Himalaya Travelogues

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Greg Maud und Omar Samra vom Rock & Mountain Club der London Business School haben, geführt von Kenton Cool, den Everestgipfel erreicht. Omar Samra ist der erste Ägypter, der das geschafft hat.

Ice8000 (London School of Bussiness team): Summits and Sherpa rescued

"Everyone has summited," just reported Ice8000 team. "The weather is perfect. Kenton says these are the best conditions he has summited in (it is his fourth Everest summit)."

"Unfortunately one of our Sherpas became ill with Cerebral Oedema which necessitated a rescue, however once he was taken below the Balcony he seemed to recover fairly quickly and now appears to be ok."

The London School of Bussiness team, climbing with Ice8000, included Greg Maud, Omar Samra and guide Kenton Cool.

Greg and Omar, led by Kenton Cool, plus other climbers in Ice8000 logistics, departed C4 at the South Col yesterday night.

Quelle: MountEverest.net

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Zeit für ein kleines Update und, wie sich am Ende zeigen wird, vielleicht auch schon der Schlussbericht.

Die Pinays haben am 18. Mai die Everest-Nord-Süd-Überschreitung vollendet:

The first Filipino women to reach the summit of Mount Everest set another world record Friday by becoming the first women to traverse the two main routes to the world's highest mountain.

Noelle Wenceslao, Carina Dayondon and Janet Belarmino reached EverestBase Camp in Nepal before 6 p.m. Manila time where they were welcomed by the Philippine support group.

Das ist eine gewaltige Leistung, die durch die Aussage ihres Kollegen David Tait, der eigentlich die doppelte Überschreitung vor hatte, unterstrichen wird:

However, during the later part of the endless painful descent I realised two things. Firstly, I was not going to be able, in all seriousness to motivate both mind and body to turn around and do it all again, at least not in the time-scale allowed. There might be some supermen in this world, but I discovered that I am frankly not one of them. The men who are however, are people like Phurba Tashi, and his band of awesome cohorts, who day-in day-out climb, stock, rope and carry loads up and down Everest without the slightest hint of complaint - in fact they appear to accept it as a priviledge. The have an almost alien mindset, and a work-ethic, no-one in Britain can even imagine.

The second moment of clarity amidst the pain, was the simple [and previously much considered] fact that in order for me to pander to my ego and claim to be the "First person to Double-Traverse Everest' I would have to simply ask Phurba to step aside, the moment before we hypothetically summitted a second time. This was frankly unacceptable to me. I'm sure there are many people out there who claim success, when in fact everything is owed to some obscure unmentioned Sherpa. Well, the fact is we both traversed Everest the first time as equals, despite his immeasurably superior experience and skills, but if I indeed had the surplus energy to attempt a second summit, I would have been a fraud in asking him to let me summit first. This wasnt going to happen.

Am 20. Mai gelang sieben Teilnehmern der Manaslu-Expedition Ralf Dujmovits der Aufstieg, zwei weitere waren nah dran.

Jürgen gelangte bis rund 30 Meter unterhalb des Gipfels. "Dann musste ich wegen der fortgeschrittenen Stunde umdrehen. So ganz glücklich bin ich nicht, aber immerhin war ich zum dritten Mal über 8000 Metern." Während des Rückwegs habe er sich durchbeißen müssen. "Das war schon ziemlich einsam. Ich war froh, als ich das verbliebene Zelt in Lager drei sah. Eigentlich hatte ich mich schon darauf eingestellt, die Nacht dort allein zu verbringen. Umso mehr habe ich mich gefreut, dass Ralf auf mich wartete und wir am nächsten Tag gemeinsam abstiegen."

Angelo entschloss sich zu einem Notbiwak, da er die Spur zurück nach Lager zwei im Dunkeln nicht mehr erkennen konnte. Als ältester Teilnehmer hatte er zuvor den Gipfel erreicht: "Irgendwie hat das geklappt, dass ich meinen Fleischkloß da hinaufgebracht habe." Für Angelo war es der dritte, aber auch definitiv letzte Achttausender: "Wenn man absteigt, braucht es einfach das gewisse Mehr, das nur Profis haben. Daher müsste man sagen: Angelo, eigentlich gehörst du nicht an diesen Berg. Die Götter waren noch einmal gnädig. Ich habe meine Lektion gelernt."

Expeditionsleiter Ralf zieht eine positive Bilanz der Manaslu-Expedition: "Wir haben beim Abstieg erlebt, wie es ist, wenn jemand vermisst wird und man Angst um ihn haben muss. Es ist einfach schön, dass alle wieder sicher zurückgekehrt sind. Und dass mehr als die Hälfte der Gruppe auf dem Gipfel stand, ist für mich natürlich auch ein schöner Erfolg – nach all der Arbeit, die wir hier am Berg hatten." Die Zeit der Arbeit ist vorbei. Jetzt feiern wir eine erfolgreiche Expedition, viele tolle Erfahrungen und Eindrücke, und dass wir alle gesund heimkehren: vom Manaslu, dem Berg der Seele.

meagen.jpg
Meagen McGrath

Am 21. Mai stand Meagen McGrath um 6:50 Uhr auf dem Everest-Gipfel. Eine gute Stunde früher hatte Rod Baber von dort den ersten Mobiltelefonanruf getätigt. Meagen schreibt:

On the actual summit, my sherpa was a bit keen to get photos done and get out of there (this was his 4th summit) - I wasn't in such a hurry, but he won out at the end of the day - he was the experienced one, and perhaps he knew something I didn't. And besides, there simply isn't enough air up there to attempt an argument, especially when neither person speaks the other's language.

Heading down the summit slopes of the mountain - the route looked a lot easier than it felt in the darkness. But, I took great care coming down, this is when accidents can happen - you are fatigued, and even if mentally you're okay, physically, you might be on the weaker side and tumble down. This is why it is important to know your limits-and listen to them.

The scariest part of the summit push day was looking at the balcony in daylight. During the ascent, i had taken a pee break there, and having taken off my mask (it was attached to my backpack, and my back needed a break) I was very hypoxic. I took a couple steps to distance myself from Ang Rita. In daylight, I observed, to my surprise, how close I had come to stepping off the balcony, and falling straight down, into Tibet.

Am 22. Mai kämpften zehn Bergsteiger auf dem finalen Anstieg zur Annapurna, darunter Edurne Pasaban, mit einem überhängenden Serac (Gletschereisturm), der alle Zeitpläne durcheinander brachte. Sechs, auch Pasaban, zogen den Abstieg einem ungewissen Ende vor. Andrew Lock, Ivan Vallejo, Serguey Bogomolov and Fernando Gonzalez Rubio gelang der Überstieg des Seracs.

Yesterday the ten climbers on Annapurna had to deal with an overhanging serac which took all day to overcome. The section is highly exposed and the route above it doesn't really look much better. Facing a double-or-nothing bet, six of them have retreated, while Andrew Lock, Ivan Vallejo, Serguey Bogomolov and Fernando Gonzalez Rubio have chosen to assume the risks and to go on, hoping to reach the summit tomorrow.

"We've been fighting against this serac for seven hours already, taking turns, non-stop," reported Edurne yesterday. "Finally it seems there is a choice to get over it, but that will means we've spent an entire day to fix a section which is only 50 vertical meters tall."

Later that day, an SMS from Ivan Vallejo read: "The ice wall has been finally overcome. Tomorrow (today) we are proceeding to C4 and, hopefully, will reach the summit on Thursday."

Gut möglich, dass Pasaban die Annapurna für diesmal aufgibt.

[Willy]

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Die Pinays haben am 18. Mai die Everest-Nord-Süd-Überschreitung

vollendet:

Tolle Sache !

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Nachtrag: Ian Woodall, dessen Tao of Everest Expedition dem Begräbnis dreier Bergsteiger gewidmet war (siehe Beitrag #10 dieses Themas), meldet sich mit einem dürftigen Ergebnis.

Es ging um einen indischen Bergsteiger, der 1996 im Sturm umkam, um Francys Arsentiev, die 1998 beim Abstieg abstürzte, und um David Sharp, der 2006 zu wenig Sauerstoff dabei hatte.

Von David Sharp ist keine Rede mehr. Den Inder hat man liegen lassen. Arsentiev wurde in eine amerikanische Flagge gewickelt und in einen Abgrund zu Schicksalsgenossen gekippt.

Der Held hat gut Presse gemacht, am ausführlichsten berichten die Rocky Mountains News, und befindet sich auf dem Heimweg.

Inzwischen haben David Hahn und sein Träger eine nepalesische Bergsteigerin 1000 Höhenmeter nach unten gebracht (dazu gibt es ein Thema). Das ist zehnfache Höhenmeterzahl, die David Sharp vom Standort seines letzten Discovery Channel Interviews zum rettenden Lager gebraucht hätte.

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Hallo,
wie Ian Woodall sich auf Expeditionen verhält, ist ja bekannt. Erstaunlich, dass der immer noch Sponsoren findet...
LG
Klaas

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Gerne tragen wir nach, dass Meagan McGrath, vom Gipfel absteigend, die Initiative ergriff, um die nepalesische Bergsteigerin Usha Bista aus der Todeszone zu bringen. Im Gipfelbericht ihres Blogs hatte sie das nicht einmal erwähnt. Jetzt wurde sie offiziell dafür geehrt.

Canadian Everest climber who saved fellow mountaineer honored in Nepal
[International Herald Tribune, May 28, 2007]

KATMANDU, Nepal: A Canadian who risked her life to save a sick climber near the summit of Mount Everest was honored Monday by Nepal's mountaineering community.

Meagan McGrath, 29, of Sudbury, Ontario, was honored for saving Usha Bista, a female climber from Nepal who had fallen sick on the way to the summit on May 21.

McGrath, an aerospace engineer with the Canadian Air Force, was coming down after scaling the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) mountain when she came across Bista, who was suffering from cerebral edema, or swelling of the brain, which can be fatal if left untreated at a high altitude.

She flew Monday to Katmandu, where she was honored by the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Ang Tshering, who called her a hero for saving Bista's life. She was given bouquets and yellow scarfs used for special occasions.

McGrath said she thought Bista was going to die when she found her barely conscious and leaning on the snowy slopes at an altitude of about 8,300 meters (27,225 feet).

"I saved her life but she was also dying in my hands too. It was a very tenuous situation. I did not have everything I needed to help her," McGrath told The Associated Press.

"Her condition was deteriorating to a point where I was very concerned that she would die."

McGrath was the first to come across Bista on the snowy trail and was then joined by another Western man and his Sherpa guide. They called other climbers for help.

Several climbers already at the last camp, South Col — at 8,000 meters (26,240 feet) — rushed to help, calling doctors at a lower camp for advice on immediate treatment. They wrapped her in a sleeping bag, tied her to a sled and dragged her down.

"I am glad I was the one person who started the chain I suppose, but I am glad someone jumped in," McGrath said.

"As we brought her down she was deteriorating," she said. "She started to became less conscious to the point of mumbling."

Bista has recovered, but is being treated for frostbitten fingers and toes.

In an interview on Sunday, Bista said her rescuers were like gods to her who saved her from Mount Everest's "death zone."

"I am indebted to these people for life. I can't believe the love and concern they showed to rescue me in spite of such a difficult situation," Bista said.

The final and most difficult part of the Everest climb — the area above the South Col — is nicknamed the "death zone." Rescues at that altitude are difficult because of the thin air, high winds, treacherous icy slopes and exhaustion.

Climbers afflicted with high altitude cerebral edema — a sudden, potentially fatal swelling of the brain — display confusion, hallucinations and semiconsciousness and need to descend immediately and receive oxygen and medication.