It was all over the news. But, after reading several sources, the pieces just didn’t fit together. With good air supply and proper clothing, it is possible to survive something like this, but it’s the details around the rescue that just made things fuzzy and no one has been able to give me proper explanation on what probably happened, until I saw the video interview with the victim at the hospital.

I think it may have been a bit of the usual media overhype, or rather, confusion – without their malevolence – in the articles. I had been personally affected by such “typing errors” on several occasions before. Here is what I didn’t get:

• The skier was found under 50 cm of snow with no injuries besides mild hypothermia.
• It was a rescue heli that found him 17 hrs. after the accident whose crew “spotted movement on the surface”.

On avalanche courses, we regularly burry people under 50 cm of snow, then several people jump on the snow above the burried guy or gal and we leave the client there for as long as she can stand it under the snow. (We leave the feet sticking out, so they can signal if they want to come out). From under 50 cm of snow (OK, with the lower leg uncovered) it takes about 6-8 seconds on average for the client to undig themselves and break free from under the condensed snow.

This gentleman in the Swiss Alps ended up being burried, so that – thank Goodness – he had part of his head sticking out. So the 50 cm layer is a weired figure, as his head was at least partly free. Now, you may think, he should have been able to free himself from under such little snow without any serious injuries – but fact is that his legs and arms were wide apart and just couldn’t move them. It was as if he were stuck in concrete; and moving his hips and back didn’t help either.

Movement on the surface was spotted from the heli: it was, after all, his helmet sticking out, that the morning sun probably shone on – that was spotted from the helicopter. Now it makes sense.

All in all, it’s a very happy ending and I’m glad it didn’t turn into another tragedy.

Here, the lucky guy, “in his second life”, talks to press about the event (in French, German subtitles).

I don’t get it. Who was it that came up with the idea of making avalanche shovels out of plastic? Have they ever seen an avalanche from up close? I don’t dare asking whether they have tested these shovels at all…

How fast will this thing break?

See, when you’re digging for a buddy under the filthy, cohesive, chunky ice that an avalanche brings down, there is immense strenght in you. Adrenaline starts pumping like crazy and it empowers you to do things beyond imagination. I have a friend who was on the beach when the tsunami hit South-East Asia in 04. He was running from the water and jumped a 7 foot stone wall in no time. The following day, he was standing bewildered at the foot of that wall – “how the f**k did I jump this thing?!”…

Alloy - much better!

When you start beating ice with a plastic shovel with this kind of strenght, it’ll break and you’ll have to keep digging with your skis or your hands – which is hopeless, right? Bottom line: don’t use plastic shovels. Forget aluminium too. What you need is a great alloy which is also light. I came across this hybrid solution which looks promising, but I don’t know whether it actually got manufactured or not…

Of course, findig your buddy and starting to dig is already an achievement, you have to know how to locate her first… and, of course, there are better blogposts than this one on shovels, if you’re into the topic.

So why do they make plastic shovels? The only reasonable area of use for these things that I can think of: big mountain expeditions. Here, avalanche rescue is practically hopeless. What you need shovels for on expeditions is digging snowcaves and holes for your tent; which is mainly done in soft snow, without the brute force that’s pounding in you during a rescue. Plastic shovels definitely have an advantage in weight here…

Stay safe, rock ‘n’ roll… and comment away.

Hey, I got a chance to catch up with arguably one of the most successful high mountain climbers on the planet. I picked his brain on climbing training, sponosorhip and many other things… Check out the conversation:

Denis Urubko interview from ClimbBigMountains on Vimeo.

So who is this guy?
Denis Urubko of Kazahstan has climbed 16 8000 meter peaks. He became a hero when summiting the last Himalayan peak to be unclimbed in winter: this February, Simone Moro and Denis summited Makalu. Later, in May, Denis climbed a new route on Cho Oyu to complete his last 8000 meter peak, becoming only the 15th in the world to do so and the 9th to absolve all 14 without the use of supplementary oxygen. Denis is only 36 years old.

After having sat through an exciting 2 hour presentation of his, I got the impression that not only is Denis an exceptional mountaineer, but also a great person. Thanks again for the interview, Denis!

Looking at what tour and expedition outfitters offer in the Anglo-Saxon wolrd, I am surprised to see so many possibilities to the Karokaram and the Himalayas, but practically NONE, zippo, nill expeditions to Central Asia: Kazahstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan. Why, I ask…?!?!

This isn’t a hypothetical question. I really don’t know the answer, maybe someone can shed light for me… An expedition to the foot of a 7000 meter or even a popular 6000 meter mountain in these ranges requires at least a 2-3 day trek. There are summit fees and possibly national park permits.

I look at what Jagged Globe, the biggest expedition outfitter (I think) has to offer and they charge 3-6-7 thousand pounds for an expedition to these places.

“Why, what else we got, chief?” …you may timidly ask. Well, the Pamir and Tien-Shan mountains have 5 peaks above 7000 meters and countless 6000 meter mountains. All of them are within a day’s drive or helicopter flight from an international airport. No expensive summit fees, just some 30 dollar registration fees. You can climb Peak Lenin for 800 euros (full expedition package) and tackle Communism Peak, Khan-Tengri for 1000-1200 euros apiece excluding flights. The basecamps have nomad-style yurtas, saunas and stuff. It’s sweet.

Oh, and the gastonomy rocks.

Why are expedition outfitters making you people go to less accessible peaks further from your homes with price tags five times higher? What is it that you can’t find in Central Asian mountains that you get for five times the money in India, Nepal or Pakistan?

I’m not angry or anything, but I sure hope that someone has an answer…

This was gonna be a funky trip. Everything was planned out for the well-documented summit of Peak Lenin in Kyrgyzistan. At 7134 meters, this was to be my first 7000er. But, life taught me again that while mountaineering is fun, it is also “unstabil”.

After the climb, I would have made an awesome trip to the ancient cities of Uzbekistan. However, things took a totally different direction. Here’s the scoop. Don’t worry, no animals were harmed… Before your big mountain, your first serious expedition, you usually bring yourself to a pretty good condition. You load your body with vitamins by eating enormous amounts of fruits and veggies, so that the immune system is tops as well. You buy and steal from friends some mountaineering equipment that’s missing from your kit and drag your 42 kilograms of stuff to the airport. The carry-on baggage is shamelessly heavy at 15 kg, but thanks to the liberal approach of Air Turkey staff, you get through without paying a dime for excess kilograms. Hey, it’s mountaineers’ luck!

The Problem

The fever hit me in basecamp. There was no special reason for it either… There was no apparent cause – we had just come back from a light, easy acclimatisation hike to 4000 meters with my friend when I suddenly felt a wave of heat hit me as we got back down to the valley. In no time, my body temperature measured 38,6 degrees Celsius (101,5 Fahrenheit) and there was no turning back.

Later that evening, it climbed all the way to 102,8. Bad luck. I was mentally starting to prepare for a skinny dip in the freezing glacial river in the middle of the night, because no medicine would help me get the fever down. Azamat, the doc at basecamp (thanks a lot to Pamir Expeditions for providing excellent service to climbers and care for the sick, you’re awesome) luckly had some injections. A carefully aimed shot in my butt resulted in the fever calming to a more managable level.

However, the fever wouldn’t leave, my world-famous appetite was completely gone, I lived on like 2 cups of rice a day. After four days of this, doc Azamat said: “you go back to valley” and so I did. Back to the dirty and hot city of Osh; 7 hours of bumping along the dusty roads of the Pamir. In the valley, the fever does seem to subside – but only for a day, as the following mornig, I’m above 101 degrees again with a headache previously unexperienced. I can hardly walk.

The state of Kyrgyz hospitals would be another story. Actually, it wasn’t as bad as I had expected. Everything was painted bright blue, which did make a difference in my mood.

What’s Your Problem?

Noone knew what my problem was. As the fever wouldn’t die down, the doctors and I decided I should fly home. What a bummer. The expedition planned a month-long shortened to 11 days. But, it was impossible to tell how much time I needed to get better. Maybe a few days, maybe a week. Spending that time in Osh with daily highs of 110 degrees made no sense. Besides, after the fever’s gone, I would have needed another 3-4 days to get my strength back, to get in shape to travel again. Waiting around for 1-2 weeks just made no sense. So I rebooked my plane ticket and flew home.

Having come home and undergone several examinations, they still don’t know what was in me. My blood shows signs of bacterial infections, but it’s impossible to tell, what it is that really got me.

The Moral of the Story Is…

There isn’t one. Except for how I handled the thing. It wasn’t easy, as you can imagine. Having prepared for months, having spent a bunch of money and time on this project…. Then getting sick to not even touch snow or take your climbing gear out of the bag… Not nice.

But I probably needed a slap in the face like this one to be reminded of how much worse things could have gone… and to retrain my ability to accept what life gives me. That doesn’t mean I don’t strive for things or “fight” for them (although “fight” is not a good word). It just means that when there is nothing you can do about something, you quicky and peacfuly accept it – and not fret over it.

Have you had similar stuff happen to you? How did you get over it?

Hey, I’m back from my first big mountain. Things went not quite the way I planned. Anyway, I need to get back on my feet, get life organized and I’ll be with you with the report on what happened on this 7100 meter monster. Thanks for your patience.

American climbers [tag-tec]Johnny Copp[/tag-tec], [tag-tec]Micah Dash[/tag-tec] and [tag-tec]Wade Johnson [/tag-tec]were tragically killed in an avalanche in the Sichuan Province of China during their attempt of climbing Mount Edgar.

The blog at climbing.about.com recently informed us that the search has been called off, after locating the bodies of Johnny Copp and Wade Johnson. Micah Dash is reported to be still missing. This story has been all over the news, as the party of three were well known in the climbing community. I found this incredible video featuring Dash and Copp on the spectacular site of photographer/filmmaker Jimmy Chin. What’s really shocking in the video are the last few minutes, where the two talk about risk and tragedy in mountaineering, with pans of Chamonix’s mountaineering memorial site. Ironically, the film was shot and edited in great part by Wade Johnson.

Our condolences to the friends and family of the three alpinists.

Micah Dash and Johnny Copp segment of “The Sharp End” from Cedar Wright on Vimeo.

Here is a tribute video from Black Diamond’s blog:

Tribute to Jonny, Micah and Wade (updated) from Ben Alexandra on Vimeo.

It’s been quiet here in the blog. One reason is the good weather – I’ve been out on the rocks or doing stuff around the yard… This weekend it’s kitesurfing, for a change…

I’ve meant to post this week, but bad news hit. Wednesday. Fellow friend and climber, Levi Szabo died in the Nepalese Himalayas on Manaslu (8154 meters) whille descending to C4. Extremely tired, he slipped on relatively easy terrain and couldn’t regain his control after a slide and went over a 500 meter cliff at 7300 meters.

His two mates, shocked and bewildered couldn’t initiate rescue because of fog and snowfall setting in, but had found him the following morning dead at 6800 meters. He was only 20 meters from his tent when he fell!! Death on one of the most dangerous 8000 m mountains in the world shouldn’t come as a surprise and it normally doesn’t – unless it involves a friend. I don’t know about others, but when I hear of K2 or Everest tragedies, it doesn’t strike me. Call me whatever you may, or judge me, but it just don’t. Of course, I sympathise with the families… but I’ve just come to expect those kinds of news.

It’s always different in the case of a friend, though. It completely overshadows the success of an other friend and fellow guide, Zsolt Er?ss, who actually summited Manaslu on Tuesday, bagging his eighth 8000er.

Levi knew a thing or two about death. As a surgeon and special rescue team member, he volunteered as a doctor at several Asian catastrophes, including the great tsunami a few years back. I can’t tell you a ‘moral of the story’ but I’m sure to grow smarter, once the expedition returns home (June 6th) and we learn the details.

Rest with God, Levi…

Avalanches on the Khumbu icefall above [tag-tec]Mount Everest[/tag-tec] BC (Nepal side) are more or less common, but few are as powerful as the one in this video… Even smaller ones sweep ladders and fixed ropes away. If you google Everest BC avalanches, you’ll find a few videos – this is probably the longest and most exhibitive of all. On most of these videos, the avalanches originate from the left side of the Khumbu glacier and as far as I know, the route up the glacier avoids this side…

Still, it’s scary as hell. I witnessed an avalanche…

…of almost similar magnitude a month ago in Tirol, Austria under [tag-tec]Grossvenediger[/tag-tec]. Even though it was about half a kilometer behind me in the valley where I just skied down, it scared the shit out of me and the group – gave new meaning to the phrase “thank God”.

The scary thing is that when leaving on a Saturday, the prognosed avalanche danger for Sunday (the day it came down) was only grade 2. Having arrived home, I checked again to see and realized that it had been raised to grade 3. Still, I wouldn’t have thought of such a pile of snow coming down on a grade 3 day.

Have a fun and safe spring climb. Thanks to @everestbound for pointing out this video.

A really cool blog: Alpine Awakening by mountain guide Kurt Hicks recently featured a really good article on how to rapp quickly and securely with a party of three. It’s clever and definitely makes rapping faster and more secure when with a group of 3. Just make sure that the anchor points are strong enough to hold 2 climbers while they rapp simultaneously! Check out the post here.

Update: I got the idea for this post via onthesharpend.com