Adventure Mountain

13. February 202613. February 2026

Eight-thousander mountaineer Anja Blacha: “My identity does not depend on the mountains”

She is a strong woman. Anja Blacha reached the South Pole on skis, solo and without support. And she has already summited twelve of the 14 eight-thousanders, more than any other woman from Germany – and all of them without bottled oxygen.

The 35-year-old has even stood on Mount Everest three times: in 2017 via the Tibetan north side, with a breathing mask, in 2021 and 2025 from the Nepalese south side of the mountain, the first time with bottled oxygen from an altitude of around 8,400 meters, and four years later without a breathing mask – the first German woman to do so, by the way.

Before the start of this year’s spring climbing season in the Himalayas, Anja Blacha answered my questions.

Anja, you have climbed twelve of the 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen. What dominates – pride in what you have already achieved or the ambition to now complete the collection?

8. February 20268. February 2026

Mourning for Pakistani mountaineer Shah Doulat

He was part of the up-and-coming young generation of Pakistani mountaineers. “In the high mountains, making the right decision is crucial, but even more important is believing in yourself,” wrote Shah Doulat in summer 2024, after he had successfully led an expedition to an eight-thousander for the first time as the main person in charge on Gasherbrum II. On Friday, Shah fell to his death.

According to the Pakistani newspaper “The Dawn,” the 29-year-old mountain guide was ice climbing with a foreign client near the village of Khyber in the Hunza Valley. Doulat slipped on the ice and fell 400 meters, the report said. Locals were only able to recover his body. The mountaineer was just 29 years old.

22. January 202623. January 2026

Search and rescue operation on Makalu reportedly over

Makalu in first daylight, from Gokyo Ri (in 2016) — The eight-thousander Makalu (seen from Gokyo Ri)

No chance. “Biting cold and strong winds made it impossible to proceed,” said Sanu Sherpa, according to the Nepalese portal The Tourism Times. The rescue team led by Sanu returned from Camp IV at around 7,900 meters to the base camp at the foot of Makalu.

The rescuers from the commercial expedition operators Makalu Adventure and 8K Expeditions would return to Kathmandu in the coming days after what was now their second unsuccessful attempt, it was reported. Further ascents would be too dangerous in view of the continuing bad weather and the high altitude.

21. January 202625. January 2026

Alexander Huber on Honnold’s skyscraper free solo: “Not relevant for us climbers”

It’s a media spectacle – no question about it. When top US climber Alex Honnold free solos (climbing alone and without any safety equipment) the 509-meter-high Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan on Friday night/Saturday morning German time, and Netflix streams it live, Alexander Huber will probably be fast asleep.

“Climbing Taipei 101 will not provide any new insights into climbing, so from that point of view, the event is not relevant to us as climbers,” writes the younger of the two Huber brothers to me. “But of course, it will reach a very wide audience via Netflix, and Alex is obviously entitled to do it.”

16. January 202620. January 2026

Makalu winter expedition: Tragedy reported during descent

The 8,485-meter-high Makalu in Nepal (left, with the 7,000-meter Chamlang on the right) — The 8,485-meter-high Makalu in Nepal (left, with the 7,000er Chamlang on the right)

The line between triumph and tragedy can be very thin on eight-thousanders. Yesterday, Thursday, the second winter ascent of Makalu was celebrated; today, a Nepalese mountaineer who lost his life is being mourned.

In addition, Iranian mountaineer Abolfazl Gozali is missing. At least, that is what the Nepalese portal “The Tourism Times” reports, citing unspecified sources.

15. January 202615. January 2026

Winter summit success reported from the eight-thousander Makalu

Abolfazl Gozali (left) and Sanu Sherpa (right) — Abolfazl Gozali (l.) and Sanu Sherpa (r.)

“This morning, at 10:27, our client Abolfazl Gozali and his guide Sanu Sherpa reached the summit of Mount Makalu (8,485 m),” reported Nepalese expedition operator Makalu Adventure on Facebook.

Indian client Piyali Basak felt unwell at Camp 3 and returned to base camp, it said. The successful summit team is expected to return there tomorrow, Friday.

The fifth-highest mountain on earth had previously been climbed only once in winter: in February 2009 by Italian Simone Moro and Denis Urubko, who was born in the Russian North Caucasus. As with all their ascents, the two professional mountaineers did not use bottled oxygen.

9. January 20269. January 2026

Hari Budha Magar scales Mount Vinson in Antarctica

Hari Budha Magar on the summit of Mount Vinson

“If you have a dream and dedicate yourself and never give up, you can achieve anything – whatever life throws at you.” With these words, Hari Budha Magar commented on Instagram about his ascent of the 4,892-meter-high Mount Vinson in Antarctica.

The Nepalese mountaineer, who has had both legs amputated, has thus completed his collection of the Seven Summits – at least those that are currently possible for him.

7. January 20267. January 2026

Winter attempt on the eight-thousander Makalu in Nepal

Second attempt: A team from the commercial Nepalese expedition operator Makalu Adventure is making another attempt this winter to take Iranian mountaineer Abolfazl Gozali to the 8,485-meter-high Makalu – with bottled oxygen.

As Gozali revealed yesterday in an Instagram story, the team fixed the ropes up to an altitude of 6,000 meters and transported equipment there.

It is the only expedition on an eight-thousander in Nepal this winter so far. Simone Moro’s winter project on Manaslu ended in mid-December before it had really begun. As reported, the Italian suffered a heart attack during acclimatization in the Khumbu region.

Last October, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa announced a possible winter expedition to Mount Everest, with the goal being the first winter ascent of the world’s highest mountain by a woman. Nothing came of it, “because of financial issues,” as the head of the operator Imagine Nepal wrote to me.

1. January 202631. December 2025

Happy New Year

I wish you a peaceful year 2026. Stay healthy and pleased – and enjoy every moment of happiness!

24. December 202524. December 2025

Merry Christmas!

I wish you all a wonderful, peaceful, and blessed Christmas. Enjoy the holidays with your loved ones! 🙏🎄

16. December 202516. December 2025

Simone Moro gives the all-clear after heart attack in Nepal

Simone Moro's statement on Instagram — Simone Moro’s statement on Instagram

After several days of uncertainty, Simone Moro has spoken out. His most important statement: “Now I’m feeling good.” What happened? Over the weekend, Nepalese media reported that the 58-year-old top mountaineer from Italy had to be flown out of the mountains to Kathmandu by helicopter.

That was true, but the medical details initially reported were contradictory. In such cases, it is advisable to wait until reliable information is available. Simone himself provided that information, sitting in a tracksuit in the hospital, with a statement that he posted on Instagram, among other places.

2. December 20252. December 2025

Pakistan’s mountain guides establish their own association

Sirbaz Khan at the founding congress of the KMGA in Skardu — Sirbaz Khan (center) is the first president of the KMGA

This is another important step on the long-overdue path to emancipation for Pakistani mountaineers.

Last weekend, in a hotel in the city of Skardu in northern Pakistan, they launched the Karakoram Mountain Guides Association (KMGA), which they proudly announced afterwards as “the first national body created by mountaineers, for mountaineers.”

The more than 100 participants at the founding congress elected Sirbaz Khan to head the new mountain guide association. In early October 2024, he became the first Pakistani to complete his collection of all 14 eight-thousanders. In May 2025, Sirbaz also became the first Pakistani mountaineer to stand on the 14 highest mountains in the world without bottled oxygen.

21. November 202524. November 2025

Lukas Waldner after the first ascent of Kimshung: “Cooperation is stronger than competition”

Lukas Waldner, Francois Cazzanelli, Giuseppe Vidoni, and Benjamin Zörer (from right to left) at the summit of Kimshung

It was one of the many exciting alpinistic highlights of this fall season in the Himalayas. The two Austrians Lukas Waldner (24) and Benjam i n Zörer (24) and the Italians Francois Cazzanelli (35) and Giuseppe Vidoni (31) succeeded in making the first ascent of Kimshung in Nepal in alpine style.

The 6,781-meter-high mountain, also known as Tsangbu Ri, is located in Langtang National Park, about 75 kilometers north of the capital Kathmandu as the crow flies.

On 20 October, the four mountaineers climbed from their advanced camp at 5,450 meters on the Kimshung Glacier to the summit in just ten hours and descended again on the same day. They named their route (1,300 meters, 60°, AI4, M5) “Destiny”: “for the many stories that converged beneath this mountain – including the meeting of the four climbers who return home not only with a proud ascent, but above all, with a great new friendship,” as the quartet wrote on Instagram.

Two rope teams joined forces

The mountaineers from Austria and Italy had only met at the foot of the mountain and decided to climb together. Cazzanelli had already attempted Kimshung twice without success. In 2015, his team had been stopped by the devastating earthquake in Nepal, which killed almost 9,000 people. In 2016, Francois had to abandon his attempt on Kimshung after being hit by a rock at an altitude of almost 6,000 meters.

After returning from Nepal, Tyrolean mountaineer Lukas Waldner answered my questions about the now successful expedition.

Lukas, how do you rank the first ascent of Kimshung in your personal career?

14. November 202514. November 2025

Alpinistic highlight by James Price and George Ponsonby in the Karakoram: “Each pitch a question mark”

James Price (left) and George Ponsonby (right) on the summit of Aikache Chhok — James Price (l.) and George Ponsonby (r.) on the summit of Aikache Chhok

The members of the “Young Alpinist Group” from Great Britain and Ireland are actually only supposed to gain initial experience in the world’s great mountains. However, two of them have now achieved a real mountaineering coup in northern Pakistan.

At the end of October, Briton James Price and Irishman George Ponsonby opened a difficult 3,000-meter route in alpine style on the 6,673-meter-high Aikache Chhok via the previously unclimbed Northwest Ridge and then descended via the also virgin Southwest Face.

7. November 202515. November 2025

Himalayan mountaineering community mourns the loss of “Toddfather” Henry Todd

Henry Todd may not have been the greatest climber of his time, but he was undoubtedly an original.

“As an expedition leader, mountaineer and later an oxygen provider to climbers, Henry was a pillar of the Himalayan climbing community,” writes German mountaineer, journalist, and chronicler Billi Bierling in her obituary in the Himalayan Times. “He supported countless people across Nepal and Pakistan, making it possible for many to fulfil the dream of standing on the world’s highest peaks.”

Todd died last Monday in his adopted home of Kathmandu at the age of 80 – from a stroke after undergoing heart surgery a few days earlier.