The Nepalese south side of Mount Everest (in 2002)
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 the drawer as quickly as they came out.
This also applies to many political ideas surrounding mountaineering on Nepal’s eight-thousanders. They come and go. So what has the government in Kathmandu published in the Nepal Gazette ahead of the upcoming spring climbing season, and what is now official?
No chance. “Biting cold and strong winds made it impossible to proceed,” said Sanu Sherpa, according to the Nepalese portal The Tourism Times. The rescue team led by Sanu returned from Camp IV at around 7,900 meters to the base camp at the foot of Makalu.
The rescuers from the commercial expedition operators Makalu Adventure and 8K Expeditions would return to Kathmandu in the coming days after what was now their second unsuccessful attempt, it was reported. Further ascents would be too dangerous in view of the continuing bad weather and the high altitude.
The 8,485-meter-high Makalu in Nepal (left, with the 7,000er Chamlang on the right)
The line between triumph and tragedy can be very thin on eight-thousanders. Yesterday, Thursday, the second winter ascent of Makalu was celebrated; today, a Nepalese mountaineer who lost his life is being mourned.
“This morning, at 10:27, our client Abolfazl Gozali and his guide Sanu Sherpa reached the summit of Mount Makalu (8,485 m),” reported Nepalese expedition operator Makalu Adventure on Facebook.
Indian client Piyali Basak felt unwell at Camp 3 and returned to base camp, it said. The successful summit team is expected to return there tomorrow, Friday.
The fifth-highest mountain on earth had previously been climbed only once in winter: in February 2009 by Italian Simone Moro and Denis Urubko, who was born in the Russian North Caucasus. As with all their ascents, the two professional mountaineers did not use bottled oxygen.
“If you have a dream and dedicate yourself and never give up, you can achieve anything – whatever life throws at you.” With these words, Hari Budha Magar commented on Instagram about his ascent of the 4,892-meter-high Mount Vinson in Antarctica.
The Nepalese mountaineer, who has had both legs amputated, has thus completed his collection of the Seven Summits – at least those that are currently possible for him.
Second attempt: A team from the commercial Nepalese expedition operator Makalu Adventure is making another attempt this winter to take Iranian mountaineer Abolfazl Gozali to the 8,485-meter-high Makalu – with bottled oxygen.
As Gozali revealed yesterday in an Instagram story, the team fixed the ropes up to an altitude of 6,000 meters and transported equipment there.
It is the only expedition on an eight-thousander in Nepal this winter so far. Simone Moro’s winter project on Manaslu ended in mid-December before it had really begun. As reported, the Italian suffered a heart attack during acclimatization in the Khumbu region.
Last October, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa announced a possible winter expedition to Mount Everest, with the goal being the first winter ascent of the world’s highest mountain by a woman. Nothing came of it, “because of financial issues,” as the head of the operator Imagine Nepal wrote to me.
After several days of uncertainty, Simone Moro has spoken out. His most important statement: “Now I’m feeling good.” What happened? Over the weekend, Nepalese media reported that the 58-year-old top mountaineer from Italy had to be flown out of the mountains to Kathmandu by helicopter.
That was true, but the medical details initially reported were contradictory. In such cases, it is advisable to wait until reliable information is available. Simone himself provided that information, sitting in a tracksuit in the hospital, with a statement that he posted on Instagram, among other places.
Lukas Waldner, Francois Cazzanelli, Giuseppe Vidoni, and Benjamin Zörer (from right to left) at the summit of Kimshung
It was one of the many exciting alpinistic highlights of this fall season in the Himalayas. The two Austrians Lukas Waldner (24) and Benjamin Zörer (24) and the Italians Francois Cazzanelli (35) and Giuseppe Vidoni (31) succeeded in making the first ascent of Kimshung in Nepal in alpine style.
The 6,781-meter-high mountain, also known as Tsangbu Ri, is located in Langtang National Park, about 75 kilometers north of the capital Kathmandu as the crow flies.
On 20 October, the four mountaineers climbed from their advanced camp at 5,450 meters on the Kimshung Glacier to the summit in just ten hours and descended again on the same day. They named their route (1,300 meters, 60°, AI4, M5) “Destiny”: “for the many stories that converged beneath this mountain – including the meeting of the four climbers who return home not only with a proud ascent, but above all, with a great new friendship,” as the quartet wrote on Instagram.
The 6,781-meter-high Kimshung in Nepal
Two rope teams joined forces
The mountaineers from Austria and Italy had only met at the foot of the mountain and decided to climb together. Cazzanelli had already attempted Kimshung twice without success. In 2015, his team had been stopped by the devastating earthquake in Nepal, which killed almost 9,000 people. In 2016, Francois had to abandon his attempt on Kimshung after being hit by a rock at an altitude of almost 6,000 meters.
After returning from Nepal, Tyrolean mountaineer Lukas Waldner answered my questions about the now successful expedition.
Lukas, how do you rank the first ascent of Kimshung in your personal career?
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 supported countless people across Nepal and Pakistan, making it possible for many to fulfil the dream of standing on the world’s highest peaks.”
Todd died last Monday in his adopted home of Kathmandu at the age of 80 – from a stroke after undergoing heart surgery a few days earlier.
Seven people died in an avalanche on Yalung Ri in Nepal
“Nature is unpredictable and is becoming increasingly so,” mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner told the SouthTyrolean internet portal altoadige.it: “It has changed radically and has also become more dangerous due to climate change, which has led to a rise in temperatures, making the mountains and glaciers much more fragile and unstable.”
In recent days, there have been avalanches in both the Alps and the Himalayas, resulting in numerous fatalities.
Classic alpinism is alive and well! For me, this is evident in the fact that I can hardly keep up with reporting on all the extraordinary climbs this fall season in Nepal.
The Russian team opened a “new alpine-style route on the immense, uncharted Southwest Face,” Anna wrote on Facebook. Andrey sent her a short message from the highest point: “(We) Made the summit, just got back to the tent. It was brutal. The wind up there was insane.”
Hervé Barmasse, Felix Berg, and Adam Bieleki (from right to left) at the summit of Numbur
Once again, there has been a great achievement of true alpinism in the Himalayas in Nepal: by “the three Bs.”
Felix Berg from Germany, Hervé Barmasse from Italy, and Adam Bielecki from Poland opened a new route through the approximately 1,000-meter-high South Face of the rarely climbed 6,958-meter-high Numbur in the Rolwaling Valley, not far from Mount Everest – and they did it alpine style: without bottled oxygen, without fixed ropes, without fixed high camps, and without Sherpa support.
“For me personally, it was nice to be able to do some alpine climbing again after recently being busy leading and guiding (commercial) tours,” says Felix Berg, managing director of expedition operatur SummitClimb. “I have to say, it’s one of my highlight tours in Nepal.”
The first ascent of the 7,468-meter-high Jannu East is “undoubtedly the greatest achievement of my mountaineering career,” said the 33-year-old Frenchman after his coup in eastern Nepal, which he accomplished together with his 27-year-old compatriot Nicolas Jean.
“Climbing such a challenging, long and difficult face in alpine style, on a summit that had never been climbed before, had a profound effect on me. It was a dream that Nicolas and I achieved together.” When they reached the highest point, tears flowed, said Benjamin.
I must admit that I have almost given up trying to keep track of who has climbed how many eight-thousanders, when, and in what style.
There are now so many commercial expeditions that it is – at least for me – hardly possible to keep track of them all and verify their success stories, which are mostly published on social media. The periods in which paying clients of commercial operators “tick off” the 14 eight-thousanders are also getting shorter and shorter. Therefore, I make no claim to completeness.
It took her three and a half years to achieve the feat. Cho Oyu was Afsaneh’s third eight-thousander this year, after Kangchenjunga in spring and Dhaulagiri in fall.
Benjamin Vedrines (l.) and Nicolas Jean on the summit of Anidesh Chuli
French climbers Benjamin Vedrines and Nicolas Jean have filled in a blank spot on the map of high mountains. The strong duo climbed the 6,808-meter-high Anidesh Chuli in eastern Nepal, not far from the eight-thousander Kangchenjunga, in one day – in alpine style, i.e. without bottled oxygen, without fixed high camps, without fixed ropes, and without Sherpa support.
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