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. In addition, Iranian mountaineer Abolfazl Gozali is missing. At least, that is what the Nepalese portal “The Tourism Times” reports, citing unspecified…
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…
Translated, the 7,439-meter-high mountain on the border between Kyrgyzstan and China means “Victory Peak” in both Kyrgyz (Jengish Chokusu) and Russian (Pik Pobeda). But these days, there are no victors on Kyrgyzstan’s highest mountain. On 11 August, Russian climbing legend Nikolai Totmyanin – winner of the Piolet d’Or award for the first ascent of the…
Following the tragic death of German mountaineer Laura Dahlmeier on the 6,096-meter-high Laila Peak in the Karakoram in Pakistan, many are asking themselves: Should the body of the deceased be recovered after all? Or should her last will be respected? Laura had written in her will that her body should remain on the mountain if…
Laura Dahlmeier, one of the world’s best biathletes of the last decade, has suffered a serious accident on the 6,069-meter-high Laila Peak in the Karakoram in Pakistan. “Laura Dahlmeier was climbing in alpine style with her female rope partner on 28 July when she was hit by falling rocks. The accident happened around noon local…
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…
Five days after the avalanche accident on the 7,932-meter-high Gasherbrum IV in the Karakoram, the two injured Russian mountaineers Sergei Mironov and Mikhail Mironov have been flown by rescue helicopter to a hospital in the northern Pakistani city of Skardu. “Their condition is satisfactory”, informed the Russian embassy in Pakistan, without giving details of the…
Tragedy on the almost eight-thousander Gasherbrum IV in the Karakoram in Pakistan: Five Russian mountaineers who had set out to recover the body of their compatriot Dmitry Golovchenko, who died in an accident a year ago, were hit by an ice avalanche. “As the team ascended the mountain, an ice formation, possibly a serac, collapsed,…
Even if it is difficult, it makes no sense to turn a blind eye: Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima paid for their adventure on K2, the second highest mountain on earth, with their lives. In consultation with the families of the two top Japanese climbers, the rescue operation on the second highest mountain on earth…
