High Camp in the Western Cwm

The preliminary work on Mount Everest and Lhotse is entering the final phase. According to Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, expedition leader and head of the Nepalese operator “Imagine”, today ten Sherpas were to climb up to Everest South Col at about 8,000 meters to pitch up Camp 4 . “Kilu Pemba and myself will fix Lhotse Camp 4,” Mingma wrote on Facebook yesterday. He wants to lead two Chinese clients to the 8516-meter-high summit of Lhotse. Five more Chinese from his team will tackle Mount Everest, including – as reported – the double amputee Xia Boyu, aged 69. Mingma is known as an early starter at the eight-thousanders. “I am quite sure that we will be the first team on the summit of Lhotse,” he told me in March when we met in Kathmandu. “We are planning to reach it at the end of April or in the first week of May.”

Rather safe route

Route through the Icefall

Most commercial teams have completed their first acclimatization rotation on the mountain with overnight stays in Camp 1 (6,000 m) or Camp 2 (6,400 meters) and are recovering at Everest Base Camp. The team leaders unanimously praise the quality and safety of the route through the Khumbu Icefall, prepared by the “Icefall Doctors”. An incident on Wednesday did not change that. A serac collapsed, two Sherpas were slightly injured. “Incidents like an ice collapse or small avalanches are normal on the mountains,” said Ang Dorjee Sherpa, head of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) to the newspaper “Himalayan Times”.

Camp 2 at 7,000 meters

On Saturday, Romanian Horia Colibasanu and Slovak Peter Hamor want to set off from Base Camp to pitch up their Camp 2 at 7.000 meters and spend four to five days there. The two Europeans want to traverse the summits of Mount Everest and Lhotse, without bottled oxygen, according to their own words on a new route. In 2017, Ueli Steck had also planned to do the Everest-Lhotse traverse. Next Monday is the first anniversary of Ueli’s death. The Swiss top climber had fallen to death during an acclimatization climb on Nuptse.

Update 28 April: “Today we fixed till 8200m on Lhotse(8516m). Tomorrow we hopefully get to Lhotse summit,” writes Mingma Gyalje Sherpa on Facebook.

Alex Txikon on Everest

It is a race against time. Another storm front is approaching Mount Everest. The meteorologists expect the small weather window with relatively favorable conditions in the summit region to remain open only until Wednesday and then close for a longer period of time. Therefore Alex Txikon, who wants to climb Everest in winter without bottled oxygen, has to push now. In two weeks, the meteorological winter will end. On Monday, the 35-year-old Basque and his five-man strong Sherpa team climbed up to Camp 2 at 6,400 meters. Today Txikon and the Sherpas Nuri, Gesman, Temba, Sanu and Pasang Nurbu want to reach the South Col at 7,950 meters. All Sherpas use supplemental oxygen. Three weeks ago, Txikon’s first summit attempt had failed on the South Col. “We hope to reach the summit on Wednesday ,” Alex said.

Two on the last stage

Climb light

Light and fast, this is Txikon’s tactics. He is climbing with a light backpack. On the first attempt, the team had deposited sleeping bags in Camp 2 and on the South Col. “Although I am no specialist in this modality, we are good connoisseurs of the route,” said Alex. He wants to climb to the highest point with Nuri, the other Sherpas are to wait on the South Col. However, Txikon warns against too high expectations: “ I recognize that the possibilities are very small because the weather does not help us.” While ascending to Camp 2, the wind was still strong. “There were times with speeds of up to 60 kilometers per hour, in which we could not even move forward,” Alex said.

Energy kick by Messner

Alex along with his idol Reinhold Messner (l.)

Just before his departure on Monday, Txikon had received an unexpected visit at the Base Camp: Everest legend Reinhold Messner came along. The 72-year-old has been staying in the Khumbu area for film recordings. In 1978, Messner – along  with Peter Habeler – had climbed Everest for the first time without breathing mask. In 1980 the South Tyrolean succeeded in doing the first solo climb of the highest mountain, again without the use of bottled oxygen. “The support he has given us is indescribable,” said Alex, “an energy kick from the hand of the greatest.”

I suppose he needed this encouragement. The eight-day interruption of the expedition had brought the Basque climber out of the rhythm. In addition, Txikon had returned with an almost completely new Sherpa team. Nuri Sherpa is the only member left from the original crew. The other Sherpas had stayed in Kathmandu to recover for the upcoming commercial spring season on Everest. It will start in a few weeks.

Alex Txikon

The dream of an Everest summit success in the first run has gone. Alex Txikon has abandoned his summit attempt and returned to the base camp. “I assure you that I have not given up,” the 35-year-old Basque wrote on Twitter. On Monday, Alex had climbed along with Norbu Sherpa and Chhepal Sherpa at temperatures of about minus 40 degrees Celsius to the South Col on 7,950 meters. But there such a strong wind was blowing that it was impossible to pitch a tent. “We have decided it was not the time to challenge nature at these heights and conditions, since we are nothing in dealing with it, and we could have suffered frostbite or even worse,” Txikon wrote later from Camp 3, adding that at times, it had become a tougher battle than the summit attack of last winter on Nanga Parbat.

After two nights at above 7,000 meters Txikon turned around. Winter is far from over. Alex Txikon will get even more chances. So time to recover and to try it once again.

The Lhotse Flank, seen from Camp 2

Mount Everest shows its teeth. Alex Txikon, Nurbu Sherpa and Chhepal Sherpa stayed only for a short time on the South Col at 7,950 meters. “After reaching Camp 4, the wind hasn’t given a truce and we have just gone down to Camp 3, until the storm subsides,” Alex wrote on Twitter. His team later added that the three climbers had been at the South Col for only half an hour. The wind had blown with about 70 km/h. It was impossible to pitch the tent. Alex, Nurbu and Chhepal wanted to spend another night in Camp 3 at 7,400 meters.

It’s questionable whether the trio will climb up again on Tuesday. The weather forecast predicts squalls also for tomorrow afternoon. The wind is to calm down not before Wednesday morning. So it remains exciting.

Alex Txikon during his previous climb to the South Col

“The die is cast,” says Alex Txikon. “There will be only a single summit attack and we will try to climb as we have done so far.” Today the 35-year-old Basque climbed along with the Sherpas Nurbu and Chhepal from Everest Base Camp at 5,250 meters to Camp 2 at 6,400 meters. The other three Sherpas of Alex’ team, Nuri, Pemba and Phurba, want to follow on Saturday. For five days, Txikon and Co. had sat out the bad weather – with squalls of up to 190 km/h in the summit area – in Base Camp. At first, the climbers want to check whether the equipment which they had deposited in Camp 3 at 7,300 meters and in Camp 4 on the South Col at 7,950 meters has been damaged or even blown away and therefore has to be replaced.

Good forecasts

Alex in Everest Base Camp

“It looks as if there will be a good weather window between Tuesday and Saturday with optimal conditions compared to those of the previous days. That would favor a summit attempt,” says Alex. “Maybe all of our options to reach the summit will disappear. But we’ll try everything!”

Everything has to fit

Txikon wants to scale Everest without bottled oxygen. So far, only Ang Rita Sherpa has managed this: on 22 December 1987, at the very first day of the calendrical winter, with exceptionally good and comparatively mild weather. Since 1993 no climber has been on the summit of Everest in the cold season. The great cold in winter normally causes the air pressure in the summit area to fall even further. An ascent without breathing mask is then in the absolute limit of the possible. And really everything has to fit, so that Alex Txikon has a realistic chance to reach the summit and return safely to Everest Base Camp.

P.S.: From Sunday on, I will tear up the slopes of East Tyrol and will, if at all, only blog “sparingly”. So don’t wonder!

Alex Txikon

Alex Txikon seems to be euphoric. “I do not feel tired,” writes the 35-year-old Basque, after having descended from Everest South Col at 7,950 meters in one go to Base Camp at about 5,300 meters. “My body signals to me that we will go to the summit the next time. Soon you will have news of the attack.” Before, Alex – along with the Sherpas Norbu, Nuri, Chhepal, Phurba and Pemba – had ascended to Camp 4 for the first time during his winter expedition.

Close to the sky

Txikon and Co. set off from Camp 2 towards the South Col at night, the thermometer shows around minus 30 Celsius. “I’m quite nervous,” Alex describes his feeling before heading out into the starry night. “I do not want to go cold and miss the opportunity to attack the summit during the next rotation.“ The climbers are rewarded by the view. “In a night like this you are so close to the sky that it seems you can reach it.”

200 percent concentration

In the Western Cwm

The six-man team fight their way through the Lhotse flank in the cold that is intensified by the wind. “It is not until 11 a.m. that the sun appears and we finally warm up,” writes Alex. A little later, the climbers reach the South Col. Txikon is depositing 15 kilograms of equipment in Camp 4, a tent, gas cartridges, ropes – and turns around immediately: “Concentration to 200 percent for the descent.” After a short break in Camp 2, Alex decides to descend to Base Camp, without his Sherpa friends who feel too exhausted and want to follow the next day. “Over the years, you learn to measure your strength,” says Alex. “So I knew I could make it unless the Icefall collapsed again.” That was exactly what had happened on the previous ascent, the team had been struggling to find a new way through the ice labyrinth.

Cracked fingertips

This time everything is going well. 18 hours after the start at night, Alex reaches Everest Base Camp. “My feet ache, the fingertips have cracked by the intense cold and the work we have done. The eyes, the lips … I am a mess. But happy.” And ready to climb up to the summit at 8,850 meters the next time. Now, however, it is first of all necessary to sit out the announced storm and to recover.

Everest Base Camp

Alex Txikon and his Sherpa team have reached the Base camp at the foot of Mount Everest in sufficient time before the beginning of the expected bad weather period. This is shown by his GPS tracker. The 35-year-old Basque was “exhausted but satisfied and very confident to reach the summit,” the Spanish sports newspaper “Marca” reported on Saturday evening. It has not yet been confirmed how high exactly Txikon and Co. have ascended this time.

Really up to the South Col?

“Marca” claims that the team has already equipped Camp 4 at 7,950 meters. However, this does not coincide with the information given by Txikon’s GPS tracker. The device displays a turn-around altitute of about 7,650 meters, 300 meters below the South Col. However, according to Alex’ press team, the GPS tracker had not shown the correct height in the days before. Today it seemed to work again.

Stormy days

I therefore recommend to wait until Alex himself tells us how far up they have climbed. After the hardships of the ascent without bottled oxygen, he should sleep a bit longer. Txikon will also have time to recover during the next days. The weather forecast predicts heavy storms at least until Thursday. A first summit attempt is out of question until then.

Update 5. Feb., 1 a.m.: “I’m back at the BC! We went up to C4 to equip it, and after we came back to C2, they stayed there and I decided to go down to the Base Camp,” Alex wrote on Twitter.

The Lhotse flank

Strange. Since yesterday, Alex Txikon‘s GPS tracker, which is to document his ascent on Mount Everest, has not shown any movement. Lastly, an altitude of more than 6200 meters was displayed. Afterwards nothing. I’ve asked. “Yesterday they [Alex and the Sherpas who accompany him] went up to Camp 2 (6,400 meters), where they have slept,” Gontzal Saenz from the press team of the Basque climber writes to me. According to him, the GPS tracker has not been working correctly and is showing the wrong altitude. “I think they were going to keep climbing up today.” The goal was to prepare the route from Camp 3 at 7,400 meters to Camp 4 on the South Col at 7,950 meters by tomorrow. “The weather forecasts are very bad, with very strong winds, for the next few days,” writes Gontzal. “The plan is to return to the base camp tomorrow [Saturday] and wait there for the weather to improve again.”

Up to 190 kilometers per hour

Alex in the tent

That sounds reasonable. On Saturday morning, according to the weather forecast, the wind in the summit area is supposed to calm down to 25 km/h, but from Sunday onwards the weather will most probably turn really bad. Storms reaching hurricane strength with speeds of up to 190 m/h are expected during the next week. Alex and Co. should really sit out this weather in Base Camp. Due to the fact, that Txikon does not use bottled oxygen, he must be double-cautious. The lack of oxygen leads to increased breathing. This causes dehydration, the metabolism hardly works, the extremities are supplied only insufficiently. This increases the risk of frostbite on fingers and toes. If in addition strong wind cools your body, it can be quickly over with your extremities.

Departure in the night

The Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki has turned around again. The 33-year old abandoned his second summit attempt at 8,150 meters, about 200 meters above the South Col. „Deep snow and high winds“ stopped him, Kuriki tweeted. “I did my best. I’m really disappointed.” Indeed he sounded exhausted and frustrated talking via radio with his team. 

Marathon ends prematurely

Kuriki’s route

The Japanese descended to his last camp at 7,800 meters and further down. His first attempt one and a half weeks ago had ended just above this camp, also due to deep snow and the time that had been running out. Kuriki was climbing without bottled oxygen. Kuriki was aware, that his summit day with a difference in altitude of 1,100 meters would be a “marathon”. He didn’t finish this race. Thus Mount Everest still remains unclimbed this year, since the spring season had been cancelled without summit success due to the earthquake on 25 April and the huge avalanche triggered by the tremors that had killed 19 people in Base Camp.

Respectable performance

Nobukazu Kuriki

Kuriki is on Everest in post-monsoon for the fifth time. In his last attempt via the West ridge in fall 2012, he had suffered severe frostbite. Nine fingers had to be amputated almost on entire length, only stumps remained. Against this background and the fact that the route above the Khumbu Icefall was not prepared, Nobukazu’s two summit attempts were respectable performances. Reaching an altitude of 8,150 meters, he would have summited six of the 14 eight-thousanders; on three more only one, two dozen meters would have been missing. But Everest is even 800 meters higher.

Nobukazu Kuriki

Next try. In these days, Japanese climber Nobukazu Kuriki will start his second summit attempt on Mount Everest. As reported before, his first try had failed last weekend, at about 7,700 meters, the level of the Geneva Spur, 200 meters below the South Col. Kuriki is the only climber who tries to scale Everest this fall, climbing alone without bottled oxygen. I have succeeded in contacting the 33-year-old at Everest Base Camp.

Nobukazu, what went wrong during your first summit attempt?

There was deeper snow than I expected, and it took too long to plow through it.

You decided to pitch your tent for your highest camp at about 7,700 meters instead of the usual South Col. Why?

I realized that it took too long to make the trail carrying my tent up to South Col. And it was easier to pitch my tent stably with deep snow.

Nobukazu on Everest

Will you change anything for the second try?

I’m going to pitch my tent at the same altitude between 7,600 and 7,700 meters. But after having left my luggage at the tent, I’m going to make it through the snow up to South Col and then come back to the tent to rest. I’ll start the summit push either that night or the next.

What makes you confident that you will be able to reach the summit this time?

It’s a tough challenge physically, but it’s my fifth try and I’m used to it. I’ve adapted to high altitude, and the weather seems to be holding up.

How do you feel mentally and physically?

Mentally, I’m in good condition. I will enjoy climbing including all the hardship that comes with it. Physically, you can never be perfect at this altitude, but I’ll be mindful of breathing so that my body can move up the mountain well.