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.

Manaslu (l.) and Pinnacle East (r.)

The first summit success of the fall season on the eight-thousanders is reported from the 8,163-meter-high Manaslu. Dawa Sherpa from the Nepalese expedition operator Seven Summit Treks writes on Facebook that four Sherpas of their team have fixed the ropes up to the highest point. Besides Mingma Tenjing Sherpa, Gyaljen Sherpa, Tenjing Chhombi Sherpa and Temba Bhote, the Spaniard Sergi Mingote and the Brazilian Moeses Fiamoncini reached the summit. Mingote confirmed the summit success – also on Facebook – and added: “I am fine.” Last summer, Sergi scaled Broad Peak and then K2 in Pakistan, without using bottled oxygen. After Manaslu, the 47-year-old professional climber wants to tackle the eight-thousander Dhaulagiri even this fall, also located in western Nepal.

Almost 200 foreign summit aspirants

Now that the fixed ropes are laid up to the summit, there should be lots of success stories from Manaslu in the next few days. Almost 200 foreign mountaineers have been granted permits for this season to climb the eighth highest mountain in the world. This continues the trend of recent years: Among the clients of commercial expeditions, Manaslu has turned into “Fall’s Everest” in terms of popularity.

Luis Stitzinger

According to his own words, Luis Stitzinger has reached the 8,080-meter-high summit of Gasherbrum I in the Karakoram yesterday (Wednesday). He was on his descent, the 49-year-old German climber informed via Facebook today. For Luis, it is his eighth eight-thousander success after Cho Oyu (in 2000), Gasherbrum II (in 2006), Nanga Parbat (in 2008), Dhaulagiri (in 2009), Broad Peak (in 2011), Shisha Pangma (in 2013) and Manaslu (in 2017). He climbed all of them without bottled oxygen, six of them together with his wife Alix von Melle.

Success after all

Luis (2nd from left) the day before our summit bid on Kokodak Dome (in 2014)

As reported, Stitzinger had previously abandoned the planned first ascent of the 7,082-meter-high Urdok Kangri II because of the masses of fresh snow on the mountain. Luis had led the expedition of the German operator “Amical alpin”, in which Alix had also participated. While Alix turned back home along with the other members, Luis decided to tackle Gasherbrum I.

I am particularly pleased about his success, as we have a common past: In July 2014, Luis led the Amical expedition to Kokodak Dome, which ended with the first ascent of the 7,129-meter-high mountain in western China. Since then I can also call myself a first ascender. I never would have made it without Luis.

Death on 7000er in India

R.I.P.

Sad news is reported from the 7,416-meter-high Saser Kangri IV in the Indian part of the Karakoram: The search for Pemba Sherpa was called off after five days. The 45-year-old Nepalese had fallen into a crevasse when a snow bridge had collapsed.  It is believed that he fell into the icy meltwater at the bottom of the crevasse. Pemba had scaled Everest eight times and another five eight-thousanders.

Stitzinger on his ski descent from G I

Update July 24: Luis has published some details of his successful ascent of Gasherbrum I. According to his own words, he ascended together with 52-year-old Italian Gianpaolo Corona in Alpine style. On the summit day they had to break the trailthrough calf-deep fresh snow. After more than 13 hours they reached the highest point. Luis tried a ski descent from the summit, but had to interrupt it in the so-called “Japanese Couloir” due to too great avalanche danger. “A decision I found very difficult. After all, you don’t like to leave the fillet. But in this case there was no discussion,” reports Stitzinger and concludes:  “A happy ending to an extremely difficult season in the Karakoram: After several weeks of almost uninterrupted snowfall at the beginning of the season in June, many expeditions had to leave empty-handed. Even after the weather had calmed down again, the snow masses and the bad conditions allowed only a few summit successes on the Pakistani eight-thousanders as it has rarely been. So we are all the happier that we made it despite all this, just the two of us!”

Kim Mi-gon

This summer’s first summit success on an eight-thousander in Pakistan has been reported. The Pakistani expedition operator “Summit Karakoram” informed that South Korean Kim Mi-gon, Taiwanese Lu Chung-han and Sanu Sherpa from Nepal had reached the 8125-meter-high summit of Nanga Parbat on Monday. The 45-year-old Kim thus completed his collection of the 14 eight-thousanders, it said.

Just another climb

Nanga Parbat

At the beginning of his expedition, the Korean had already thanked all those who had supported him on his way since 1998. “I don’t know how many people helped me to go to the Himalayas in 20 years,” Kim wrote on Facebook in early June. “People say Nanga Parbat will mean a lot to me. But for me it’s just another climb I like.”

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.

Nanga Parbat

It did not let him rest. “This time I have no doubt,” says Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, when he rings me out of bed after midnight our time. “We were at the summit of Nanga Parbat.” The 31-year-old calls me by satellite telephone from Camp 4. The connection is bad, I have to ask several times. Eight climbers were at the highest point, the Nepalese reports. “The weather was very good and the view too.”

For three weeks in Pakistan

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

Mingma had not wanted to shout the expedition from the rooftops. Since mid-September, he has already been with his team in Pakistan. Already on 11 June, the busy Sherpa had reached with clients the summit ridge of the ninth highest mountain on earth. Afterwards he had admitted that he could not say with one hundred percent certainty whether he and his customers had been really at the highest point. They had been en route for 43 hours. Mingma had paid the ascent with frostbite at his toe. He had announced that he wanted to return to the “Naked Mountain”, to make absolutely sure that he was really on the summit.

Success on K 2

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa on the summit of K2

Later he succeeded with a team the only ascent of K 2 this summer. He also reported a summit success from Broad Peak, but also there, like in June on Nanga Parbat, there were indications that his team had missed the highest point in driving snow. Mingma thought that he was on the summit but announced that he would come back also to this mountain in 2018 to end all discussions.

Six times over 8000 meters

No other climber was so often above 8000 meters this year. Mingma mastered the magical height six times:  In spring, he scaled with clients Dhaulagiri and Makalu in Nepal, followed by the three climbs on Nanga Parbat, K 2 and Broad Peak in summer, and now the second ascent on Nanga Parbat this fall. This man can hardly be stopped.

Update 5. October: “We eight climbers made Nanga Parbat,  8,125 m summit, on 02-10-2017 at 12:40pm”, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa wrote on Facebook. “We had really good weather during our climb and we are all safely back from mountain. By this climb, I understood that Pakistan’s tourism agencies need to focus on autumn climbing and trekking around Nanga Parbat area as the weather remains very fine and clear all the days.”

Broad Peak

“Mr. 8000” has done it again. “We all are on Broad peak summit,“  Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, expedition leader and head of the Nepalese operator Dreamers Destination wrote on Facebook today. All means according to Mingmas yesterday’s post: ten climbers. The summit success was confirmed by the data from the GPS tracker of John Snorri Sigurjónsson, one of Mingmas clients. For the 31-year-old Mingma, it was already his fourth success on eight-thousanders this year. Previously, the Sherpa had led clients to the summits of Dhaulagiri and Makalu in Nepal last spring and of K2 last Friday. In addition, he had reached with his team the summit ridge of Nanga Parbat not being sure if he had really found the highest point.

His dream: Everest without bottled oxygen

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

Having added Broad Peak, Mingma has now eleven of the 14 eight-thousanders on his account. Since he forewent bottled oxygen during his ascent on the 8051-meter-high mountain in the Karakorum, he has climbed ten of the 14 highest mountains without breathing mask. “I want to scale Everest at least once without bottled oxygen,” Mingma told me in an interview earlier this year. He has already been on top of the highest mountain on earth five times with breathing mask, three times (in 2011, 2012, 2016) from the Nepalese south side, twice from the Tibetan north side (in 2007, 2010). This year, Mingma has been in total five times above 8000 meters – what a performance! Only a week ago at K2, he had used bottled oxygen, otherwise, according to Mingma, “it would not have been possible to reach the summit.”

Winning formula works

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa is one of more than 40 Nepalese with a certificate from the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (UIAGM). “Our training taught us to focus on safety and security. You can only provide safety and security when you have well tested and technical equipment, well trained staffs, very accurate weather reports”, says Mingma. The winning formula seems to work. Mingma’s track record success story speaks for itself: within a week twelve climbers on the summit of K2 and now again ten on Broad Peak.

P.S.: I’ll leave now for three weeks in order to relax in the mountains – offline. Then I’m back for you. Promised!

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa on the summit of K2

The base camp at K 2, the second highest mountain on earth, will turn empty in the coming days. Andrzej Bargiel and his Polish friends declared that their ski expedition was over after they had finished their summit attempt at the weekend because of too much avalanche danger. The Swedish Fredrik Sträng and his Pakistani companion also turned around. The commercial expedition operators Furtenbach Adventure and Himalayan Experience had previously thrown in the towel.

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the operator Dreamers Destination, can return to Nepal highly satisfied. Under the guidance of the 31-year-old a team of twelve climbers had reached the 8,611-meter-high summit on Friday. These were the first summit successes on K2 since 2014, when Mingma had also been one of the successful climbers there and had climbed up without breathing mask. In spring 2017, the extremely high performing Sherpa had already scaled along with clients the eight-thousanders Dhaulagiri and Makalu. This summer he had reached with a team the summit ridge of Nanga Parbat without knowing if they had really found the highest point. After his success on K2, I have sent Mingma some questions. Here are his answers:

Mingma, first of all congrats to you and your team. Great performance! Some expedition leaders turned around due to the avalanche risk which they valued as being too high. What made you feel confident that it could work?

A key part of our success was our good weather report. The weather remained very windy when we were in Camp 2 and 3. I was sure that all the fresh snow would be blown away by the wind what made us feel that there won’t be any avalanche. The best thing about our team was unity. My team listened to whatever I said and worked perfectly together, so we were successful.

Hard work on the ascent

How were the conditions on the summit day?

I think, the summit day of K2 is the hardest one among all 8000m peaks. The route to the summit is more on ice. These icy parts are covered by very thick snow which increases the risk of avalanche. We had to be very careful while breaking the trail. I found this year was more ice and it was really difficult to get to the summit ridge. However, the threat of avalanche was less high since most of the days were windy and snow was well frozen.

I assume there was a lot of trail-breaking to do because of the great amount of fresh snow. Who did this hard job?

Some carried rope, some belayed and some broke the trail. This was team work. We had to fix more ropes on those snow covered ice passages.

Was there anyone among the twelve summiters who was climbing without bottled oxygen?

Sorry, this time I used oxygen, otherwise it would not have been possible to reach the summit. But Nima Nuru Sherpa from Thame in Nepal and Fazal from Pakistan made it without bottled oxygen.

Successful team

You had a very strong Sherpa team at your side – with in total about 50 Everest summit successes under their belts. Was this the key to K2?

On the one part yes, but on the other part no. Our Sherpa team was strong and well experienced but Everest and K2 are located in different countries so climbing culture is different. Working on K2 is more difficult than on Everest because of far less teams on K2 and unpredictable weather conditions.

In my last blog post I called you the “8000er Climber of the Season” because of your achievements this year. Is their any time you get tired? What’s your secret of success?

Thanks for your compliment. I am only getting tired of sleeping in tent everyday. But I do like climbing by myself so I am not getting tired. And this is the reason I am successful.

K 2, seen from Base Camp

It was a tough piece of work. “Finally we are at the summit of K2,” Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the Nepalese expedition operator Dreamers Destination, wrote on Facebook. Besides him, eleven other climbers had reached the highest point at 8,611 meters, including six Sherpas, Mingma said. Obviously it took them about 16 hours to climb from the last high camp on the K2 Shoulder at about 7,650 meters up to the summit – no wonder considering the large amount of fresh snow, which had previously caused some teams to abandon their attempts due to the avalanche danger.

O’Brien’s fifth 8000er, Zhang’s 13th

Vanessa O’Brien

Among the lucky ones who reached the summit of the second highest mountain on earth was the American-British climber Vanessa O’Brien. For the 52-year-old, K2 was her fifth eight-thousander after Mount Everest (in 2010), Shishapangma, Cho Oyu (both in 2011) and Manaslu (in 2014). In the last two years, O’Brien had returned from K2 empty-handed. The Chinese Zhang Liang also reached the summit today. According to Mingma, the 53-year-old has now scaled 13 eight-thousanders. Since today, John Snorri Sigurjónsson is allowed to call himself the “First Icelander on K2”. The 44-year-old had already summited the eight-thousander Lhotse last May, also as the first climber of his country.

Sherpa power

Mingma had gathered a very strong and experienced Sherpa team around him. Dawa Gyalje Sherpa, Tsering Pemba Sherpa, Nima Tshering Sherpa, Lhakpa Nuru Sherpa, Nima Nuru Sherpa and Ang Tsering Sherpa have all climbed Everest, most of them even several times, in addition other eight-thousanders too. So much Sherpa power was also necessary to break the trail up to the summit of K2. Yesterday John Snorri Sigurjónsson had reported on fresh snow which was up to one meter deep.

Bravo, Mingma!

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

If there was to award the “Eight-thousander Climber of the Season”, this honor would have to be paid to Mingma Gyalje Sherpa. Last spring, the 31-year-old had already led clients to the summits of the eight-thousanders Dhaulagiri and Makalu in Nepal. At the beginning of the summer, Mingma reached along with his team the summit ridge of Nanga Parbat, but was not sure if they had really found the highest point. Despite frostbite on a toe, which Mingma had suffered during this climb, he now led his team to the summit of K2, which he had climbed for the first time in 2014 – without bottled oxygen. Hats off to Mingma’s performance! However, a climb is only really successful if all members are back in Base Camp safe and sound. This is even more true on the dangerous mountain K2. So, keep your fingers crossed!

Update 29 July: All climbers are back in Base Camp, Mingma reports on Facebook.

Dominik Mueller on Everest (© www-third-pole.com)

While for many climbers the decisive phase on the highest mountain on earth has begun right now, Dominik Mueller is already packing his bags. As reported before, the German expedition leader reached the 8850-meter-high summit of Mount Everest from the Tibetan north-side on Tuesday, as well as one of his clients. Two other members of his team turned around at 8,550 respectively 8,600 meters. “All are fine, not even a single wound,” says Dominik when I reach the 46-year-old head of the expedition operator Amical alpine via satellite telephone in the Advanced Base Camp at 6,300 meters.

Dominik, first of all congratulations. How was the weather and the conditions on the mountain during your ascent?

For us, it was a perfect summit day. Windless and warm, as predicted by my meteorologists. The route was perfectly secured. We had no traffic jam, with us there was only a US team en route, and a small one of Russia. It had snowed in the previous days, particularly in front of the rock steps we could walk well on the fresh snow. This can save up to one and a half hours of time on the summit day. It was so warm on the summit that some Sherpas, who had climbed up from the south side, took topless pictures with Nepal flags.

After Cho Oyu and Manaslu, Mount Everest was your third eight-thousander. How did you experience the summit success?

I could totally enjoy it. I have now completed the “Seven Summits” (the highest mountains of all continents) as a mountain guide, I have guided clients to each of the seven peaks. There are not so many in the world who can make the same claim at present. And then this summit day! Blue sky, very few clouds, warm. It was perfect.

Dominik (2nd from l.) with his team

Other expedition leaders had previously valued the weather conditions more problematic. Why did you ascend so early?

Because my meteorologists had predicted a perfect weather window between 15 and 17 May. We actually wanted to go to the summit in the night from the 16th to the 17th. Then they told me: Dominik, set off one day earlier! It will be windless and warm. On the descent, perhaps a small wind peak can come in. But it will be over at noon, and you can continue to descend. And exactly that happened.

What advice do you have for all those who are still waiting for their Everest chance this spring?

Meteorologists expect another weather window for the weekend. Some teams are on their ascent. But just now, I can still see huge snow banners the summit. I can only advise everyone: Keep cool, wait and maybe you should trust your meteorologists! I think you should consult with your weather experts and sometime say, okay that suits me, and then set off. It is typical that there is much debate in the Base Camp. Sometimes things are talked down which are not bad at all.

Successful team: Alex, Tamara, Simone and Ali (from l. to r.)

Nanga Parbat will soon be able again to hibernate undisturbed. After the 8,125-meter-high mountain in Pakistan had increasingly become the object of desire of professional climbers from around the world in recent winters, calm should return to the eight-thousander in the cold season. Another of the “last great problems” of mountaineering is solved after the Italian Simone Moro, the Spaniard Alex Txikon and the Pakistani Muhammad Ali have made the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat last Friday. Ali climbed through rocky terrain to the highest point, the other two through an icy couloir. The fourth team member, the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger, turned around about 100 meters below the summit. She also chose a different path in the summit area than Simone and Alex. The 29-year-old was finally completely exhausted after she had vomited in the morning of the summit day.

Also the descend a feat of strength

Ali (l.) and Alex (r.) on the summit

The way from Camp 4 at about 7,100 meters to the summit was “very hard and long”, Alex Txikon said, adding that the summit trapeze was “steeper than expected” and the last couloir “really icy”. After another night in the last high camp, the four climbers descended to Base Camp at 4,300 meters in one go – another show of strength.
The team of four, which had been formed only late in season, wrote high mountaineering history. In the past decades, more than 30 expeditions had failed in winter on Nanga Parbat. 13 of the 14 eight-thousanders have now been scaled during the cold season. Only K 2, with 8,611 meters the second highest mountain on earth, remains unclimbed in winter.

First great winter success for Ali and Txikon

The different ascent routes

The 40-year-old Muhammad Ali, also known as Ali “Sadpara” (named after his home village), is the first Pakistani who succeeded in climbing an eight-thousander in winter. For the 34-year-old Alex Txikon Nanga Parbat was number eleven in his collection of eight-thousanders and his first great success in winter. In 2011 and 2012, Alex had tried in vain to climb Gasherbrum I in winter. On the second attempt, his team comrades, the Austrian Gerfried Göschl, the Swiss Cedric Hählen and the Pakistani Nisar Hussain had disappeared during a summit attempt. In winter 2015, Txikon had reached an altitude of 7,850 meters on Nanga Parbat, along with Muhammad Ali and the Italian Daniele Nardi. This winter, Nardi had also joined the team, but – as reported – had left in dispute later.

“King of winter climbing”

Ali (l.) and Simone (r.) on top of Nanga Parbat

Simone Moro is the “king of winter climbing” in high altitude. He has now scaled four eight-thousanders for the first time in winter. Before his coup on Nanga Parbat the Italian had managed this feat on Shishapangma (in 2005), Makalu (in 2009) and Gasherbrum II (in 2011). “When you are attempting any Himalayan mountain in winter, you feel not simply like a mountaineer but like an explorer”, Simone told me in an interview more than a year ago. “You are not performing a climb, you enter the unknown. It’s pure ancient alpinism.”

Manaslu, “Mountain of the Spirit”

The success stories from the eighth highest mountain on earth are piling up. On Wednesday and Thursday at least 76 climbers reached the 8,156-meter-high summit of Manaslu, said the “Himalayan Times”. The Nepalese operator Seven Summits Treks reported about 50 summit successes of their clients and Sherpas alone. On Friday Dominik Mueller, head of the German expedition operator Amical Alpin, reached the highest point of Manaslu too.

“Totally happy”

Dominik Mueller

“He is totally happy, he is doing very well”, his wife Tine told me. Dominik had called her by satphone from the summit. Manaslu is the second eight-thousander that the 44-year-old has climbed. Previously Dominik scaled Cho Oyu twice. On his other eight-thousander expeditions, he often had to put his own ambitions aside to take care of his clients. On Thursday, a first Amical group with co-expedition leader Rainer Pircher had reached the summit of Manaslu.

Earlier in the week, some teams, including those from Himalayan Experience, Altitude Junkies and Adventure Consultants, had abandoned their expeditions, because they considered the conditions on the mountain too dangerous. Against the background of so many summit successes in the past few days, one or the other of the climbers may probably be annoyed with this decision.

Top of Everest (from the Northeast Ridge)

The first climbers came from the south. On Friday evening local time, the Chinese Wang Jing and five Sherpas reached the summit of Mount Everest via the Nepalese normal route. However, I hesitate to call it a complete ascent. The team had been flown by helicopter to Camp 2 at 6400 meters after the “Ice doctors” had stopped to maintain the route through the Khumbu Icefall. After the avalanche disaster on 18 April – as reported – all commercial expeditions on the Nepalese side of the mountain had been cancelled.

Today the first summit successes were also reported from the Tibetan north side. A team of 15 climbers of the Russian expedition organizer “7SummitsClub” reached the highest point at 8850 meters during snowfall and wind. The German climber Ralf Dujmovits had to struggle with these difficult weather conditions  too when he ascended from Camp 2 at 7700 meters to Camp 3 at 8300 meters.

Really exhausted

“In the morning it was very windy, then it began to snow”, Ralf tells me by satellite phone from his small tent. He is speaking slowly, the thin air takes its toll. He was fine all the way up to Camp 3, says Ralf: “I was hoping to find a platform for my tent up here at 8300 meters, but unfortunately it wasn’t like that. I had to prepare a platform before I could pitch my tent. Thus I have lost much energy and right now I am really exhausted.” Dujmovits, who is climbing without bottled oxygen, does not want to leave for the summit with the first  mountaineers late on Saturday night. “This is too tricky, because it is still too cold. Probably I will start at 1:00 or 2:00 a.m., but it depends on the wind.” So keep your fingers crossed!

Hungarian Klein turned around

Another climber who had tried to scale Mount Everest without oxygen mask  has aborted his summit attempt. The Hungarian David Klein turned around on the northeast ridge, at an altitude of about 8600 meters, near the First Step. He was too late. The Romanian Horia Colibaseanu and the Slovak Peter Hámor, also without bottled oxygen, had previously stopped their ascent at 7600 meters.