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.

North side of Everest

Will the mountaineers on the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest be chauffeured to the base camp next spring with electric buggies, as we know them from golf courses? This Tibetan provincial government’s plan is reported by Chinese state media. Step by step, all vehicles without electric motors should be banned from the base camp in order to reduce air pollution, it said. “In peak season, the camp welcomes an average of 200 to 400 vehicles every day,” said Tang Wu, director of Tibet’s Tourism Development Commission. “The camp receives an average of 20,000 vehicles every year.”

More than 100,000 visitors per year

The Chinese Base Camp, which can be reached on a paved road, has increasingly developed into a tourist attraction.  According to the state news agency Xinhua, in 2017 more than 100,000 people visited the starting point for Everest expeditions on the north side of the mountain. It is obvious that so many people produce a lot of garbage. The provincial government has commissioned a company to keep the area between the Chinese Base Camp at 5,200 meters and the Advance Base Camp at 6500 meters clean.

Special bonus for the transport of faeces

Garbage cans in Everest Base Camp

After the last spring season, 8.5 metric tonnes of waste were collected according to official data. It was said that it was particularly difficult to remove the faeces: The locals did not want to pack the human waste on their yaks because they thought it would bring bad luck. Only after special payments did some people agree to take the faeces away.

No more news about the planned mountaineering centre

Whether the plan with the electric cars will really be implemented remains to be seen. Almost two years ago, the news had gone around the world that by 2019 an Everest mountaineering centre, the size of twelve football pitches, was to be built in Gangkar, also known as Old Tingri, with accommodation and restaurants for mountaineers, a helicopter rescue base, offices for expedition operators, repair shops for cars, motorcycles and bicycles as well as a mountaineering museum.  After that you didn’t hear anything more about it.

Rescue flights also on the north side of Everest?

Rescue helicopters from Nepal at the foot of Shishapangma

However, there are persistent rumors that from 2019 there will also be helicopter rescue flights on the Tibetan north side of Everest. Last spring, Chinese rescue forces and Nepalese helicopter pilots worked together to find Bulgarian climber Boyan Petrov, who has been missing on the eight-thousander Shishapangma in Tibet. Unfortunately, the search was unsuccessful in the end, but the rescue operation could serve as a model for the highest of all mountains.

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.

Ascent on Cho Oyu

After yesterday’ first summit success of this fall season on Manaslu, the spell has apparently broken on the eight-thousander Cho Oyu in Tibet too. Two US operators reported that their teams had reached the highest point at 8,188 meters today. “Cho Oyu Team just checked in from the top of the sixth highest peak in the world,” Mountain Madness wrote on Twitter. The expedition operator Climbing the Seven Summits also declared: “We are thrilled to announce the entire CTSS team is currently standing on the summit of Cho Oyu in perfect weather.” Probably Tendi Sherpa was also among today’s summiteers. The 34-year-old (whom I had met in Kathmandu last march) accompanies the expedition as their Sirdar, the head of the Sherpa crew. Tendi had reported on “pretty good mountain conditions” after their first ascents to the high camps for acclimatization. Yesterday the American operator International Mountain Guides had announced on Twitter that the rope fixing team had reached the summit plateau, adding that a couple teams were “in position to summit”.

South side of Mount Everest

It would not have taken much more for the two women from Germany to shake hands on the roof of the world. Within 48 hours Ingrid Schittich at first, then Susanne Müller-Zantop reached the 8850-meter-high summit of Mount Everest last spring: Schittich on 15 May from the Tibetan north side, Müller-Zantop on 17 May from the Nepalese south side. They didn’t know about each other. Billi Bierling, head of the mountaineering chronicle “Himalayan Database”, first drew their attention to the fact that they had narrowly missed each other on Everest.

Oldest German women on Everest

Ingrid Schittich, in the background Mount Everest

Another thing Ingrid and Susanne have in common is that both mountaineers are already beyond the age of 60. Aged 63, Schittich is now the oldest German woman ever to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain, 61-year-old Müller-Zantop the second oldest. In any case the circle is rather exclusive. Before the spring season 2018, only nine other German women had scaled Everest – most of them much younger than Ingrid and Susanne. They are also expected to be at the top of the age pyramid of Everest female climbers across Europe (data for spring 2018 have not yet been published). The world’s oldest woman on Everest to date was the 73-year-old Japanese Tamae Watanabe in 2012.

Seven Summits completed

On the summit

She wanted to prove “that even at an advanced age you can still achieve high physical performance,” says Ingrid Schittich, who began to climb genuinely only at the age of 49. It was already her third attempt on the north side of Everest: In 2016 she had had to turn around at 7,000 meters, in 2017 at 7,650 meters. Both times she had felt bad. With her summit success this spring, the 63-year-old completed her collection of the “Seven Summits”, the highest mountains of all continents.

Deep satisfaction

“During the ascent I only thought of the effort. Thoughts came up like I’ll never do that again,” recalls the physician from Munich. “On the summit I was happy and felt a deep satisfaction that I had achieved my goal.” Ingrid really enjoyed the moment, because she and her four companions from the team of the Swiss expedition operator “Kobler & Partner” were en route on the Northeast Ridge “without traffic jams or obstruction by other climbers. Also on the summit we were alone.”

Poster for cosmetics on the summit

15 minutes on the top

Susanne Müller-Zantop had also dreamt to experience the moment on the highest point of the world this way. But things turned out very differently. “I was happy and undisturbed during my ascent, I only met a few people,” says the German entrepreneur, who lives in Zurich in Switzerland. “The summit was a shock, first I stared at a poster for Chinese women’s cosmetics. There was hardly any place, it was so crowded. My Sherpa pulled a Lama’s coat, sword and cap out of his backpack, quickly put everything on and filmed himself. I was disappointed, there was no opportunity for rest, enjoying the panorama or even devotion.” After a quarter of an hour Susanne fled from this “marketing platform,” as she calls it.

Fitter than before

Susanne Müller-Zantop

Like Ingrid Schittich, Müller-Zantop was a late comer in terms of high altitude. In 2016 she scaled Cho Oyu. “I didn’t discover the eight-thousander world until I was 60,” says Susanne. “Maybe I’m just ready for it now. I think I’m mentally super strong now, much stronger than before.” She also had no problems with her fitness on Everest. “I don’t think that you necessarily lose your strength while getting older. Maybe I am even physically stronger and fitter than before.”

Overcoming fears

The experiences on Everest are still having an effect on both climbers. “You find everything there: living legends, young guns, adventure addicts, record addicts, people who search for meaning and tourists like me,” says Susanne Müller-Zantop. “I take with me many pictures and the gratitude that I belong to the privileged ones who were allowed to stand on the highest point on earth. I also take along that I can deal even better with my fears than before. And I was really scared on the way.”

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.

Enthusiastic welcome für Ralf Dujmovits (r.)

A joint week in Nepal is behind Ralf Dujmovits and me. As reported before, we inaugurated the first two parts of the new school building in Thulosirubari, a small mountain village about 70 kilometers east of Kathmandu, which could be built thanks to our aid project “School up!”. And we laid the foundation for the second construction phase. In Kathmandu I conducted some interviews – you could already read those with the expedition operators Arnold Coster and Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, more will follow shortly. Ralf took the time to meet old acquaintances and to visit some of his favorite spots in the capital. The 56-year-old is so far the only German mountaineer who has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders. Only on Mount Everest in fall 1992 he used bottled oxygen. Later he tried seven times to climb the highest mountain in the world without breathing mask, seven times he failed to reach the summit – most recently in spring 2017 at 8,580 meters on the Tibetan north side of the mountain.

Ralf, we are now here in Kathmandu, not far from Mount Everest, about 160 kilometers as the crow flies. Is it not itching you a bit?

Not at all, at the moment. I have completed this story for me. Of course, I follow what’s happening on Everest. This is still very exciting. But for myself, I have closed the chapter Everest. 

Ralf, in the background Mount Everest

You have followed the events on Everest for decades and also experienced what has been going on there. How do you assess the development of recent years?

It seems that more and more people are coming to Everest. Actually I expected the number to decrease after the serious avalanche disaster in 2014 when 16 climbers died in the Khumbu Icefall. I thought that people would realize the dangers especially on the south side, in particular more and more climbers in a certain way jamming up to death. But apparently the opposite happens. The agencies speak of good booking numbers. Especially the Nepalese agencies are very active. I think it will be busier than ever before.

Does what’s going on on Everest have anything to do with climbing?

Of course, real climbing falls on the wayside when so many people try to climb on fixed ropes at the same time. People evaluate climbing differently. Maybe one or the other perceives climbing with 30 or 40 others within 50 meters of fixed rope as exciting. But that’s not my way. However, I think that’s up to each. And as long as the regulations to limit the number of climbers do not work, even actually do not exist, the situation will not change.

Queue on Everest

This discussion has been going on for years, not to say for decades. Do you think there will ever be rules that will make Everest less busy?

I am very skeptical because the Government of Nepal is not taking the problem seriously. It’s all about money. The rules that were issued most recently with the aim of excluding disabled climbers were completely wrong. Later the government had to withdraw this regulation. That was really no way to find a solution. I think it’s just about asking and proving whether people have been on a seven-thousander or maybe even on another eight-thousander before coming to Everest. I mean that’s the only way to reduce the number. But as long as some Nepalese agencies take every client who has the wherewithals, the situation will not change.

In recent years the Kangchung side of Everest, the eastern flank of the mountain, was completely deserted, and the attempts on the North Face or the Southwest Face could be counted on the fingers of one hand. It almost feels as if top climbers stay well clear of Everest.

Among so called “real” climbers it is almost frowned upon to be on Everest. The more modern destinations are unclimbed, difficult six-thousanders and challenging routes on seven-thousanders. In Pakistan, there are ten still unclimbed seven-thousanders. I think the younger, ambitious climber will find their destinations there as well.

Ralf in Everest high camp (in 2014)

Is it possible to speak of guaranteed safety on Everest when so many people ascend on the same route, even if they lay two parallel tracks?

There has never been a guaranteed safety. But even what is called a “99 percent safety” in the brochures does not work if so many people are en route at the same time. There are some bottlenecks on Everest, e.g. the “Yellow Band” (at 7,500 meters below the South Col) or the exposed summit ridge. Traffic jams will continue to occur there. And these jams remain a great danger in case of sudden changes in weather, which can never be ruled out.

Do you think that many climbers switch to the north side of Everest for safety reasons?

The tendency for more people climbing Everest from the Tibetan north side is noticable. Some big operators have switched to the north. Kari Kobler has been over there for a long time and does really a good job. The Chinese take their task very seriously, both as organizer of the base camp and in terms of mountain infrastructure. On the north side, the regulations are taken more seriously. It’s not just about money, but also about the climbers’ safety. Therefore, I can currently only advise: Go to the north side!

Arnold Coster

The Everest spring season is on. This Saturday, eight “Icefall Doctors“ will be celebrating a puja in the base camp on the Nepalese south side of the highest mountain in the world, a Buddhist ceremony, during which the gods are asked for their blessing. Next week, the Sherpas, who are specialized in this task, will prepare this year’s route through the Khumbu Icefall. At the beginning of April the first commercial teams are expected in the base camp. “I’m wondering how busy it will be on the south side with every year we see the numbers increasing significantly,“ says Arnold Coster, when I meet him today in Kathmandu. “And I wonder how many actually switch to the Tibetan side.“

Only one new operator in Tibet

Tibetan North side of Mount Everest

In truth, only the expedition operator Altitude Junkies of the British Phil Crampton has been added, says Arnold: “It sounds in the media as if a lot of people are switching but I think most of the regular companies will be there, but with bigger groups – including myself.“ The 41-year-old Dutchman will lead an internationally mixed team of twelve clients. Already last year, Arnold was en route on the Tibetan north side. “The main reason why I climb in Tibet is that it’s too busy in the Icefall on the South side. There are too many people who are too slow and it’s easy to get stuck in a traffic jam.“ Moreover, the objective dangers on the north side are much lower, says Coster, adding that after heavy snow fall, there is only, if at all, a low avalanche danger on the way up to the 7,000-meter-high North Col. “On the south side, however, you are constantly in danger in the Icefall, but also in in the Western Cwm by avalanches if there is a lot of snow. And even in the Lhotse Face.“

Three times on the summit

Arnold on expedition

Coster has been living in Nepal since 2004. He is married to Maya Sherpa, one of the country’s most famous female climbers (my interview with her will follow later). They have a daughter aged seven. This spring, Arnold will lead his 15th Everest expedition. He has been on the summit at 8,850 meters three times – more than any other mountaineer from the Netherlands. “My job is taking care of the people and not going to the summit myself,“ says Arnold, pointing out that he has been already eight times on the 8,748-meter high South Summit of Everest. “Very often I climb with my group but I turn around with somebody who needs help.“ In spring 2016, however, any help came too late for two of his clients. Within 24 hours, a Dutchman with whom Coster was a friend and an Australian woman died – even though both had reached the South Col after their summit attempt. In social networks, Arnold was subsequently accused of not informing the families of the deceased in time.

Liaison officer passed on sensitive information

In the Khumbu Icefall

“That is not the truth. The truth is that I got an emergency contact for all of my members. So as soon as I called this emergency contact, and I did that, I felt that my part of the job was done. And they should spread the news between friends and family. That part didn’t happen, but I got accused of that,“ says Coster. “At this point I was busy on the mountain with the rescue of other team members and with the recovering of the victims.“ According to Arnold, the liaison officer in the base camp was responsible for the fact that the families learned about the death of their relatives from the internet. The officer had nothing better to do than to reveal internal information from the radio in an interview, says Arnold.

“Quite silly“

Coster does not favour the new rules for expeditions in Nepal. As reported, the government had decided not to grant permits to double amputees and blind climbers and to prohibit solo climbs. Meanwhile Nepal’s Supreme Court overruled the permit ban for disabled climbers. “The rules are quite silly because those people don’t cause the problems on Everest,“ says Arnold. “The big problem on the south side are unexperienced people.“ It would make much more sense, finds Coster, to demand for example from Everest aspirants to have climbed previously at least a seven-thousander in Nepal: “Then you can check it because the records are in the (Tourism) Ministry. And you also don’t lose the income, because tourism is one of the biggest sources of income in Nepal.“

The main reason that proposals like this come to nothing is that the Nepalese government has changed every six to eight months since the end of the monarchy in 2008, says Coster: “There is a new government now and people hope for – and I also hope – that this government is gonna stay the full term. It doesn’t even matter who is there. As long as people stay, we’re gonna make a plan. But if people are always changing, how can we make a plan?“

Newly car-free zone in the tourist quarter of Thames

P.S. You may be wondering why I am currently visiting Nepal. Tomorrow, in Thulosirubari, 70 kilometers east of Kathmandu, the first two buildings of the new school will be inaugurated, which could be built with your donations for our aid project “School up!“. In addition, German climber Ralf Dujmovits and I will lay the foundation for the second construction phase. Then I will report on the celebration in the small mountain village. In addition, I use the opportunity to conduct some interviews on the upcoming climbing season in the Nepalese capital. I will publish these interviews by and by in the blog.

North side of Mount Everest

Stricter waste rules apply immediately on the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest. “With the number of climbers is increasing rapidly, more and more waste is produced by climbers in mountaineering activities,” says a statement from the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA) to the expedition organizers I have received. “Protecting the ecological environment it’s our duty and obligation, also benefit our next generations.” In May 2017, workers and volunteers had collected on behalf of the Tibetan authorities four tons of garbage at altitudes between 5,200 and 6,500 meters on Everest.

Eight kilograms of garbage per climber

Garbage collection on the Everest south side

Starting from this year, each expedition group has to pay a garbage deposit fee of US $ 5,000. The expeditions are obliged to bring back eight kilograms of waste per climber from the high camps back to the base camp. For every kilo less $ 20 will be charged, for every kilo more ten dollars credited. At the end of the expedition, this will be offset against the previously deposited amount. From now on it is also only allowed to leave prayer flags on the summit when old flags of the same length are brought down. This should be supervised by the liaison officer in the base camp, it said.

Permits only to renowned operators?

The CTMA had announced to revise the mountaineering rules for expeditions. It was expected that also the rules for commercial operators in terms of safety and climbing style would be tightened. This reform is still pending, discussions within the CTMA are still ongoing. Well-informed sources say that the Tibetan-Chinese authorities are considering, among other things, reducing the number of expeditions in Tibet in the coming years and issuing permits only to experienced and renowned operators.

Janusz Adamski

This was not a good week for Janusz Adamski. First, the Nepalese government seized his passport and informed the Pole that he would be not allowed to enter Nepal for mountaineering in the next ten years. And now, the Chinese authorities made the 48-year-old the scapegoat for not issuing any permits next fall for the three eight-thousanders in Tibet. Adamski, who “illegally” scaled Mount Everest from the north side and then traversed to the south side on 21 May, was responsible that the rules and regulations had to be “adjusted and improved”, informed the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA). To ensure that the problems were solved in time by 2018, there would be no climbing permits for fall 2017, said the CTMA.

Moro also without permit for his Everest traverse

Janusz points to Mount Everest

Adamski did not have an Everest permit from the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism, but only a CTMA permit allowing him to ascend and descend via the Tibetan north route. After his descent from the summit on the Nepali south side, the Pole said that neither the authorities in China nor those in Nepal issued permits for a cross-border summit traverse. “It is not the climbers’ fault that the officials are not interested in issuing such permits,” Adamski wrote on Facebook and recalled Simone Moro’s Everest traverse in 2006, also without permit.

In fact, the Italian had tried in vain for years to obtain an approval for his project from the Chinese authorities. Simone had ascended with a Nepali permit on the south side and descended to Tibet. Later Moro told the Chinese authorities that he had lost the way and run out of oxygen on the summit. And when he had realized he was missing the way, Simone said to the liaison officers, he had been already too low to go back. Moro got away with a fine for an illegal climb.

Negotiations are possible

Nobukazu Kuriki

But there have also been “legal” Everest traverses with permits, e.g. in 2007 by the British David Tait and the Sherpa Phurba Tashi. And also the Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki proved in the just finished Everest spring season that it is possible to negotiate with the authorities. Originally, the 34-year-old had planned to climb from the Tibetan side via the North Face to the summit. But then he changed his plan: Nobukazu ascended from the Nepali south side to the West Ridge, from where he wanted to cross into the North Face. In the end, it did not happen. However, the Japanese returned to his home country without having got any problems with the Chinese or Nepali authorities.

Indications for the decision already in March

But is Adamski’s illegal traverse really the reason for the cancellation of the fall season on the Tibetan eight-thousanders? I think it is more of a pretext for the Chinese authorities. As early as mid-March it was clear that they would not issue any permits for Everest and Shishapangma, and probably only about 50 for Cho Oyu. “Obviously there will be a kind of event in Tibet this fall. The Chinese are afraid that there may be unrest and therefore want as few foreigners staying in Tibet as possible,” told me then Dominik Mueller, head of the German expedition operator Amical alpin. At that time, hardly anyone outside Poland was aware that the first Polish Everest traverse was planned. Janusz Adamski, by the way, informed on Facebook today that he had agreed not to speak in public about the accusations against him until his departure from Nepal.

David Goettler at their highest point (in the background the summit)

Only a few meters have been missing to the top, but they’ve climbed through the wall. David Goettler and Hervé Barmasse entered the Shishapangma South Face on Sunday morning and climbed in 13 hours to a point just below the 8,027-meter-high summit. “We found a last traverse of about ten meters and then five meters up to the summit too delicate due to the avalanche danger,” David writes to me after returning to the Base Camp. Originally, the 38-year-old German and his one year older climbing partner from Italy had planned to open a new route through the South Face. Like in spring 2016, when David had tried the same with the Swiss Ueli Steck, the weather conditions impeded the project.

In Ueli’s style

David Goettler (l.) and Hervé Barmasse (r.)

“We had only a very short weather window of about 24 hours with little wind and no snowfall,” writes Goettler. “That is why we decided to try to reach the summit in a very light and fast style via the Girona route.” The route was opened in 1995 by a Spanish team. Also in spring 2016, David had climbed with Steck this route, but only up to an altitude of 7,800 meters. Last February, Steck, Goettler and Barmasse had prepared for their expeditions with a joint intensive training camp in Nepal. On 30 April, Ueli had fallen to death on Nuptse. In their mind, he accompanied them through the Shishapangma South Face, says David: “It makes me happy that I made it to the top this time, in the style I’ve learned from Ueli. And that Hervé and I kept a clear head up there and forewent the last meters. These meters were simple, but in our opinion too dangerous in these conditions.”

“We want to return”

Another attempt to open a new route through the Shishapangma South Wall will not happen – at least not this year. “The weather forecast for the coming week until the end of the month is not promising. Around 27 May there will be less wind but snowfall,” writes Goettler. “That’s why we think that we have no chance for the new route. We will pack up here for this year. But we want to come back.” They both return home from Tibet satisfied, says David: “For Herve and me, it was one of the best performances we’ve ever done.”

Nobukazu Kuriki

Nobukazu Kuriki has changed Everest sides. The 34-year-old Japanese today reported on Facebook from Gorak Shep, the 5207-meter-high last inhabited settlement below Everest on the Nepalese south side. Apparently, Kuriki has managed the necessary formalities with the Nepali authorities. Previously, Nobukazu had pitched his tent on the Tibetan north side: on the Central Rongbuk Glacier below Everest North Face. The reason for his change of location, says Kuriki, was that he had changed his previous plan for the ascent. Originally, the Japanese had wanted to climb the North Face, solo and without bottled oxygen, via the so-called “Supercouloir Route”, a system of gullies that stretches almost through the entire wall.

Too much blue ice

Kuriki’s scheduled route

In the lower part of the wall, however, there is currently a lot of blue ice, writes Kuriki on Facebook. Because he lost nine of his ten fingers due to frostbite in his Everest attempt in fall 2012, it is too dangerous for him to climb there, says Nobukazu. That’s why he now wants to ascend from the south side to the West Ridge, from there crossing into the North Face and climbing via the Hornbein Couloir to the summit. “Actually, this route is the one I tried in fall 2012,” writes Kuriki. “I feel like I’m still there at that time.” He plans to leave Gorak Shep on Friday, hoping to reach the summit on 23 May, next Tuesday. Then, according to the weather forecast, the wind from the west will have calmed down, says Kuriki. It is his already seventh attempt on Everest. Six times he had tried in vain to reach the summit, five times from the Nepali, once – last year – from the Tibetan side.

More than 2000 m of height in six hours

Kilian Jornet on Everest

Kilian Jornet, who, like Kuriki, had also failed on the north side in fall 2016, is currently acclimatizing on the Tibetan normal route for his speed attempt without bottled oxygen. On Monday, the Spaniard told on Facebook, that he had climbed within six hours from the Advanced Base Camp at 6,300 meters to an altitude of 8,400 meters. “Good vibrations,” the 29-year-old stated. Kilian had prepared himself for his Everest project with an ascent of the eight-thousander Cho Oyu – in heavy snowfall and very bad visibility: “Honestly, I am not sure that this was the summit as I could only see my feet, but I was at some point around.”

Acclimatization climb for the Shishapangma South Face

David Goettler and Hervé Barmasse are waiting for their chance. For a good weather window, which allows them to enter the Shishapangma South Face where they – as reported before –want to climb a new route. In contrast to Mount Everest, where both sides of the mountain are overrun by hundreds of climbers, the 38-year-old German and the 39-year-old Italian are alone in their Base Camp on the south side of the Shishapangma. I sent David four questions.

David, at what stage is your expedition?

We have completed our acclimatization on 9 May. We stayed for one night on a 6,900-meter-high col (pass) to the right of Shishapangma. Now we are in the Base Camp and wait for a good weather window. We had a good look at the possibility of the new route from the Advanced Base Camp. It now depends on the weather.

David Goettler (l.) and Hervé Barmasse (r.)

How are the conditions on the mountain?

The conditions don’t seem to be so bad. They were very good on the col. Hopefully, they are just as well in the South Face. Since we want to tackle the whole thing in Alpine style, we have not yet been there.

How do you both work as a team? How is your mood?

The atmosphere is awesome and positive. We are both happy that we could sleep so well and without problems at 6,900 meters. The route up and down was a great test for the South Face. We have a lot of fun, and it’s kind of special for us to be here so alone.

When will it get really serious with the new route?

That’s hard to say. We are in constant contact with Karl Gabl (an experienced meteorologist from Austria) and hope for an early weather window. At the moment it has finally got warmer (before we had minus 13 degrees Celsius in the tent in Base Camp), and there is only little wind – however, unpredictable cloudiness and precipitation. Not much, but for us unfortunately five centimeters of fresh snow and zero visibility are really bad. Here are no fixed ropes or path markings that show us the way. Therefore, a bit of fresh snow can quickly turn into a serious danger when you are climbing in a 2000-meter-high wall.

Kuriki (2nd from l.) in Everest Base Camp

Actually, both wanted to return to the highest mountain on earth next fall. But the Chinese put a spoke in their wheels. The authorities in Tibet will not issue any permits for Mount Everest in fall 2017. For this reason, the Japanese Nobukazu Kuriki as well as the Spaniard Kilian Jornet join the crowd of those who want to climb Everest from the Tibetan north side this spring. The 34-year-old Kuriki has already arrived in Chinese Base Camp at 5,200 meters. Kuriki has announced that he wants to climb up to 7,500 meters on the normal route. Subsequently, he wants to try again to climb through the North Face, solo and without bottled oxygen.

Seventh attempt

Kuriki in the Everest North Face last fall

Last fall, Kuriki had capitulated at an altitude of 7,400 meters before the snowmasses in the wall. It had been his first attempt on the north side of the mountain. Previously, he had failed five times on the Nepalese south side, always in fall. In an attempt via the West Ridge in 2012, he had suffered such severe frostbite that nine of his fingers had to be amputated, only stumps were left. “It’s not over yet,” Kuriki announced almost defiantly before his now seventh attempt.

Speedy to the summit?

Kilian Jornet on Everest in 2016

Kilian Jornet still has all his fingers. The 29-year-old Catalan had failed last fall at his first attempt on Everest. Kilian had originally planned to climb the highest mountain in a single push after acclimatization, from the Rongbuk Monastery (located about 30 kilometers from the Advanced Base Camp below the North Col), speedy, without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support. However, this had not happened. According to his own information, he had ascended with his companions on the normal route up to 7,950 meters when the snowmasses on Everest had stopped also him.

With his girlfriend

Kilian Jornet

His plan has not changed. For the time being it remains Jornet’s secret how he wants to realize his speed ascent if so many summit aspirants will be on the mountain as this spring. Again Jornet is accompanied by the Spanish top climber Jordi Tosas. The team also includes Kilian’s girlfriend, the Swedish mountain runner and ski mountaineer Emelie Forsberg. Their trip will start next weekend.