Back to base camp. The announced bad weather front has reached us. I am happy to lie in my warm sleeping bag in my tent. Everything happened all of a sudden. The day after we reached basecamp my partner Don Bowie, Rob Frost the camera man and I went to the advanced base camp or ABC. Our backpacks were heavily packed. We go to get acclimatised. We have plenty of food and a big comfortable tent. The ascent lasts about 3 ½ hours. From the foot of the wall it’s about 2 ½ hours away. Don and I are overwhelmed from the face. She looks great. We discuss the procedure. Don is not yet so well adapted to the thin air, as I am. He needs some more time. I have already spent one month in Khumbu Valley and theoretically I could try to go for summit. But I am not so sure about it. In Khumbu Valley I reached with Cholatse a height of 6640 meters. If this is enough or not – difficult to say. Don decides to stay two nights at 5800 meters. I have the weather forecast and it looks like that for Sunday the weather will be great. Practically no winds at 8000 meters and with – 12 degrees relatively warm for this time of the year. We are curious about the conditions in the face. For don is clear: one more day in the camp. I would like to go to have a glance at the face. I ask Don if this is fine for him and if this does not stress him. He said that I should go, if possible to the summit. I am skeptical. I do not think that I am already able to climb to the summit. And further we decided to climb together. We are here as a team rope. He emphasizes once more that I should go, I should try. Of course it is a big dream of mine to climb a great wall in the Himalaya solo. The best would be to climb it in one day. But I see in here an idea which I never be able to achieve. Don and I agree, that I have a look at the 2000 meter high face. Rob and Don agree that I should go for summit. My plan is, to go and have a look, maybe to 7000 meters, maybe to 7200 meters and then descend. So I have an additional acclimatisation.

I leave the camp at 22.30 of Saturday night. So early to be absolutely back before the storm will come in. After 5 minutes I hear Don behind me: “Hey Ueli!”. I turn around. “For sure you will need them!” He hands me over my down trousers. I forgot them in the tent. Great start. I hope I have everything now. I descend again until the small frozen lakes beyond the glacier. Here I stop und change my shoes. I already have put on my gaiters on the shoes. This means with the over gaiters I can only climb with the crampons. To go down the moraine in this way would have been a pain. That’s why I packed my shoes on my backpack and descended with my running shoes. Now I am at the edge of the ice and I put on my expedition shoes. I move on over the glacier. The moon is shining so bright that I can recognise the shape of the face. But I do also see the scaring seracs over me. My thoughts are to go as fast as possible to the entry. But only after 2 ½ hours I reach the bergschrund. I climb a channel. 55 degrees steep, perfect snow conditions, like on Cholatse a couple of weeks ago. I climb calm and regularly. I look around. The moon lightens the whole face. How practical. I climb to the traverse into the British route. Before the traverse I notice stone fall. And this in the middle of the night. I do definitively not go into the couloir if it hails stones already now. What when the sun is shining. Descend? I look at the altitude. 6800 meters. My minimal goal is 7000 meters. On the right hand side a wide snow channel is running along. I think its good and I can not hear anything strange. But I don’t have any idea where this channel ends. Minimum 200 meters I can climb up here, I think, then I would have reached the demanded acclimatisation height. I move on. I am fast and it goes on well. I do not have any bad feelings. Not of too much strain, nor that I am too much exposed in a high wall. I have a confident feeling. I go further. I see how the snow couloir ends in the steep rock over me. I climb on keeping on the right hand side in another couloir. Still 55 to 60 degrees. I can feel my calves slightly. In between the hard snow is interrupted by ice, but only for a short time. 7200 meters. Descend? I promised my wife not to do any solos anymore. But this is not really a solo. In this area a roped party would not really belay. You would loose too much time and it is not really necessary. I think I can do it and I can already see the exit. Up or down. Down is also far. So up! The wall gets a bit steeper. The air gets thinner and the first sun rays reach me on the ridge. The channel gets narrower. I am in a small couloir. The exit is not far anymore and icepack is quite thin. I feel a sort of tiredness, but not too bad. The hit of the ice ax are still precise and I hit the ice exactly there where I want it to be. The ice is a bit brighter, say less hard. The most efficient way is if I hit the ice ax once hard into the ice. On the ridge there is no wind and the sun gives me a warm feeling. From here it is quite far to the summit. I leave my equipment here. The few kilos are not much, but though it is much less strenuos to climb with all the burden. I look if my camera recovered. But the cold temperatures in the night let the battery go down. No more power. Meter after meter I gasp over the ridge until I reach the summit. It is nearly exactly 11.40 am when I reach the summit. I quickly look around then start my descent. I still have a long way back. I must reach ABC again today. Meteotest sent me a warning on my sat phone. “The jetstream has changed its direction, you have to be back before Monday midday. Storm and a bad weather front.” said the message. Quite fast I am back to the place where I left my equipment. The sun is hot and I drink a sip of my energy drink.

The descent to the saddle is pure horror. Here on the north side lies hip deep powder snow. I regret not having taken the same route down as I climbed up. Now I have to go to the saddle at approx. 7200 meters. Here also the British climbers descended. They must have had a reason to descend here. When I reached the saddle I can not believe my eyes. Before it goes down a channel of loosen rock, pretty steep. Then snow, ice and rock alternate each other. The channel seems a never ending thing. Then I find myself in a wide couloir. Quite good firn conditions but so steep that I have to climb down backwards. Everywhere old rests of fix ropes are hanging around. Always I have to rest. I have to concentrate. I move on. I can see the glacier becoming a bit flatter in the lower part, but he comes closer to me only very slowly. Step after step I go down. The firn becomes a bit softer. I can slide down on my front tooth of my crampons. In order not to get too fast I hit my ice axes in the firn. This cost me a lot of energy in my calves in order to keep my feet stable. On the other hand I move on fast. I reach the glacier. Here I have to traverse to the ascent route and then down to the entry. Still 1000 meters of altitude until the entry. On the glacier I am extremely alert. I control each step. Here there are crevasses and I have to be careful not fall into one of it. I slow down. In the entry channel I take my tintan ice screws and my 4mm 60 meter rope. I abseil myself as much as I can. My material does not last until the end. But the last 200 meters are not so steep anymore and I reach the entry. I am relieved. From here until our tent I do not encounter any technical problems anymore. One more energy bar and I take off my down pants. Since hours I am swetting in these pants. But I wanted to get down as fast as possible, so only now I take my time to get rid of them. Totally relieved I go the moraine. At the beginning of the glacier, close to the tiny lakes I have left my running shoes. I marked the place with a man of stone. But there is no more man of stone anymore. My GPS helps me to find it and my shoes. I take my time. Cook some tea. I am on my way since 18 hours and I have drunk 1 ½ liter. Now 1 liter runs fast down my throat. Another bar and then I pack my backpack. The expedition shoes on my back as well. How comfortable to walk in my running shoes. Although I walk quite slowly up the moraine towards the ABC I walk better that I thought. I am not totally exhausted.

It’s 18.30 hours of Sunday and I am back in the tent. Great to see Don and Rob. Two friends I can share my experiences of the past hours with. I write Nicole an SMS. Back to ABC. That I summitted Shisha Pangma I will let her know with a bunch of flowers the next day.

Route

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