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Kathmandu, March 27, 2008 - The Annapurna expedition begins!
March 27, 2008
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Off we go! The Annapurna South Face expedition begins!
During the last past two months I have talked a lot about climbing and alpinism. I was on tour with my new slideshow in many different cities in the German part of Switzerland: Totally 45 times.
Now it’s definitively time to go back climbing. Simon Anthamatten and I just arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal, and everything is running as planned – more or less.
All our equipment must be transported to the Khumbu Valley. There we will try to climb Tengkampoche and get as well acclimatized as possible. It’s a mountain with a beautiful shape and an impressive north face (approx. 6500 meters high), which has never been climbed before. A lot of work is waiting for us. We are ready to go for it.
The following weeks Simon and I will be busy with climbing. All our thoughts will be absorbed in climbing. And from now on, we will be awakened by the words: „Milktea, Sir...“ and only afterwards we will have our cup of coffee...
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Annapurna expedition 08 - Namche Bazar
30. March 2008
 Yesterday we arrived in Namche Bazar. Finally. The flight to Lukla was planned for today. But Simon and I didn’t feel like staying in Kathmandu for another three days. “No possible” was the answer from Sherpa Dendi, when we asked him, if he could change the flight. In the end it worked out, somehow. As usual, you have to be at Kathmandu airport very early, 6 am, even if the flight is scheduled only at 9 pm. I told Simon to prepare himself to a long time of waiting. But suddenly an unusual hectic came up and we found ourselves in the plane to Lukla at 7.45 pm. Not even one hour has passed, since we woke up...
The equipment had been flown to Lukla a few days ago and most of the porters are on the way to the basecamp, without us. Four porters are waiting for us with the equipment we need for the trek. We stow away our sleeping bags and necessary items in our backbacks and we start our way up to Namche Bazar. We try to use these treks, to get as well acclimatized as possible. After 5 hours of walking we reach Namche Bazar. Perferctly on time for lunch at the “German Bakery”. The village is situated at 3440 meter. We will stay here also today, to get used to the altitude. Tomorrow we plan to go straight up to the basecamp at 4250 meters. The basecamp is located about an hour behind the village Tengbo.
If everything is going on so smoothly as up to now, nothing can go wrong in this expedition. We look at it as a good omen.
See you soon,
Ueli |
Annapurna Expedition 08 - Thengpo base camp
April 8, 2008
We leave the village of Namche Bazar (3440m) on Monday, March 31st. Simon and I pass the village of Thame (3800m) and his famous monastery and reach Thengpo the same day. Thengpo is located at 4250m. Here we will spend the following weeks. Just in front of our camp we can see Tengkampoche (6500m) with his huge and impressive wall.
On Friday, April 4, we move to higher altitudes. We spend the night at 5640m on the Trashi Laptsa pass. On Saturday we go higher up and descend back to the Trashi Laptsa pass, where we spend another night. On Sunday, April 6, accompanied by heavy snowfall, we trek back to our basecamp at Thengpo.
The conditions in the wall of Tengkampoche don’t look too bad. However there is still slightly too much snow in the wall, due to the heavy snowfall on Sunday. Further, today the winds were too strong on the summit. The forecast for the following days is promising. We will have a first go on Thursday.
Due to technical reasons, I am not able to send any pictures.
See you soon, Ueli
Annapurna Expedition 08 - A short break in Namche Bazar
April 14, 2008
Simon and I needed a short break. That’s why we decided to go back to Namche Bazar just for one day. Our first attempt to climb Tengkamopche northface took us quite a bit of energy. We had to break off our climb due to the bad weather.
Thursday, April 10: After our trip to the Trashi Laptsa Pass and further up, we rested for 3 days. Today we want to try the Tengkampoche northface. At 3 am it’s time for breakfast. Although it’s very early, we find our cook Kaji beeing in a great mood, as usual. We start our way to the wall at 4 pm. Simon ahead of me. The way is not too difficult to find and it’s not too far away from our base camp.
By daybreak we put on our climbing strap and crampons. The weather is good, the wind not too strong. The forecast for the following days: Friday more wind, otherwise dry. In the night of Saturday increase of the wind. Saturday more humidity, wind changes to north-west. Sunday dry. The forecast for Saturday does not disturb us. We should make it to the upper part of the wall by then, just before coming out to the summit. We carry a minimum of equipment. We have food for four days and our sleeping bags in one backpack. We decide not take a tent with us. As from our wall-studies, done during the days before, we would be happy to find somewhere a bivouac, where we would be able to lie. Simon goes up first and climbs the first 100 meters. Most of the time we climb together. We are connected by a rope and in between we place at least two belaying points. This is a very efficient method to gain height quickly and however stay secured at the wall. At 8 am we reach the platform. A 6 times 60 meters long very diversified climbing is waiting for us. I start to climb the first 4 pitches. Simon is damned to carry the backpack behind him. The climb is very demanding and each pitch is definitively not a stroll. On the contrary: each pitch requires everything from me. I carry a small equipment set with me, which consists in 14 normal pitons, 3 camelots, 6 nuts, 8 quickdraws and innumerable runners. Each of all these 60 meters long pitches is an adventure. I find difficult rock and mixed passages, which I have to belay with this minimum of equipment. The effort of Simon of compared to mine much bigger. He must belay and wait in the cold for at least 45 minutes. Afterwards he may jumar the 25 kg heavy backpack up. And this as quick as possible, to gain the lost time, which the leader waisted beforehand. After 220 meters in the rock ascent we change. It’s 5 pm when Simon set up for the last pitch. Now it’s me, who is convicted to belay. From my belay station, the pitch looks pretty easy. But the sight is being obstructed by an overhang. Suddenly nothing goes on. From time to time I can give up a bit of the rope. I am belaying now a full hour. I am getting cold and a quick glance at my watch tells me, that it will get dark soon. Simon is a very strong climber. That it doesn’t move on, doesn’t really bother me. The passage up there must be quite difficult. There are not many climbing partner, where I can accept such a situation. But I can with Simon, and this to a 100 percent. Only the fact that it will be dark soon, bothers me. My actual position is not very comfortable for a bivouac. Then the rope comes to its end. Simon must have reached the end of the platform. Short afterwards I reach the area with the heavy equipment. The place seems to be a bit flatter. We climb up another 60 meters, where we find a good place where to bivouac. We are able to build a 70 cm large and 4 meters long place, before hitting the rock. What a perfect place to spend the night. Not only 2 hours before, I would have thought, that we were going to spend the night in a vertical position. A small dream came true. The only bad news: the place is very outstanding. The wind is howling and we have pain to start our cooking gear. After a while we solve the problem and can make some hot water out of the snow. A Katadyn meal usually takes about 8 minute to be ready to eat. After 5 minutes I can no longer wait. I eat my pasta before being al dente and before being cold again. Our comfortable Phantom sleeping bags beware us from the cold night. The wind is still howling.
Friday, April 11
5 am. Time to get up. Like robots we make hot water. We eat our poor breakfast. Then it’s time to pack our gear in the big backpack. Yesterday Simon climbed the last pitch. Now it’s my turn to start. Good for me. I don’t have to carry the heavy backpack. I just have to make sure, that we move up higher and higher. Demanding climbing is waiting for me. The steepness and difficulty wakes me definitively up. At 1 pm we pass the mark of 6000 meters. The weather is getting worse and worse. We keep going. 1600 meters of the Tengkampoche wall lie below us. The wind is getting stronger and we have heavy snowfall. Spindrifts become avalanches. We are really too much exposed and totally delivered at the mercy of the natural elements. Suddenly the decision is very simple: we have to abseiling. It’s 3 pm and we find ourselves in the middle of a snowstorm totally exposed. Avalanches pass over us. Sometimes we have to wait until the wind calms down. We know we have to get down as soon as possible. The bad weather reached us half a day earlier than forecasted. As from our experience, it will only get worse.
The abseiling is adventurous. Pitch by pitch we have to install belays. Sometimes it’s getting hard to the limits, that the cold is overcoming us. When the wind calms down for a moment, we can move on. A 8 pm we reach the bottom of the wall. About 100 meters below on the moraine we see two headlamps. Our cook Kaji and the “kitchenboy” have been waiting for us with juice. Simon and I are back. Tonight we will sleep well at our base camp.
Annapurna Expedition 08 - Thengpo base camp
April 20, 2008
Meeting interesting people
During our trekkings it happens that we do meet some very interesting personalities. So we did on Sunday, April 6, when we walked back from the Trashi Laptsa Pass back to our basecamp at Thengpo. The second “acclimatisation night” just underneath the Trashi Laptsa Pass is going to its end. Finally and fortunately. The uneven stones began to press painfully in our backs through the thin meadow we were lying on. There weather is merciful. It begins to snow when we had finished packing. At the Pachermo Peak basecamp further down, which lies at 4800 meters, we spot some new tents. The sherpa calls us from far away and invites us to drink juice. Three Japanese men are lodging at the camp. They are between 65 and 68 years old. We join them in the dry and comfortable kitchen tent. So we sit there with these three elderly men and while drinking juice we start to philosophize about alpinism. The three friends have been together on expedition many times. Long time ago, when they were younger and fitter, they climbed the summits of mountains of 8000 meters. Today, they try to make it to the summits of mountains up to 6000 meters. I doubt that they will make it to the summit of Pachermo Peak (6240m). The weather is miserable. For them this is not really relevant. They want to spend a great time together in Nepal and enjoy life. I find this fascinating. Or I’d rather say: impressive. I wish to get to this point once in my life. Happiness is, to accept things just as they are. “Viva la vida”.
Successful first ascent of Tengkampoche Northface (6500m)
April 25, 2008, Thengpo – base camp
Yesterday morning, Thursday, April 24 at 7 am, Simon and I reached the summit of 6500 meter high Tengkampoche (Khumbu Valley). Our first ascent through its northface was completed in the alpine style and we didn’t use any bolts and any fix ropes (Fixseile). We needed four days to go up and down. Already quite a few expeditions tried this route before us, without succeeding.
Now we will pack and leave Thengpo base camp and go back to Lukla via Namche Bazar from where we will fly back to Kathmandu.
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Annapurna Expedition 08 - Rest in Pokhara
May 1, 2008
With a beer Simon and I celebrated out first ascent of Tengkampoche Northface when we got back the same night of April 24, to Tengkampoche basecamp. For more, we were too exhausted and the following morning we were already on the way back to Kathmandu. In the capital we just stayed to get the permit for Annapurna Southface. Now we are in Pokhara trying to get some rest. Several porters are already on the way to the Annapurna basecamp with all our equipment.
We enjoy and need this rest. Laying back, writing postcards, have good meals and a good shower every day and phoning home. Nevertheless our thoughts are quite absorbed by our next project: Annapurna Southface. We already received the weather forecast for the following days. It’s not very promising at the moment. It doesn’t matter, since we have to get to the Annapurna basecamp first. We will leave tomorrow. By car we will first go to Naypul and from there we move on on foot to Sauli Bazar. Then we will pass the tiny villages of Chomrong, Bamboo to finally reach the basecamp of Annapurna maybe on Monday or Tuesday. It lies on a beautiful meadow at about 4200 m. Now our next adventure begins.
Annapurna Expedition 08 - Annapurna base camp
May 10, 2008
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Late in the afternoon of Monday, May 5, we reached the Annapurna base camp. The weather was wet and unfriendly. Now Simon and I hope that we won’t have to wait too long for the good and stable weather. We are perfectly well acclimatized and ready to go. Still, we are in no hurry, it’s only the beginning of May. Exactly one year before, I have been at the same place waiting to get the chance to start for my first attempt to climb Annapurna Southface. Memories awaken.
Alpinism is known as an adventurous and dangerous sports activity. But it’s also a sport, where you need a good portion of patience. Sometimes, an endless portion of patience. I am not talking about the patience you need, once you are hanging in a wall. This is another story. I mean the sort of patience you need, while you are at the bottom of a mountain. When time and weather are playing an important role. If you are at home, you have many possibilities to study the weather forecast. Is the weather fine, the wall conditions perfect, the body fit and the mind ready, then nothing can stop me to go climbing. Is the weather forecast bad, I do have several other possibilities to get rid of my energy. The day will come, where I will get the chance to climb a route in a wall.
If you are on expedition, the whole thing looks a bit different. You can not stay forever on expedition. Usually they last between 2 and 3 months. One good month to get acclimatized, one good month for a summit ascent. The time will come that the expedition is over. The body has to recover from the fatigue of the altitude. You have to go down, to lower altitudes. The dilemma is still there. If time and weather are playing against each other, you are put to the test. You have to motivate yourself. Believe in the good. Think positive. Have faith. Be able to wait. Nevertheless: if you do have time 24 hours a day, to occupy yourself with this phenomenon, in a environment which has absolutely nothing to offer then patience often changes quickly into impatience. Maybe also into imprudence? Shall we just leave? In spite of fog and snowfall? What about avalanches? Ignore them? Do we ignore in these moments our own questions of principles? Just to reach the summit?
I experienced this situation exactly one year ago with a very deep intensity. Mind and body were ready. You wanted to go. Simply go. Not wait. Your mind says: no. You mind is reasonable enough to say stop. The time has not come yet. The conditions are not ideal yet. Will they be ideal? Will this good and stable weather finally come? I was lucky. I got the chance to start my ascent to the Annapurna Southface. The rest is known and part of my own history.
Will I be courageous and resonable enough, shall I ever find myself in the situation to get under no circumstances the possibility to even do one step towards the summit?
The passion of alpinism has many facets. In the end not only the successful moments will bring you one step further in you own life. But also those, where you learn to come through and keep up with situations. Where we had the courage to say NO at the right moment. |
Annapurna Expedition 08 - Annapurna South face
May 13, 2008
It’s a good week since Simon and I arrived at the Annapurna base camp. On Thursday, May 8, we went up to install the ABC at about 5100m. We left the necessary equipment there, which we would need fot our ascent. Then we went back to the base camp. The weather conditions and the forecast were still too bad. Back at the camp a nice smelling dinner was waiting for us. For dessert we had apple pie.
Already at the Thengkampoche base camp I stood whenever possible with Kaji, our cook, together in the camp kitchen. No doubt: Kaji is a great cook. But like in alpinism, details are important in the kitchen, too. And exactly these details I tried to improve with him. The “Italian Pizza”, for instance, with the mushrooms picked by my father or the one with “prosciutto”, ham from Cervinio is getting better and better. Last but not least we baked a carot cake.
We have to watch out a little bit. Each pound of weight too much, not only in our backpacks but also on our bodies, which we have to carry up the mountain, will decide over success of failure.
Something seems to happen also in the “weather kitchen”: the forecast for the following days and the whole next weeks seem to be promising. Simon and I have decided:
tomorrow we will start for our next project: the Annapurna Southface.
Annapurna Expedition 08 - To dangerous - we have to break off!
May 16, 2008
We are back at the base camp. Simon and I decided to go back. The avalanches came down already at 9 pm. The weather and the wall conditions made it impossible to climb further up. To dangerous. Just now the weather clears up and we see the wall. From our secure place at the bc, the whole avalanche-scenario looks simply impressive. We still have 22 days before the expedition comes to its end. We do hope that more stable weather will come in and that we get the chance to go up the Annapurna Southface. We don’t give up!
Ueli Steck Expedition on Annapurna with dramatic turn
May 24, 2008
While preparing for their own ascent on Annapurna Southface Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten received a distress call from another expedition team nearby. The team was at 7400m. They went in difficulty after having pushed for summit. While descending, Spaniard Iñaki Ochoa de Olza collapsed.
Immediately Ueli and Simon started from their own base camp towards the alpinists in difficulty. The ascent from their base camp at about 4000m up to the sick Spaniard, whose care had been taken over by his Rumanian expedition mate Horia Colibasanu, lasted about two days. Their rescue ascent was disabled by bad weather and dangerous avalanche situation.
One day behind Ueli Steck, a team of great alpinists had been put together in order to support Ueli and Simon. They brought urgently needed medical equipment. Unfortunately this rescue team didn’t reach Ueli Steck and the sick Spaniard Iñaki Ochoa de Olza on time. Horia Colibansanu had to descend, because of health problems, due to the long stay in this extreme high altitude.
Despite all efforts of Ueli Steck and the medical equipment he had with him, Iñaki Ochoa de Olza died early Friday morning. Ueli Steck was with him until the end. He had to wait until Saturday morning, until he was able to go down to the other rescuers. They all together reached safe the base camp despite very bad weather situation.
It is not possible to use helicopters for rescue at this altitude.
Annapurna Expedition - Way back home
May 26, 2008
Ueli and Simon started today their way back to Kathmandu. Both are tired and happy to go back home as soon as possible. After this tremendous effort, they would need at least a couple of days to get physically and mentally fully recovered in order to go for another attempt for Annapurna South face. Also the monsun season starts very soon, that’s why they decided not to try once more an attempt on Annapurna South face. We are all happy that both are doing fine and hopefully they might get another chance to go for this project sometimes in the future.
Annapurna Expedition - Back in Switzerland
June 2, 2008
Simon and I are back in Switzerland and we will try in the next days and weeks to get some rest and we hope that we will work up the happenings of the past weeks.
When we received the distress call form Rumanian Horia Colibasanu, it was clear for us, that we would go up and help them. For us it was just obvious. We didn’t hesitate one second. At the same time we knew, that afterwards the expedition would be over.
The Annapurna will be watching over the valley of the Modi Khola forever. We as human beings, we will have only one life to live for. I have been at the Annapurna twice. But I can go there another 20 times, if I will do so. But both of us, Simon and I, we would have never been able to live with the fact, that we didn’t go up and help our friends in need. We did our best. Unfortunately our help came too late. But Inaki was never alone. Horia was near him all the time, helping him until he had to go down himself. When I reached Camp 4 I hoped Inaki would make it. But all the Dexamethason I gave him, all my efforts to keep him alive, failed. Inaki didn’t have to die alone. This gives me consolation.
The Annapurna Expedition 2008 is now over. I want to thank you all for your support during the last weeks. Thank you for all your cheering and supporting mails. We hope, that we were able to take you out of your daily life into our daily life as alpinists with our reports from our different base camps in Himalaja.
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