Air2breeze
Cho
Oyu Expedition with Summit Club from 12.April – 24. May 2004
basically
with me all has started with Chamonix and the Mt. Blanc. After I
had been numerous times at Chamonix... and had looked up to the summit
of Mt. Blanc again and again, I hit the idea, I could maybe even
climb this "hill". Until this came true indeed some more years were
passing by. and meanwhile - as a the marathon runner - I was one
of the persons who were thinking about: "what else can you do with all
your power and endurance?" - and when I had made it to the summit of
Mt. Blanc (4.810m)... I realized, that this had not been my personal
limit... and in the time coming I climbed higher from over 6.000m
to finally up to 7.500m ... and eventually now Cho Oyu, which is the 6.
highest mountain on earth. thereby I dont see myself as a climber in
the classical sense. with me it is more, that challenges like this are
strolling coincidentally into my mind - and then I even realize
them...
well,
indeed one needs an excellent condition and stamina for such a
challgenge... and jogging 2 times a week is surely not enough. but on
the other hand its even no sorcery. because: " the power to realize all
your wishes and goals of your life has been given to you already with
your birth. - only nobody has claimed that you would not have to
strain yourself right up to your limits maybe." - these words convey a
lot of truth to me and are surely valid for the climbing of CHO as
well. fatal maybe is, that one maybe does not realize before going up
to the heights, that one maybe was just not prepared good enough,
however. and then such an error of judgement can cost ones life - in
the worst case. there are numerous examples for that. - next to
physical strength even mental preparation is very important. which
means to be strong in ones mind and psyche going along with an
excellent rating of ones own skills and capabilities (including to be
aware of ones limits)...
so
we got started on 12. april... and our flight took us about 10 hours to
kathmandu. there we stayed in a hotel - one of the top 3 on site - with
a bit too much of luxury for my taste. I dont need all this luxury and
comfort - and the less in the 3. world. real luxury in my
understanding are people who have a beautiful heart - and they are
existing!
by the overland route we travel on a very old and outworn bus to Zhang Mu, the
chinese border town
from
Zhang Mu we are going on by jeeps the next day to Nyalam,
where we stay for 2 days to acclimatize ourselves. – here we also
go on a first acclimation hike to adapt ourselves to the height...
“we”,
thats the 7 male members of our expedition tean and alex, the wife
of our guide, matthias. well, on such an expedition the guide has still
advisory function when climbing the mountain. he does not take over
responsibility for other persons. each member of the expedition is
climbing on their own risk - and is requested to be an "autonomous and
powerful mountain climber". thats what you agree on when you sign the
contract.
on 18. april we are going on by driving to Tingri (4275m) by jeeps - stay there for another overnighter...
the
following day we arrive at the "Drivers Camp" - located at 4.900m of
altitude. - there we stay for 3 days now- again in reasons to have
enough time for our acclimation. and again going on several acclimation
walks up to the heights of the nearby flanking "hills".
– principe: “Go high – sleep down”.
from DriversCamp (4.900m) now we proceed by help of yaks via the IntermediateCamp (5.300m), where we spend the night in snowstorm... and the next day we arrive at the ABC (AdvancedBaseCamp, 5.700m).
we
need 40 yaks to be able to transport all our equipment - which is
weighing about 2,3 tons altogether. The negotiations with the the
tibetian YakDrivers are again and again an shrewed adventure... and a
sherpa later tells me, that in this region of tibet the kilogram is
redefined every year. thats not a joke and for this purpose there is
specifically a commission doing that. so its hardly surprising that
there are again and again differences when weighing the equipment...
and bargaining about the transport fee to bring it up to the ABC...
of
course both parties are trying every trick in the book... and while
matthias is bargaining with the guys, we are waiting in the teahouse.
matthias asked us to stay away from the negotiations to pretend the
anyway utter chaos not to get still more out of hand. when the
negotiations reach their climax, matthias comes to us into the
teahouse::: he has told the YakDrivers that he would not have so much
money as they are asking for and that he would have to borrow some
money from our "doc" (Dieter) now - what of course is a trick as well -
but an effective one...
after a hike of about 4 hours we arrive at the IntermediateCamp. while we are still underway, it starts snowing...
until
we are able to build up our tents, the weather has grown out into a
wild snowstorm. in the IntermediateCamp a tibetian family is dwelling
in tents and offering us a meal and tea. even a baby is staying with
them... and likely even was born up here in these extreme - and hostile
to life - nature...
for sure really very hard living conditions for the nomads who are staying up here. those who are moaning and complaining about anything and everything in our civilisation should at least bring to their minds, that next to our german and european reality other very different realities are existing. and one may put to question, if people who are living there are unhappier than we are. however I find this cognition and experience very interesting and impressive.
when Im conversing with the sherpas in the evenings in our TeamTent in
the ABC of CHO or in the basecamp of Mustagh Ata in China with kyrgyz
guys for instance - thats simply fantastic and so pleasantly contrasting
with the affected behaviour of oh so (self-praised) "important"
persons, who you can meet so often at home and who are entrenching
themselves behind their poor (and easily to seethru) facades. just talk
to a weather-beaten nomad, who is living with his family somewhere in
the nowhere of the tibetian highlands and you will experience natural
charisma and authority.
most
of the time we are walking again in heavy drifting snow... and it takes
us 7 hours to make it to the ABC. and as always Im very disciplined in
taking care about walking possibly slow. I dont want to take any
needless risks - and also I dont want to waste my energy and power
- being aware, that I will still need it during the next hard weeks -
and that it will be difficult to regenerate in the extreme heights, on
which we are staying now during the coming weeks.
ABC
of CHO OYU is located on 5.700 m. my greatest concern is about this
initial part of the expedition. continuously we are going higher but
our bodies hardly do have the time to adapt to the increasing height. since we
have left tingri, I often suffer from headache and on the basis of my
own personal characteristical data, I can easily evaluate, that I still
have some major deficits in my AcclimationProcess. in so
far Im always foccused on not to waste any energy and power. and you
can do mistakes of serious consequences in this phase of the
expedition. you can compare it with marathon running: if you start too
fast over the first 5 km - you will pay for it during the last 5 km of
the competition...
but
in Matthias we have a guide who is focussing seriously on a good
acclimation as well. at the DriveryCamp for instance I made my own
decision to pass on a acclimation-tour because I was feeling low - and
decided better to slacken off instead.
Matthias commented on this that many people would not be able to resist
"group pressure" in such a situation or would follow their own blind
ambition
- and would still take part in the acclimation-walk - but would
put damage to themselves that way. well, but as for me... Im serene in
these respects and dont care about what other people do - or
think about me. I have prepared myself long and intense enough in
mental
respects - and am following my own strategy and tactics. Im not
that easily impressed. and when I once get my teeth into such an
important and meaningful project that intense, then there is hardly
anything that I will overlook - and this is surely a personal strength
of mine, which is giving me a lot of SelfConfidence - and is very
helpful in this situation...
In
the ABC Im directing my attention furtheron to the aspect of
acclimation. – 5.700m
of altitude is simply unhealthfully high for a permanent sojourn over
several weeks... and we are staying here for about 4 weeks now - and
often even still higher - upto even more than 8.000m. in the ABC you
are not really able to recuperate, but instead you are slowly but
surely losing more and more of your body´s basical substance. the
limit of altitude to which humans still can adapt themselves is about
5.300m. staying permanently above this limit is reducing humans life
expectancy dramatically.
you
get installed and settled rather soon in the ABC and then you get used
to everydays CampLife - spending a lot of time in the ABC. whereas the
location of the CHO ABC is not very attractive as far as
for purposes of a basecamp in general. its stoney and youre
jolting over SlipRock or RockFragments everywhere and with every step
you do. also a brook is missing and would be comfortable for washing
yourself or washing some clothes every now and then. moreover the
situation in the ABC is quite constricted, which is because several
expeditions from allover the world are present. this spring season
there are about 15 expedition groups - with only 4 of them successfully
summiting the mountain - whereby "successfully" means that at least one
member of the expedition could make it to the summit...
the
temperatures in the ABC are rather fresh at the begining of our
sojourn: already in the evenings at 8pm we have -18C (-0.4F) degrees.
That way the situation in the TeamTent turns rather soon to more
uncomfortable (we have supper at 6pm) and we all prefer to withdraw
into our warm sleepingbags rather soon. normally you dont need such a
highend sleepingbag for the basecamp as you need for the greater
heights when staying in the HighCamps... but if your
BasecampSleepingbag is not warm enough, you have to use you highend one
already in the ABC and then of course even cannot deposit at the
HighCamps... but instead you have to carry it up and down between the
ABC and CI. - and that means after all about 2 kg of additional weight
which you have to carry up and down. but cold is generally known as
being felt and evaluated differently by different persons in the same
situation - and is strongly affected by a persons condition
of exhaustion and healthyness in general as well. bascially I
count myself to the group of sensitive to cold persons - but I dont
have any problems with my BasecampSleepingbag at -18C degree here in
the ABC. my highend sleepingbag for the HighCamps is limited to -40C
(-40F) degree and they say its "comfort"-limit (hahaha) is upto -25C
(-13F) degree. there is nothing better available than this sleepingbag.
thinking about the keyword "comfort" makes me slightly smirking,
because most people tend to find the expression of "comfort" fairly
absurd in these circumstances ...
well,
how to proceed now? how about the strategy for making it up to the
summit? a question which can discuss splendidly. but we dont have a
wide range of options, because the weather is blocking us a lot. in the
begining we often have a lot of new snow and later on we have phases,
where we have PicturePerfect weather in the ABC - no single cloud at
the sky as far as the can reach - but therefore jetstream is ruling in
the very heights - and this means: NO-GO for a SummitAttack.
well,
and now cutting to the chase: the SummitAttack. in our case we have to
build 2 groups. this is because we dont have enough space at the
highcamps for our complete group. - but also is resulting in the
different preparation of persons during the last days. and as I
followed the strategy to sleep possibly once at CII - what for a pity
was impossible and failed - I am still in need of another day´s
rest - so that I make my natural decision for the 2. group. this is
okay so far - except maybe on part of the WeatherReport.
apart
form that the point of building the 2 groups is the only moment
beforehand, where we are getting stress and turmoil in our team. there
are persons who want to join group I by all means, because they see a
differentiation of strength in it, but what is not applicable in this
case, because at this point of time nobody is able to prognose how
strong another member of our team really will be. Later, after the
SummitAttack we will know, that just those who were making the biggest
fuss now, turned out to be the weakest ones - and now are only
searching close touch to our guide because of missing their own
SelfReliance, however. when I open a new scenario for myself in the
morning of the 06. May while we are having breakfast... an
alternative with
a 3. group going up still later - with Nawang, the one of our 2
ClimbingSherpas going up with this group (likely only consisting of me
and Nawang then -haha)... the rest of our group is falling oddly quiet.
a pro for this option is the chance for an overnighter at CII - a
contra is maybe that we are running out of time, when the weather would
not open again...
- but matthias assures me that I can have a ClimbingSherpa to go with
me in that case. I stop playing with this option in my thoughts
and only claim a qualified person to go up with the 2. group for any
cases of emergency. This request is greeted with smiles by the one or
two - but the one who is smiling most about it - and in hindsight
frankly admitted to me that he did so - has apologized later at me for
his stupidness. this was for sure a nice trait of him - and I
appreciated it - because he had not must confess it to me in
hindsight... but in this situation I had not could care less
about what others were thinking about my request...
well,
with nawang we have a powerful and experienced sherpa with us... and
who has summited CHO already several times before::: nawang, my special
friend. a person who is not so easily to get warm with on first
sight... and who you need to understand and communicate with him via
your hearts. and this worked absolutely fine with us. at the end of the
expedition he gave a tibetian ring to me. and this was a very special
guesture and symbol of his friendship, which next to me only matthias,
our guide, was bestowed on - and matthias had a same as good
understanding with nawang than me. - nawang, a person about who I could
tell still a lot more - and who I will for sure never forget evermore...
well,
so we are starting our SummitClimb the following day after group I -
with oli and cédric, my swiss MountainFriend (he likes to tease
me in his french accent: "ey, reinhold, lets better go to the
maldives...") and of course nawang... - the WeatherPrognosis is good,
wheneven not outright ideal...
We ascend::: CI 6.400m
--> CII 7.000m
--> CIII 7.400m
--> summit 8.201m. - so far all is working fine - except the fact, that the weather has turned to rather bad on top of the summit. - whereas it was still sunny all the time before. in these reasons I have not seen the highest point of CHO. the weather forced us to turn around some meters before. but we have approached the highest point that close that our ascent is countin as successful - because in bad weather conditions its difficult or impossible to find the highest point in the SummitSnowField. even for the statistic of Ms. Hawley, who is painstaking interviewing - possibly herself in person - each climber who has successfully summited a Himalayan 8.000er ... and since the beginning of the time of climbing 8.000ers she makes an entry for each of them into her chronicle (matthias had registered our expedition at Ms. Hawley in kathmandu before our departure). - meanwhile Ms. Hawley is a lady of 75 years and enjoys the highest respect and appreciation in MountainClimberCircles. nobody else is able to talk more about the himalaya than her. nobody has collected more data about the himalaya than she has. - so cédric and me are making it up to the SummitSnowfield - and an altitude of maybe about 8.150m - while oli has turned around at the "Yellow Band" at about 7.850m, because he was freezing too much. in the begining he is still very disappointed about it - surely! but I dont see it as fail or flop - as he is doing still at first. - in opposite: after all it is an outstanding adventure. and I think that especially cold is a very individual and subjectively felt phenomenon. and for sure it is a good decision to turn around, because freezing can turn into serious frostbite rather soon. dieter, our doc, for instance has severly frostbitten his toes - and alex suffers from frostbite at her chin. others are complaining about numbness in their fingertips or toes. extreme height is indeed DEFINITELY DANGEROUS - as even our group still should have to experience for a pity ...
I was not permanently strong underway and had a bad off-time at CII. the climb from CI --> CII was very straining to me. You even have to get over the icefall, which is one of the cruxes on your way to the summit. the icefall was vertical blue ice with some smaller slightly overhanging passages... but was secured by fixed ropes...
then further up crossing another blue ice passage - less steep than the icefall before - but cumbersome to walk concentrated and secure on your crampons - biting their spikes into the blue ice... all this in a height of about 6.600 - 6.800m. - it was a very tough 9 hours tour ... of course with carrying a heavy rucksack. I felt rather low when I eventually arrived at our tent at CII - and for a longer while I was thinking about that I would have to turn around and descend the next day. I suffered from headache and also felt uneasy in my tummy. eventually with difficulty and "ArseKick" of my inner weaker self (yes, it is existing!) I could brace myself up to do the required routines like for instance melting snow and boiling water... and to drink something, which is very essential in the height. with sunset I started shivering fiercely - which made cédric - with who I shared the tent - commenting that he would be in some worries because of my shivering. when I told him that I was thinking about to turn around likely next morning, he meant strangely enough: "ey reinhold, Im sure you will go up further tomorrow." and the next morning indeed I felt better and decided to give it a try to go further up. - in the early morning I had have a good and deep sleep for 2 hours... and my headache had faded. - so I thought::: same as good I can descend still later - should I start feeling bad again...
For the SummitAttack Im back to PeakForm...
no
idea, why this is... but it had been the same already when
summiting Mustagh Ata. somehow I was able to make a good recovery
- in spite of the height - and that - I think - is thanks to my still
excellent endurance and stamina - and the fact that Im even used to 1.
get along with very less sleep and at the same time still being able to
very good sportive performances. - and in my daily workouts
Im also used to have very nightmarish grotty days - of which Im
able to recover very good - and even with sleeping less. - Its simply a
new day and it works fine again...
well, being in this situation surely all climbers have their personal strenghts and weaknesses. one has just simply to know oneself very good and must be able to rate ones own power and capabilities properly and realistic. with sebastian for instance we had a young TopGymnast in our expedition team. a right "powerhouse" so to speak. but on the other hand even with less good endurance capabilities. he often had problems with the height - and - different from for instance someone like me - his strategy must be to go up and down possibly fast - for not to fall victim to the height. and thanks to his enormous power he could go up directly from CI to CIII ...
this
can only be successfully accomplished by 10% of the climbers who
give it a try. I had never been able to do that, because I had been
missing the power. - logically! as sure as eggs is eggs someone
who is able to hang in the rings with horizontal outstretched arms
and is able to perform pommel horse exercises on the ground - surely is
climbing the vertical icefall - and this with carrying a heavy rucksack
- "different" (more powerful) than someone like me with my
MiniBicepses. and also my daily 140 pushups butter no parsnips (((should
I have to prepare such an expedition once again, I would replace the
pushups better by pullups - or still better::: practise the both of
them))) ... - so for sebastian his strategy was just fitting and right
for him. and it shows very plainly how you are able to take the benefit
of your strengthes,when youre knowning yourself very well. (((sebastian
btw performed a headstand on top of CHO OYU and they took a foto of it
- but he had to pay for it with bad headache)))...
in our group its always cédric who is a lot in front of the rest of us. he is going up by using a special breathing technic (pursed lips breathing) to which he is ascribing his speed of climbing. I had never could follow him that fast - or at least then I would have had to change my ClimbingTechnic consciously - and I did not want to do that - but preferred to depend on my feeling and intuition instead. - so I climbed simply by using my normal BreathingTechnic. at times, when things get rough, I concentrated on breathing consciously deep - but most of the time I climbed by breathing normally - same as I do when Im working out on my bike at home - or when Im FightHiking in the SWF (SherWoodForest)...
however
I did not experience any moments like for instance when climbing
Mustagh Ata, where I had to pull myself together and had to kick my own
butt ... and at moments asked myself:
"who actually is ruling here? - my legs or my mind?" - and then
continued going up to CIII by the power of my mind. I simply had got
fed up with the "wobbling", which had taken all of us over that day. by
focussing consicously on - and setting free - the power of my mind -
and by help of two mantras - that day I reached CIII almost an
hour before the rest of our group. but I never came to similar limits
when climbing CHO. possibly because I was - for the standards of a
"mountain man wannabe" - wicked good prepared and acclimated. so no
need to mobilize my very last reserves when climbing CHO...
at 1am in the morning the alarm is ringing... and at 3am we intend to start. now you might think, that 2 hours would be a lot of time to get prepared. but thats definitely not the case. - the tent is small... and youre very constricted in moving because of being so short of space - as the DownClothing and DownSleepingbags are very spacious and SpaceConsuming.
moreover
its icy cold - and only to get dressed is - taken by itself
- right a StrengthSapping act... – we melt snow... boil
water and eat something. I only can eat some frozen dark bread with
also frozen liver sausage. - for the summit ascent I pass on my
rucksack. its pure empty weight of 2,6kg is too heavy for my
taste of what I think I want to carry up now... and so I put the two
drinking bottles into the two inner pockets of my DownJacket...
together with my ski- and glacier googles. - Sunblocker,
LipstickSunblocker and photocam I put into the outside pockets of my
DownJacket. then I put on my headlamp. no need to wear my DownGloves
when starting - but take them with me and carry them under the bib of
my BibDownPants to be on the safe side (((there is a very high risk of
getting frostbyte at your fingers in general - and I dont want to take
this risk in the least))) - then still some energy bars as
provision for underway. Im wearing my seat belt - have my ascender
fixed at my material belt... my piolet is pushed-in and fixed in one of
the loops of my material belt - surely a bit Rambo-like (((yes, Im
Rambo and Highlander in unique person - but indeed only few persons -
those who know me very well - also know about this;-) )))
in spite of the early WakeUpCall we are already late. when we eventually are leaving the tent... even oli is leaving his tent. he is sharing his tent with nawang - which means additional comfort, because nawang is taking care about a lot. leaving my tent Im worked up with my trekking sticks... because once again I cant manage to fix them, because - once again - there is no grip when twisting them to get them fixed. (((one of matthias` sponsors is Leki. and of course Im telling him again and again, how shitty Leki is. of course thats only teasing... as in fact there are no better trekking sticks than those of Leki.))) - to fix the problem with the sticks I have to take off both of my gloves, what is not very amusing at -28C degree. and the stupid twisting of the sticks to get them fixed is very cumbersome and exhausting in this height and coldness - and going onto my nerves - such a pain in the ass. all what youre doing up here in this height is only taking you a lot of your strength to do it. to crown it all, the nail of my left thumb gets broken seriously - but my fingers are too cold to feel the pain now in this situation. local anaesthesia - so to speak. but already now I know, that I will get some "fun" later with this injury - because quite a part of the nail is missing now of the nailbed. - in general::: skin and injuries::: the both of my thumb tips are in a very poor state. small scissures are growing to deep and huge indentations, which are aching badly - nevertheless of caring for them by putting lotion on them. Im not able to move a zipper with my thumb and index finger. up here in the heights nothing is healing or getting better. and my colleagues are suffering same as me. another weakpoint of all of us are our lips, which are in a very poor and evil state of healthyness. we all have deep scissures cutting deeply into our lips - in spite of all our caring about them. - in the ABC we have a salve lying on the table to treat our lips - and which each of us is using regulary again and again. another bad thing with our lips being that dry is::: wenn we are laughing - and thats something what we are doing very often - the scissures of our lips are getting torn open at the same moment once again - and our smile is turning into a grimace twisted with pain instantly...
leaving their tent, Nawang and Oli are joining us. our tent is located few meters higher. - eventually I can manage to put on my gloves after I could fix the sticks... and at 3:45am we are starting for our SummitAttack in the light of our headlamps. Its cold - but for good luck at least only less wind. we are heading for the Yellow Band crossing passages of coarse gravel...
at
this phase I have the permanent feeling like to be drunken -
somehow swaying. its difficult to find stable and balanced foothold in
your plump thermoboots on the crampons here on the loose pieces of
rocks covering the ground. I feel more like to be staggering than
walking properly. Nawang, who shows us the best way to climb thru the
Yellow Band is going in front. the loose rocky underground does not
seem to bother him. he and cédric are some meters in front of
me. oli soon is falling back behind us. a bit below and sidewards from
us - walking not over the rocks as we do, but over the snow instead -
we suddenly take notice of the american. since already CI he is most of
the time somewhere around us. Im getting a bit angry about nawang
walking over the rocky unstable ground instead of the snow, whhich had
been a lot more comfortable. but nawang simply seems to be a tough
cookie - and for him its likely really tits or tats where he is walking
along. then we reach the Yellow Band. and slowly but surewe are getting
light. and when I turn around once again, oli is staying further back.
he is sitting on a rock. and short time later we see him descending. at
this moment Im a bit uncertain why he is doing so, because I had really
got the impression, that oli was very fit. he never suffered from
headache for instance. okay, he was maybe even not the strongest one of
our team, but I thought him to be capable and strong enough to make it
to the top of CHO OYU...
the Yellow Band is secured by fixed ropes and is without major difficulties. without fixed ropes it is a 3. grade rock climb... - past the Yellow Band there are no further major technical difficulties challenging us. at first the terrain is stony with more or less snow around. - not very challenging to go up... and even not very exposed. but now nawang started with speed us up again and again::: his "GO-GO-GO!!!"
became
a winged word later in our tales. - we had lots of good laughs about
it. it was not really obvious to me why nawang was speeding us up. - at
least we were all but not slowly. our pace suited me fine - I was
up to scratch. once it happened that I slid away backwards on the one
of my crampons, as it can happen on snow. and nawang used the
opportunitiy to give me a lesson in how to walk on crampons. this
was a bit quirky and more amusing, because nawang was going in front of
me and rammed his crampons into the snow::: THAT WAY I should do it. it
was simply too good fun, when this small guy - he is surely smaller by
a head than me - was stomping in front of me that way. so we even got
our jollies up here - or at least as far as for me. - the weather was
still fine at the begining - with some clouds around - and sunshine as
well. but with coming increasingly higher, it became obvious that the
conditions would change sooner or later- and this was surely the reason
why nawang already had tried to up our speed before. after leaving the
stoney-snowey passage behind us - which you can spot btw very good even
from down of the ABC - we crossed a snowfield. this was the point when
our pace became too fast for cédric - and we had to
take our first rest - sitting down in the snow for a little
while...
we had some discussions about the right track to the summit, because matthias told us::: to keep to the right. the the tip which you see next is not yet the highest point of CHO. but finally nawang was best familiar with the terrain up here. we still ha had to cross the the rock passage below the SummitSnowfield, which is very prominent and can be easily seen from the ABC as well... and which also was secured by fixed ropes.
indeed
it was just an easy climb which we same as good would have been able to
climb without help of fixed ropes... but in spite of this the fixed
rope was of some help, because you could pull yourself up - and were
secured in the fixed rope at the same time, in case that you should
have slipped off... - meanwhile I was a whole lot ahead of
cédric. nawang was not using the fixed rope at all, but was
jumping around and over the rocks like a chamois - and sometimes I lost
sight of him... and then by sudden he came down towards us from
above... and again and again he was speeding us up with his
"GO-GO-GO!!!”...
well,
the weather turned dramatically to worse now. 2 czechs were already
coming down from the summit - passing us by in a little distance - and
the american was following us in a considerable distance. we arrived at
the summit snowfield... and then... short time later, we had to stop.
nawang waved us to turn around. our situation turned to slightly dicey,
because the sky was closing in now rapidly. our visibiltiy turned to
miserable. and the stormy wind blew whipping snow into our faces. for
the first time ever on a climb I had to put on my SkiGoogles. now also
the snow cloud had got built by the storm around the summit - and thats
known to not bode well for us. storm was coming on. and even nawangs
reaction did not augur well... - in this situation I did not even
thought of taking photos - and only when we already had descended for a
while and had reached the upper border of the rock-passage, I
thought about it. I turned around and climbed back some meters again,
because I wanted at least to take a photo of a part of the summit
snowfield. even underway now we had enough to do to keep a possibly
high level of concentration in descending. I did not even think about
eating or drinking or taking photos. - the height is indeed extreme and
for sure slows down your ability of thinking. yeps, its indeed a
fantastic and incomparable experience - thats for sure.
with
descending the weather turned back to better again. an increasingly
stormy wind started blowing. nawang himself was not in a good condition
any longer and he pointed repeatedly to his lungs (sure! - hardly
surprising - who is smoking on 8.000m... ;-))) ). he was walking some
meters in front of me, whereas cédric was stopping every now and
then for taking some photos and so was staying back behind us. as the
terrain was not dangerous or exposed there was no urgent reason to stay
close together. I was up to scratch and was focussed on descending as
soon as possible. slightly above the Yellow Band I took a first short
rest - also because nawang was still blocking the fixed rope - and I
wanted to take the same one as he did, because that way I could be sure
to catch a good one and also one which was not blocked because of being
icebound - which was not always that simple::: at some spots the fixed
ropes got frozen and blockd deeply into the ice. in such a situation -
hanging in the rocks - you must check to catch another good rope -
whereas you find a lot of old fixed ropes in the Yellow Band - and some
of them are not even very inspiring confidence... - only the other year
a guide from Amical did a mortal crash at Ama Dablam because an old
fixed rope got broken. matthias had been with a group of Summit
Club at Ama at the same time
as well and he had seen the crash site. so I wanted to eliminate even
the slightest risk of that kind by all means...
I abseil thru the Yellow Band and then a little while later arrive at CIII.
This time I dont cross over the coarsed grivel but a bit offside thru the snow, which is a lot more comfortable. back at CIII it is at least sunny - but very windy with increasing tendency. its about 3:50pm. and even when it is hard (... ones weaker self, you know...), I brace myself up immediateloy to fetch the snow which we are in need of for melting snow to boil the water for our "meal" and drinks. I want to do it as long as Im still wearing my crampons, because as soon as you leave the coarse grivel - on which our tents are built - and you walk on the ice - which is blue ice at some spots - the ground turns to be very slippery. and when you lonce ose your footing, there is no purchase or grip anymore - even when the slope is not that steep... but you dont have your piolet and not even a trekking stick... because you need both your hands for carrying the heavy sack with the snow. - for sure Im fagged out now... but melting snow and boiling water is most important in the heights. - then I still fix the apsis of our tent, which is flapping a lot now in the meanwhile stormy wind, so that cooking on the stove in the apsis would be dangerous without fixing the sheets of the entry. the rest of our tent is built and fixed very stable and will stand even a severe storm which has to be expected for the night...
some
time later the american is coming down and just when he is passing by
nawangs tent, he slips and crashes miserably. he stays lying on
the ground and seems to be hurted more seriously as he is not getting
up for a longer while. I leave my tent and go to him to ask him how
about him. even nawang is leaving his tent now and helps him to get up
and is cares about him - and so I go back into our tent. - some time
later the american leaves our camp - descending to CII. this was a near
miss and good luck to him...
back in the tent Im make myself comfortable and hole up into my sleepingbag... get started with cooking and look out for Cédric. only about 1,5 h later he is eventually returning. with some effort he makes it into the tent and mutters something about ... he would be all in and dead - and that he had some difficulties with abseiling. then he let himself fall down on his sleepingbag and stays resting there. he is falling asleep in the next moment... and is breathing in his "pursed lips breathing" technic. as his feet are still reaching out into the apsis of our tent, I ask him to put of his boots and and to creep into his sleepingbag. he mutters something, but does nothing to walk his talk. still wearing the thermoboots his feet are still resting in the apsis of our tent. for a while I continue with melting water on the stove until all our bottles are filled. when Im getting done with the work, its getting dark and I want to close the the inner tent. but Cédric does not seem to be willing to put off his shoes and to take his feet into the tent. and obviously he even does not seem to like to creep into his sleepingbag. so I take his feet and put them into the inner tent so that I can close the entry. as Cédric is wearing his downjacket and downpants - and even his warm thermoboots - and moreover is lying on his warm down sleepingbag, I dont need to worry bout that he could be getting cold. in the small and tight tent with the two of us staying in it - and all our things - it is less cold inside. I have a fairly good night when you consider of the enormous height in which we are staying. I have some confusing dreams, but not such an experience like for instance at camp III at Mustagh after returning from the summit... where I woke up at the dead of night and suddenly lost orientation and was not able to differentiate between top and bottom - or back and front of our tent (or the famous "crampons-story" the night after our traverse of Mt. Blanc). I think experiences like those are a matter of exhaustion - but in this situation now Im simply "too" good up to scratch. Cédric does not move during the night. he is sleeping - and my feeling is, that he is very exhausted. But intuitively I think, that he will recuperate until the next morning.
might be that Cédric already had overexerted himself during our ascent to CIII.
but for then at least you could not suspect him.
however after returning from the peak he is not able to descent
CHO under his own power the next day. in cooperation with Nawang, who
is still staying at CIII as well, I need to rescue Cédric. you can imagine my shock at the morning after our returning from the peak, when I realize that Cédric is
not able any longer to stand on his own legs - much less to be able to
walk. I talk to Matthias via radio - and he says: HE MUST DESCENT STILL
TODAY! - no matter how. now I found myself in the situation to be the
"guide" and responsible for Cédrics rescue. I dont want to go in detail with desribing Cédrics rescue - but Nawang and me could manage to bring Cédric down to CII, where Jamie, a New Zealand, who was climbing up by chance with his group, helped us to bring Cédric further down still that day.
we go on climbing down and its already dark, when Im reaching the intermediate camp between CI and CII which Jamie has built for his group. next morning 4 sherpas of different expedition-teams are climbing up to help us transporting Cédric down over the vertical icefall and back to the ABC. it was indeed a very serious and marginal matter. without any third-party support, Cédric had not been able to descent the mountain. and of course the whole operation was very energy- and power-consuming. When I had not been in that good shape and so strong myself up there - and Nawang had not been present - well, "nice prospects"" then. Cédric was not able to do anything in the tent. I had to do all for him - dressing - packing - even to help him to knee upright for peeing and to support him to keep his balance. - all this was very, very cumbersome and straining in this height. normally one has enough to do to deal with ones own matters. down in the ABC not only our own team is sharing the thrill with us. Pasang, our Sirdar, has not done anything else than only to observe our situation with a spyglass all day long. - Matthias himself had not could come up once again, as he told me later. he would not have been strong enough any longer and he would only have got sick of height himself. he thanks me again and again and means with this operation I would go down in history by all means. - well, all right... but I have not done this to go down in history. but it is indeed a strange coincidence. some time ago I have called Andrea, Cédrics then-lifemate, when he was underway for climbing Aconcagua. she meant she would be in some worries about him - most of all because Cédric maybe would not be able to turn around at the right moment in a risky situation. at that time I told her, that when HE is going with ME, this would not be any problem at all::: he would haul me up and I would pull him down. - this meant that Cédric is a very good and autonomous climber - with a lot of experience in the Alps. whereas I have very good and sensitive alarmbells, which are warning me very timely. and also I dont have any problem to break up and turn around, when I feel danger coming up. that way I wanted to indicate that we are a very good team. and now it happened indeed, that I pulled Cedric down - almost goulish.
a first diagnosis of what was causing Cédrics problems was "nervous-failure because of lack of oxygene". in Jamies group by chance one of the members is a doctor, who is the first one to examine Cédric at the intermediate camp. later in the ABC Dieter is examining Cédric again. still later back home in switzerland the medics will find, that Cédric suffered from a cerebral edema. this puts in fact::: never underestimate height. - all the time before Cédric had been very strong - and not yet at the summit anything was indicating such a deficiency and so serious problems. okay, Cédric was surely less good prepared then I was for instance. - also our group-member who wanted to climb CHO and EVEREST did not make it beyond CIII and only could descent from CIII by support of a sherpa and Matthias, wherby he also was hardly able to walk upright and often crashed down into the snow. but in his case it was more a crass error of judgement of his own abilities - going along with great arrogance - and missing respectful attitude towards the mountain - and missing respect in general. - foolishness then!
the final descent to ABC is an ordeal. you have to collect and take along all the material of the high camps, which has been deposited there before during the ascent. after all I have to descent the KillerSlope (starting at the ABC towards CI first you have to cross over a flat passage until the foot of the KillerSlope and then have to climb the steep scree which is called KillerSlope up to CI) down with a 29 kg rucksack. thats very unpleasant and uncomfortable. especially now where the snow had melted in the meantime - and you have to find your way going just over big pieces of rock and boulders. a trace to the ABC is no longer existing.
then finding your way to the ABC in the darkness - looking out for cairns. not a very amusing perspective. But then I experience something which has impressed me very much in the end.
below the killer slope suddenly I take notice of an oncoming person who is approaching. - dressed all in black - and at first I think it is another one of those Tibetans who want to carry my rucksack for cash. but then the person is waving to me - and to my great surprise, it is Sebastian. I'm caught by very surprise. he has just have come here because of me and to accompagny me back to the ABC. he even offers to carry my rucksack - what I dont accept, of course. thats a matter of honor to me - and I tell him that I would rather die than to let somebody carry my rucksack now - and be it still so heavy weighing. I am completely down and out. the rescue operation has sucked out all my energy - and the rucksack is simply shitty heavy weighing. every soft and still so short ascent on our way down to the ABC is forcing me to stop and rest. Sebastian is always in front of me and cheering me on. I'm not the type who is responding or in need of that too much, because I'm very good intrinsically motivated and have a strong WILL so that Im very focussed - but Sebastians presence does me good. when its getting dark, I know to appreciate his help only still the more. possibly go astray with carrying THIS rucksack??? in this case I would have likely thrown it away at some point (and probably had could buy it back from a Tibetan as stranded good the next day -hahaha). but ...Sebastian indeed has been a precious help. And I would have never expected this out of all from him, the more as we did not have many points of contact during the entire period before.This was indeed a great act of sportsmanship and I was really touched and impressed. I thank him in due form in front of our team and "take my hat off to him". a maybe small gesture of an athlete with a great heart and respect for the performance of others is reflected in his acting. One of the smallish human experiences, which I will never forget as well. - (Lovely) people are most important in my life - and the nature with all the animals and plants - all the rest is derived and finally dead - and again I feel vindicated about this in such moments.
back in the ABC I feel relieved that Im finally over it. there is a big welcome on my return. our group is still sitting together and celebrating. a
few guests have joined us - some of them have helped us with
transporting Cédric back down from the foot of
KillerSlope to the ABC. amongst them Angie and Olaf, who have been climbing CHO "alone by two". Angie has made it to the peak on all her fours, but with a guy like Olaf at her side this is no problem. He carried the luggage for the both of them and in the worst case he had carried her down. Olaf - certainly one of the best german high altitude climbers at the moment. very
interesting when he was sharing his souvenirs from olden GDR times with
us while we were sitting together for coffee in the ABC. for me Olaf is a pattern of a real mountaineer::: talk less - but act - he is very capable. - when I think of Tom by contrast, who wanted to climb CHO and Everest as a double - self-styled TopAthlete by his own grace ... who
is apologizing and claiming his fail and exorbitant boast at the age of
25 still with the "privilege of the youth to fail". - when I
hear such a nonsense and bigotry and self-deceit, I get sick to my
stomach (an adolescent normally does not plan to do Cho Oyu and Mount
Everest as a double - and a serious TopClimber who is doing this is
aware of what they are going to do) ... at toms age athletes in other SportDisciplines are past their career peaks since long ... and
SJ was already more professional at age of 10 (((than Tom ever will
be with his attitude))) and has performed on top-level - as measured by her age ... and without I-am-something-better-than-you-demeanour - like tom had with him...
now good mood is ruling the ABC. we are celebrating our summit success - and the relief about the lenient ending of the rescue operation can be felt all around...
Especially Matthias is very relieved. A fatal accident is never a good advertising for an expedition business. Matthias said, I'd be a toughie. Well - he does not know me, yes!!! I'm more a wimps. But I simply was up to scratch - and you do what you can, yes??? - Hmm .. yesterday I asked LG if she ever would have thought that I would climb an 8,000er some day. and she simply replied: "surely - you I trust to do everything!" - incredible! - you know each other since that long - and then one is that unrecognized, hahaha. - No, I'm a wuss and wimp ... but sometimes there are exceptions ;-)))
I even had not expected that this venture would end up in such a vortex. - surely in my preparations I dealt very intensively with this challenge. But special I only found it in respects of my own effort. as for the mountain itself, I only said to myself: I will go up there. - And then I just went up - and thats it.
I realized for myself::: once you go higher than CII to summit the mountain and fail - then probably a 2nd attempt hardly will be successful either. the loss of your substance and strength is huge.