Nepal Archive - Adventure Mountain

30. November 202430. November 2024

Dawa Yangzum Sherpa: “14 peaks not important as a record”

Dawa Yangzum Sherpa on the summit of Shishapangma

Anyone who regularly reads my blog knows that I have a very distanced relationship with supposed “records” in mountaineering. I make an exception for Dawa Yangzum Sherpa, because she is a true pioneer of women’s mountaineering. For more than a decade, she has been campaigning for women in her home country of Nepal to be given the opportunity to climb mountains and earn a living there. On 9 October, Dawa Yangzum summited the 8,027-meter-high Shishapangma in Tibet, becoming the first woman from Nepal to have saled all 14 eight-thousanders.

First Asian woman with an international mountain guide certificate

The Sherpani, who grew up with three brothers and two sisters in a small mountain village in the Rolwaling Valley, had already set milestones before. In 2014, she reached the summit of K2 with her compatriots Maya Sherpa and Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita. They were the first women from Nepal to scale the second highest mountain on earth. In 2017, Dawa Yangzum became the first woman in Asia to receive an international mountain guide certificate and has been working regularly as a mountain guide ever since, among others on Mount Everest.

Since 2020, she has been offering climbing courses for young Nepalese women in the Khumbu region. She herself has lived in Boulder in the USA for years and works for the expedition operator Alpine Ascents International. The 34-year-old Nepalese answered my questions.

Dawa Yangzum, first of all, congratulations on completing your collection of eight-thousanders. Would you highlight one of the 14 ascents in particular?

29. November 202429. November 2024

“School up – far west” successfully completed

Thank you! The most important words belongs at the beginning. “All the construction work has been completed,” Nepalhilfe Beilngries lets me know. The school in the village of Rama in the Humla District in the far west of Nepal has been completed.

Around 350 children from Rama and the surrounding hamlets in the municipality of Tanjakot now have a safe roof over their heads as they study, hopefully giving them a good foundation for their future lives. Nepalhilfe Beilngries had two school buildings built on a mountainside at an altitude of around 2,600 meters – with a total of twelve classrooms, a kitchen block and separate toilets for girls and boys. The construction was made possible by your donations for “School up – far west”!

14. November 202414. November 2024

Farewell on Putha Hiunchuli: Alix von Melle scatters the ashes of her husband Luis Stitzinger

At the summit of Putha Hiunchuli, Alix von Melle leaves Luis' ashes to the wind — At the summit of Putha Hiunchuli, Alix von Melle leaves Luis’ ashes to the wind

I often think about Luis Stitzinger these days. Now that his widow Alix von Melle has spread his ashes on the 7,246-meter-high Putha Hiunchuli in western Nepal. The same place where I first attempted a seven-thousander in 2011 – in vain, I had to turn back at 7,150 meters. Alix’s expedition leader on Putha Hiunchuli was now the Austrian Herbert Wolf – as he was for me 13 years ago.

And with Eva-Maria Ramsebner, from Austria too, there was also someone en route from the team with whom I was able to celebrate the first ascent of the 7,129-meter-high Kokodak Dome in western China in 2014. Expedition leader at the time: Luis Stitzinger. So many interfaces – no wonder I remember him so often these days.

5. November 20245. November 2024

Summit attempt of the Russian Cho Oyu expedition abandoned

View from the East Ridge at around 7,300 meters towards the summit of Cho Oyu

“We have decided to go down. We can’t get to the night camp behind the hollow (on the summit ridge) in one day. We have neither the time nor the strength to make it. Today we’ll collect the equipment. Tomorrow – down.” With these words, the Russian mountaineer Andrej Vasiliev announced to the portal mountain.ru the end of the summit attempt on the Nepalese side of the 8,188-meter-high Cho Oyu.

Vasiliev and his compatriots Vitaly Shipilov, Kirill Eizeman and Sergei Kondrashin turned back on the summit ridge at an altitude of around 8,000 meters. They had previously reported deep snow on the route. It was their fourth unsuccessful attempt since the start of their expedition at the end of September, which is now likely to be over.

3. November 20247. November 2024

Death on Langtang Lirung: Mourning for Slovakian mountaineer Ondrej Huserka

The small spark of hope that the Slovakian climber Ondrej Huse r ka could be rescued alive from a crevasse on the 7,227-meter-high Langtang Lirung in Nepal has been extinguished. His Czech climbing partner Marek Holecek reported on Facebook that Ondrej died in his arms after falling into a crevasse on the descent on Thursday.

“I was rappelling down from (an) Abalakov thread. Ondra rappelled after me. What held fine for me proved fatal for him. (The) Abalakov thread cracked, and he fell into an ice crevasse. First, he hit an angled surface after an eight-meter drop, then continued down a labyrinth into the depths of the glacier. I rappelled down to him and stayed with him for four hours until his light faded. There’s nothing more to add.”

2. November 20242. November 2024

Drama on Langtang Lirung: Concern for Slovakian climber Ondrej Huserka

There is a fine line between triumph and tragedy on the world’s highest mountains. Three days after the news of the first ascent of the extremely challenging East Face of the seven-thousander Langtang Lirung in Nepal by the Czech Marek Holecek and the Slovak Ondrej Huserka, there is bad news: Ondrej fell into a crevasse on the descent two days ago, reports Slovakian mountaineer Eva Milovka, who is part of Huserka’s home team, on Facebook.

“His partner – Marek Holecek – was not able to recover him and after shouting to him and hearing no response, he assessed that Ondrej is dead and descended alone to the base camp. Yesterday was a helicopter rescue flight and nobody was willing to descent onto to glacier due to some objective dangers of the place. We have hope that Ondrej is still alive.”

31. October 202431. October 2024

Holecek and Huserka succeed in first ascent of the East Face of the seven-thousander Langtang Lirung in Nepal

Marek Holecek (l.) and Ondrej Huserka in the tent — Marek Holecek (l.) and Ondrej Huserka

Marek Holecek gave himself an early present for his 50th birthday on 5 November. The Czech top mountaineer, together with 34-year-old Slovakian Ondrej Huserka, climbed the extremely challenging 2,200-meter-high East Face of the 7,227-meter-high Langtang Lirung for the first time. Holecek let it be known via satellite phone that it took them a total of five and a half days to complete the climb and that they reached the summit yesterday, Wednesday, at 11 am. The two were climbing in alpine style – i.e. without fixed ropes and without fixed high camps.

10. October 202410. October 2024

Accident on Jannu East: mourning for US mountaineer Mike Gardner

Another top alpinist has been lost forever in the mountains. Mike Gardner fell to his death last Monday on the still unclimbed 7,468-meter-high Jannu East (also known as Kumbhakarna East) in eastern Nepal. Mike was only 32 years old.

Together with his friend and rope partner Sam Hennessey, the mountain guide from the US state of Colorado had attempted to climb the extremely challenging 2,400-meter-high North Face of Jannu East in alpine style – i.e. without bottled oxygen and without fixed high camps – for the third time after 2019 and 2023. It is still unclear exactly how the fatal fall occurred.

Hennessey had alerted the French climbers Benjamin Vedrines, Leo Billon and Nicolas Jean, who had also attempted the wall in alpine style. The French trio had already decided to turn back because Billon was not feeling well. Together with Hennessey, the Frenchmen abseiled down to the base of the wall. Their search for Gardner – on foot and with the help of a drone – was unsuccessful. They only discovered some of the fallen climber’s equipment.

8. October 202416. October 2024

Drama on Dhaulagiri: Five Russian climbers lost their lives

At first it was an apprehension, now it is a sad certainty: five Russian climbers with whom radio contact was lost on Sunday on the eight-thousander Dhaulagiri in western Nepal are dead. According to the newspaper “The Himalayan Times”, the crew of a rescue helicopter discovered the bodies of the five missing mountaineers at an altitude of around 7,100 meters. It is assumed that Alexander Dusheyko, Oleg Kruglov, Vladimir Chistikov, Mikhail Nosenko and Dmitrii Shpilevoi fell around 500 meters to their dead, it said.

27. September 202427. September 2024

Anja Blacha after her Manaslu success: “I had the summit to myself”

After the eight-thousander is before the eight-thousander. This year, this also applies to Anja Blacha, who has now climbed nine of the 14 highest mountains in the world. This makes the 34-year-old the German woman with the most eight-thousander summit successes.

Last spring, she first scaled Makalu (8,485 meters) and then Kangchenjunga (8,586 meters), both without bottled oxygen. She also climbed without a breathing mask during her successful ascent on Manaslu (8,163 meters) on Monday. Now Blacha wants to try her hand at Cho Oyu (8,188 meters). She answered my questions in Tibet.

Anja, Manaslu was your third eight-thousander summit this year. How did you fare on your ascent?

25. September 202425. September 2024

Summit success on Manaslu – eight-thousander number nine for Anja Blacha

German high-altitude mountaineer Anja Blacha has scaled the 8,163-meter-high Manaslu in western Nepal. According to Nepal’s largest expedition operator, Seven Summit Treks, the 34-year-old reached the summit on Monday morning local time – without bottled oxygen.

It was Anja’s ninth eight-thousander summit success – all of them with teams from commercial operators. She achieved eight of them without a breathing mask. She only used bottled oxygen on her two ascents of Mount Everest – in 2017 via the Tibetan north side and in 2021 via the Nepalese south side of the mountain.

10. September 202410. September 2024

After the flood – donations for the schoolchildren of Thame

For many people in the mountain village of Thame in the Everest region, the zero hour struck on 16 August. As reported, large parts of the village were destroyed that day – by masses of water, debris and mud from two glacial lakes below Tesi Lapche La (also known as Tashi Lapcha). The 5,755-meter-high pass leads from the Rolwaling Valley into the Khumbu. According to the regional administration, the flood hit at least 18 buildings. These included an elementary school and an infirmary in Thame, both built and financed by the Himalayan Trust, the aid organization of the Everest first ascender Sir Edmund Hillary, who died in 2008.

27. June 202427. June 2024

Nepal’s government is distancing itself from Nirmal Purja

While the summer season has started in the mountains of the Karakoram in Pakistan, the past spring season is still being dealt with in Nepal. Nepalese mountaineering star Nirmal Purja is in a lot of trouble. According to the newspaper “The Himalayan Times”, the Department of Tourism within the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation recommended strict action against Purja and his commercial expedition company Elite Exped.

Both had violated several mountaineering rules of the Nepalese Tourism Act in the past season, it is said. “Now the ball is in the Ministry’s court,” the newspaper quotes a source from the Department of Tourism. Among other things, it is responsible for issuing permits to climb the high mountains of Nepal.

19. June 202419. June 2024

The somewhat different spring season in Nepal: first ascents on six- and seven-thousanders

Symon Welfringer and Charles Duboulaz on the summit of Hungchhi — Symon Welfringer (l.) and Charles Dubouloz on the summit of Hungchhi

Ask anyone what name of a mountain spontaneously comes to mind and you will probably get the answer Mount Everest, with a few exceptions. Quite simply because the highest mountain is synonymous with mountains in general. This also explains the overwhelming interest of the general public in everything to do with the 8,849-meter-high mountain in the border region between Nepal and Tibet. The Everest hype still leaves a little attention for the other 13 eight-thousanders. But what happens below the magical but actually arbitrary limit of 8,000 meters is of little or no interest to the masses.

Yet for years, the real alpinism has been on the seven-, six- and five-thousanders. This is where the world’s best mountaineers not only find their technical playgrounds, but also the peace and quiet they need to face great challenges. Like the two Frenchmen Charles Dubouloz and Symon Welfringer this spring.

13. June 202413. June 2024

Anja Blacha after Kangchenjunga success: “Never had such heavy legs on the descent”

Now no other woman from Germany has stood on eight-thousanders more often than Anja Blacha. The mountaineer, who celebrates her 34th birthday on 18 June, achieved a last-minute summit success on the 8,586-meter-high Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, at the end of the spring season on the eight-thousanders in Nepal. She had already scaled the 8,485-meter-high Makalu, the fifth-highest of all mountains, on 12 May. On both mountains, Anja climbed on the normal routes, with teams from the commercial expedition operator Seven Summit Treks (SST) and did without bottled oxygen herself.

These were her seventh and eighth eight-thousanders after Mount Everest (in 2017 and 2021), Broad Peak, K2 (both in 2019), Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I and II (these three in 2023). Only on Everest did she use a breathing mask on her ascents. This means that the German mountaineer now has one more eight-thousander summit success to her name than Alix von Melle, who has summited seven eight-thousanders to date. Anja Blacha answered my questions after her return from Kangchenjunga.

Congratulations, Anja. You scaled Makalu and now Kangchenjunga at the end of the spring season without bottled oxygen. With eight eight-thousanders to your name, you can now call yourself the most successful German female high-altitude mountaineer. How does that feel?