Annapurna I Archive - Adventure Mountain

15. April 202515. April 2025

Anja Blacha after summit success on Annapurna I: “I was very lucky”

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?

11. April 202511. April 2025

Annapurna: Mourning for Ngima Tashi Sherpa and Rima Rinje Sherpa

Ngima Tashi Sherpa (l.) and Rima Rinje Sherpa (r.)

It doesn’t help to turn a blind eye. Ngima Tashi Sherpa and Rima Rinje Sherpa almost certainly did not survive the avalanche accident on Monday on the eight-thousander Annapurna I in western Nepal. Four days later, the chances of finding them alive are close to zero.

10. April 202510. April 2025

Summit success on Makalu, Icefall Doctors complete route, eleventh 8000er for Anja Blacha

Makalu in first daylight, from Gokyo Ri (in 2016) — Makalu (seen from Gokyo Ri)

On Makalu, the fifth highest mountain on earth, the ropes are now fixed up to the highest point at 8,485 meters. According to Nepal’s largest expedition operator Seven Summit Treks, the eight-man rope-fixing team reached the summit today together with a Nepalese client.

The team was led by the experienced Lakpa Sherpa, who is not called Makalu Lakpa for nothing. It was his eighth time on this summit. In 2022, he made headlines when he scaled Makalu three times in 16 days. The Nepalese Ministry of Tourism has issued 40 climbing permits for Makalu this spring so far (as of 9 April).

7. April 20257. April 2025

Two missing after avalanche on Annapurna

In the midst of the summit success reports from the eight-thousander Annapurna I, news of an avalanche accident broke. Above Camp 2 (5,600 meters), a “huge avalanche” broke loose, as Chhang Dawa Sherpa, expedition leader of the operator Seven Summit Treks, reported on Instagram. “We suffered a terrible disaster. While ferrying oxygen cylinders for the summit push, two of our Climbing Sherpas, Ngima Tashi and Rima Rinje, were swept away.”

6. April 20256. April 2025

Summit success reported on Annapurna I

Annapurna massif — Northwestern view of Annapurna (the main summit on the left)

The first summit success of the spring season on Nepal’s eight-thousanders is achieved. The expedition operator Imagine Nepal announced that the Nepalese mountaineers Dipan Gurung and Phinjo Dorjee Sherpa, together with their Chinese client Zhao Yiyi, had reached the 8,091-meter-high summit of Annapurna I in western Nepal today. According to the company, it was not an easy summit success.

18. January 202518. January 2025

Winter expeditions on Manaslu and Annapurna abandoned

“Goodbye, dear Manaslu,” writes Simone Moro in his Instagram story today. “I can’t wait much more than some weeks and I don’t want to change my style to be welcome one day on your summit .” Two days ago, Simone had already announced that it was time to abandon the expedition: “The weather didn’t play in our favor and for the next two weeks on Manaslu there will be winds up to 150 km/h which makes it impossible for an alpine style summit push.”

The Italian had wanted to climb the eighth-highest mountain in the world together with the Nepalese Nima Rinji Sherpa and the Pole Oswald Rodrigo Peirera in one push, without bottled oxygen, without fixed high camps and without the support of high porters. So for the time being, the fact remains: never has an eight-thousander been summited in winter in alpine style.

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.

21. December 202421. December 2024

Mount Everest, Manaslu, Annapurna: Starting signal for eight-thousander winter expeditions in Nepal

Winter solstice. This Saturday, at 10.19 am Central European Time (9.19 am Universal Time), the calendar winter began. And that was also the official starting signal for three winter expeditions on eight-thousanders in Nepal. “My expedition will start right the next day on 22nd of December so that I‘m certain I start my climb fully in winter,” writes Jost Kobusch on Instagram.

In the past, there have always been discussions among mountaineers about what exactly is meant by a winter expedition. On the one hand, there were those who took the meteorological winter (1 December to 28/29 February) as a basis and insisted that the summit success had to be achieved by the end of February at the latest. On the other side were those for whom the calendar winter was the measure of all things: with the start on the winter solstice and the beginning of spring (in 2025 on 20 March) as deadline.

19. April 202419. April 2024

Norrdine Nouar after Annapurna summit success: “I’m still in the eight-thousander learning phase”

Norrdine Nouar on the summit of Annapurna I

Norrdine Nouar has scaled his second eight-thousander without bottled oxygen. Last Sunday (14 April), the 36-year-old German mountaineer stood on the 8,091-meter-high summit of Annapurna I in western Nepal. In spring 2023, Nouar had already scaled the 8,516-meter-high Lhotse. Norrdine did not join any large teams on either occasion, but went it alone – on the normal routes, which were secured with fixed ropes by the commercial teams.

Nouar was a late bloomer when it came to mountaineering. Neither his family nor his friends were drawn to the mountains. He is the son of a native Algerian who came to the former GDR as a guest worker and met his future German wife there. Norrine grew up in the southern German state of Franconia, studied International Technology Management and spent his free time playing computer games rather than going out into nature.

So why did the mountain fever take hold of him at some point? “Ever since I can remember, I have been driven by an insatiable curiosity, a thirst for adventure and the constant urge to take on a new challenge,” Norrdine writes on his website. “I couldn’t help but opt for an uncertain adventure. So I went to the mountains, albeit late.” He reached his first summit at the age of 23. He later climbed four-thousand-metre peaks in the Alps, in the High Atlas in Morocco and also high mountains in the Caucasus and other mountain regions around the world. Nouar has stood on the summits of Mont Blanc, Elbrus and Kilimanjaro, among others. He lives in the municipality of Oberstaufen in the Bavarion region of Allgäu.

After his summit success on Annapurna, Norrdine, currently in Kathmandu, answered my questions.

Norrdine, congratulations on your summit success on Annapurna I. What was going through your mind on the summit?

12. April 202417. April 2024

First summit successes of the season on Makalu and Annapurna I

The commercial climbing season on Nepal’s eight-thousanders has begun. The first summit successes of the spring were reported from two mountains higher than 8,000 meters – in both cases it was initially the teams of local climbers who fixed the ropes to the highest points.

According to Mingma Sherpa, head of Nepal’s largest expedition provider Seven Summit Treks (SST), an eight-man team led by Lakpa Sherpa reached the summit of Makalu at 8,485 meters yesterday, Thursday. The eight-thousander not far from Mount Everest is the fifth highest mountain on earth.

13. January 202413. January 2024

Alex Txikon abandons Annapurna winter expedition

“I cannot afford to expose my companions any further,” writes Alex Txikon on Instagram today, “and so, after discussing and meditating all morning, we have decided to say yes to life, leaving behind our pretensions of continuing to try.”

On Thursday, Txikon’s team had abandoned the ascent towards the summit of Annapurna I at Camp 3 at 6,400 meters and returned to base camp. In the days before, it had stormed heavily on the 8,091-meter-high mountain in western Nepal. The material deposited in Camp 3 a week earlier had been blown into a crevasse.

9. January 202411. January 2024

Annapurna winter expedition: rotation or summit attempt by Alex Txikon and Co.

Annapurna massif (Annapurna I on the left)

The Spaniard Alex Txikon and his team set off from the base camp of Annapurna I this morning Nepalese local time. In strong winds, they reached Camp 1 at an altitude of around 5,000 meters. According to Txikon’s media team, they had to pause for an hour on the way due to a strong avalanche.

This is the climbers’ third so-called rotation on the eight-thousander in western Nepal. The main aim is to acclimatize further. On the last round a week ago, the team brought equipment up to Camp 3 at around 6,700 meters. Due to stormy gusts in the summit area, the climbers did not continue their ascent but returned to base camp.

Even before the new ascent, the team kept the possibility of a summit attempt open. “We’ll see the weather forecast,” said Italian Mattia Conte in a video posted on Instagram yesterday. “Slowly, slowly, without stress!” The winter weather is expected to be relatively calm over the next few days. After that, it should snow again.

19. December 202319. December 2023

Winter attempts on the eight-thousanders Annapurna I and Gasherbrum I

“Although December is a very good and pleasant month in Nepal – I would say it is the best month of the year – the wind has made us suffer a lot,” Alex Txikon wrote on Instagram the day before yesterday. “It has blown between 70-80 km/hour, and we stopped very close to Chulu Far East, 6,059m. It is a nice mountain, but the wind has made us suffer … The most important thing is that we have spent many nights at high altitudes.” The 42-year-old Spaniard and his team are currently acclimatizing in the region around the eight-thousander Annapurna I in western Nepal for a winter attempt on the tenth highest mountain on earth.