The spring climbing season on Nepal’s highest mountains is slowly but surely gathering pace. According to its own figures, the Nepalese Tourism Departmend issued a total of 114 climbing permits for foreign expedition members in March. Among them were the first 18 permits for Mount Everest. There is great anticipation regarding how many people will…
It’s only official once it’s in the Nepal Gazette. You should always keep that in mind when you read about reforms in the Himalayan state. Because in Nepalese politics, ideas are often discussed aloud. The media then usually communicate them as if they were already a done deal. However, many proposals end up back in…
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…
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…
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….
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…
This mountain Methuselah is simply incredible. Carlos Soria reached the summit of the 8,163-meter-high Manaslu in western Nepal today – at the age of 86, no less. 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,…
All good things come in threes, people say. On his third attempt, Andrzej Bargiel succeeded in scaling Mount Everest without bottled oxygen and skiing from the summit back down to base camp. “It’s one of the most important milestones in my sports career. Skiing down Everest without oxygen was a dream that had been growing…
The final stop was at around 7,400 meters. After almost ten hours of climbing, Tyler Andrews decided to abandon his speed attempt on Mount Everest and descend again. “Slower pace than planned, snow has gotten worse and harder to break through solo,” it said on his website. The 35-year-old long-distance runner from the USA wants…
The first reports of success from the 8,163-meter-high Manaslu are trickling in. On Sunday, the six-member Nepalese rope-fixing team – consisting of mountaineers Chhiring Bhote, Pasang Sherpa, Hira Bhote, Tashi Sherpa, Karma Sharki Sherpa, and Lakpa Sherpa – secured the normal route to the highest point and at the same time ensured the first summit…
“I’m drawn to Everest,” said Andrzej Bargiel in an interview with his sponsor Red Bull. “Partly out of curiosity, I want to see how my body copes at such altitude. And also because, although this place doesn’t have the best PR, there are moments, like autumn, when it’s peaceful and you can work there independently…
“In 1980 on Everest, I was more wiped out than ever before and not even after that,” Reinhold Messner told me five years ago when we talked about 20 August 1980—the day he stood alone on the summit of the highest mountain on earth. “I had fantastic weather, was very well acclimatized and made very…
“I can’t tell you how many missions I’ve flown per day. It’s not the numbers that are important to me, but the quality of the missions.” This statement says a lot about Maurizio Folini‘s character. The 59-year-old Italian is not only a helicopter pilot with heart and soul, but also a passionate mountain rescuer. Folini…
A week ago today, German mountaineer Anja Blacha experienced something on Mount Everest that is now a rarity: she had the summit all to herself – because she was the last summit contender of the spring season to reach the highest point on earth at 8,849 meters and was on her way without a Sherpa…
“At the moment, I see it above all as an unbalanced combination of numbers.” That was Anja Blacha’s answer a week and a half ago when I asked her what it meant to her that she had climbed eleven of her twelve eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen. Now she has provided a balanced combination of numbers….
