Walter Bonatti was honored with the first Piolet d’Or for lifetime achievement. The “golden ice axe” was presented to Bonatti in Coumayeur on April 24, as part of a five-day Piolet d’Or festival.

The Italian climber, now 78, ascended the Walker Spur as a teenager. Two years later he made the first ascent of the east face of the Grand Capucin. In 1954, he played an instrumental role in the first ascent of K2, where he survived a forced open bivy at 26,600 feet. In 1958, he achieved his biggest success in the Greater Ranges with the first ascent of 26,001-foot Gasherbrum IV in Pakistan.

bonatti At home in the Alps, Bonatti completed extraordinary solo and winter climbs, including the five-day solo first ascent of the El Cap–sized southwest pillar of the Drus, the first winter ascent of the north face of the Grandes Jorasses, and a solo new route on the north face of the Matterhorn.

Classic footage: BONATTI CLIMBING

Achille Compagnoni dies at age 94

Italian K2 pioneer Achille Compagnoni died May 13, 2009 in a northern Italy hospital at age 94. After several failed attempts, K2 was finally summited in 1954 by the Italians, Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. There has been a debate about the events that took place on that first climb ever since.

In early June of 1954 a team of a dozen or so left from a 4,000m camp. In late July four men had reached camp VIII, about 200 meters below the summit. The final ascent was made by Lino and Achille and completed without oxygen...or so goes the official story.

The two men left behind at camp VIII were Walter Bonatti, then 24 years old, and the Hunza porter Mahdi, charged with the task of carrying the oxygen. According to Bonatti, who made the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV in 1958, he and Mahdi could not re-supply the two lead climbers due to bad weather and darkness. So, on Lino's instruction, they left the oxygen where they were and prepared descent.

Only the bad weather forced the young climber and his local porter to first to camp out in the snow, as the two lead mountaineers wouldn't help them or let them into their tent.

The names of the summiteers were not released until the return of the expedition. When it was announced, Lino and Achille were celebrated as national heroes. The celebration ended a decade later when an Italian newspaper accused Bonatti of stealing oxygen and attempting a solo ascent ahead of Lino and Achille.

Bonatti sued for libel and won, but he was ostracized from the climbing community. The climber took revenge in his own way: Solo climbs, first ascents, new technical routes all over the world, elegance in the itineraries and methods, Bonatti proved without a shadow of doubt that he was one of the best climbers of his time, if not in all of climbing history until giving up mountaineering in 1965.

Bonatti has since published "The Mountains of My Life", an autobiography with stories about the expedition of 1954. In his book Bonatti displays proof of his innocence, including a photograph of Lino and Achille wearing oxygen masks on the summit.

50 years after the 1954 K2 expedition, a very old Lino Lacedelli - who had remained silent all this time - couldn’t face to take the truth with him to the grave. In a book released in 2006, he confessed what really happened on K2, thus changing the course of history. Lino also called Bonatti to apologize, but the climber would have none of it. "It's too late," he said. As for Compagnoni, today he took his final version of events with him to his grave.

Cave Rock – Bolt Removal

Crews have begun to remove hundreds of bolts from a prominent rock formation at Lake Tahoe. A contractor working for the U.S. Forest Service last week started removing about 350 bolts along 46 former climbing routes on Cave Rock.

Removing the bolts is part of the Forest Service's management plan for the once-popular climbing rock on Tahoe's east shore, where climbing has been banned since February 2005. The final order banning climbing was issued in February 2008 after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the agency's position.

The order ended more than a decade of legal battles involving the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California and the Access Fund, a Boulder, Colo.-based advocacy group for rock climbers. According to Washoe lore, Cave Rock was a sacred place where tribal elders communed with powerful spirits.

The Access Fund maintained the ban was unconstitutional because it gave a religious group exclusive control over public property.

Removal of the bolts is expected to take about a month, depending on the weather, the Tahoe Daily Tribune reported. About 60 percent of the bolts to be removed are located in the cave. Once removed, holes left by the bolts will be filled with specially made granite plugs.

Mike Gauthier Leaves Mt. Rainier

Mike “Gator” Gauthier, whose work as a ranger made him a revered member of the local search and rescue community, has said “goodbye” to Mount Rainier National Park after more than 18 years. Gauthier left his post as the head of the park’s climbing program for a two-year fellowship in Washington, D.C. with the United States Senate and the Department of the Interior. “It’s a huge change and opportunity for me,” Gauthier said recently, “and one that I’m really excited about.”

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The 39-year-old got the nickname “Gator” from a youth football coach who couldn’t pronounce his last name (say “GO-tee-ay”). Gauthier, who has been involved in numerous rescues on Mount Rainier, is trading his ranger uniform for a suit and will be assigned to the U.S. Senate’s subcommittee on National Parks. While D.C. might seem different than Longmire, where Gauthier lived, he’ll have something in common with at least a couple of people on Capitol Hill. Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain and Gauthier all earned places on the Men’s Journal 2004 list of the “25 Toughest Guys in America.”

Gauthier, who grew up in Olalla, Kitsap County, Washington made the list for one of his most famous rescues, which actually came on his day off in 1998. Gauthier was on Rainier’s 14,411-foot summit when he heard a distress call on his radio. He hopped on his snowboard and zipped down the mountain to Disappointment Cleaver to help guides rescue nine climbers. Former Mt. Rainier Chief Climbing Ranger Mike Gauthier on Alaska’s Mt. Foraker But what Gauthier might be most proud of is his last three years at Rainier. After several high-profile rescues and deaths on Rainier’s upper slopes, there has not been a major incident above Camp Muir in three seasons. “A lot of the credit for that goes to Mike,” park superintendent Dave Uberuaga said. “He has been very instrumental in making the program what it is today.”

Gauthier started a blog – mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com – that updates climbers on route conditions. “The more info you have to work with, the more likely you are to have a successful trip,” Gauthier said, explaining the need for the site. Gauthier helped coordinate the transition from one Rainier guiding service to three in 2007. Gauthier said that having three guide services on the mountain has made the mountain safer. In his years on Rainier, Gauthier has dangled out of helicopters, rescued climbers and recovered bodies. He’s also helped train park staff members and formulated their avalanche safety plan. Along the way, Gauthier climbed Rainier more than 180 times, including eight times in one week in 1998. He set a record by summiting the mountain 36 times that summer.

He wrote a Rainier climbing guide in 1999 that’s widely considered the best on the subject. The Mountaineers Books republished the guide in 2005. “What he has done for the park is remarkable,” Uberuaga said. “He will not be an easy guy to replace.” While Gauthier could theoretically return to Rainier after the fellowship, he says it’s unlikely.

Most participants in the Bevinetto Fellowship are assigned to a management position, such as a park superintendent post, after they finish, Chuck Young, Rainier’s chief ranger, explained in an e-mail. “I care greatly about this place,” Gauthier said. “My DNA cares about this place. I’m going to miss it, but I’m looking forward to this new opportunity.”

Sichuan Mountaineering Association - Contract

Chevron and CNPC, through a competitive tender process, contracted with Chinese geophysical company BGP, a subsidiary of CNPC, to conduct a six-month survey in a 190-square-mile (493-square-km) area to collect seismic data (Chuandongbei). Workers faced steep and treacherous terrain in the area plus icy winter weather conditions.

Prior to the start of the fieldwork, professional mountaineering instructors from the Sichuan Mountaineering Association were hired to train each field group. Professional mountaineers conducted all seismic field operations in rugged terrain like the sheer limestone ridges in the area. During operations, safety drills were continuously held to address specific safety hazards.

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BGP limited work days to 10-hour maximum shifts and daylight-only operations to reduce risk of potential incidents caused by limited visibility in the wet, mountainous terrain. Driving at night was forbidden because roads in the area are steep, muddy, winding and are often blocked by fallen rocks or stuck vehicles.

During the performance of the fieldwork, more than 1.5 million man-hours were incurred without a lost time incident.

Hubble Space Mission Takes Washburn’s Camera

May 11th 2009 – Golden, CO. Today Astronaut John Grunsfeld will launch one last time into space on a repair mission for the Hubble Telescope.

Along on this mission is an antique camera once owned by the famous mountain photographer, Bradford Washburn. A friend to Washburn, Mr. Grunsfeld is taking the 1929 Zeiss Maximar B 4x5 on its last trip, for its last pictures.

The camera was one of Washburn’s “pocket” cameras used to document some of his most important mountain images. Not only is Washburn considered a historic figure in the alpine climbing arenas, but he is considered one of the most important landscape photographers of the 20th century.

“Brad lived just a tremendous life he is one of my heroes and during the 1920s did just an fantastic number of tremendous climbs all over. As part of that he started pioneering the use of cameras from airplanes…I definitely plan to take some pictures of Hubble with the Zeiss camera but also of mountains which I know Brad would appreciate.” – John Grunsfeld – Lead Astronaut on Hubble Space Mission. (Ed note: quote from NPR Interview in links section).

John Grunsfeld is a life-long member of the American Alpine Club (AAC) and the lead astronaut on the Hubble Telescope mission. After contacting the AAC, Grunsfeld agreed that taking Brad’s oldest and most important cameras with him on a mission to repair the camera on the Hubble Telescope would be a great gesture in remembrance of his friend.

The Bradford Washburn Camera belongs to the American Alpine Club and upon its return will be on display at the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum in Golden, CO. Starting June 9th the Mountaineering Museum will open an exhibit showcasing some of Brad’s photographic prints from his favorite personal collection. This collection is on permanent loan to the American Alpine Club at the AAC Library.

Billing for Rescues – Natl. Assoc. for SAR

The following is the press release regarding NASAR's position on billing for SAR:

Washington, DC April 30, 2009 The National Association for Search and Rescue has joined the Mountain Rescue Association, the Colorado Search and Rescue Board, the International Association of Dive Rescue Specialists, the United States Coast Guard and the National Park Service – all of which either oppose billing, or do not bill, people after a search and rescue (SAR) operation. “Although it remains a local decision, billing for search and rescue operations is a dangerous practice that should be avoided,” said NASAR President Dan Hourihan.

NASAR takes the position, “To eliminate the fear of being unable to pay for having one’s life saved, SAR services should be rendered to persons in danger or distress without subsequent cost-recovery from the person(s) assisted unless prior arrangements have been made. The mission of SAR organizations is to save lives, not just the lives of those who can afford to pay the bill. As such, methods and means should be developed and used that diffuse the cost of humanitarian SAR operations among the many, allowing anyone to reasonably expect emergency aid without regard to their circumstances.”

The idea of not billing for SAR services confuses many people. However, SAR professionals across the nation know of many instances in which someone – after an unforeseen accident, or spending hours searching for their missing companion – delayed calling for help. Each “remembered” hearing, seeing or reading, “somewhere” that rescues and searches cost “thousands of dollars – which they could not afford. Some have even chosen not to call for help, or refused emergency help.

In 2006, a young hiker became stranded on Colorado’s 14,270’ Quandary Peak. She called 9-1-1, but asked the SAR team leader just to “talk her out of the area.” The sun had already set and cold weather surrounded her in a dangerous area of the mountain. She repeatedly said the SAR team should not come to help her. After going back and forth with her on her cell phone, the SAR team leader finally asked why she didn't want help. She replied, “I can't afford it.” He explained that there would be no charge and she then relented.

“A delay can place SAR personnel in danger and can unnecessarily compound and lengthen a SAR mission,” said Hourihan. “Not calling for emergency SAR help could be as catastrophic as not calling the fire department when a small stove-top fire jumps to the ceiling and instantly fills the kitchen with flames, because the home owner’s first thought was ‘how in the world will I pay the fire department?’”

Then-U.S.C.G. Commandant James Loy explained it best, in 1999, in the Coast Guard’s very similar position. “If the specter of financial reimbursement hung over the decision to report maritime distress, we could get fewer calls, we would get calls during later stages of emergencies, and more people would die at sea. This factor alone outweighs any consideration of how much money we might recoup,” said Admiral Loy.

Scottish Winter Roundup – “if it's not frozen, leave it alone”

Ethically dubious 'winter' ascents are sadly not a new thing, but the explosion of blogs and forums has opened the floodgates on debate over the last few years. Personally, I think the ethics debate breaks down into two parts- first, the issue of 'frozenness', and secondly, the question of 'whiteness'. The first is pretty simple, any vegetation used on a route needs to be properly frozen. While climbing frozen turf still does some damage, unfrozen turf is very easily ripped out, permanently changing the character of the route. Additionally, with the growing popularity of winter climbing, climbers aren't the only ones starting to notice the damage caused and we need to remember that many of the cliffs are owned and managed by conservation organizations. This year, there's been a disturbing number of reports commenting along the lines of 'the turf was soggy low on the route but improved with height'- if it's not frozen leave alone.

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The 'whiteness' question is more subjective. As climbers seek out steeper objectives, getting frozen and 'white' conditions becomes harder, but patience usually pays off. There's a curious myth that 'snow protects the rock from damage'- while in reality having to clear snow and verglas to reach the rock probably produces more scratches than if it was climbed bare. At the end of the day, whether a route is 'white' enough is a personal choice, but consider that the point in wearing crampons and using tools is they grip on slippy snow and verglas- if the rock is bare, boot soles and hands work just as well if not better, its a lot warmer in summer, and you don't need to lug lots of metal with you.

Ethics griping aside, the 2008/2009 winter season has produced two new world-class test-pieces, an excellent haul of ascents and most importantly of all loads of excitement, great views, good times and fun memories. Chuck the spiky toys in the back of the cupboard and enjoy the summer! by Viv Scott

The Alpine Club, GBR – Spirit of Mountaineering Awards

The first Spirit of Mountaineering Commendations of The Alpine Club were presented on 25th April 2009 at the 17th Piolets d’Or ceremony in Chamonix to Simon Anthamatten (Swiss), Alexey Bolotov (Russian), Don Bowie (Canadian), Horia Colibasanu (Romanian), Ueli Steck (Swiss) and Denis Urubko (Kazakh) for their attempt to rescue talented Spanish alpinist Iñaki Ochoa de Olza from Camp 4 on Annapurna during May 2008.

The Commendation acknowledges and thanks persons who, 'in the true Spirit of Mountaineering, have shown unselfish devotion to help a fellow climber in the mountains, and in doing so have sacrificed their own objective or put their personal safety at risk'.

The awards were presented by Alpine Club President Paul Braithwaite and Dr Norman Croucher who founded the Initiative in 2007, supported by Vice-President Martin Scott, General-Secretary Francoise Call and “Spirit of Mountaineering” trustee Frank Cannings.

Pablo Ochoa de Olza paid a moving tribute to the mountaineers who tried to rescue his brother, Iñaki. “We believe we have a big debt with them, a bill we will never be able to pay enough, but one thing we can do: we can tell anyone who would listen who they are, what they did and their amazing acts... That we do.”

Iñaki Ochoa de Olza was an accomplished mountaineer who had summited twelve of the fourteen 8,000 metre peaks, including a new route on Shisha Pangma. He was attempting the long and committing East Ridge of Annapurna I with Romanian Horia Colibasanu and Russian Alexey Bolotov. Ochoa and Colibasanu retreated from 7,850m and returned to Camp 4 at 7,400m where Ochoa contracted cerebral oedema. Colibasanu used his satellite phone to contact Base Camp but insisted on staying with Ochoa until other help arrived, even though he himself was beginning to suffer from the altitude. Swiss mountaineers Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten had earlier retreated from their attempt on a new South Face route and were waiting for the weather to clear before trying again. Packing a good medical kit they immediately started up the East Ridge, despite not having their high altitude boots which they cached at their highest camp on the South Face.

Meanwhile, Bolotov had reached the summit and descended exhausted back to Camp 4, where he decided his best course of action was to break trail through fresh snow down the East Ridge until he met Steck, where they swapped boots. In Kathmandu Kazakh Denis Urubko was just about to fly home after completing his expedition, but cancelled the flight and boarded a helicopter organized by Ochoa's brother in Spain and his Nepalese agent. In Pokhara he was joined by Canadian Don Bowie, who had also been on Ochoa's expedition during the early stages of the climb.

The helicopter was unable to reach Base Camp due to bad weather so Bowie and Urubko walked for seven hours from Chomrong before proceeding up the mountain past Camp 3, carrying oxygen up towards the stricken climber. They had been joined by Bolotov who stopped his descent and headed back up the mountain to assist.

Steck, wearing Bolotov's boots, met Colibasanu descending the ridge. The Romanian was suffering from mountain sickness but after Steck administered medicine he recovered enough to join Anthamatten at Camp 3. Ueli Steck then climbed back up to Camp 4 and administered medicine and artificial respiration. Despite this care Iñaki Ochoa de Olza sadly died at 12.30 pm on May 23rd . Bowie, Urubko and Bolotov were then just 200 metres below with the oxygen.

Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Center – Kanak Mani Dixit

“It was survival instinct that we all have, and an enormous series of good fortunes that saved me,” says journalist Kanak Mani Dixit, 53

Dixit’s love for solitary treks began in 1971 when he graduated from high school. Thirty years later, a 150-feet freefall, and four days of living on a jutting rock and dealing with severe vertebral injuries would end the love affair.

It was the final day of his solo trek around the Annapurnas in late August 2001. Dixit was heading for Besisahar from Jagat on a rainy morning, wearing shorts and taking notes.

From a place called Syange to Bahun Danda, there’s a trail cut out from rocks that goes past cliffs. In wet months, rainfall comes in a gully over the trail, making it slippery. Looking back, Dixit says he probably bypassed the slippery trail by walking towards the edge.

“I don’t remember the last one hour of the trek, probably because of shock,” said Dixit, the publisher and editor of the Himal Southasian magazine. “But I remember flying in the air, and trying to save myself on the edge of the trail with my weight and my backpack pulling me. I hit a rock and crashed.”

When Dixit regained consciousness, the rain had stopped and sharp monsoon sunlight shone on his face. The backpack was lost. His hands were weak. There was a strip of his scalp skin and hair on his face. He was in excruciating pain, the reasons for which he would know only days later.

“I tried to drag myself and actually fell into a cul-de-sac, a little ledge of rock, about 4-5 feet long and a couple of feet wide. That ledge became my home for the next three nights and four days,” he said. Some 200 feet below, the Marsyangdi River roared in full monsoon fury.

His ordinary skills and the hope that his wife would somehow find him and pull off a successful rescue operation kept Dixit alive for the next four days. “I have this ultimate faith in my wife. I thought she would somehow devise a way to save me,” he said. He remembers talking to himself, calling her name.

The rock ledge was inclined towards the river, so Dixit had to constantly drag himself to the cliff. But the ledge was also full of pebbles, so constant slipping and dragging himself back gave scratches all over his body.

“I remember there was a tuft of grass on my left. I held on to it to try and keep myself from slipping. But that tuft also happened to be the mouth of an anthill. I was bitten by ants in every part of my body. And my undergarment, when I was rescued, was full of fistfuls of dead ants,” he said.

On the rock ledge, he also found a stick that he put across the cliff’s edge so that he could lock his legs to it to prevent himself from slipping. Dixit spent the first day shouting for help. Though his voice hardly stood out against the roar of the Marsyangdi, he shouted for help until he lost his voice.

The next day, he fashioned a pillow out of his woolen socks that were swollen with rain and mud. And he found a way to keep himself hydrated. “To my left was a huge rock. Water was trickling from its middle. It was monsoon. Once a day, I would lean on my side and fashion a little dam to collect water. With great difficultly I sucked the water. Because I had practiced while trekking in dry areas to drink beyond need, I managed to do that,” he said.

Dixit says he didn’t lose consciousness in those four days, though he often hallucinated at night. He also mistook the source of noises. For instance, he thought the murmur of a bee to be a male voice, and the roar of the Marsyangdi to the noise of a copter.

Hunger was an overwhelming feeling. Once he tried to eat grass but could not. “One thing I noticed was that even when one is dying and there’s grass available, you don’t eat it. I tried, disliked it and that was it. I would rather die, but I just wouldn’t eat it,” he said.

Dixit had fashioned a flag, using a stick and a piece of plastic that had whitened from sun and rain. He hoisted it above his stomach with his palms, hoping someone would see it.

“I would say the saddest moments of my life were that particular situation. Here I am, I can see on the other side of the Marsyangdi, the five houses and even trails. But probably because it was monsoon, I didn’t see even one person walking along those trails during those four days,” he said. On the third evening, he heard a chopper. He tried to wave the stick. But within 15 minutes, the copter went back.

On the fourth morning, he decided to do something about the situation rather than wait for help. He planned to leave the ledge and fall, so that he might have some chance of being found, even though that meant being more injured or even dead.

“Then I heard voices. It came closer. Then there were people around me,” he said.

Dixit believes in probabilities and not divinity. He says his rescue was not a miracle but the result of a series of good fortunes. Unlike during his previous treks, he had made it a point to give his family a call everyday. He had made his last phone call from Dharapani. That gave his family an idea of where to conduct a search.

Also, though it is common for people, who have gone on treks, to be late by a few days, this time his wife didn’t wait for his return, and forced his older brother Kunda Dixit to go looking for him.

The search team wouldn’t have found Dixit if it weren’t for his nephew’s cap that he wore during that trek. The ledge Dixit was lying on was invisible from above. But the search team spotted the cap on a treetop. Then, descending the cliff with the help of a rope, they found him.

Among the rescuers was Dixit’s old friend Padam Ghale, a rescue specialist who climbed down on ropes to find him. Also, the rescue team found a porter, Lok Bahadur Tamang, at the right time. He carried Dixit up piggyback.

“Another good fortune is that I come from a well-to-do family in Kathmandu. So my people could conceivably charter a helicopter and send people to search for me,” he said. Yet another good fortune was that there was a doctor like Upendra Devkota who also happened to be a relation.

Dixit had broken three vertebral discs of his neck. The break should have left him a quadriplegic, meaning a total paralytic. “People say my break is like that of Christopher Reeves’. But I was lucky while he was not in that when my neck broke, the bone shattered and my spinal column wasn’t injured,” he said.

Dixit had to undergo a nine-hour surgery, and wear an external fixation for three months. He still has problems using three of his fingers, and his neck has limited turning radius because Dr. Devkota had to tie his three vertebrae with a steel wire. “But the problems I have should be considered inconsequential,” Kanak says.

It was not the first time Dixit fell from a cliff though. In 1987, he broke his right leg falling from a cliff in Gran Paradiso in the Italian Alps. He was winched up by a helicopter by professional rescuers.

Dixit says the accident didn’t make him spiritual. “I’m confirmed in my agnosticism,” he says. “I’m essentially the same person with the same lackadaisical attitude – disorganized.” But in the years after the accident, Dixit felt that because you go around only once, you have to make the best out of it.

“Before the accident, I was a journalist. After, I was into civil rights, pluralism, social activism, human rights,” he said. But he is unsure whether it was the accident that made him an activist. “I would’ve probably done the same in any case,” he says. “For the privilege of being alive,” Dixit also took some initiatives at personal and social levels.

Lok Bahadur Tamang, who is from a poor village in Gorkha, wanted drinking water and electricity in the village. Drinking water Dixit managed with his friends’ help. He still feels it is his duty to take electricity to the village. Dixit also used his personal funds to put a guard railing along the entire trail, where he almost perished.

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As a societal response, and with the cooperation of eight friends, he started the Spinal Injury Rehab Center that is presently located in Sanga, at the cost of US$1.5 million. The center was inaugurated by Sir Edmund Hillary in February, 2002. “Nerves once broken can’t be rejoined. So we provide moral boost, physiotherapy and occupational therapy to people with spinal injuries,” Dixit says.

The center tries to give people with spinal injuries as much quality of life as possible. It is a not-for-profit organization. For the poor, the Center raises money.

“I was saved by what is best in Nepal: friends, family, and strangers,” says Dixit. “A wife who knew when it was reasons enough to panic; a brother who responded very, very quickly; and a friend who had the skills. A stranger who was asked by people, “Did you carry the man up on contract?”, and he replied, “No, I did it out of humanity!”

Apa Sherpa Climbs Everest Nineteen Times – May 21, 2009

Apa (Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa) broke his own record by reaching the top of Everest for the nineteenth time on May 21, 2009. He was a member of The Eco Everest Expedition, led by Bill Burke, whose purpose was to raise awareness about climate change. The team spent half an hour at the top of the mountain, unfurling a banner that said "Stop Climate Change". The team brought down five tones of mountain trash that includes parts of a crashed helicopter, tin cans and climbing material. On this expedition, Lhakpa Nuru was swept away in an avalanche on May 7, 2009 and died.

“He reached the top at 8 am Thursday,” said Sanjaya Baral, expedition officer of Asian Trekking that organized the Eco Everest Expedition 2009 led by Appa, 49.

The Thame-born who moved to Utah, United States in 2006, placed a WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) banner that reads “Stop Climate Change, Let the Himalayas Live” atop the peak. He also placed a holy urn given to him by the Rinpoche of Tengboche on the top.

“I am at the top and looking at all the prayer flags,” Appa told his organizers by radio at 8:30 am. “I have just satisfied the deities and placed the Bhumpa (holy urn) on the summit. I am the last of our group to get to the top today as I was delayed at the Hillary Step because there are so many people here. I arrived here at 8 am and have been here for 30 minutes. It´s very cold so I am heading down.”

Despite being the most experienced high altitude climber in the world, the 19th summit was not easy for Appa or his expedition. The expedition was struck by tragedy on May 7 when a Lhakpa Nuru, a high altitude climber, died in an avalanche.

And on Tuesday, two team members gave up summit hopes and returned to Kathmandu. Among them was Henri Voigt who fell and hurt his head at Camp 2, and Jesse Easterling who fell ill after being mis-prescribed overdoses of dexamethasone.

The climbing season saw one of the worst weather conditions, forcing many climbers, including Appa, to retreat to Lobuche on May 13.

Appa´s expedition is meant to spread awareness about ecology and climate change. An initiative of Asian Trekking´s Managing Director Dawa Steven Sherpa, the expedition succeeded in bringing back some 5,000 kilograms of garbage from the slopes of Everest under the money-for-garbage scheme which financially rewards climbers, guides and porters who bring garbage back to Base Camp.

Appa failed his first attempt at scaling Mt Everest in 1988, before succeeding in 1990. He has climbed to the summit almost every year since.

Everest Avalanche Video - May 2, 2009

A large avalanche was captured on video near Everest base camp. The avalanche started at the lower West Shoulder and crashed into the lower Icefall. No one was injured or killed. Ice dust reached base camp: AVALANCHE VIDEO HERE

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Trip Reports

American Mountaineering Museum

I visited the BWAMM (Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum) in May. The museum is located in downtown Golden Colorado (Washington & 10^th Street) in a building that must have been a high school once. The museum consists of one large room dominated by a very large scale model of Mt. Everest. There is a 15 minute movie loop on Mr. Washburn’s numerous accomplishments. In his autobiography, he notes a family fortune derived from barbed wire and toothpaste (Colgate). There was also another fifteen minute film running, at the time, on an Annapurna climb. Between the two films, and the museum, I would allow an hour.

The model of Everest is quite impressive; each layer represents five meters. Only a few routes are marked on the model. I think it would be interesting to see all the climbed routes marked, such as recently shown in Alpinist 26. Also of interest would be to mark other features such as the second step, the Hillary step, where Mallory’s body was found, the yellow band, etc. Around the edge of the model you can listen to early Everest climbers, such as Tom Horbein.

Here is a link to the museum: http://www.bwamm.org/

The real treasure in the building is the American Alpine Club library behind the stairway leading down to the museum. Here one could spend a lifetime. Part of the large library is closed off for rare books and artifacts. If time had allowed, I would have liked to have peeked in there.

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The American Alpine Club offices are on the main floor as well as those of Outward Bound. Upstairs is the Colorado Mountain Club. The offices were closed on Saturday. During the week, I am sure you could start up interesting conversations in any corner of this building. There is also a two story top rope climbing wall, which was closed at the time.

Golden offers a number of other small museums, none of which I can really recommend, other than the free geology museum at the Colorado School of Mines, which contains spectacular finds from around the world. On the lower level are a small “mine” and other stuff for kids. – Tom Cronin

California - Various

Fresno/Wamello Dome, Chris Oakes :

Susan Holl and I drove up Saturday morning 5/16/09. We encountered a lot of snow on the dirt road and, after freeing the vehicle, decided to walk in the extra half mile to the trailhead. The trail was obscured by snow, and we walked about a mile in the wrong direction. By 3:30 we were on the rock and did 3 pitches. We camped at the Fresno Dome Campground and were woken up at 11:30 by Oakhurst's local drunks duking it out in the campground.

On Sunday we did a 5 pitch 5.7 and a three pitch 5.8. I missed the rap anchor on one pitch and had to do some creative maneuvering to get back to it. We appear to be the first on the rock for the season. Nice quality rock, good easy pitches of friction to start off the season.

Willow Creek Wall, Chris Kantarjiev:

A good alternative if you find the road impassable [to Fresno Dome] is Willow Creek Wall - when you get to the T at the "end" of Sky Ranch Road, turn right instead of left. When you come around the first big bend to the left (slightly uphill), look to your left - within a few hundred yards, you'll see a big granite wall. There's "bolted trad", from about 5.6 at the right end to 5.11+ at the left end... pretty much all single pitch, good fun.

Phantom Spires, Tom Cronin:

Shots taken on Saturday 5/17/09 at Phantom Spires (and elsewhere). High temp. of 75F.

Pictures Here

Shasta – Casaval Ridge, Jen Klafin

Wanted to share some pictures from last weekend [5/16/09] from Casaval Ridge on Mt. Shasta which was fun and a challenge! Great snow - they had gotten 4 feet the week before - a few slides, but thankfully nothing major while we were there:

Pictures Here

Incidents

“It is better to be careful 100 times than to get killed once.” Mark Twain

Mt. Whitney, CA – Keum Kim – April 26, 2009

On Sunday, Inyo County Search and Rescue volunteers were called out for the sad task of recovering the body of a woman who had fallen on Mt. Whitney.

Reports indicate that a man and his wife, Keum Kim, were climbing up the ice and rock chute known as the Mountaineer’s route as part of a party of four climbers. Sometime Saturday night, possibly after 9:00 PM, the party was descending from the summit when the woman fell. Why the group was so high on the mountain after dark is not clear, but some reports indicate that the group had planned to watch the sunset from the summit. Some reports indicate that the group had been climbing without head lamps to light their way.

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The group, which included the woman’s husband, reportedly searched through the night for the fallen woman, finally finding her deceased early Sunday morning.

A climber not associated with the victim’s party, was in the area of Iceberg Lake and called Inyo Search and Rescue by cell phone Sunday morning.

Inyo SAR members flew into the area of Iceberg Lake by CHP helicopter to recover the body. The victim was later identified as 53 year old Keum Kim of Redondo Beach.

Lost Arrow Spire, CA – April 14, 2009

At about 9:00am the Yosemite Emergency Communications Center began receiving multiple 911 calls with reports of yells for help coming from the Lost Arrow Spire. At about the same time, S. Thayer contacted the SAR Office directly via a borrowed cell phone and informed Rangers that his two climbing partners were stuck in the notch of Lost Arrow Spire. Thayer explained that events caused his climbing partners to become unexpectedly benighted in the Spire’s Notch and that he did not have the means to extricate them.

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Thayer, Capp, and Jimenez had planned on a single day ascent of the Lost Arrow tip. They left Camp 4 at about 6:00am but by the time they actually began technical climbing out of the notch it was almost 2:30pm. They left their packs, extra clothing, food, and water on the rim, rappelling 300 feet down into the notch with only the equipment that they were wearing.

The climb took much longer to accomplish and they were overtaken by nightfall. Deciding not to complete the traverse back to the rim, the team rappelled back to the notch. The team experienced a plethora of problems including rope drag on the last pitch and their inability to locate the one head lamp they had brought with them. Thayer was able to ascend from the notch to the rim; however, the two other members of the party were stranded in the notch during the night. The team was exposed to the deteriorating weather throughout the night without adequate clothing. The following morning, NPS rescue personnel hiked the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail and assisted them in ascending out of the Notch.

Yosemite Falls, CA – March 9, 2009

On Monday, March 9, YOSAR was alerted to a man in peril at the top of Yosemite Falls. With the help of CHP helicopter H-40, the man was located on a snow-covered rock in Yosemite Creek just downstream of the Yosemite Creek Bridge, a few hundred feet upstream of Upper Yosemite Fall, the highest waterfall in North America. In spite of rescuers' best efforts, the man was lost in the creek and swept over the brink.

On Tuesday, March 10, air and ground teams searched the icy slopes of Yosemite Creek above and below Yosemite Falls, including the large ice dome at the base of Upper Yosemite Falls, but were unable to locate a body. The search has been called off until conditions improve.

Santa Cruz, CA -Girl Scout – 5/24/2009

An 11-year-old Girl Scout from San Ramon who got lost in the Santa Cruz Mountains in a fit of temper was found safe and in good condition Sunday morning after a massive overnight search.

The unnamed girl had walked away from the Cutter Boy Scout Reservation after getting into an argument with another girl. About 450 girls and adults from Girl Scout troops in the San Ramon area were spending the Memorial Day weekend at the camp, in a remote redwood stand about 15 miles west of Saratoga.

According to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and Girl Scout officials, the girl stormed away from camp to blow off steam about 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Starting out on a marked trail, she lost her direction and then wandered off the trail and beyond the camp's boundaries in a thick forest.

But Michelle McCormick, an official with the Girl Scouts of Northern California, said the girl eventually gathered her wits. As night fell and a thick fog descended through the redwood trees, the girl decided to "hunker down and wait for help.''

Some 103 searchers from San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Marin and Alameda counties and the California Department of Fish and Game joined the hunt overnight on foot, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles.

The narrow dirt road that twists its way to the camp was so busy with search and emergency vehicles that authorities asked the Girl Scout troops to stay put when many of them wanted to leave. Breaking camp would have clogged

A search party found the girl about 10 a.m. Sunday sitting on a boulder in a ravine about a mile outside of the camp. She was suffering from minor hypothermia and had a few cuts and bruises. Officials said it took about three hours to get her out of the ravine. Paramedics took her to a hospital to be examined.

"It was long weekend," said a program director at the campsite, who identified herself only as Julie and directed questions to Girl Scouts officials.

Spokane, WA – May 3, 2009

Spokane County firefighters rescued a climber who fell from a cliff in John Shields Park.

Crews from Spokane County Fire District 9 rescued a climber who fell partway down a cliff Sunday morning at Minnehaha Rocks in John Shields Park.

The climber and his friend were lead climbing Sunday morning when the accident occurred.

The climber may have been working his way up a route called Tar Babies, where the cliff stands about 70 feet high.

The climber was on the rock face when protection came loose, and he fell 20 to 25 feet, landing on a 6-foot outcropping known in climbing circles as “The Ramp.”

The man was transported to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center with a shoulder injury, facial lacerations and a possible back injury. He was wearing a helmet.

Zion, UT – May 9, 2009

On Saturday, May 9th, rescuers responded to a climbing accident near the Zion Mount Carmel Tunnel. A 27-year-old man was on a route known as "Feast of Snakes," which is located on the Pine Creek Canyon wall directly below the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, when the fall occurred.

He had placed an anchor at the top of the route and was cleaning gear while being lowered by his partner, who was using a GriGri climbing device at the bottom of the climb. The rope being used by the climbers was too short for the slingshot belay technique and the end of the rope went through the GriGri, dropping the climber 20 feet onto his neck and back on a ledge below the route. Due to the steep terrain and loose footing, along with the mechanism of injury, rescuers called for a helicopter for winch extrication. The rescuers had to first perform a technical lowering to move the climber from the ledge.

An additional low-angle technical raising, followed by a low-angle lowering, were performed before carrying the patient to an open area away from the canyon walls.

A Blackhawk from Nellis Air Force Base extricated the man and flew him to a waiting ambulance at the Coal Pits helispot. He was then taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with C-1, T-1 and T-5 fractures along with a lacerated spleen. About 25 park personnel were involved in the rescue.

North Conway, NH – Harrison Hall - May 17, 2009

A rock climber fell 30 feet off Cathedral Ledge and landed on a rock shelf 100 feet above the ground. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department officer who helped rescue Harrison Hall said the man could have fallen an additional 30 feet had the ledge not stopped him, and that Hall's ropes would have eventually prevented him from tumbling the full 100 feet.

"They were able to set up ropes and lines and lower him down some steeper sections," New Hampshire Fish and Game conservation Officer Alex Lopashanski said.

Hall, of Boston, was climbing with a partner up a section of the rock called “Recompense.”

Rescue teams said Hall was leading the climb. Officers who responded to the accident said they think Hall may have been a little short on experience, saying they think he didn't know the best way to attach his climbing gear to the cliff.

When Hall took an unexpected fall, three pieces tore out of the cracks and caused him to drop a longer-than-anticipated distance. Hall broke his ankle.

Mt. Hood, OR – John Creager – May 17, 2009

An Oregon Army National Guard helicopter took 54-year-old John Creager of Milwaukie, Ore. from Mount Hood to a Portland hospital.

John sustained leg, arm and facial injuries after falling 500’. John, initially knocked unconscious, was in "amazingly good spirits" during the rescue. The fall occurred at the 10,600-foot mark. There were other climbers present at the time, including a doctor who treated Creager. The helicopter transported Creager from Timberline Lodge to OHSU Hospital.

hood good

Denali, AK – Bill Hearne – May 7, 2009

We see the news stories and we shake our heads: Someone has died by accident in a national park. Surely that person must have done something foolish, we tell ourselves. Certainly he or she didn’t understand that the natural world can be a dangerous place.

Last summer, a climber fell 800 feet in Grand Teton National Park—a man with considerable climbing experience, who could not break his rapid fall with his ice axe. This spring, a 67-year-old California resident fell while climbing the Great Burrito in Joshua Tree National Park, sustaining fatal head injuries. We hear these stories and we think that these people probably took unnecessary risks; perhaps it was hubris to make such a climb in the first place.

I may have thought such things when strangers were involved. But this past weekend, 61-year-old Bill Hearne collapsed and died at 13,500 feet while participating in an expedition on Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America. Bill was physically fit, an experienced climber and the founder of a running club in Fairport, NY—a suburb of Rochester, my hometown. My husband, Nic, and I knew Bill through his volunteer role as treasurer for Mercury Opera in Rochester, for which Nic is the lighting designer.

hearne

Bill had no reason to believe that he could not complete the climb to the top of Denali; he had considerable climbing experience, and he was with an expedition led by professionals. An avid runner, cyclist and hiker with at least several marathons to his credit, he served as a spin class instructor at the downtown YMCA in Rochester and organized a running club in Fairport, often running more than ten miles at a stretch. In 2008, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya, the highest peak in Africa at 15,100 feet.

“In the two weeks before he left, he was looking so fit that I commented to him how good he looked,” said Lynn Zicari, who served with Bill on the Mercury Opera board. “I had never seen him so fit. He told me that in addition to the six spin classes per week he taught and his regular runs, he was weight lifting three times a week. To prepare himself for the heavy loads he would have to carry, he was hiking Bristol Mountain [a 2200-foot peak in New York’s Finger Lakes region] with a 60-pound pack and a loaded sled attached to a harness he was wearing…He was physically fit before he started to get in shape for this trip, and he was experienced in hiking in higher elevations. How it affected him physically was no secret to him.”

It will be some time before we know—if we ever do—what exactly made Bill collapse on his way between camps at 11,200 feet and 14,000 feet, as he and other climbers ferried supplies up the 20,320-foot mountain. The Anchorage Daily News reports that two National Park Service mountaineering rangers worked with the expedition guides to administer CPR, but they could not revive him—and his body has been secured on the mountain until it can be evacuated by helicopter.

I can’t help but think about the risks so many of us take in national parks—trekking through the desert with limited supplies of water, hiking to elevations higher than those to which our bodies are accustomed, tracking into wilderness with nothing but a topographical map and a compass…and scaling the highest mountain on the continent. We do these things because we believe we can; we take the precautions we believe to be adequate while standing at the trailhead, perhaps not fully realizing what may lay ahead. We do the best that we can do to ensure our safe return from our journeys into the wild—and in the vast majority of cases, we arrive home intact, with a little more trail savvy than we had when we started.

The fact is, however, that we face the natural world with only our own bodies and a handful of supplies—and sometimes, much to our own wonder, the danger turns out to be hidden inside, not out in the wild. My thoughts and prayers go to Bill Hearne’s family and close friends for their untimely and tragic loss. By Randi Minetor

Denali, AK – Gerald Meyers - May 19, 2009

The National Park Service says an aerial crew is looking for a Colorado climber missing on Alaska's Mount McKinley.

Denali National Park Service spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin says there was no sighting of 41-year-old Gerald Myers of Centennial, Colo., during a search Thursday.

Myers began a solo climb to the summit of the mountain on Tuesday. He was last seen Wednesday as he climbed the ridge approaching McKinley's 20,320-foot summit.

A team traveling about two hours behind Myers did not see any signs of the man. He had skis with him, but little survival gear.

According to a note left for his three climbing partners, Myers departed the 14,200-foot camp around 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday. He was next seen at the 17,200-foot high camp at approximately 11:00 a.m. that same morning, where he grabbed his skis and dug into a cache that the team had left on a previous acclimatization climb.

Other sightings that afternoon were made on the traverse to Denali Pass at 18,600 feet and then again near 18,900 feet. Park rangers at the high camp said Myers did not return to camp Tuesday night.

While he departed camp in warm clothing, Myers was traveling light and did not appear to take a sleeping bag, thermal pad, bivy sac, or a stove for melting snow. It was not known how much food or water he had in his pack.

Rangers and volunteers at the 14,200-foot camp and at high camp have been using spotting scopes of possible routes Myers could be using. However, visibility was obscured by clouds, with wind gusting to 45 mph near the summit.

According to the National Park Service, aerial searches will continue as weather allows.

Torridon, GBR – Propeller Snags Climber – May 6, 2009

A climber's fall during an avalanche was broken by a propeller from a crashed Lancaster bomber, a mountain information boss has revealed.

The fall came on the first day of the most recent season of Sport Scotland's Avalanche Information Service (SAIS).

Its Co-coordinator Mark Diggins said the climber, who was badly injured, got into difficulty in Fuselage Gully on Beinn Eighe in Torridon in December.

The area is the site of a fatal training flight crash in 1951. All eight on board died when the aircraft from RAF Kinloss in Moray hit Triple Buttress on Beinn Eighe on 14 March, 58 years ago. Difficulties in recovering the bodies over several months led to the formation of RAF Mountain Rescue. Most of the wrecked Lancaster was understood to have been destroyed in a later controlled explosion, but sections of wing and its Rolls Royce Merlin engines remain. A small brass plaque on part of the wreckage recalls the accident.

December's avalanche in Fuselage Gully involved a second climber who was able to dig himself out of the snow. His friend was sent hurtling down the mountainside with a slab of snow before hitting the propeller. The incident was one of 112 avalanches recorded by the SAIS this winter.

In January, three people lost their lives in one of Scotland's most serious avalanche incidents, which happened on Buachaille Etive Mor at Glencoe. Brothers John Murphy, 63, from Portrush and Eamonn Murphy, 61, from Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, along with Brian Murray, 46, of Monifieth in Angus, died.

The three killed were members of the An Teallach Mountaineering Club and among nine people caught by the avalanche.

Dartmoor, GBR – Dominic Crisp – June 2008

A Royal Marine who died in a climbing accident at a Devon beauty spot had given his helmet to his less experienced brother, an inquest heard.

Capt Dominic Crisp suffered fatal head injuries in the fall at the Dewerstone on Dartmoor last June.

The 27-year-old from 42 Commando had offered his helmet to his brother and his girlfriend over fears he might dislodge rocks ahead of them.

Plymouth deputy coroner Andrew Cox said the death had been a "tragic accident".

The inquest was told the Royal Marines officer had learned to climb on a mountain leaders' course a year before the tragedy.

He suffered a fractured skull and five broken ribs when he slipped and fell about 70ft (21m) from a ledge. He died from multiple organ failure 10 days later in Plymouth's Derriford Hospital.

Giving evidence Capt Crisp's girlfriend Ellie Jones and his younger brother Charlie Crisp said he had offered them his helmet because neither had climbed before.

He climbed up the rock face to the first ledge, setting up secure points in the rock on the way so the others could follow and was about to start abseiling down the almost sheer crag when he fell.

Mr Crisp, aged 24, said moments before the fall his brother had called down: "I'm safe, you don't need to do anything."

He said the climbing helmet had been left on the ground by Capt Crisp to protect his girlfriend and brother from any loose stones falling from under him, but neither had put it on.

Miss Jones said: "He wanted us to be safe more than himself. It seems ironic now."

Royal Marines climbing expert Colour Sgt Ian Billings said there was damage to a fitting intended to hold Capt Crisp as he abseiled.

He said the captain had fixed himself to two safety lines but one jammed and the mounting on the other pulled out because it could not cope with the sudden loading of weight.

The coroner said: "What happened here was a tragic accident. "This young man was fit and healthy and by all accounts had a promising career to look forward to in the Royal Marines.

Isle of Skye, GBR – Mathew Elliott - May 18, 2009

Rescue teams went to the aid of an injured man in the Cuillins on Skye. Skye Mountain Rescue Team and a Stornoway Coastguard helicopter were scrambled and the climber was airlifted to the island's Broadford Hospital. Police said the man fell about 30m from the summit of Sgurr Nan Eag.

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Separately, a Matthew Elliott, 31, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire died after falling, along with another climber, near the Am Basteir Ridge.

Llanberis, GBR – John Evans – April 28, 2009

Experienced climber dies in fall

A mountain rescuer and experienced climber has died after falling whilst rock climbing in Snowdonia. John David Evans, 54, was with team members from Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue on a social climb in Llanberis Pass on Tuesday.

Mr Evans, a team member since 1973, suffered severe head injuries after falling a 'considerable distance'. He was flown by RAF helicopter from to hospital in Bangor but doctors were unable to save his life.

"He was one of the most experienced mountain rescuers," said team member Chris Lloyd. "The team meets socially to rock climb each Tuesday, to keep skill levels up, and he either slipped, or a hand or foothold came away, and he fell a considerable distance."

Mr Lloyd said very experienced mountain rescue team members were with Mr Evans at the time and they did everything they could to try to save him. "He was a very experienced man and for 10 years, for six months of the year, he lived in Alaska to take part in mountain rescue there," he said.

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"He was self-employed and specialised in mountain guiding, instructing mountain rescuers, and mountain first aid all around the world. He will be sorely missed," Mr Lloyd added. Mr Evans leaves a partner, and two children of 22 and 18 from a previous marriage.

From Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation:

John, a member of OVMRO for over 36 years, tragically died in the Llanberis pass on 28th April 2009 while descending after completing a climb with his partner Lin.

John was originally from Wrexham. Here he joined The Scouts and through this organisation he was introduced to the mountains. Whilst staying at Hafod, the Scout hut in the Ogwen Valley, he was introduced to mountain rescue. He became a full member of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation in May 1973. Through this organisation he was introduced to the USAF PJ’s (airborne rescue troops trained to be dropped behind enemy lines to extract downed aircrew). These PJ’s, who were based in Woodbridge, Suffolk, used Snowdonia for training and became good friends of the Team.

John became attracted to the PJ’s life and in the early 1980’s he left Wales for the USA to join the USAF and qualified as a PJ. He travelled the world with them over the next 12 years or so. Through the PJ’s he was introduced to the big mountains of Alaska.

Leaving the USAF in the mid 1990’s he started as a mountain guide in the Alaskan mountains. Through this John was introduced to the Denali National Park Service and high altitude mountain rescue on Denali (Mount McKinley) and the surrounding ranges.

John would spend 6 months of the year in Alaska, much of it at the Denali high altitude camp at 14,000 feet. During the other half of the year he would return to his home in Capel Curig.

John was never at home for long. He instructed in Mountain Rescue technical rope work, Wilderness First Aid and Search Management, which not only took him around Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland, but as far afield as South Africa and Hong Kong.

John leaves two children, his son David (20yrs) and daughter Rhiannon (17yrs). He loved taking them on mountain adventures from a young age.

John was a true professional in his fields, a real stalwart and the man to have with you when the going got tough on the mountains. Tributes to John are being sent from around the world. He will be missed by all those who knew him. It is a great tragedy that the man who did so much to assist those in trouble in the mountains for 36 years should lose his life at such an early age and on the mountains he loved.

John's funeral will be on Thursday 7th May at 13:30 at Bangor crematorium and afterwards at Cobdens hotel in Capel Curig. Family flowers only please.

Annapurna, NPL – Martin Minarik - April 26, 2009

Czech star climber Martin Minarik is missing on Annapurna. His team mate Eli Revol is expected to return to France from Kathmandu on Sunday.

The expedition, originally consisting Dodo Kopold, Martin Minarik and French female climber Elizabeth Revol made a failed attempt to climb Annapurna via the Bonington route after which Dodo Kopold left and returned to Europe for the Piolet d'Or event.

When severe winds hit their high camp on April 19, Eli and Martin aborted a second attempt on the top last weekend. In a prolonged climb, the two still managed to reach the east fore-summit (8016m) and began a difficult descent in rough conditions. "Martin is not well,” Eli Revol reported to her home team over SMS on Wednesday.

According to news brought by Libor Uher's website (fellow Czech climbers who aborted their own Annapurna attempt earlier and are now headed to Everest north side), confirmed today by Czech online mountain news sources Lezec.cz and horyinfo.cz, Eli said that she and Martin were forced to split up at 7100 meters where Martin was unable to move on his own due to exhaustion and frostbite. Uher's agency said the exhausted Revol was found in Manang village from where a helicopter transported her to Pokhara. Eli met with Libor´s team and Ms. Hawley in Kathmandu on Friday, trying to detail her route of descent.

A two day search by helicopters and a team of Sherpa has been unsuccessful and the heli SAR was reportedly called off today.

Born 27.11. 1967, in addition to spectacular climbs on Denali, Mt Logan and Aconcagua, Martin Minarik participated in 10 Himalaya expeditions and summited 7, 8000ers:

Manaslu (8.163 m) 1999,

Kangchenjunga (8.598 m) 2002

Broad Peak (8.047 m) 2003,

Shisha Pangma (8.046 m) 2004 - north side in alpine style

Cho Oyu (8.201 m) 2005

Lhotse (8.516 m) 2007

Dhaulagiri (8.167 m) 2008

Everest, NPL – Lhapka Nura – May 8, 2009

Khumbu Icefall: At 10.34 A.M, Walter Laserer, Lhapka Nuru Sherpa and myself [Bernice Notenboom] got hit by the biggest avalanche this season racing down the West Shoulder of Mount Everest,” reports Dutch TV team member Bernice Notenboom. Her guide Walter Laserer and their Sherpa Lhakpa Nuru were caught in the Thursday slide, which threw both westerners into a crevasse.

Bernice escaped without much harm, while Walter had to be rescued by other climbers – mostly members in the Indian Mountaineering Institute which were very close when the avalanche struck. Several people looked in vain for Lhakpa Nuru until dangerous conditions forced the search to be called off. A boot belonging to the Sherpa was the only trace found.

Satelite Message from Bernice

9 May Bad things always come in three. So it was for us on May 8th. At 10.34 A.M, Walter Laserer, Lhapka Nuru Sherpa and myself got hit by the biggest avalanche this season racing down the West Shoulder of Mount Everest. It blanked the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall and dusted tents below at base camp. Leaving at 8 AM from Camp one, we commented how warm it was which prompted us to strip down to sweaters. I drank water and I tied the strap of my helmet, staring nervously at the shinning block of hanging ice above us. Lhapka and I started our descent, Walter stayed behind to get some ladder action on film. In the popcorn area we heard the first chunks of ice tearing off, sending a cloud of powder down the flanks while rivers of snow flow down the rocks. I watched the action in awe, impressed by its released energy while Lhapka started to pray. We decided to speed up, with the sun hitting it now the ice can lose its precious balance fast.

bernice

Minutes later, at the bottom of two ladders tied together, a second slide came down. Two Sherpa’s took off their crampons and started to run. I know Lhapka whished he could join them. He started to pray louder Om Mani Padme Hum, I joined him. We passed the 15 members of the Indian Mountaineering Institute, crossed the last ladder of the icefall as we heard the eerie sound. That was it. It was as if all the ice plastered on the rock came down at once. First small cars, then apartment buildings. Intuitively we looked for shelter.

Walter pushed me in front of a wall of ice and tugged Lhapka next to him. So we stood to brace. Seconds later, blocks of ice and snow dust peppered my back and helmet. The force got bigger and whipped me in the crevasse below. Debris of ice and snow continued to fall on top of me, and I sense my legs are in the sky and I am falling into a deep void. Afraid to look I keep my eyes closed. Then it stopped. It is still and disorientating. My head is upside down but my legs landed straight on a small ice bridge. It hurts to breathe, there is pressure of snow dust in my airway.

The voice of Walter comes from somewhere below in the crevasse: “Are you alive……are you hurt?” I can’t lift my head to answer, but managed to mumble that I was OK and not hurt. My backpack poked his face and finally with a push of his hand I was able to sit straight and air flowed into my lungs. I took off my backpack, straddled the crevasse wall with my crampons and realized we were in trouble as I watched Walter below me. His backpack was caught in the smallest section of the crevasse, laid on his side, head down and his legs straight. If his backpack was freed, he was able to turn around, get his body up straight, breathe and then we could crawl out.

I unclip his belt but his pack was still stuck as if it was plastered in cement. He tried to pull on my ski poles which I wedged in the wall but sank inches deeper instead. I lost my grip on him, Walter complained of not getting enough air, being more constricted. Below him the crevasse widened again into a blue hole. I understood that Walter did not have enough time left. Hypothermic, upside down and hands frozen, we needed to get out now. In my pack was a sat phone, warm mittens and clothes but that was not going to help now.

I looked up at the blue sky and started to shout for help, my last straw of hope. Minutes later, one of the Indians poked his head over the lip.. A knife was lowered down on a rope to try to cut off Walter’s backpack. What where we thinking. By now his hands where numb and useless, and so was he. Pasang Sherpa, the first Nepali Mountain Guide, lowered himself down and I got pulled out to freedom on the fixed line.

Walter’s rescue proved more difficult. His angle was complicated for a rescue. After a few attempts, his backpack was cut, got clipped into the line and the Indians pulled him out. Meanwhile, many people showed up at the scene. Down Jackets, warm tea, shock treatment, Walter went out of consciousness as some strong Indian piggybacked him out to base camp as Felix our doctor treated him further for hypothermia and shock. My attention immediately shifted to Lhapka. Where is he? Rescue workers descended into our crevasse but nothing. A couple of meters down, someone found his boot with his sock still in it. People were looking everywhere; under rubble, in crevasses, behind ice walls while yelling his name.

The search was called off around 2 p.m because it was too dangerous to be in the Icefall. His backpack was found more then 100 meters down from his boot. For the last few days Sherpa’s have been looking for him but all they found where his boots and backpack. Lhapka is still out there. What happened to him remains speculation. The pieces of the puzzle (finding his stuff) don’t fit. Did he try to run away? Was he not close enough to us to the ice wall? Where is he? As we mourn his loss here at base camp, I remember his smile, his helpful and kind mannerism and want to continue to climb to the top in honor of this fantastic human being.

Everest, NPL – Kaji Sherpa - May 11, 2009

Bad whiskey killed a Sherpa in Everest Base Camp. Ngima Sherpa and Mountain Top Kaji Sherpa shared what they thought was Nepali Royal Stag deluxe whisky - instead it was methanol, part a stock of illegal brew made in Kathmandu and delivered throughout the Khumbu in the last few months. The dealer, located in Lukla, is a Gurung called Lama. So far four other people have died in the region because of this poisoning. Kaji died while Ngima survived after a prolonged battle for his life first by the Indian Army team doctor and then the HRA medical emergency tent and others.

Everest, NPL – Wu Wenhong - May 19, 2009

Wu Wenhong, from eastern Jiangsu Province, died on Everest at around 4 am May 19, 2009.

The mountaineer reportedly summited as part of a large Chinese group at around 10 am May 18, but died on descent at around 8,750 meters of altitude exhaustion, in spite of his team mates' efforts to administer oxygen and first aid.

Mansalu, NPL – Levente Szabo - May 21, 2009

"Hungarian climbers, Zsolt Eross and Daniel Barna summited Manaslu (8156 m), including it's very top Rocky Summit," confirmed press correspondent Szabolcs Vincze to ExWeb in an email today. "40 years old Eross reached the peak in 19th of May, 10 am local time, followed by his climbing mate, Barna after a couple of hours."

"Manaslu is Eross's 8th 8000+ summit, his previous 8k+ climbs include Nanga Parbat, Mount Everest and Dhaulagiri."

"Sadly, the mountain claimed fellow climber Levente Szabo, who reportedly fell to his death after turning back at 7800 meters and descending to Camp IV. He was found and buried at 6800 meters. Other members of the expedition returned to base camp unhurt."

Kuchinoerabu-jima, JPN – Craig Arnold – April 26, 2009

A team of climbers has been enlisted to search for a renowned poet who's been missing on a Japanese island. Craig Arnold disappeared while hiking on the southern Japanese island of Kuchinoerabu-jima April 26. The 41-year-old has been working on a book about volcanoes and was exploring a volcanic mountain on the island. Craig is an assistant professor of English at the University of Wyoming and a published poet.

An American tracking team picked up Arnold's trail last week and determined that he went over a steep precipice. The team returned to the United States, but their efforts reduced the search area.

Now, Arnold's sister-in-law, Augusta Palmer, says a team from a Japanese climbing group called Canyons will descend the steep, vegetation-covered slope where Arnold was tracked. She says the climbers have committed to search for two days, starting Thursday morning in Japan. [End]

japan

Hello, this is Brean Arnold, Craig’s cousin. I do feel the need to clarify- as much as we want Craig to be up there inspired and writing poetry, we know this is not the case. He has a system in place with his partner that if he is out of touch in Japan for more than 48 hours, something is wrong. Therefore we greatly appreciate the efforts of both the Japanese and American governments in searching for Craig- lots of people are on the ground working to ensure Craig’s safe return. The response from the U.S. government and from the Japanese authorities has been overwhelmingly positive and we are incredibly grateful for their expanded and extended efforts. Our prayers and thanks are with them as they search.

Schalfkogel peak, AUS – Lone Survivor - May 3, 2009

Six mountain climbers were killed in an avalanche near the ski resort of Soelden in the Austrian Alps. Witnesses spotted the avalanche Saturday and alerted rescuers, but weather delayed a helicopter rescue until the next day.

Rescuers retrieved the bodies of six climbers at near the top of Schalfkogel mountain.

The dead were identified by the lone remaining survivor of the group, who had opted out of the ascent, and remained behind in a mountain hut. Fresh snowfall Saturday had increased avalanche risk; no one should have attempted the climb.

Classifieds

Yosemite Lodging

Stay at Han’s house which is located in the heart of Yosemite National park; thirteen miles to El Capitan Meadow. Link: http://www.hansbasecamp.com/

Peak Climbing Contest

Tahoe Turning Point (non-profit group homes for boys) is sponsoring a peak hiking contest. Send them the short registration form and a $40 donation and then hike (or climb) peaks. Submit a photo to TTP of you on the top and log your climb/hike on the Peak Record. The peaks can be anywhere, not just around here.

Prizes are awarded in November. There are prizes for: Most peaks hiked (total), highest peak, Farthest Peak from South Lake Tahoe, Most Peaks over 10,000, and Best Summit Photo. The prizes last year were substantial and useful (you very well might come out ahead). The donation directly funds gear for outside activities such as climbing gear.

For more information: Danielle: (530) 307-8207, roxnsnow@yahoo.com

Web site: http://www.tahoeturningpoint.org/

Journal Information

Published by the “California Mountaineering Group”

Library of Congress: “Journal of Mountaineering”

ISSN: 1948-9110 (print), 1948-9129 (online)

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