Ang Rita Sherpa with certificates of the Guinness Book of Records

Ang Rita Sherpa‘s Everest record could be one for eternity. The legendary climber from Nepal, who the locals reverently call “Snow Leopard”, is now 70 years old. No other climber has scaled the highest mountain on earth as often without bottled oxygen as Ang Rita did in the 1980s and 90s. “His record of nine will probably stand for a long time since current climbing Sherpas are required to use O2 by their companies,” Richard Salisbury from the “Himalayan Database” writes to me.

Not ten times

Tents on Everest South Col

Recently I had reported about the remarkable feat of the Pakistani climber Fazal Ali, who last summer had been the first to stand on the summit of K2, the second highest mountain in the world, without bottled oxygen for the third time. I remembered Ang Rita, the Everest record holder. I had in mind that he had climbed to the summit ten times without breathing mask. So it is written in newspaper and internet articles and in books, e.g. the Guinness Book of Records. He himself has always mentioned this number too. Strictly speaking, however, it is not correct, as I discovered during my research in the “Himalayan Database” and as Richard Salisbury confirmed to me.

Bottled oxygen while sleeping on the South Col

Ang Rita has indeed ascended ten times without bottled oxygen to the highest point on earth at 8,850 meters, but during his first successful ascent in May 1983 he used a breathing mask to sleep in Camp 4 both before and after the summit push. The US climber David Breashears pointed this out at the time. According to Breashears, he had been in the same tent with Ang Rita on the South Col in spring 1983 and they had shared a Y-connection from the same oxygen bottle.

Huge respect for Ang Rita

On the summit

Breashears, who scaled Everest five times with bottled oxygen during his career, stressed to the legendary Himalayan chronicler Elizabeth Hawley (1923-2018) that he did not want to diminish Ang Rita’s outstanding performance. After all, the Sherpa had climbed to the highest point without bottled oxygen on the summit day of 1983. “I can’t think of a stronger climbing companion or a Sherpa for whom I have more respect than Ang Rita,” Breashears wrote. On his following nine successful Everest climbs, the legendary Sherpa forewent bottled oxygen – also when sleeping at great heights.

19 summit successes on eight-thousanders

Ang Rita was born in 1948 in Yilajung, a small village in Khumbu in eastern Nepal. As a child he tended Yaks. At the age of 15, the Sherpa first worked as a porter on an expedition. Ang Rita scaled his first eight-thousander in 1979: Dhaulagiri. In total, he achieved 19 summit successes on eight-thousanders by the end of his climbing career in 1999: ten times on Everest, four times on Cho Oyu, three times on Dhaulagiri, once on Kangchenjunga and Makalu. He always did it completely without bottled – with one exception: during the aforementioned expedition in 1983.

Aerobic exercises at night at 8,600 meters

Admired and often honored

The “Snow Leopard” set Everest milestones. In 1984, he opened a new route variant via the South Buttress with the Slovaks Zoltan Demjan and Jozef Psotka. During the descent, Psotka fell to his death. On 22 December 1987, Ang Rita succeeded the first and so far only winter ascent of Everest without breathing mask. Along with the Korean Heo Young-ho, who used bottled oxygen, the Sherpa reached the highest point. In bad weather the two climbers were forced to bivouac at 8,600 meters. “We spent the whole night just below the summit,” Ang Rita recalled later, “doing aerobic exercises to keep our body active which is the only way to survive there.”

P.S.: Ang Rita’s two sons also scaled Everest several times – with bottled oxygen: Karsang Namgyal Sherpa (born in 1971) nine times, Chewang Dorje Sherpa (born in 1975) five times. Karsang died in 2012 at Everest Base Camp, apparently as a result of alcohol poisoning.

Thomas Lämmle on top of Lhotse

Having scaled the fifth and fourth highest mountain on earth, without bottled oxygen and a High-Altitude Sherpa by his side – the spring season in Nepal went like clockwork for the German climber Thomas Lämmle. The 52-year-old from the town of Waldburg in Baden-Württemberg summited the 8,485-meter-high Makalu on 13 May. Only eight days later, on 21 May, Thomas stood on top of the 8,516-meter-high Lhotse, in the immediate vicinity of Mount Everest. Lämmle has now scaled seven eight-thousanders after Cho Oyu (in 2003), Gasherbrum II (in 2005 and 2013), Manaslu (in 2008), Shishapangma (in 2013) and Mount Everest (in 2016). I asked him about his experiences.

Thomas, last year your four summit attempts on Makalu failed due to bad weather. How have you been during your successful summit bid this spring?

Everything carried by himself

Last year’s failure was virtually the prerequisite for success this year. Last year I started four times from Makalu La (7,500 m) towards the summit. I had to do the trail-breaking by myself during all four summit pushes and was mostly alone en route. The biggest problem was the changing weather and snowfall, which hindered the ascent. Despite all the capricious weather, I reached an altitude of 8,250 meters. However, I realized that with the 2017 tactic, Makalu could not be climbed alone and without oxygen.

The Advanced Base Camp (ABC) is located at 5,700 meters, too high for real regeneration. The way from Camp 3 to the summit is too long. Moreover, you reach the Camp too late to prepare properly for the summit. This is only possible from Camp 4. Based on my experiences from 2017 and my knowledge from 25 years of research in high altitude physiology, I prepared a detailed ascent plan for Makalu. And it worked!

View to the main summit of Makalu

Already in March, I trained and pre-acclimatized on Kilimanjaro. On 10 April, I arrived in Nepal. On 23 April, I reached the ABC on Makalu for the first time. After setting up Camp 2 (6,600 m) and Camp 3 (7,500 m) in the following days and staying overnight in Camp 3 on 3 May, I descended to 4,400 meters for regeneration, to a yak-alp in Langmale. There I waited until (the Austrian meteorologist) Karl Gabl informed me about a good weather window: Summit day should be on 12 May, but with stormy days ahead, he said.

On 7 May, I set off for my ascent and finally reached Camp 3 on Makalu La on 10 May. Unfortunately Karl had made a mistake of one day, so that I was stuck in the storm for three days. In the afternoon of 12 May, however, the storm calmed down and I was able to move my tent to Camp 4 (7,600 m).

On top of Makalu

The following night, I set off at 1 am for the summit bid. I was the only climber on Makalu La at that time. Because of the storm, no one had been able to climb up to the pass. A beautiful, windless day lay before me. Unfortunately there were no fixed ropes above Camp 4 at first, which I could follow. So I used my last year’s GPS track and after some searching I reached the fixed ropes in the steep terrain towards the summit. At 3 pm, after 14 hours of ascent, I reached the main summit with the prayer flags. Five hours later I was back in Camp 4. On the descent, I met numerous Sherpas with clients who were all using bottled oxygen.

Eight days after that success, you stood on top of Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain on earth. Was that rather easy compared to Makalu or did you have to toil the same way?

Descent from Makalu

On 16 May, I reached Everest Base Camp. I was shocked by the crowds and the helicopter noise. I just wanted to get away. I descended to Lobuche (4,900 m) to regenerate in a lodge. Actually I wanted to stand on top of Lhotse on 23 May. However, Karl Gabl predicted heavy snowfall after 22 May and advised me to wait for this precipitation period and only then to start a summit attempt. I was uncomfortable with this thought, perhaps the snowfall was already the harbinger of the monsoon. So I choose a “slap bang” action to reach the summit before 22 May.

View down from Camp 4 on Lhotse

On the morning of 18 May, I returned to Everest Base Camp, packed my things and entered the Khumbu Icefall at 3 am the following night. Twelve hours later I reached Camp 3 in the Lhotse Face, where I spent the next night. On 20 May I ascended to Camp 4 at 7,700 meters. From there I started at 11.30 pm towards the summit. Shortly behind the tents the fixed ropes started, which led me to the Lhotse Couloir. I had been warned several times of this couloir, which is only two meters wide in some places. The danger of being hit there by stones or ice is immense. However not on 21 May – the Lhotse Couloir was filled up with hard snow along its entire length. There was no rope team in front of me, so I could climb up the couloir comfortably and relaxed. I had a very macabre meeting just below the summit: The mummified corpse of a Russian climber is sitting there, over which you have to climb. At 8.30 am, I reached the top of the summit cornice. It was windless and I had a wonderful view over Makalu to Kangchenjunga. Afterwards I was able to abseil down the fixed ropes very quickly and already two hours later I stood in front of my tent in Camp 4.

Lhotse Couloir (seen from Everest)

Two eight-thousanders within a week without bottled oxygen – that demands a lot from the body and the psyche. What does it look like inside you after your return to Germany?

It may sound astonishing, but with my acclimatization tactics and the breathing technique I developed, Makalu was easy to climb this year. Due to the ascent from 4,400 meters and the following fast descent, my performance loss was relatively low. So I went to Lhotse very well acclimatized and hardly weakened. There the conditions were extremely good: a stable high pressure area with correspondingly high oxygen partial pressure, plus super conditions in the Lhotse Couloir. The ascent of Lhotse felt very easy and very relaxed. If I had had the money for an Everest permit, I probably would have climbed Everest as well. Of course, I am very happy to have scaled two relatively challenging eight-thousanders “by fair means” – my number six and seven.

Anything but appetizing pictures from the Everest high camps have rekindled the debate on the waste problem on the eight-thousanders. How did you experience the situation?

Unlike Everest, there is no “waste concept” for Makalu. At the end of the season, the ABC on Makalu is like a burning landfill site: all the waste is collected, poured with kerosene and lit. The ABC looks like that. Waste from the high camps is not transported away and is usually sunk into crevasses. However, there is far less climbing activity on Makalu than on Everest, so pollution is limited and concentrated in relatively small areas.

Garbage in Everest high camp

Things are a little different on Everest and Lhotse. There we have about 2,000 clients and Sherpas in the high season. Waste management works quite well in Base Camp and Camps 1 and 2 – where no oxygen has to be used to move around or transport waste. Especially the South Col (Camp 4), on the other hand, resembles a large garbage dump at the end of the season, because there oxygen would be required to remove the garbage. Of course, these costs are avoided. The National Park administration doesn’t check it at that high altitude. It looks a bit better in Camp 3, even though most of the rubbish is not removed, but disappears into crevasses.

For me personally, a far bigger problem than the garbage on the South Col is the helicopter noise in the whole Solu Khumbu. On sunny days, Everest Base Camp is like a major airport. Every five to ten minutes a helicopter takes off or lands. The noise is sometimes unbearable and doesn’t even fit into Everest National Park. According to a helicopter pilot, there are now 38 helicopters in Nepal, which are mainly used in Solu Khumbu for tourist flights and so-called “rescue flights”. A nice example of this was the members of a Chinese expedition who flew from Base Camp to their hotel in Kathmandu because of bad weather prospects. One week later, after a better weather forecast, they flew back and climbed the mountain with personal Sherpa and bottled oxygen above Camp 2.

Everest (l.) in the first daylight

Actually, it’s quite simple. An Everest summit success without bottled oxygen means that the climber did not use a breathing mask. And that’s exactly why the only two alleged climbs without bottled oxygen reported this spring season from the highest mountain on earth were indeed only summit successes, but nothing more! The German mountaineer and journalist Billi Bierling, head of the chronicle “Himalayan Database”, informed me today that on 24 May Tenjing Sherpa (often also called “Tenji”) had used bottled oxygen from the South Summit at 8,750 meters, 100 meters below the main summit. It had been windy, the 26-year-old had not wanted to risk frostbite, Billi said after the debriefing with Tenji and his British climbing partner Jon Griffith. The chronicler informed me that Lakpa Dendi Sherpa had used a breathing mask even above the South Col, at nearly 8,000 meters.

No correction

On the summit day, it had sounded completely different. Iswari Poudel, head of the Nepalese expedition operator “Himalayan Guides”, had told the newspaper “Himalayan Times” that both Tenjing and Lakpa Dendi Sherpa had not used bottled oxygen during their ascents. Was something misunderstood during radio communication? Hadn’t people talked about whether the climbers had used breathing masks? Or was a false report deliberately launched in order to make headlines? Anyhow, the information that Tenjing and Lakpa Dendi had climbed Everest without breathing mask spread worldwide. And neither the two climbers nor the expedition operator subsequently set it right. I find that not only unsportsmanlike, but also dishonest.

False report also from Makalu

Makalu

Unfortunately, it’s not unusual any more. So it was reported this week that the 69-year-old Polish climber Lech Flaczynski and his son Wojciech had reached the summit of the eight-thousander Makalu. According to Billi Bierling, however, only the son was at the top, but not the father. Later Lech had to be flown out by rescue helicopter because he was suffering from severe stomach pain.

There are more and more cases where primarily expedition operators bend the truth or withhold important details. I find this development worrying – and a pity. How about some honesty?

Update 8 p.m.: I have to correct myself in the sense that Tenji Sherpa posted on Instagram three days ago that he was using bottled oxygen above the South Summit. However, nothing of the same could be heard from the expedition operator.

Tenjing Sherpa climbing Everest

The good weather window in the Himalayas is impressively long. Since this spring’s first ascent of Mount Everest on 13 May by the Sherpa team that had fixed the ropes up to the summit on the south side of the mountain, climbers have reached the highest point at 8,850 meters day after day. Several hundred summit successes have since been counted. Today, Tenjing Sherpa also succeeded, without bottled oxygen. The 26-year-old wants to climb directly afterwards the neighboring eight-thousander Lhotse, if conditions allow it. According to Iswari Poudel, managing director of the expedition organizer “Himalayan Guides”, Lakpa Dendi Sherpa, just like Tenjing, reached the summit without breathing mask today. It was already Lakpa’s third (!) Everest ascent this season, Poudel said.

Colibasanu and Hamor give up

Horia Colibasanu (r.) and Peter Hamor (l.)

Briton Jon Griffith, who accompanied Tenjing Sherpa to the summit as a photographer and filmmaker, used bottled oxygen on his ascent. They see their expedition as a tribute to their friend, the Swiss top climber Ueli Steck who fell to death a year ago on the nearly-eight-thousander Nuptse. In 2017, Ueli and Tenjing had planned an Everest-Lhotse traverse without bottled oxygen via the Everest West Ridge. That’s exactly what the Romanian Horia Colibasanu and the Slovak Peter Hamor wanted to tackle this spring. They declared their expedition over today. The avalanche danger on the route was too great, Horia explained the decision. They had climbed up to an altitude of 7,500 meters.

Lämmle without breathing mask on Lhotse

Thomas Lämmle on top of Lhotse

Already last Sunday, the German climber Thomas Lämmle reached the 8,516 meter high summit of Lhotse, just eight days after his success on Makalu. “Same style: Solo, without oxygen and carried all equipment (tent, stove, food, sleeping bag, etc.) by my own,” ​Lämmle wrote yesterday on Facebook. For the 52-year-old from the city of Waldburg in Baden-Württemberg, Lhotse was the seventh eight-thousander after Cho Oyu (in 2003), Gasherbrum II (in 2005 and 2013), Manaslu (in 2008), Shishapangma (in 2013), Mount Everest (in 2016) and Makalu.

Three of the four world’s highest mountains in 25 days

Nima Jangmu Sherpa

An extraordinary feat was also achieved by Nima Jangmu Sherpa. The 27-year-old reached yesterday as the first woman from Nepal the 8,586 meter high summit of Kangchenjunga. Thus the Sherpani scaled within 25 days the three highest mountains in Nepal, which are three of the four highest in the world. On 29 April, Nima Jangmu had stood on top of Lhotse, on 14 May on the summit of Mount Everest – with breathing mask. In 2008, the Frenchwomen Elisabeth Revol had also scaled three eight-thousanders in one season. Only 16 days had lain then between her ascents of Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II, without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support.

Besides Nima Jangmu Sherpa, another female climber from the team of the Nepalese expedition operator “Imagine” managed a Kangchenjunga summit success yesterday: Chinese Dong Hong Juan stood on her 13th eight-thousander.

Update 25 May: According to Iswari Paudel, Managing Director of Himalayan Guides Nepal Treks & Expedition P. Ltd., Tenji Sherpa decided after his yesterday’s Everest summit success not to climb Lhotse and instead descend to BC.

Update 1 June: Billi Bierling told me that Tenjing had used bottled oxygen above the South Summit (8,750 m), Lakpka Dendi above the South Col (7,900m). Means: No Everest ascent without breathing mask this spring.

Habeler (r.) and Messner (in 1975)

It was a real pioneering act – greater than its effect. Next Tuesday, 40 years ago, the South Tyrolean Reinhold Messner and the North Tyrolean Peter Habeler were the first people to reach the 8,850-meter-high summit of Mount Everest without bottled oxygen. They proved that it was possible. However, it did not become usual thereby. According to the climbing chronicle Himalayan Database, the highest mountain in the world has been scaled 8,219 times so far, but only 202 times without breathing mask. This corresponds to a share of 2.5 percent. Also this year it will hardly be higher.

“Are we still thinking clearly?”

South side of Mount Everest

There had been a lot of critics and skeptics in the run-up, Reinhold Messner once told me in an interview. That spurred him. “Basically, I just wanted to make an example then, to give it a try. I did not know how far I would come.” Even during their ascent on 8 May 1978, Habeler and he still doubted whether they would get out of this number without suffering any harm, said Messner: “At every break, we looked at each other: Are we still thinking clearly? Is it still responsible or not?” At minus 40 degrees Celsius, in a storm, they fought their way up. “In the final phase we reached the summit really more on our knees and hands than walking, otherwise we would have been blown off the ridge,” reported Messner.

Gotta get down!

Peter Habeler today

For Peter Habeler, it was in his own words “a very emotional moment” when they finally stood on the roof of the world. However, he could not enjoy it. “I remember being scared,” Habeler said when I met him a few months ago. “I was very restless because I wanted to go down. I thought: Oops, how can I get down the Hillary Step, without belaying? We had noticed on the ascent that the snow was there in a bad condition. I feared a step could break off and I would fall into the depth. But somehow it worked.” After returning home, he was surprised by the huge media coverage, Habeler said: “It was a real hype.”

Tied mountain

Reinhold Messner

Even today, there is still an Everest media hype, only that it rarely has to do with ascents without bottled oxygen, but rather with the mass of climbers who tackle the highest of all mountains year after year. “If there are a thousand people in the base camp and 540 of them want to set off during a single good weather window, I feel uneasy about it,” said Habeler. “That’s not my way of climbing mountains.” The two former pioneers agree on this point. “Nowadays, I certainly wouldn’t climb Everest without bottled oxygen,” Reinhold Messner told me on the occasion of his 70th birthday in September 2014.  “At my age I don’t want to die in the mountains, after working for 65 years to do everything I can to not die there.  To head up Everest with two oxygen bottles and two Sherpas, one at the front and one at the back, is not my idea of fun.”

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.

Luis Stitzinger (l.) and Alix von Melle (r.) on the summit of Manaslu

“Despite the premonition, we were utterly amazed at what happened there,” says Luis Stitzinger after his return from Manaslu. “This was a true tent city in the base camp.” As reported earlier, the 48-year-old had led a team of eight of the German expedition operator Amical alpin to the 8,163-meter-high summit in Nepal last Saturday. Along with Luis, his 46-year-old wife Alix von Melle, reached the highest point. For both, it was their seventh eight-thousander and the sixth which they scaled together, all without bottled oxygen. At the beginning of the expedition eleven of the 14 members of the Amical team had become infected with flu by ill porters. “It was a bad start,” says Luis. “Some members had to abandon the whole thing. It was a pity.” I reach Luis on the phone at a hotel in Kathmandu:

Luis, first of all congratulations on your seventh eight-thousander. How did you experience your summit day?

The late ascent was due to the flu epidemic. But it was also partly calculation. At the top summit days between 26 and 28 September, there was such a “cattle drive” that we certainly wouldn’t have had any fun if we were forced to participate. Fortunately, however, the weather remained stable for a very long time. I was told that last year there had been two possible summit days. This time we had a long good weather window of two weeks.

Queue on Manaslu

We had positioned ourselves far back,  what in the end was good luck. We got free range, there were hardly any people left. Last Saturday, 30 September, was a good summit day. In the morning it was still a bit windy, so we did not set off before 4.30 a.m. But already on the first plateau the wind was blowing only with 15, 20 km/h.

Besides us, there were only about half a dozen climbers, a few Spaniards and Russians. Due to the great amount of mountaineers before, the track was very well beaten. At the beginning of the season, a rope fixing team of the operator Seven Summit Treks had secured the key passages of the route up to the summit. Therefore the ascent to the summit was for us quite relaxed and due, to the weather, even a real pleasure.

View from the summit

All of your team ascended without bottled oxygen. This seems to have become the exception on Manaslu.

We were already on Manaslu in spring 2012. Then most were climbing without supplemental oxygen. This was quite different now in fall 2017. Three quarters of the climbers, if not even more, were using bottled oxygen. We were a little bit shocked to see people who climbed with breathing mask already above Camp 1 (at 5,700 meters). I’ve even seen people descending with oxygen from Camp 1 to Base Camp.

There is a new type of expedition clients on the road. There were a lot of Chinese mountaineers who did not spare neither cost nor effort to get to the summit. Or Russian operators who did everything in a big way: partly two Climbing Sherpas per client, bottled oxygen above Camp 1, and also during the night. There is a different wind blowing.

This huge mass of climbers on a mountain, such as Everest, Cho Oyu or now on Manaslu, also leads to a de-personalization of the whole thing. Twice equipment was stolen from our tents. If someone steals crampons from high camp, it must be clear to him that for the victim of the theft the ascent is over, at least for that day.  I find that very annoying.

This sounds almost like a description of the excesses on Everest.

I would say that Manaslu is the new Everest. This is not exaggerated. Of course, it is also because Tibet was closed this fall season. But I believe that many operators, who are offering  this luxury version, have discovered Manaslu as a supposedly easy eight-thousander.

On the ascent

Was there any agreement between the operators,  who is climbing when to avoid traffic jams on the route?

No, I did not know about it. They have simply chosen the best day and set off. Especially on these peak days there were a lot of traffic jams, in particular on the difficult passages between Camp 1 and 2 as well as between Camp  3 and 4. That reminded me of the pictures from Everest. I believe there were problems and displeasure among those who were not able to move forward because of the slow groups.

Against this background it was good fortune that there was a lower risk of avalanches this fall.

There was almost no danger of avalanches this fall. It was snowing heavily only once or twice, but the fresh snow compacted immediately.

Lately, there have been reports from mountaineers that the effects of climate change can also be seen clearly on Manaslu. You were already there in 2012. Can you confirm this impression?

In 2012, we were on Manaslu in spring, when the snow of winter was still there, now in fall, so this cannot be compared.  But you can see that the glacier is retreating. On Manaslu North, for example, there are a lot of rocky spots where, a few years ago, still were complete ice slopes.  Everywhere water is running. You can clearly see the effects of climate change on Manaslu.

Hans Wenzl on top of Mount Everest

He had to push himself to his limits. Last Saturday, the Austrian Hans Wenzl – as reported before –  reached the highest point on earth at 8,850 meters, despite adverse weather conditions, ascending from the Nepali south side without bottled oxygen. Mount Everest was already the eighth eight-thousander which Hans summited without breathing mask. He previously had stood on top of Broad Peak, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I and II, Manaslu, Cho Oyu and Makalu. In addition, he reached in 2005 the 8,008-meter-high Central Peak of Shishapangma which is 19 meters lower than the Main Summit. His long-term goal is to complete the eight-thousander collection without supplemental oxygen. Even though the 46-year-old is not a professional climber. Wenzl earns his living as a site foreman of an Austrian construction company. For his expeditions he has to take holiday. Hans lives in the village of Metnitz in the north of Carinthia. He and his wife Sonja have two adult sons. He replied to my questions, which I had sent him to Nepal.

Hans, first of all congratulations on your success. You climbed the last stretch up to the summit of Everest last Saturday alone and in contrast to your team partner Ferran Latorre without bottled oxygen. How did you experience your ascent in the summit area?

I have climbed Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. For me, it was always out of the question to use a breathing mask! I didn’t think that the ascent from Camp 4 to the summit is so long. It was quite windy and foggy.

Finished: The highest point on earth

Were you able to think about anything at all when you reached the highest point after all  the exertions?

Of course, I was slower than the climbers ascending with oxygen. But I wasn’t completely exhausted when I reached the summit.  I was alone up there for about 20 minutes, between about 0.30 p.m and 1.00 p.m. local time. And I thought: Now I am here at the highest point on earth and all alone. I’ve managed it without oxygen. I knew it!

Many say the descent is actually more dangerous because you have achieved the great goal, you are losing your power and concentration too. How did you experience the descent to the South Col?

The descent was really very exhausting, especially on the Hillary Step. I fell there. The time to return to the South Col in daylight was running short. Nobody was still en route but me. I had to be very concentrated on the descent to get down quickly and safely.

Everest was your eighth eight-thousander without bottled oxygen. How do you rank this summit success compared to the previous seven ascents?

Because of the altitude and without supplemental oxygen, Everest was probably the hardest summit so far for me.

Ballinger on the summit of Mount Everest

It is undisputed that Adrian Ballinger reached the summit of Mount Everest without bottled  oxygen last Saturday. But a debate rose about how he did it. The trigger was my article about a conversation with Ralf Dujmovits on Monday, two days after his failed attempt without breathing mask on the north side of Everest at an altitude of 8,580 meters. During the satellite phone call, the 55-year-old German climber had accused Ballinger that the American had reported about his ascent in real time via the social networks, but had not mentioned some facts. On the descent, for example, Adrian had been led by an Ecuadorian mountain guide on the short rope, said Ralf. Ballinger’s team responded promptly.

Richards: “Adrian earned every step of his summit”

Top of Everest (from the Northeast Ridge)

“I climbed Everest with him all the way up and down from BC, and I can say that he was never short roped on the descent as Ralf wrongly affirms on this interview,” wrote Esteban, called “Topo”, Mena, the mentioned guide from Ecuador, who works for Adrian Ballinger’s company Alpenglow Expeditions. “This information is not correct and should be corrected immediately.” Cory Richards – who had also accompanied Ballinger to the highest point, using bottled oxygen in the summit area because he didn’t feel well – disagreed with Dujmovits too: “Topo was there. His word is corroborated by Pasang and Palden. Ralph simply wasn’t there.” Dujmovits’ argument that Ballinger had been supported by a large team during his ascent and descent was “quite frankly, asinine,“ Cory continued. “Adrian earned every step of his summit.” He appealed to Dujmovits and Ballinger to be proud of their respective efforts instead of arguing. “There is no room for infighting in our tribe … it’s too small.”

Headline-grabbing picture

If you do not regularly follow what happens on Everest, you might be wondering what is so bad about going on the short rope. In the Alps, for example, rope teams often use this technique. Indeed, but on Everest everyone connects it to the recurring picture, which regularly makes headlines since the 1990s: In technically rather easy terrain, a Sherpa draws a visibly overchallenged client on the short rope towards the summit. The message is clear: Actually, this mountan is not the right place for the rear one. A good mountaineer, who is climbing Everest on his own responsibility, doesn’t need this – unless in case of emergency.

The last ten minutes to the summit

Ralf Dujmovits, in the background Mount Everest

After the reactions of Ballinger’s team, I contacted Ralf Dujmovits again. He admits that he got a false information concerning the descent on the short rope but adheres to his fundamental criticism. “I asked both, Adrian and Cory, in depth, and I can tell you that Adrian was led by one of the Sherpas (Palden, Mingma, Pasang Rinji) on the short rope during the last ten minutes up to the summit. There are eyewitnesses,” Ralf writes to me. “Also this has nothing to do with self-reliant climbing. If Ballinger’s team was interested in a correct presentation, they would have published this fact on their own initiative.” That’s the central point of his criticism, says Ralf: “My point is that professionals, especially when they do so much media coverage, have to report correctly – about positive as well as negative things – instead of giving intentionally a false impression by omitting.”

Ralf Dujmovits

Never say Never Again! This is not only the title of an old James Bond film but could also stand for Ralf Dujmovits’ personal story on Mount Everest. The first and so far only German, who has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders, had climbed the highest mountain on earth on his very first attempt in fall 1992. Due to bad weather, however, he had used bottled oxygen above the South Col. “I was very young at the time. It was a mistake,” says Ralf today.

After all, he climbed the other 13 eight-thousanders without breathing mask. And so he later tried to wipe out this Everest mistake again and again. In vain. In 1996, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015 he returned without summit success, for various reasons. This spring, the 55-year-old wants to give it a try again. For the eighth time, he will travel to Mount Everest, the fifth time to the Tibetan north side of the mountain. He will acclimatize in Nepal with an ascent of the 6,501-meter-high Cholatse in the Khumbu area, along with his Canadian partner Nancy Hansen. Ralf has now arrived in Kathmandu. I spoke with him shortly before he left to Nepal.

Ralf, I think, it’s allowed to say, that you and Everest have a relationship.

Ralf and Mount Everest (in 2012)

Yes, of course. If you have been there so often – it will now be the eighth time – an almost personal relationship develops. But I’ve always enjoyed being on Everest. I also look forward to it now. But I have to say quite honestly, that I’m a bit nervous, because I’ve really made it clear that this time is definitely the last time. I also told this to my friends.

And everyone laughed.

First, yes. But then they took me serious, when I confirmed it again and again: the definitely last time! In this respect, I would now once again like to put effort into my partner Everest, and hopefully I will reach the summit.

You’ll be there for the eighth time. Do you become more relaxed or more uptight?

Although I am a bit tense at the moment, I will probably be a bit more relaxed on the climb. There were some years in which I went to Everest North Face with a certain tension. This didn’t work for various reasons. Afterwards, in the last years, I wanted to take the Messner route. [During his solo ascent in 1980, Reinhold Messner traversed to the Norton Couloir and climbed through it to the summit]. This did not work either. I told myself, I’d now take the Tibetan normal route, quite relaxed. And everything else will be seen.

But you won’t climb alone this time.

Not alone, anyway. You’re never alone on Everest. I will be on the mountain along with the Romanian Horia Colibasanu. We’ll probably share the tent up there. I also hired a Sherpa, who will carry for me a bottle of oxygen. If I realize that I get serious health problems, I would, under certain circumstances, use supplemental oxygen and then immediately descend. This means, the oxygen bottle is really only for the descent, in no case for the further ascent.

Tibetan North side of Mount Everest

Would it be an option for you to climb up without bottled oxygen and down with breathing mask?

No, my goal is, of course, up and down without supplemental oxygen. But I just want to keep this option open. In 2010, the Italian Abele Blanc was a few days older than me now, when he climbed Everest without bottled oxygen, aged 55. If I am successful, I would be the second oldest. Meanwhile I realize: For me, at my age, this is really pushing the limits. I simply want to have a certain reserve, a small backup.

Is this a bit like driving a car with safety belt?

(Laughs) I’ve never thought about that. I think, driving a car with seatbelt has become common practice. This also applies to mountaineering with bottled oxygen on the eight-thousanders. Unfortunately. I would rather say that I try to omit the safety belt. I will have the hand on the belt and I would fasten it, if necessary, very quickly.

Do you consider it as a break in style?

Quite certainly, it’s a break in style to take a backup with you. It is not the usual variant, but I don’t care now, because I want to finish my way. I look forward to it and can accept it for myself. I’ve been struggling with me for a while, but now it’s all right for me. Before or afterwards or whenever anyone can tell me what he wants. For me, this fits. And since I don’t hurt anyone, it should be fine.

Cholatse (in the centre, seen from Gokyo Ri)

All expect that Everest will be crowded this spring. There will be much more climbers than usual, not only on the Nepalese but also on the Tibetan side. You know have already experienced that. Probably it won’t impress you, will it?

Before I go to Tibet, I will pre-acclimatize along with my partner on a six-thousander in Nepal. Doing this, I want to escape a little bit from the crowds of people. Then I will reach the Advanced Base Camp in Tibet relatively late, so I hope that I won’t get into the mass ascent. Of course, there will also be many climbers on the mountain during my summit push. But that will not affect me, because I can not start as early as most of the people who climb with bottled oxygen. Start times on 10 or 11 p.m. are quite common now. However, I can not start so early, in this case I would cool down too much up there. I have to use the sun, which will hopefully help me a bit.

This sounds like you choose the same tactics as Ueli Steck on the south side of Everest, who wants to let the first weather window pass, so that the mountain is not so crowded anymore.

If it becomes apparent that a second weather window is developing, I would probably also speculate on it. Normally, it has been too busy on the mountain during the first weather window. And I just have to be able to go exactly at my pace. Too slow would not be good, because I cool down. I can not go too fast either, because I would lose too much body heat due to increased breathing.

Ralf in Everest high camp (in 2014)

On your last attempt in 2014 – I leave out the 2015 season with the earthquake in Nepal – you reached Camp 3 at 8,300 meters. At that time, you said: “I’ve made mistakes.” Did you learn from it?

I used a too light tent at that time, a single-walled one, weighing just one kilo. There was pretty much wind at night. Another problem was that I had a wet lighter and so I could not melt enough snow to drink water. However, in the end I failed because there was strong wind in the morning. I will not have any influence on the weather. But for all the other things, I hope that I will have the right options now. So I hope that everything fits, at least from my side.

You say, this will be definitely your last attempt on Everest. I can’t help smiling. But let’s assume that it will be really the last time. Are you tempted to take more risks?

I do not think so. I know myself very well. I also know that I can turn around. I have often done and would do it again this time, if necessary. For me, health is still the highest good. I won’t give up this principle of returning safely on my very last attempt – even if you smile, it really will be the last one.

Alex Txikon during his previous climb to the South Col

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

Good forecasts

Alex in Everest Base Camp

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

Everything has to fit

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

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

Melissa Arnot

Female Power on Mount Everest. There were two women among the handful of climbers who have so far reached the 8850- meter-high summit without bottled oxygen this spring season: Melissa Arnot and Carla Perez. Before them, only six female climbers had succeeded this feat: Lydia Bradey (New Zealand, in 1988), Alison Hargreaves (UK, in 1995), Francys Arsentiev (USA, in 1998, she died on descend), La Ji (China, in 2004), Nives Meroi (Italy, in 2010) and Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner (Austria, in 2010).

A constant on Everest

Carla Perez

Melissa Arnot is the first American woman who reached the summit of Everest without breathing mask and returned alive. She ascended from the Tibetan north side. The 32-year-old is meanwhile a constant on the highest mountain on earth because she has worked there as a mountain guide for years. It was already Melissa’s sixth success on Everest after 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. During her first five ascents, all via the normal route on the Nepalese south side, Arnot had used bottled oxygen. In 2013, she had witnessed the attacks of angry Sherpas against the European top climbers Ueli Steck and Simone Moro. Courageously Melissa had placed herself between the parties and had tried to settle the dispute.

Dream fulfilled

Like Arnot, the 33-year-old Ecuadorian Carla Perez scaled Everest from the north. She was the first woman from her South American homeland on the highest point on earth – even without breathing mask. “A few hours ago, we were at the top of Mount Everest,” Carla wrote on Facebook. “Without oxygen, exhausted, not knowing how we made it up but happy to have fulfilled our dream.” It was her third eigth-thousander after Manaslu in 2012 and Cho Oyu in 2014. Perez had done these ascents without bottled oxygen as well.

Strong Sherpani

Two Sherpani have also set exclamation marks on Everest – even though they used breathing masks. Lhakpa Sherpa scaled the highest mountain – as reported – for the seventh time. The 42-year-old, who born in Nepal and living in the US, remains the woman with the most Everest ascents.

Maya Sherpa

Maya Sherpa was at the top for the third time. She was the only woman among the Climbing Sherpas on the Nepalese side, saying: She worked on the mountain. In 2014, Maya had made headlines when she had scaled – along with her countrywomen Dawa Yangzum Sherpa and Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita – the 8611-meter-high K 2 in Pakistan, the second highest mountain on earth. “Being a professional climber since 2003, I have always tried my best to launch myself in the eyes of all those guys who think women are pathetic in this field,” Maya Sherpa wrote me early in 2015. I take my hat off to Maya, Lhakpa, Carla and Melissa. Bravo!