Today, more summit successes of commercial teams on Nanga Parbat were reported from Pakistan. Among those who reached the highest point at 8,125 meters was Kili Pemba Sherpa. He was doing his job by guiding a Chinese client to the summit for the expedition operator Imagine Nepal. With Nanga Parbat, Kili Pemba has now climbed…
His expertise and his voice will be missed. As his family announced yesterday on Facebook, Michael Beek died “after a sudden and serious illness.” Beek was considered the preeminent German-speaking expert on Pakistan’s mountain regions. Few Westerners are likely to have known the mountains in the north of the country as well as he did….
According to a report by the Nepalese website The Tourism Times, Polish ski mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel skied down the 8,125-meter-high Nanga Parbat. As with his previous seven successful eight-thousander expeditions, the 38-year-old reportedly did not use bottled oxygen during the ascent or the ski descent, according to sources at Nanga Parbat Base Camp. Andrzej himself…
The first summit success of the commercial summer season in Pakistan has been achieved. According to the Nepalese expedition operator Seven Summit Treks, the five-member rope-fixing team reached the summit of the 8,125-meter-high Nanga Parbat today, followed by seven additional team members. They ascended via the normal route on the Diamir side. Mingtemba Sherpa once…
The summer climbing season in the Karakoram has only just begun, and already there has been the first fatality. According to Pakistani media reports, French ski mountaineer Guillaume Pierrel died in an avalanche on the 7,282-meter-high K6. Pierrel’s team was struck by the avalanche at an altitude of about 5,000 meters, Ishaq Ali, head of…
He survived – seven days without food, without bottled oxygen, without help. According to Nepalese media reports, early this morning local time, staff from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) discovered Dawa Sherpa, also known as Hillary Sherpa, who had been missing until then, near the so-called Crampon Point in the Khumbu Icefall—the spot near…
Calm is returning to Mount Everest. The Icefall Doctors are bringing the aluminum ladders they used to span large crevasses along the route through the Khumbu Icefall back to the depots in the village of Gorak Shep. Staff from the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee are sorting through the trash at base camp, which is to…
Anja Blacha has achieved her goal for this spring season. As previously reported, the 35-year-old German mountaineer reached the summit of the 8,516-meter-high Lhotse a week and a half ago – without bottled oxygen and without a Sherpa guide. For Anja, it was the 13th eight-thousander she has climbed without a breathing mask. Now, the…
Just yesterday, I wrote that, miraculously, there had been no fatalities during the current rush to the summit of Mount Everest. Now, the Nepalese website The Tourism Times reports that at least two Indian climbers have died during their descent -apparently from high altitude sickness. Both had reportedly reached the highest point on earth at…
How many people can Mount Everest handle? This question comes up a lot these days, as one success story after another comes in from the world’s highest mountain. Yesterday alone, U.S. mountaineering blogger Alan Arnette – who keeps track of all the commercial teams on Everest like no one else – counted 270 summits. According…
As is now almost always the case on eight-thousanders, a rope-fixing team ensured the first summit success of the season also on Kangchenjunga. According to Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, head of the expedition operator Imagine Nepal, Dawa Gyalje Sherpa, Chheten Tashi Sherpa (both from Imagine Nepal), Buddha Bahadur Gurung (Elite Exped), and Sohail Shezad reached the…
He did it again. According to the Nepalese expedition operator Seven Summit Treks, Polish ski mountaineer Bartek Ziemski reached the summit of Mount Everest at 8,849 meters today without bottled oxygen and skied down from there to base camp. The 30-year-old had already made the first ascent of the fourth-highest mountain this spring season on…
Anja Blacha has taken another step toward her goal of climbing all 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen. According to the expedition operator Imagine Nepal, the 35-year-old German mountaineer reached the summit of the 8,516-meter-high Lhotse today. Anja used the Nepalese operator’s base camp but climbed the world’s fourth-highest mountain without a Sherpa guide. Her summit…
I still remember well the reaction of Everest legend Apa Sherpa. When I predicted in 2013 – on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest – that it was only a matter of time before Apa’s then-record of 21 summit successes on the world’s highest mountain would be broken, the…
In the coming days, the normal route to the summit of Mount Everest will become crowded. Most commercial teams have set out to take advantage of the window of good weather expected in the coming days. It is inevitable that traffic jams will occur at key points along the route. After all, the Nepalese Tourism…
