Expeditions Archive - Page 7 of 17

2. May 20222. May 2022

Hans Wenzl after Annapurna success: “Without risk it does not work”

Goal achieved: Hans Wenzl on the top of Annapurna

Unlike the two climbers with whom he set out for the summit of Annapurna, Hans Wenzl will return home from the eight-thousander in western Nepal without frostbite. As reported, the 51-year-old Austrian reached the 8,091-meter-high summit last Thursday – and returned safely to base camp. It was Wenzl’s tenth eight-thousander that he scaled without breathing mask.

The Italian Giampaolo Corona and the Swede Tim Bogdanov, with whom Hans had teamed up on the ascent, also reached the summit, but had to be rescued by helicopter from high altitude on the descent. Hans Wenzl answered my questions after his return to base camp.

Hans, when will you let the bottle caps fly after your tenth eight-thousander success?

I don’t feel like celebrating until I’m back in Kathmandu. I didn’t feel like it at base camp – especially because two of my friends were still on the mountain this time and we didn’t know how it would turn out for them.

How was it for you, up there on the summit at 8,091 meters? What was going through your mind?

28. April 202230. April 2022

Summit successes on Annapurna I – Hans Wenzl’s tenth coup

Summit day on Annapurna I. About 20 climbers from three commercial teams reached the summit of the tenth highest mountain on earth at 8,091 meters today, according to the Internet portal ExplorersWeb: about half Climbing Sherpas, the other half paying clients. In the latter group was also the Austrian Hans Wenzl, who thus scaled his tenth eight-thousander.

This is particularly remarkable for two reasons. First, Hans is not a professional mountaineer – nor is he a zillionaire: The 51-year-old earns his money as a foreman for an Austrian construction company, and takes time off for his expeditions. Wenzl lives in Metnitz, a town with 2,500 inhabitants in northern Carinthia, and has two grown-up sons with his wife Sonja.

On the other hand, he climbed his first nine eight-thousanders before Annapurna all without bottled oxygen. And I have no reason to believe that this time was any different.

26. April 202228. April 2022

Summit attempts on Kangchenjunga, Annapurna and Makalu

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa is again in the lead. After leading the first commercial team to an eight-thousander this spring, on the 8167-meter-high Dhaulagiri, the head of the Nepalese expedition operator Imagine Nepal had himself flown by helicopter to Kangchenjunga in the east of the country. There, his Climbing Sherpas had already begun securing the normal route on the south side of the mountain.

Today, Mingma and Co. wanted to fix the ropes above Camp 4 (at about 7,550 meters). Planned summit day is Wednesday. The highest point is at 8,586 meters. This makes Kangchenjunga the third highest mountain on earth after Mount Everest and K2.

19. April 202221. April 2022

Dhaulagiri again “bitchy” to Carlos Soria

Carlos Soria (l.) and Sito Carcavilla (r.)

Probably no other climber on the eight-thousanders in Nepal this spring has as many people crossing their fingers as the Spanish senior Carlos Soria. And just as many are likely to be a bit disappointed again today: “After seeing the weather forecasts, Carlos Soria and Sito Carcavilla decided to descend to base camp and wait for a more favorable opportunity,” Carlos’ team let it be known via Twitter. Snowfall is expected for the next few days on Dhaulagiri in western Nepal.

The climber, now 83, his Spanish teammate Sito Carcavilla and their six-member Sherpa team had ascended to Camp 3 at around 7,400 meters. One stage was still missing to the summit at 8,167 meters.

9. April 20229. April 2022

Summit success reported from Dhaulagiri

The first success report from a commercial expedition this spring season on Nepal’s eight-thousanders is in. The operator Imagine Nepal let it be known that today 22 team members reached the 8,167-meter-high summit of Dhaulagiri in the west of the country: expedition leader Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, the head of the company and eleven Nepalese Climbing Sherpas, as well as ten clients from seven countries. It was not disclosed whether anyone climbed without bottled oxygen. Mingma, one of ten Nepali climbers who succeeded in the first winter ascent of K2 in 2021, had announced two days ago that the team’s summit push was underway.

28. March 202228. March 2022

Spring season on the eight-thousanders of Nepal: In the starting blocks

Hans Wenzl (at Everest Base Camp in 2017)

The spring climbing season in Nepal starts moving. The first foreign mountaineers have already arrived in the Himalayan state, among them Austrian Hans Wenzl. The 51-year-old is attempting the 8,091-meter-high Annapurna in the west of the country this spring. Hans, who earns his living not as a professional climber but as a foreman for an Austrian construction company, has already scaled nine eight-thousanders – all without bottled oxygen, including Mount Everest (in 2017) and K2 (in 2019).

12. March 202212. March 2022

Nepal ahead of spring season: Fewer climbers on Mount Everest?

View of Mount Everest (l.) and Lhotse (from Namche)

And again it will probably be a difficult spring season in the mountains of Nepal. In 2020 nothing went at all because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, a wave of infections also hit the base camps on Mount Everest and Dhaulagiri – the fact that the Nepalese government has not admitted this to this day is and remains a scandal. And now in spring 2022, the Russian war in Ukraine is causing uncertainty worldwide – certainly also among mountaineers.

31. January 20222. February 2022

Avalanche accident on Cerro Torre: Mourning for Corrado Pesce

“He can no longer be alive.” With these words, the Argentine doctor Carolina Codo, head of the Patagonian Mountain Rescue Center, ended on Sunday the already slim hopes that the Italian top climber Corrado, called “Korra” Pesce could have survived the Cerro Torre avalanche accident. The 41-year-old’s body was discovered by drone, she said, lying 50 meters below a rock platform where Pesce and his Argentine rope partner, Tomas Aguilo, had spent the night from Thursday to Friday. “At that altitude, and without adequate protection, death from hypothermia comes after a maximum of two hours.”

20. December 202129. December 2021

Gelje Sherpa: The “Mountain Tiger” wants to climb Cho Oyu

Gelje Sherpa wants to kill two birds with one stone this winter. The 29-year-old wants to open a new route on the Nepalese side of the 8,188-meter-high Cho Oyu that is suitable for commercial expeditions, and at the same time climb his 13th eight-thousander. Should he succeed, the only peak missing from his collection would be Broad Peak. Gelje thus has a good chance of replacing his Nepalese compatriot Mingma “David” Sherpa as the youngest climber to have stood on all eight-thousanders. “That would be the cherry on top,” Gelje writes me. “It would surely give me various opportunities and strengthen my mountain career.”

10. December 202110. December 2021

Simone Moro before Manaslu winter attempt: “All options are open”

The early bird catches the worm. That’s what Simone Moro seems to have thought. The Italian mountaineer has set off earlier than ever before on a winter expedition in the Himalayas. The 54-year-old is already in the Khumbu region, the area around Mount Everest. Simone wants to acclimatize on the 6,812-meter-high Ama Dablam for his real goal, which he wants to realize – as last winter – together with the Spaniard Alex Txikon: the winter ascent of the 8,163-meter-high Manaslu in western Nepal and, if possible, of the 7,992-meter-high Pinnacle East in front of it.

This spectacular traverse was first achieved by the two Poles Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer in November 1986, i.e. in fall. The first winter ascent of Manaslu – without traverse – was also made by Poles: Maciej Berbeka and Ryszard Gajewski reached the summit in January 1984.

Moro is a true winter specialist: He managed four winter first ascents of eight-thousanders, more than any other climber: Shishapangma (2005), Makalu (2009), Gasherbrum II (2011) and Nanga Parbat (2016). The Italian answered my questions:

10. November 202110. November 2021

Ukrainians succeed with a bang on Annapurna III

Successful trio: Viacheslav Polezhaiko, Nikita Balabanov and Mikhail Fomin (from l. to r.)

This goal was almost never missing from anyone’s list of remaining ultimate alpinistic challenges in the Himalayas and Karakoram: the Southeast Ridge of the 7555-meter-high Annapurna III in western Nepal. Now this project can be crossed off the lists. According to Ukrainians Nikita Balabanov, Mikhail Fomin and Viacheslav “Slava” Polezhaiko, they climbed the route completely and reached the summit. In the meantime, the trio returned safely to Kathmandu.

4. November 20215. November 2021

Dispute over first ascent on Tengkangpoche defused

It reminds me a little of the video proof introduced in European football. Spontaneous joy in the stadium over a goal is hardly possible anymore, because in the back of the mind there is always the thought: Hopefully the video assistant referee won’t take the goal back.

In mountaineering, there is no such referee, but when I hear about a success, I think more and more often: That sounds great, but maybe I should wait and see before reacting enthusiastically. Social media is a key contributor to this reticence. To put it drastically: No sooner is a sow on the market than it is driven through the village with a loud roar – and is difficult to catch again.

This is what happened after Tom Livingstone announced yesterday that he and his British compatriot Matt Glenn had succeeded in making the first ascent of the technically demanding Northeast Pillar of the 6,487-meter-high Tengkangpoche in Nepal. A little later, an article was published on the portal “Evening Sends” under the title: “Poaching on Tengkangpoche: A ‘slimy’ first ascent”.

3. November 20213. November 2021

Tengkangpoche, Cholatse, Chobutse: New routes in the Everest region

Tengkangpoche (seen from Thame), on the right the Northeast Pillar

The two top British climbers Tom Livingstone and Matt Glenn have succeeded in a sensational first ascent in the Khumbu. According to Tom, they opened a new route via the Northeast Pillar of the 6,487-meter-high Tengkangpoche. “We spent seven days on the route, which was one of the trickier things I’ve done,” the 30-year-old wrote on Instagram.

1. November 20218. November 2021

Three French climbers missing in the Khumbu

Mountain rescuers at the foot of Minbo Ider

Great concern for the French top talents Thomas Arfi, Louis Pachoud and Gabriel Miloche: the three young climbers have apparently been buried by an avalanche at the 6,017-meter-high Minbo Ider in the Khumbu region in Nepal. The summit is not far from the shapely Ama Dablam (6,812 m).

The French trio had set out last week to ascend through a couloir in the West Face of Minbo Ider. After they failed to report back, a rescue operation had been launched over the weekend.

On Sunday, pilots from the Nepalese helicopter company Kailash Helicopter Services spotted a track on the summit ridge that ended at the breakaway edge of an avalanche, and several pieces of equipment, including two backpacks, in an avalanche cone at the foot of the wall. Today, mountain rescuers were dropped off at the site to search for the missing climbers.

27. October 202127. October 2021

First small rays of hope for mountain tourism in Nepal

Yaks with tourist bags in the alleys of Namche Bazaar

Trekking tourists posing at a spot in the Khumbu with a view of Mount Everest or at the site of the base camp at the foot of the highest mountain on earth – pictures like these are currently circulating again on social networks. A sign that mountain tourism in Nepal is slowly but surely picking up again after the period of deep depression during the corona pandemic. The first numbers trickling in seem to confirm this.

According to the Sagarmatha National Park administration, about 1,400 tourists came to the Everest region in September, compared to only about 170 in the same month in 2020. Ang Dorjee Sherpa, owner of the AD Friendship Lodge in Namche Bazaar, enthusiastically told me two weeks ago that around 250 tourists had arrived in the main village of the Khumbu region in one day. A year ago, there had often been only a handful of trekkers per day.