No woman from Germany has stood on as many eight-thousanders as Anja Blacha. The 34-year-old has a good chance of becoming the first German woman to scale all 14 eight-thousanders. After her success on Annapurna I on 7 April, she is now only three short of the 14 highest mountains in the world: Lhotse (8,516 m) and Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) in Nepal and Shishapangma (8,027 m) in Tibet.
Anja climbs in commercial teams via the normal routes. She has summited ten of her eleven eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen. Blacha only used a breathing mask on her two Everest successes – in 2017 on the Tibetan north side and in 2021 on the Nepalese south side of the mountian. In the winter of 2019/2020, she reached the South Pole on skis after pulling her sled almost 1,400 kilometers from the coast of Antarctica – alone and without outside support.
Anja Blacha answered my three questions in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu:
Anja, first of all, congratulations on your eleventh eight-thousander. The conditions on Annapurna were extremely challenging and dangerous this spring. How did you fare on your ascent?
My ascent began in the best conditions and I was able to reach Camp 2 with ease. However, as I approached the risky key passage to Camp 3 in similarly good conditions, an avalanche broke loose. The two climbers a little further below me were still screaming and ran far enough away, while I pushed myself against the nearby ice wall and secured myself with a rope.
I was very lucky and got away showered in snow and ice with nothing but a broken helmet and soaked baselayers. But the shock was deep-seated. And when the weather changed shortly afterwards, I arrived at Camp 3 frozen through and wobbly on my feet.
The next day, I was the only one to continue the ascent together with the Pakistani mountaineer Sirbaz Khan and set up Camp 4 to shorten the summit day, which was too long for me due to the very short acclimatization time for an ascent without bottled oxygen from Camp 3 (6,400 m). On the summit day itself we had the best weather and fortunately there were no more difficult or dangerous passages, so I was able to reach the summit easily.
I don’t have a personal comparison to be able to assess the conditions compared to previous years. However, I have heard unanimously that the conditions were exceptionally dry and challenging. The dangerous and crevasse-filled conditions also meant that more rope was needed than usual and that the usual Camp 4 was riddled with rockfall, meaning that it was not a safe place for a larger commercial camp.
The large avalanche between Camps 2 and 3 – which killed Ngima Tashi Sherpa and Rima Rinje Sherpa – also destroyed some of the fixed ropes. Some climbers had to be flown to base camp by helicopter because of this. How did you get down?
After descending from the summit, I spent the night in Camp 4. That was the plan anyway and it turned out to be useful because Sirbaz and I had picked up another climber shortly before Camp 4 who was having difficulties descending further. At the time, I had already heard about the tragic death of the Sherpas in the avalanche accident, but knew nothing about problems with fixed ropes – and the next day I was able to descend the whole way to base camp on foot, well secured.
On the flat snowfield above Camp 2, the enormous traces of the avalanche could of course be seen and a crevasse (the one into which the Sherpas were swept and buried), which previously had to be crossed with ladders, had to be bypassed to the side because it had widened so enormously.
Of course I heard about the many helicopter missions. According to hearsay, only a few of them were justified due to medical emergencies.
Annapurna I was your eleventh eight-thousander, your tenth without bottled oxygen. How do you classify it?
Annapurna was the most dangerous mountain for me so far. The risk of avalanches from Camp 2 to Camp 3 is practically incalculable, as unfortunately proved once again. This makes acclimatization on the mountain particularly tricky for climbers without bottled oxygen – as is setting up a high camp and supplying materials from Camp 3 for climbers with Sherpa support (unless this is relieved by heli-shuttles).
The summit day is comparatively easy; the base camp is also beautifully and comfortably situated and allows for good regeneration.
