January 2025 - Adventure Mountain

12. January 202512. January 2025

Jost Kobusch ends winter expedition on Mount Everest

Jost Kobusch in the Khumbu region — Jost Kobusch in the Khumbu, the Region in Nepal around Mount Everest

The premature end to his winter expedition on the highest mountain on earth does not come as a complete surprise to me. Even after Jost Kobusch‘s first push of the season on his route – he reached an altitude of around 7,500 meters on the West Ridge on 27 December and thus already achieved the goal he had set himself for his third Everest winter expedition – the 32-year-old German mountaineer reacted rather cautiously to my question as to whether he would climb up again.

Survived earthquake physically unscathed

Jost finally set off again at the beginning of last week and was surprised by the effects of the strong earthquake in Tibet while climbing to Lho La, a pass that connects the Nepalese Everest Valley with the Tibetan side, in his tent at 5,700 meters. He survived the tremors physically unscathed. But after his return to his “base camp” in the “Pyramid”, an Italian research station and lodge located at around 5,000 meters, Kobusch seemed even more indecisive.

10. January 202510. January 2025

Eight-thousander winter expeditions in Nepal: Waiting for the chance

Winter expeditions on eight-thousanders are no walk in the park. In addition to the extreme physical challenges due to the extreme cold of sometimes minus 30 degrees Celsius or even lower and the usually low air pressure, the weather is also unpredictable: there is the threat of heavy snowfall, which leads to an increased risk of avalanches, and stormy gusts, sometimes up to hurricane force, which can literally sweep a mountaineer off the mountain. The number of real summit opportunities with acceptable conditions on the mountain is small. And so winter mountaineers often have to exercise patience.

Moro: “Like a game of chess with wind and elements”

On the 8,167-meter-high Manaslu in western Nepal the Italian Simone Moro, the Nepalese Nima Rinji Sherpa and the Pole Oswald Rodrigo Perreira climbed to the base camp at around 4,800 meters today. “It will be a chess game with the wind and elements, hoping to find a window of good conditions,” Simone wrote on Instagram before setting off.

7. January 20258. January 2025

Jost Kobusch experienced earthquake in tent on Everest: “Everything shook”

Jost Kobusch - on the West Shoulder of Mount Everest on 27 December — Jost Kobusch – on the West Shoulder of Mount Everest on 27 December

Jost Kobusch was surprised on Mount Everest by the effects of today’s strong earthquake in Tibet in his tent at an altitude of around 5,700 meters. “At first I thought a serac (block of glacial ice) had gone off next to me,” the 32-year-old German mountaineer tells me on the phone. “Then I realized that everything was shaking.”

Kobusch had spent the night about halfway up on the way to Lho La. The pass connects the Everest Valley on the Nepalese south side with Tibet. This is where the West Ridge begins, over which Jost wants to climb Mount Everest in winter. After reaching an altitude of around 7,500 meters on his planned route on 27 December, this time he climbed “without any expectations”, says Kobusch. “I just wanted to feel what was possible. I had everything I needed to possibly climb higher.”

7. January 20257. January 2025

Strong earthquake in Tibet near Mount Everest

Approach to Mount Everest (center) through the Tibetan region of Tingri (in 2005)

The border region between Tibet and Nepal not far from Mount Everest was shaken by a strong earthquake today. According to Chinese reports, it reached a magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale, while the US earthquake observatory measured a magnitude of 7.1.

Chinese state media reported at least around 120 dead and hundreds injured on the Tibetan side. The epicenter was in the county of Tingri, around 80 kilometers north of Everest.

Tingri is the gateway for many mountaineers and trekking tourists making their way to the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest – or to the north side of the eight-thousander Cho Oyu.

In the Khumbu, the region on the Nepalese south side of Everest, the earth also shook. No major damage has been reported from there so far. The earth tremors were also felt in the capital Kathmandu, as well as in the neighboring countries of Bhutan and India.

1. January 20251. January 2025