Daniele Nardi (l.) and Tom Ballard in Islamabad

Daniele Nardi can not keep his hands off Nanga Parbat yet. Already for the fifth time the 42-year-old climber from Italy tries his luck in winter on the 8125-meter-high mountain in Pakistan. Nardi and his 30-year-old British climbing partner Tom Ballard arrived in the capital Islamabad, from where they travel on to the north of the country. The team will also include Pakistani mountaineers Rahmat Ullah Baig and Kareem Hayat. Their goal: a new route to the eighth highest mountain on earth via the so-called “Mummery Rib”. In 1895, the British pioneer Albert Frederick Mummery had dared the first serious attempt on an eight-thousander via the rock spur in the Diamir Face. With the Gurkha Ragobir he had reached an altitude of 6,100 meters. Nardi tries this route for the second time: In winter 2013, he had climbed with the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol up to about 6,400 meters.

“A dream, not an obsession”

Mummery Rib in the Diamir Face (arrow)

Last time Nardi had been at Nanga Parbat in 2016, but he had been hopelessly at odds with the other climbers who where attempting the mountain that winter. After his premature departure, Italian Simone Moro, Spaniard Alex Txikon and Pakistani Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” had succeeded the first winter ascent of the eight-thousander. “Has Nanga become an obsession for me?,” Daniele asked himself recently in a radio interview. “No, I say that quite frankly. My thoughts concentrate much more on the Mummery spur, on this innovative path. It’s my big dream, not an obsession. Rather, it is the passion for an idea, and even more for a style, to understand the mountain and life.” According to Nardi, Ballard and Co., they want to ascend in Alpine style, i.e. without a chain of high camps and without bottled oxygen.

The six large north faces of the Alps in winter

Ballard (l.) and Nardi on Link Sar

The Italian and the British had been together on their first common expedition to Pakistan in summer 2017. On the still unclimbed 7041-meter-high Link Sar, they had reached an altitude of 5,700 meters in the Northeast Face. After an avalanche had hit their tent, they had abandoned their attempt. Tom Ballard is the son of British mountaineers Jim Ballard and Alison Hargreaves. In 1995, his mother had scaled Mount Everest without bottled oxygen and three months later also K2. On the descent from the second highest mountain on earth, the 33-year-old – like five other climbers who had reached the highest point too – had died in a storm. In 1993, Hargreaves had been the first person to climb the six large north faces of the Alps (Eiger, Grand Jorasses, Matterhorn, Petit Dru, Piz Badile and Cima Grande) in the same summer. In 2015, her son Tom was the first to repeat this feat in winter.

Alex Txikon in Bilbao

After all. The Spaniard Alex Txikon will tackle K2 in the upcoming winter. The 35-year-old announced this at a press conference in Bilbao today. He will travel to Pakistan on 2 January with his compatriot Felix Criado, with the goal of scaling the second highest mountain on earth for the first time in the cold season. It had already become known that the Pakistani government had granted Txikon a climbing permit for K2. However, the Basque had left it open to this day whether he would actually use the permit.

Five Sherpas for possible summit push

A team of eight Sherpas will support the two Spaniards. According to Txikon, five of the Sherpas will probable take part in a possible summit attempt: Nuri Sherpa, Chhepal Sherpa, Geljen Sherpa, Hallung Sherpa and Pasang Sherpa. “I think it’s an accessible challenge. It’s possible that we’ll reach Camp 4 (at almost 8,000 m),” said Alex. “And from there we’ll see how the circumstances are to attack the summit.” In the past two winters Txikon had tried in vain to scale Mount Everest without bottled oxygen. He had ruled out a third attempt in 2019 after learning of a planned commercial winter expedition to Everest.

“Fear keeps you alert and active”

View to K2 from the base camp

In summer 2013, Txikon and Criado had already tried together in a team to climb K2, but had failed due to bad weather. At the end of February 2016, Txikon along with the Italian Simone Moro and the Pakistani Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” succeeded the prestigious first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat. This made K2 the only remaining of the 14 eight-thousanders the summit of which – 8,611 meters above sea level – nobody has reached in winter so far. Alex expressed respect for the task: “The fear is there, but it’s not bad. It keeps you alert and active.”

Igloos instead of tents

Like the Inuit in the Arctic, Txikon and Co. want to build igloos in base camp to protect themselves more effectively against the freezing cold and the expected winter storms than with tents. “We will try to find transparent ice in the seracs, so that light can penetrate (into the igloos),” Alex said. At base camp, the Spaniards will meet an expedition team from Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan that had already announced their winter attempt on K2. The mountaineers led by Kazakh Vassiliy Pivtsov want to climb the classic route of the first ascenders, via the Abruzzi Spur. As things stand at present, the Spaniards will probably also choose this route – although Txikon in Bilbao admitted that he was still in doubt whether this would be really the most promising route in winter.

Abruzzi route or via the East Face?

K2 East Face

Alex brought the K2 East Face into conversation as a possible alternative. During the failed Polish winter expedition in 2018, Denis Urubko had suggested an ascent over the still unclimbed wall, saying that climbers would be protected there from the prevailing west winds on K2. “In summer there is a great risk from avalanches. However, in winter, minimal snow cover makes very good conditions for the climb,” Urubko argued. In summer 1987, a US expedition explored the East Face to climb it in Alpine style. “It became clear that our proposed route on the east face was suicidal,” wrote Greg Child at the time.

K2, the “king of the eight-thousanders”

One does not have to be a prophet to predict that K2 will be besieged regularly in winter until it is also scaled in the cold season. The second highest mountain in the world is the last remaining eight-thousander, the summit of which is still untouched in winter. After the failed Polish expedition from the beginning of this year, a team from three states of the former Soviet Union will attempt “Chogori”, as the local Balti call the mountain, next winter: Five Russians, four Kazakhs and two Kyrgyz. “We must be in Islamabad at the latest on 2 January,” writes me Artem Brown. The Russian, born in 1976, has been organizing the winter expedition.

Without bottled oxygen

Pivtsov and Zhumayev on the very last meters to K2 summit (in 2011)

Vassiliy Pivtsov will be the expedition leader. The 42-year-old Kazakh has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders. In August 2011, he completed his collection on K2: Along with his compatriot Maxut Zhumayev, the Polish Darek Zaluski and the Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, he reached the summit via the rarely climbed North Pillar route on the Chinese side of the mountain. Zhumayev and Kaltenbrunner also completed their eight-thousander collections at that time; they had forgone bottled oxygen on all their climbs. Pivtsov had only used a breathing mask on his descent from Mount Everest, because he had been not doing well. Pivtsov’s team wants to make the first winter ascent of K2 without bottled oxygen. Only for possible emergencies, oxygen is in the luggage.

Like a lighthouse near the ocean

View to K2 from the base camp

The mountaineers from Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan want to climb via the classic Abruzzi Spur route opened by the first ascenders of K2. “It’s pretty safe,” says Artem Brown. “To change something in the course of the expedition, probably will be the complicating factor.” It’s complicated enough anyway. It is not for nothing that K2 is the last remaining eight-thousander to be scaled in winter. “It is the northernmost eight-thousander, in addition it is located just like a lighthouse near the ocean, it meets strong winds. The weather on it is unpredictable,” explains Artem. Nevertheless, he is confident that the climbers from three nations will be able to land the winter coup at the end. “We have a good team, several winter expeditions lie behind us, enough experience to try. K2 will check it.”

“Making mountaineering more popular”

Artem Brown

The decisions on the mountain will be made by expedition leader Pivtsov, Artem Brown points out, adding that there will be no democratic votes on tactics: “Democracy on a submarine? Democracy at war? It weakens the team.”

At the beginning of the year, people throughout Poland shared the excitement with the climbers of the K2 winter expedition. Artem does not expect a similar enthusiasm in Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. “There are people in our countries who admire us. But nationwide, the interest is low. Perhaps we will make mountaineering more popular.”

Is Alex Txikon coming, too?

Maybe Artem Brown meets an old acquaintance on K2. The Spaniard Alex Txikon was also granted a climbing permit for this winter by the Pakistani government for the 8,611 meters high mountain in the Karakoram. Txikon, who failed on Mount Everest in the past two winters, has not yet specified whether he will really use his K2 permit. Brown and Txikon, together with the Russians Denis Urubko and Dmitrii Sinev and the Polish Adam Bielecki, had opened a new route variant via the north face of the eight-thousander Kangchenjunga in spring 2014. Urubko had been the only one of the team to reach the summit at 8,586 meters.

P.S.: The members of the international K2 winter expedition communicate via Instagram:@winterk2exp2019.

It worked out well in the end

“Eh, that was close,” Adam Bielecki writes on Facebook from K2 Base Camp. “Several dozens of meters below camp 1 [at 5,800 m]  I was hit by a big stone. The result is a broken nose and six stitches, which were professionally put by Piotr Tomala and Marek Chmielarski directed by phone instructions from Robert Szymczak. In a few days I should be back in a perfect condition.” Previously, Krzysztof Wielicki, the leader of the Polish winter expedition on the second highest mountain on earth, had reported that Bielecki had been injured on the forehead and nose, although he had worn a helmet. Wielecki emphasized that the 34-year-old had not lost consciousness and was still able to descend to the base camp: “We hope that he will soon be back to full strength.”

Urubko up to 6,550 m

The Polish team fights tough for every meter on the Cesen route in adverse conditions. Denis Urubko has climbed up furthest so far. He reached an altitude of about 6,550 meters above Camp 2 a few days ago. K2 is the last remaining of the 14 eight-thousanders that has never been scaled in winter. The Polish “Ice Warriors” want to change that.

Returned from Nanga Parbat rescue

Denis Urubko (l.) with Elisabeth Revol (r.) after the rescue of the Frenchwoman

Urubko and Bielecki returned from their rescue on Nanga Parbat on 2 February. As reported, they had managed to bring Elisabeth Revol safely from the mountain. The Frenchwoman and the Pole Tomek Mackiewicz had fallen into trouble after their summit success. Tomek – suffering from snowblindness and severe high altitude sickness – had stayed behind at 7,200 meters, unable to descend further. The search for him had been stopped because of the bad weather and the minimal chance of finding him alive.

Txikon and Co. are waiting for another chance

Meanwhile, in the base camp at the foot of Mount Everest, the Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Pakistani Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” and their Nepalese team are waiting for their next chance. At the end of January, they had reached an altitude of 7,850 meters before being forced back by a sudden change in the weather. Txikon and Ali want to scale the highest mountain in the world without bottled oxygen this winter.

Tomek Mackiewicz

The internet is to blame. Today we are used to following expeditions on the highest mountains and in the remotest regions of the world almost in real time via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or blogs. Our perception has changed as well: Much faster than before, we assume something must have happened if we do not hear anything for longer than expected. So what’s up with Tomek Mackiewicz and Elisabeth Revol, who wanted to reach the summit of Nanga Parbat this Thursday? The answer is simple: We do not know yet.

No panic!

I contacted Tomek’s wife. “No news yet,” she replied. She could not confirm today’s posts on Twitter that Mackiewicz and Revol were climbing above 8000 meters. “I guess they are on their way down. With summit or without.” Maybe the battery of the satellite phone are down, she added, then we might not hear anything for a few days until they reach the base camp. She points out that it is a low-budget expedition, without spare batteries, without radio connection. Tomek’s wife does not panic: “I know him, and I know no news is rather good news…” So let’s wait and stay calm!

P.S.: Tomorrow I will be on the road all day long and most probably offline. Please do not jump to conclusions but try to inform yourself from other sources on Tomek and Elisabeth on Nanga Parbat!

Update 26.1., 9 a.m.: According to Janusz Majer, an old master of Polish Himalayan climbing, Tomei and Elisabeth got stuck at 7,400 m yesterday. He refers to information from France. A rescue operation was organized, it said.

Alex Txikon in the Khumbu Icefall

This went fast. In just four days, the Spaniard Alex Txikon and the Sherpas Tenzing Gyalzen, Gelje, Cheppal, Walung Dorji and Pasang Norbu have completed the route through the Khumbu Icefall and reached Camp 1 at 6,050 meters. “Great job, we are very happy,” says Alex, adding that it was really hard work, each of them had carried between 25 and 35 kilos. The 36-year-old Basque points out that it took the six climbers five days less for this first major task than his team during the failed winter attempt in 2017 – despite the fact that at that time eleven, i.e. five more expedition members had been involved in the work. “The route through the icefall is very complex and required our full concentration,” says Alex. According to his words, he had searched together with the “Icefall Doctor” Gelje Sherpa for the ice areas with the lowest risk of collapsing.

Sharing tasks, saving energy

Complete concentration

The Pakistani climber Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” was not involved in the work in the Khumbu Icefall. He had been en route  with the two Sherpas Nuri and Temba Bhote in a nearby area for further acclimatization, Alex reports – “with the idea of sharing tasks and saving energy”. At the end of February 2016, the Spaniard, together with Muhammad Ali and the Italian Simone Moro, had succeeded the prestigious first winter ascent of the eight-thousander Nanga Parbat in Pakistan. The South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger had had to turn back then about 70 meters below the summit because she had felt bad. This winter, Txikon and Ali want to climb Mount Everest without bottled oxygen. Meanwhile, Moro and Lunger will try to succeed the first winter ascent of the 3003-meter-high Pik Pobeda in the ice cold east of Siberia.

Lunger, Moro, Ali, Txikon (from r. to l.) on Nanga Parbat in 2016

I was wrong with my guess. The dream team of Nanga Parbat 2016 will not be together on Mount Everest this winter, but will go their separate ways. Today, the Spanish climber Alex Txikon announced that he would try together with the 41-year-old Pakistani Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” to scale the highest mountain on earth without bottled oxygen. The other two members of the Nanga summit team, the Italian Simone Moro and the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger, are drawn to freezing cold Siberia.

Save energy for the top

Alex Txikon in Everest Base Camp (in February 2017)

Alex Txikon will make a new try on Everest after his failed attempt last winter. At that time the Basque had ascended with a Sherpa team once to the South Col at 7,950 meters. There they had had to turn around because of stormy winds. “The problem is not the cold, but the wind,” the 36-year-old said today. “There will be wind speeds of up to 140 km/h and temperatures of minus 60 degrees Celsius. However, on the summit day, the wind must not blow at more than 40 km/h.” According to Alex, the “small team” will arrive at the base camp at about 5,300 meters between 1 and 3 January. Txikon wants to pace himself better this time. “We will try not to carry too heavy loads. The key will be not to work for nine days in a row like last year and to tire in the lower areas, but to save the energy for the top.”

In the limit of the possible

Mount Everest

So far there have been 15 summit successes on Mount Everest in the meteorological winter. For weather researchers, the cold season begins on 1 December, while the calendar winter begins with the winter solstice on 21 or 22 December. The Poles Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy reached the summit of Everest on 17 February 1980, succeeding the first winter ascent of an eight-thousander at all. Since the end of 1993 no more climbers have stood on the 8,850-meter-high summit. The only one who climbed the highest mountain on earth so far in winter without breathing mask was Ang Rita Sherpa on 22 December 1987. The weather on that day was unusually good. The great cold in winter normally causes the air pressure in the summit area to fall even further. An ascent without bottled oxygen is then in the absolute limit of the possible.

Freezing cold mountain

Pik Pobeda in eastern Siberia

The 31-year-old Tamara Lunger and the 50-year-old Simone Moro will have to go to the limits too. They have decided to climb the 3,003 meter-high Pik Pobeda in eastern Siberia. The mountain (not to be confused with the 7,439 meter high peak of the same name in Kyrgyzstan) is only about 140 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. It seems guaranteed that it will get “freezing, freezing, freezing”, as Tamara had told me. Located 250 kilometers southwest of Pobeda, Oymyakon is considered the coldest city in the world. It is disputed whether there was really measured once minus 71.2 degrees Celsius, but it is undisputed that the average (!) temperature in the Russian city in winter is minus 50 degrees. “I can’t immagine how it could be on the mountain,” Simone Moro writes on Facebook. “Nobody has ever climbed that mountain in winter and I can easily imagine why.” They will set off on 22 January.

Tamara Lunger (l.) and Simone Moro (r.) with Pope Francis

On Thursday, the (calendrical) winter begins – and thus the question rises again: Who will try to climb which mountain in the cold season? A top-class Polish expedition led by veteran Krzysztof Wielicki will attempt to climb K 2, the last remaining eight-thousander which has not been scaled in winter so far. The Pole Tomek Mackiewicz and the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol are said to have already arrived in Pakistan in order to return to Nanga Parbat.

And what’s about the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger and the Italian Simone Moro? Both are considered as extremely “winterproof”. The 50-year-old Simone has four first winter ascents of eight-thousanders on his account (Shishapangma in 2005, Makalu in 2009, Gasherbrum II in 2011, Nanga Parbat in 2016). The 31-year-old Tamara and Moro tackled in vain Manaslu in winter 2015. A year later on Nanga Parbat, Lunger had to turn back only 70 meters below the summit, because she felt bad. In this Advent, Lunger and Moro already had a summit meeting: with the Pope. I contacted Tamara:

Tamara, two professional mountaineers (Simone and you) took a selfie with Pope Francis, how did that happen?

Don Marco Pozza, a prison chaplain from Padua, invited us to a television program called “Padre nostro”, which means “Our Father”. There were six episodes, each with different persons. Stories from their lives were told, fates, and for each episode there was a comment of the pope. This broadcast was a huge success, not only in Italy but also internationally. The Pope said: “All these people have given us their time, which present could we make in return?” Marco replied: “Maybe a mass in the Vatican, including shaking hands with the Pope.” The Pope then said: “We can not do that because not everyone believes in God. A private audience is better.” That’s how it happened. About 30 people – the whole production team and the participants – met the pope in the Vatican. That was really a nice hour. Personally, it means a lot to me because I’m very religious.

Did you have the opportunity to exchange a few words with the Pope?

Each of us had to introduce ourselves telling what we are doing in our lives. Then the pope talked about passion: “You have given me a lot today, because you – believer or not – are doing what you do with such a great passion. This is also divine.” He then gave us the blessing and gave everyone a book about the Lord’s Prayer, which he wrote with Marco Pozza, and a rosary.

Tamara Lunger

What does the meeting mean to you personally?

Of course it was very nice for me, because I am very religious. But I also saw that he is just a normal man. He is so normal that he actually almost does not stand out. His staff is trying to make everything work organizationally as perfect as possible, but he himself would probably do it very differently. I have looked into his eyes and he in mine, and I have felt something very beautiful. That’s why it would be even nicer to sit down with this man, drink a glass of wine and chat with him.

On Nanga Parbat in winter 2016, you had to turn around about 70 meters below the summit. That was bitter. On Kangchenjunga last spring, the planned traverse of the four summits of the massif fell through because Simone felt bad. Do you need a sense of achievement again for your motivation?

No, because I have seen that even without reaching the summit I always come home with a great lesson. On Nanga Parbat, my experience was much more valuable for me than “just” a summit success. The journey is the reward. Of course, the summit is the icing on the cake. But the experience and what you learn from it will be given to you during the journey. If it is not so easy to reach the summit and there are some difficulties, it may be a bit unpleasant at that time. But when you get home, you realize that it was the best thing that could happen to you.

There are already winter conditions in the European Alps with lots of snow, and the beginning of the calendrical winter is just around the corner. Will you go on expedition in the cold season? And if so, where to go?

Yes, I will go on an expedition again, it took me two months to decide. I will be traveling with Simone again. Unfortunately, I can not say more about it. But it will get freezing, freezing, freezing cold. I already started to prepare myself for it. Let’s see what it will be like.

How will you spend the Christmas holidays?

I will eat many good cookies from my mom. (laughs) I’m just happy to be with my family and maybe I’ll do something with them, ski-touring, ice climbing and so on.

Successful team: Txikon, Lunger, Moro and Ali (from l. to r.)

Simone Moro also told me at the end of October that the next expedition will “will be probably the coldest climb I ever attempted”. Without speculating – the temperatures on Mount Everest fall in January down to minus 60 degrees Celsius. And did not Alex Txikon after his failed Everest winter attempt this year invite Simone and Tamara to try it along with him in 2018? The Pakistani climber Muhammad Ali Sadpara has yesterday announced a “big project of mount Everest 2017/18”. If I’m correct in my assumption, the successful winter team of Nanga Parbat 2016 would be complete again. I think it would be great and exciting.

Tomasz Mackiewicz

Tomek’s love for Nanga Parbat almost verges on mania. Six winters in a row, from 2011 to 2016, the “Naked Mountain” in Pakistan dismissed Tomasz Mackiewicz. But the 42-year-old climber from Poland just does not give up. He wants to make his way to Nanga Parbat for the seventh time this winter – if he is able to finance the expedition. Tomek has again launched a crowdfunding campaign on the internet. “Money is always a problem,” Mackiewicz writes to me. “I’am poor.”

Others succeeded the first winter ascent

Group picture 2016 – with Tomek (r.)

Even before and during his last Nanga Parbat expedition in winter 2015/2016, the father of four, who earns his living as a car mechanic, had collected donations for his project on the Internet. At that time he had reached an altitude of 7,500 meters with his French team partner Elisabeth Revol. After Mackiewicz and Revol had abandoned their expedition, the Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Italian Simone Moro and the Pakistani Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” had succeeded the historic first winter ascent of  Nanga Parbat on 26 February 2016. Mackiewicz had subsequently doubted the summit success and also accused Moro that he had wanted to boycott Tomek’s expedition in Pakistan.

Moro criticizes low-budget tactics

Tomek Mackiewicz on ascent

The Italian rejected the accusation in an interview with the Polish website “mountainportal.com” – pointing out that some of Tomek’s declarations were “often given under the evident influence of drugs and/or alcohol”. Not a very fine reply, after all, considering that Mackiewicz makes no secret of the fact that he was heroin-addicted as a young adult and that it took him years of rehabilitation to get rid of the drug. In his recent book, “Nanga in Winter”, Moro also criticized the low-budget tactics of the Polish climber, who “fanatically forgoes any kind of accommodation”: “There is not much point in setting off in bad weather, getting yourself into trouble and, for example, spending a week in an emergency bivouac in the snow without food, if you can avoid it.”

“Pure Alpine style”

Moro and Mackiewicz will probably not become best friends again.  When I ask the Pole for his motivation, after Txikon, Moro and Ali “Sadpara” have made history with their first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat, Tomek answers with a side-swipe at the Italian: “My motivation to climb Nanga was a long time before Simone arrived there. His motivation was to be first. My one is to climb it in pure Alpine style in winter.”

On Buhl’s track

Hermann Buhl

As in 2014/2015 and 2015/2016, Mackiewicz wants to complete the so-called “Messner route”, according to Tomek “the only possible Alpine style route in winter”. In 2000, the South Tyroleans Reinhold and Hubert Messner, Hanspeter Eisendle and Wolfgang Tomaseth had opened the route through the Northeast Face up to an altitude of 7,500 meters. Further up there are two options, says Tomek: “My dream is to continue on the Hermann Buhl route (the Austrian Buhl succeeded the first ascent of Nanga Parbat in 1953, solo climbing the last 1,300 meters in altitude) to the summit.” As an alternative, the Polish climber considers to cross over to the right to the Kinshofer route and to reach the highest point on the normal route.

Again with Revol?

Elisabeth Revol and Tomek

Mackiewicz wants to climb again (as on his last two attempts on Nanga Parbat) with Elisabeth Revol. Tomek did not want to (or was not allowed to) confirm, that the Frenchwoman has already promised to join him. Revol herself does not yet want to reveal her plans for the upcoming winter. But if I had to, I would bet on another team Mackiewicz/Revol on Nanga Parbat. This year, Elisabeth had tried in vain to climb the Manaslu in winter. In spring, she climbed on Makalu up to the 8,445-meter-high pre-summit, reached the 8516-meter-high summit of Lhotse and returned on Everest – ascending as always without bottled oxygen – in bad weather halfway between the nearly 8000-meter-high South Col and the highest point at 8,850 meters.

Hannes Kuenkel on the Great Himalayan Trail

Not only the winter expeditions on Mount Everest and on Manaslu have failed. Another winter project did not work out as planned. Hannes Kuenkel and his Nepalese friend Pemba Jangbu Sherpa abandoned their attempt to hike on the highest route of the Great Himalayan Trail: the German after 130 kilometers, Pemba after about 220 kilometers, for different reasons. “I have expected all expedition-type events, including earthquakes,” Hannes told me, “but not that such a ‘bagatelle disease’ like diarrhea would kick me out.”

As far as possible

At first, fantastic weather

Actually, Hannes and Pemba had planned to hike, along with their Sherpa team, in 50 days as far as possible to the west: from the far east of Nepal, along the eight-thousanders Kangchenjunga, Makalu and Everest, and then first towards Rolwaling. Even to this site, the winter trekking would have led over more than 22,000 meters of altitude in ascent and descent each, over two passes higher than 6,000 meters, and four ones above 5,000 meter. Overall, the Great Himalayan Trail alone in Nepal is more than 1,500 kilometers long.

Doubly sick

Badly afflicted

The 35-year-old German and his 31-year-old Nepali friend had planned the project for one and a half years. After three weeks, however, Hannes Kuenkel really copped it. Suddenly he felt weak, then the diarrhea started. Kunkel had to be flown back to Kathmandu by helicopter. The diagnosis of the doctors in the hospital: acute food poisoning and an infection by parasites. “It did not suit my plans to sit around for ten days in Kathmandu,” admits Hannes. “On the third day I thought: How can I stand it? But then I got involved in these things and accepted them.”

Better the easiest route

In the meantime, Pemba and the other Sherpas tried to continue the expedition. “I thought the team’s decision was a great one,” remembers Hannes. “That they said: We can not give up our project just because I get sick.”

Hannes (3rd from r.), Pemba (l.) and their comrades

Kuenkel calls himself “a rather classic Himalayan traveler and explorer, who accepts the difficulties posed by the alpine terrain and who sometimes climbs up to enjoy a great view, always trying to take the easiest route.” Kuenkel, who raised in the town of Hamburg, is now living along with his wife and two children in Goettingen. The graduate geographer is the head of an outdoor marketing and film production company. He is not a great climber, says Hannes, even though he has already participated as a filmmaker in two expeditions on eight-thousanders: in 2013 on Manaslu, where he climbed up to an altitude of more than 6,000 meters, and in 2015 on the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest, when the devastating earthquake in Nepal led to the premature end of the climbing season.

Now an entrepreneur

Pemba Jangbu Sherpa (2nd from l.)

On Everest, Kuenkel got to know Pemba Jangbu Sherpa, a really good mountaineer. Pemba has already scaled Mount Everest and also gained experience on the eight-thousanders K 2, Makalu, Manaslu, Cho Oyu and Shishapangma. “He is a very cautious and experienced high altitude climber, but at the same time a real joker,” says Hannes. “A great guy. I trust him.”

By the way, I can confirm Kuenkel’s impression. During the AMICAL expedition to the 7,246-meter high Putha Hiunchuli in fall 2011 – I turned around just 150 meters below the summit – Pemba  Jangbu turned out to be a very strong climber, always in a good mood. The married father of two children is now self-employed: In Kathmandu he has been running the expedition and trekking operator International Altitude Mountaineering (IAM) since 2016.

Right decision

“Of course, there is also a business level between us. After all, he is working for me,” says Hannes. “But first and foremost we are friends.” Hiking with a real Nepali friend was a new and very nice experience, that he had not made before during his 13 previous trips to Nepal.

Waist-deep snow

Actually, Kuenkel wanted to return to the team after illness. But the weather had deteriorated dramatically. “The guys have failed due to the snow, at an altitude that Pemba and I would not have expected: between 2,500 and 3,000 meters,” says Hannes. “There was partly waist-deep snow on the the northern slopes of the steep valleys. The trails were barely visible and exposed to avalanches.” Pemba decided to abandon the project. “If I had been there, I would have made the same decision, probably only one day earlier,” says the German adventurer.

Don’t rush your fences

“It should not be this time. But we made the best of it,” says Hannes, adding that he did not return empty-handed: “I’ve learned patience. That you can not rush your fences. I have taken this experience back home.” Kuenkel does not have any concrete new plans, but the somewhat unfortunate winter expedition on the Great Himalayan Trail will probably not have been his last project in Nepal. “Somehow the Himalayas attract me again and again,” says Hannes.

Alex Txikon

Alex Txikon throws in the towel. His second summit attempt failed too – and so did the entire winter expedition. The 35-year-old Basque and his Sherpa team decided in Camp 2 at 6,400 meters not to ascent further up. Instead, they packed up and returned to Everest Base Camp today. “It really would have been suicide to go on,” Txikon told his team by satellite phone. “As the head of the expedition, I should not endanger the lives of my companions. And not my own.” Nevertheless, the decision to abandon the summit attempt was not easy, Alex admitted.

Minus 40 degrees Celsius

In the Khumbu Icefall

According to Txikon, the wind had not calmed down in the past two days as previously hoped. Again and again there had been gusts at speeds of up to 70 km/h, with temperatures around minus 40 degrees Celsius, “felt lower than minus 50 degrees due to the strong wind”. For Thursday morning, gusts of up to 115 km/h were expected, said Txikon. High time to return.

Txikon wants to come back

74 days after the departure from Spain, the Basque declared his attempt to climb Mount Everest in winter without bottled oxygen to have definitively failed. He wants to return to Kathmandu as soon as possible, rest there for a few days and then return home. In his first summit attempt three weeks ago, Txikon and Co. had reached Everest South Col at 7,950 meters before the storm had forced them to descend. “This year it was not meant to be,” Alex said. “This mountain in winter requires a lot of respect and does not allow any follies.” Despite his failure, Txikon has not yet buried his Everest dream: “There will be more opportunities, and then I will return and try it again in a pure style.”

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.

Hard work in the Khumbu Icefall

Once more it is served on Mount Everest. For three days, the Basque Alex Txikon, six Sherpas and two “Icefall Doctors” worked to restore the route via the Khumbu Icefall up to Camp 1 at more than 6,000 meters. 60 percent of the route had to be renewed, because the hard weather conditions of the past two weeks had left their mark in the ice labyrinth, the team of the 35-year-old Spaniard said. “It has been hard days refitting the route,” Alex noted on Facebook. After today’s rest day, Txikon and Co. want to ascend tomorrow to Camp 2 at 6,400 meters.

Time to grind the teeth

Alex Txikon

“I know that every time I go up, my strength is decreasing and therefore the chances of summit too,” Alex wrote in his blog. “But I’m a bit stubborn and I like to climb and fight it. It is time to grind my teeth.”

As reported, Txikon had had to interrupt his winter attempt involuntarily because the Nepalese expedition operator Seven Summit Treks had ordered the entire team back to Kathmandu after the failed first summit attempt. On Saturday, Alex had returned to the Everest Base Camp by helicopter.

Back to Everest by helicopter

“Back to the adventure!”, Alex Txikon wrote on Twitter. After eight days in the Nepali capital Kathmandu, the 35-year-old Basque has flown back to Mount Everest by helicopter. “We are already at the Base Camp at 5,250 meters, with very good sensations,” said Alex. “Despite having lost weight and having worked hardly, I am physically still very strong.” According to Alex’ words, it’s still sunny and windy at the top of the mountain, as it had been since the beginning of the expedition in early January. Already on Sunday, Txikon wants to climb up with his Sherpa team to check their previous route through the Khumbu Icefall up to Camp 1 on 6,050 meters and if necessary to repair it or to relocate the way through the ice labyrinth.

Only Nuri Sherpa back

Alex Txikon in Everest BC again

Alex will be accompanied by six Climbing Sherpas and two “Icefall Doctors”. Out of his original Sherpa Team only Nuri Sherpa flew back with Alex. The others had not yet recovered from the hardships of the first summit attempt, Txikon’s team said. Almost two weeks ago, a storm on the South Col had forced the Basque and his Sherpa companions to turn back and descend. Subsequently, Seven Summits Treks, the Nepalese agency that is operating Txikon’s expedition, had ordered the entire team back to the capital – against the will of the Spaniard. Afterwards, both sides pulled together, so that the winter attempt can now continue. Four weeks remain for Alex to realize his dream of a winter ascent on the highest mountain on earth without using bottled oxygen. Let’s see if he is able to regain his rhythm quickly.

Alex Txikon in Everest Base Camp

Expeditions can also get out of the rhythm. For example, if a long bad weather period thwarts all plans or if unpredictable things happen such as illnesses or injuries. Alex Txikon‘s Everest winter expedition, however, has stuttered for another reason. After the failed first summit attempt, the Nepalese agency Seven Summits Treks, with whom Txikon cooperated, yesterday ordered surprisingly to break immediately the Base Camp and return. This decision was “unilateral”, the team of the 35-year-old Basque said. Alex was quoted as saying, “I do not want to leave Everest.”

Chhepal Sherpa injured

Already after the return to Everest Base Camp, Txikon had announced that for him the expedition was not yet over. During the summit attempt violent storm had forced the team back at the 7,950-meter-high South Col. On the descent, the climbers had got into an avalanche on the Lhotse flank. Chhepal Sherpa had been hit on his head so badly that for him the expedition was definitely finished. However, it was not planned, that the entire team should fly back to Kathmandu. But this was exactly what the Nepalese agency ordered.

“Back in charge”

Back in Nepal’s capital, all the participants were sitting together today. Txikon expressed his firm intention to continue the expedition at any cost. “I’m back in charge,” Alex said afterwards. After a few days of rest in Kathmandu, he would return to Everest Base Camp along with Norbu Sherpa, Nuri Sherpa, Phurba Sherpa and Pemba Sherpa to climb up again – “with even greater inner drive to reach this summit in winter and, of course, with my initial ideal of not using artificial oxygen.” So far only the Sherpas who accompanied Alex had used breathing masks.

The more or less forced days in the about 1,400-meter-high city of Kathmandu will probably not destroy the acclimatization, but the stay 4,000 meters lower than Base Camp is certainly not ideal. Not to mention the expeditionary arrhythmia.