On Mount Everest, the first two deaths of the spring season are to be mourned. Today an Indian mountaineer was found dead in his tent at the South Col at 7,900 meters, apparently he had died of high altitude sickness during the night. He had reached the 8,850-meter-high summit on Thursday. Meanwhile the search for a 39-year-old Irishman, who has been missing since yesterday, was stopped. During the descent from the highest point he had slipped and fallen from an altitude of about 8,300 meters into depth. There is no hope any more to find him alive. The wind in the summit area has refreshed and makes a further search impossible for the time being.
During the first good weather window of the season, more than 100 climbers reached the summit of Everest, obviously all of them used bottled oxygen. Last year, according to the mountaineering chronicle “Himalayan Database”, among 802 climbers standing on the roof of the world, only one was successful without breathing mask: 32-year-old Sonam Finju Sherpa.
Also this spring only very, very few climbers tackle the mountain without bottled oxygen. One of them is – as reported – the German professional mountaineer David Göttler. The 40-year-old has completed his acclimatization and is now waiting in Everest Base Camp for a favourable time for his summit attempt without breathing mask.
David, there are aerial photos circulating from Everest Base Camp. It doesn’t look like a camp, but like a tent city. How is it to live there?
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