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.”
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 Benjamin 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.
The 6,781-meter-high Kimshung in Nepal
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?
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.
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.
Seven people died in an avalanche on Yalung Ri in Nepal
“Nature is unpredictable and is becoming increasingly so,” mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner told the SouthTyrolean internet portal altoadige.it: “It has changed radically and has also become more dangerous due to climate change, which has led to a rise in temperatures, making the mountains and glaciers much more fragile and unstable.”
In recent days, there have been avalanches in both the Alps and the Himalayas, resulting in numerous fatalities.
Classic alpinism is alive and well! For me, this is evident in the fact that I can hardly keep up with reporting on all the extraordinary climbs this fall season in Nepal.
The Russian team opened a “new alpine-style route on the immense, uncharted Southwest Face,” Anna wrote on Facebook. Andrey sent her a short message from the highest point: “(We) Made the summit, just got back to the tent. It was brutal. The wind up there was insane.”
Hervé Barmasse, Felix Berg, and Adam Bieleki (from right to left) at the summit of Numbur
Once again, there has been a great achievement of true alpinism in the Himalayas in Nepal: by “the three Bs.”
Felix Berg from Germany, Hervé Barmasse from Italy, and Adam Bielecki from Poland opened a new route through the approximately 1,000-meter-high South Face of the rarely climbed 6,958-meter-high Numbur in the Rolwaling Valley, not far from Mount Everest – and they did it alpine style: without bottled oxygen, without fixed ropes, without fixed high camps, and without Sherpa support.
“For me personally, it was nice to be able to do some alpine climbing again after recently being busy leading and guiding (commercial) tours,” says Felix Berg, managing director of expedition operatur SummitClimb. “I have to say, it’s one of my highlight tours in Nepal.”
The first ascent of the 7,468-meter-high Jannu East is “undoubtedly the greatest achievement of my mountaineering career,” said the 33-year-old Frenchman after his coup in eastern Nepal, which he accomplished together with his 27-year-old compatriot Nicolas Jean.
“Climbing such a challenging, long and difficult face in alpine style, on a summit that had never been climbed before, had a profound effect on me. It was a dream that Nicolas and I achieved together.” When they reached the highest point, tears flowed, said Benjamin.
“It was too dangerous after the accident. When Thomas went back to Laila Peak, she was nowhere to be found. So Laura remains on the mountain. There is no chance of recovering her.” Andreas Dahlmeier gave the interview together with German top climber Thomas Huber – in the hope that peace will finally return.
Now “all doors to speculation are closed,” Thomas hopes on Instagram. As if losing their child or sister wasn’t bad enough, the Dahlmeier family was confronted with unspeakable discussions and disrespectful comments on (un)social media after Laura’s fatal accident.
When I close my eyes and think back to the North Face of Mount Everest 20 years ago, I see the so-called Supercouloir in front of me. The Japanese Couloir in the lower section and the Hornbein Couloir further up run through the wall like a straight line. An aesthetic line, a route that seems almost logical even to amateurs like me. And yet so steep, demanding, and dangerous.
In 2005, I was traveling as a reporter with Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Ralf Dujmovits, and Hirotaka Takeuchi, and I admired the Supercouloir for weeks from the Advanced Base Camp on the Central Rongbuk Glacier. The trio’s attempt to climb this route failed at the time due to conditions in the lower part of the wall.
Skill and luck
Jim Morrison (in 2018)
The fact that ski mountaineer Jim Morrison skied down this combination of two couloirs yesterday and survived unscathed borders on a minor miracle in my opinion.
“When I finally crossed the bergschrund [crevasse between the base of the wall and the glacier], I cried,” Morrison told a reporter from his sponsor National Geographic. “I’d risked so much, but I was alive.” The 50-year-old must realize that, despite all his skiing skill, he also needed luck – and got it.
On the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest, several members of the team led by American ski mountaineer Jim Morrison have apparently reached the summit at 8,849 meters today. This was reported by the Nepalese internet portal “The Tourism Times,” citing sources close to the expedition. The mountaineers climbed through the Hornbein Couloir, it said. There is no other source for this information as yet.
According to this information, Morrison planned to ski down from the highest point through the couloir on the North Face of Everest. With his project, he wanted to commemorate his partner Hilaree Nelson, who fell to her death in fall 2022 while attempting a joint descent from the summit of Manaslu, according to The Tourism Times. It is not yet known whether Morrison was able to carry out his plan.
I must admit that I have almost given up trying to keep track of who has climbed how many eight-thousanders, when, and in what style.
There are now so many commercial expeditions that it is – at least for me – hardly possible to keep track of them all and verify their success stories, which are mostly published on social media. The periods in which paying clients of commercial operators “tick off” the 14 eight-thousanders are also getting shorter and shorter. Therefore, I make no claim to completeness.
It took her three and a half years to achieve the feat. Cho Oyu was Afsaneh’s third eight-thousander this year, after Kangchenjunga in spring and Dhaulagiri in fall.
It shouldn’t surprise me anymore, because it’s nothing new. And yet I am always astonished at how quickly and comprehensively the media avalanche rolls in as soon as Mount Everest comes into play.
That wouldn’t be so tragic if those involved in the information industry would take the trouble to check the facts before blasting out their news films, videos, and reports on all channels – accompanied by sensationalist headlines and flanked by lurid posts on social networks. On Monday, it happened again.
Benjamin Vedrines (l.) and Nicolas Jean on the summit of Anidesh Chuli
French climbers Benjamin Vedrines and Nicolas Jean have filled in a blank spot on the map of high mountains. The strong duo climbed the 6,808-meter-high Anidesh Chuli in eastern Nepal, not far from the eight-thousander Kangchenjunga, in one day – in alpine style, i.e. without bottled oxygen, without fixed high camps, without fixed ropes, and without Sherpa support.
This means that the Spaniard is now listed in the record books as the oldest person ever to stand on an eight-thousander. He replaces Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura, who climbed Mount Everest in 2013 at the age of 80 – for the third time in his life.
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