objectively!

There is a heated debate about Martin’s allegations in the climbing scene. I have often been requested to take up position. Several newspapers reported about the dispute. Terms like “mountaineer’s honor”, “lie”, “guilt” and “false pride” are used. Among those who now play the role of judges most have spent fall 2014 in their warm living rooms. Some of them have probably never been on a high mountain, let alone have experienced there extreme situations. I have hesitated for a long time and wondered if I should comment on the case. But the debate has taken on a life of its own, and I can not pretend that it doesn’t take place. Some issues must be clarified, especially between Benedikt and Martin. I hope that it will happen at an objective level.