10.04.2011, We leave Kathmandu. In the moring there is quite a lot of traffic. Our minivan passes the narrow streets. In the outskirts we pass countless brick stoves. No wonder that the aerial quality in Kathmandu is miserable: All the black smoke, which climbs up from countless stoves, in addition to the whole traffic in the city and then the dust which is whirled up. The days spent in the hotel had been good for me, but now I am happy to move on. The trip is quite short. Don Bowie and I discuss our plans for the next months together. Our minivan is big and compfortable. The 5 hours to Zangmu pass very fast. Zangmu is he frontier town between Nepal and China. Before we can pass the frontier we have to wait for our liason officer on the other side. After lunch we walk to the frontier. We have to leave our comfortable van here and pass the frontier on foot. On the other side we are picked up by two jeeps. Everything is controlled and we have to stay in queue according to the name order listed on the permits. The border guards open our lagguage and they thoroughly control everything. Apparently books seem to be very interesting. The Chinese officers inspect our books very carefully. Finally we can pass the froniter quicker than we thought and there we are: in Tibet. All of a sudden the character of the building changes. Nothing else than concrete buildings. Fonctionality where we do look. It reminds me of the prefabricated building constructions in Moscow. Welcome to communism.
We have to spend the night in Zangmu. Only the day after we continue our trip to Nyalam, approximately one hour from Zangmu. From there we will continue on foot our trip. The liasons officers will need one more day to oragnise the yaks. We will need 29 yaks for our trek to the base camp of Shisha Pangma. We will be six people. Don Bowie and I we build a team. Then there is Freddy Widmer from Switzerland. He is a Swiss journalist and he wrote many years fort he „Basler Zeitung“. Many times he told me how he would love to join a base camp. Now he is on his best way to it. Rob Frost is with us. He works for Sender Films. Niklas Hallstrom from Sweden and his climbing sherpa Furtenji Sherpa build another team. Then we have a cook, a kitchenboy and 1200 kg of equipment. I can barely expect that we move on.
Don Bowie is 41 years old. He has already climbed K2 without oxigen and he was successful on Gasherbrum I. Don is 1 meter 90 tall and he weights 85 kilos. I disappear next to him! I like his calm way of being. I am sure that we will go along well together on the mountain. Together we go jogging on some of the hills nearby. It is good to move the legs. When I reach the summit I encounter two Tibetan people. They made some fire on an altar and sit there comfortably under the prayer flags. They drink Tibetan black tea with rancid butter. He even does cut a slice of meat and offers it to me. I reufse thankfully. It would be delicious, but I doubt that my stomac goes along well with this kind of meat. Also the tea I have to refuse thankfully, although I like Tibetean tea very much. But it would have the same effect like the meat. Next to the cups of tea I see some tins of Chinese Red Bull. I have to smile. When Don arrives there too, one of the Tibetean explains us the way to the base camp. From the summit you can recognise well the valley, but unfortunately he does not speak any word of english at all. We continue our way over the ridge to the next summit before we descend. At 2.30 pm we eat lunch. The Chinese food is delicious. I like the system of rice and the several plates with vegetables, tofu, mushrooms and so on. You fill some rice in your cup and take a little of the things you would like to eat with the rice. The cups are small, so you have the choice to eat more variation without eating too much. We drink sprite, something from the east, in order not to forget where we do come from... What I don’t like here that it is quite dirty. I hope that we will not have bigger stomach problems!
We leave Nyalam in the morning of April 13. First we drive 2 km on a truck until the road end suddenly. Here our yaks and their driver are waiting for us. The weather is not on our side. The sky is cloudy and cirrus announce that it will rain or snow soon. The yak drivers does not bother this at all. Now all the equipment is weighten once more. With the balance of the Tibetans and endless discussions: We stay next to the happenings and let it go. Finally I pay again about 200 Dollars for the extra yaks – also to avoid more delays. After everything has been settled we all sit together, drink tea and smoke a cigarette. Only then the yak drivers begin to pack the yaks. In the meantime it starts to snow. We decide to move and the caravan comes along too. The weather is awaful and we think that it will come to a complete strike. But nothing likely happened. We walk 7 hours through heavy snwofall. Sight: virtually nil. At 4370 meter is closing time. It is already 7.30 pm and we decide to rest. Everything run smooth and also the Tibetan yak drivers hurry up. Everybody want to go in a tent. We eat dinner at 11 pm, then everything was ready. All night long it snowed quite heavily. But in the moring the weather looked nicer. Luckily. It takes an eternity until we can move on again. The Tibetan people do for sure not get the risk to get a heart attack because of too much stress. More likely that they get lung cancer because of too much smoking.
It is midday when we finally continue our way to the base camp. 3 yaks walk on without equipment in order to spur. Addinationally the sun helps us and the snow melts and move on well. I love it to walk in the caravan. 31 yaks, 11 yak drivers und our teams and not to forget 2 Tibetan dogs.
The base camp lays at 5306 meters over sea at the edge of a lake. A beautiful place. The landscape is very wide and open. No narrow valley, on the contrary, wide big area build the Tibetan high plateau which is surrounded by the biggest mountains of the world.
We reached our base camp. From now on we decide about the rhythm.
Basecamp on the ridge of the lake
Tibetan pause
Tibetan balance
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19.04.2011 Swiss alpinist Ueli Steck (34) has successfully started into his ninth Himalaya-Expedition. He climbed in 10 1/2 hours and alone the over 2000 meter high south-west-face of Shisha Pangma, with its 8027 meters of altitude the 14th highest mountain in the world.
Ueli Steck has successfully implemented his idea "Speed" from the Alps into the Himalaya: to climb big difficulties in big altitudes and this as fast as possible.
Ueli Steck acclimatised himself one month in the Khumbu Valley on the south side of Mount Everest (Nepal) and he moved on from Kathmandu to Shisha Pangma on April 10, 2011.
Shisha Pangma is the only peak over 8000 meters which lies completely in Tibet (China). Two days lasted the trek to the basecamp (5250 meters). After another two days he went with his Canadian partner Don Bowie to the advanced basecamp (5800 meters) at the foot of the wall. Bowie felt not acclimtazed enough and in poor health so that he decided not to go for an attempt. Because of the favourable weather forecast Bowie agreed with Steck, that Ueli should go for an attempt alone.
On Saturday at 22.30 hours Ueli Steck started to climb. After 10 1/2 hours he summitted with the 2000 meter high south-west-face his third summit over 8000 meters and was less than 20 hours later back to basecamp.
Ueli Steck and Don Bowie will now continue their expedition. They will try to climb together Cho Oyu from the north side. Cho Oyu is with 8201 meters the six highest mountain in the world.
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21.04.2011 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
Rob Frost, Ueli Steck and Don Bowie, ABC Ueli and Don checking the Route
 
Ueli and Don to way to ABC
Ueli Steck Shisha Pangma south face 5800 Meter
Ueli Steck before summit ridge
Ueli Steck on the way back to ABC
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26.04.2011 Perfect day
It was a perfect day. Everything fitted. The moon has shone into the face just until daybrake. The weather was peferct. Minus 12 degrees at 8000 meters, so early in the year, hard to believe. I have not planned to summit Shisha Pangma. I have not planned to climb Shisha Pangma southface solo. Not at all. Something like this can not be planned long time beforehand. I decided consciously not to climb any solos anymore. Because I am sure that sometime the fatal error will come. But today it was inevitable. It did not feel like climbing a solo. I was nearly 20 hours at the mountain, beautiful hours. For me it was the perfect day, the perfect climb. Exactly what climbing makes so special. It was tough, but I did not suffer. It was different from my summit success on Makalu. I did not have any headache nor did I have any feeling of sickness. At the end I was a little thirsty, but I had the possibility to take my time, to melt some snow. But the thirst was bearable, otherwise I would have done so.
I adapted myself to the conditions outside and inside. After nearly 20 hours I was back in my sleeping bag at the ABC. I still do not realise it. Everything happened so fast and so easygoing. Afterwards people talk about a record. People want to know which route I climbed. I did not know, I had to look myself where I climbed. I just know that I started on the British Route, the rest I decided after my feeling. Later Don told me the time when I crossed the Bergschrund. He observed me. On the summit I looked at my watch because I wanted to know how much time I still had in order to descend. I was relieved: I still had a lot of time. Nevertheless: I did not know the descent, thats why I did not stay on the summit for longer than 5 minutes. I wanted to go back. ABC was my summit, which I reached at 18.30 pm. What a relief.
Now I am back in Nyalam, exactly seven days later. If I could I would go back home. No, not because I am fed up. But I am asking myself if I can climb another 8000 peak with the same feeling. Without suffering, just to feel how everything fits? At the moment I see this climb as my peak. I do not think I can do any better, such a face, such conditions. I felt an enormous lightness, this lightness, I think, is the earning of my hard work out. I had fun to climb. A not planned, but perfect day.
Here in Nyalam I feel a much greater satisfaction. I have time to think about a lot of things. I know exactly how ambitioned I am. I feel like I have to free myself from this situation. People always do expect more from me. I have achieved more.
Exactly 3 days after my summit success Daniel Arnold from Switzerland climbed the Eigernorthface in 2 hours and 28 minutes. 19 minutes faster than I did. I knew it and I have always said that this time will come. In the Hinterstoisser-Quergang and after the Quarzriss he used fix ropes. I climbed everything free. He climbed in spring, I climbed in winter. It is hardly comparable. For the single climber this experience remains unique. For an outstanding person counts what is equivalent: The time.
The feeling, the impressions, this is what really counts. I endeavor to inspire other climbers, to bring in new ideas. What I can, many other can do as well, even much better. I will not try to break this record.
I have achieved my next goal a couple of days ago. I have used the efficiency on a peak over 8000 meters. All what will come during this expedition I can go on relaxed, I am satisfied. I cannot reach more, only the next summit in order to descend and then to start all over again. From the sportif point of view, at the moment, I have the impression to have reached my zenith with Shisha Pangma.
It is important to be satisfied sometimes. In my heart I will stay alpinist forever, there are many ideas. But I reached the peak. For me personally higher and faster is not possible anymore.
But maybe I can inspire also in the future!
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29.04.2011
Ueli talks about the preparation on Shisha Pangma.
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