hannelore-schmatz

[hannelore-schmatz]

Ascent of Mt. Everest 8.848 m - Highest mountain on earth

When my wife Hannelore and I returned from a successful Manaslu (8th highest at 8,163 meters / 26,781 feet) expedition to Kathmandu in May 1973, I applied to the Nepali Foreign Office for permission to climb Mount Everest. At that time I did not seriously expect to get the requested permission. There were too many influential prospects. Besides, we were among the few who wanted to carry out such an expedition privately at our own expense, without the support of an Alpine organization or a government agency in our home country.

For the next three years, my wife and I have climbed one of the high mountains of our planet each year, as it has been for a long time, in order to expand our experience in the high-mountain range.

Shortly after we had returned from a successful Lhotse (4th highest at 8,516 meters/27,940 feet) expedition, also self-organized, in June 1977, we were surprised to have received a climbing permit to climb Mount Everest for the post-monsoon period 1979.

Immediately we started with the extensive preparatory work. Now it was Hannelore's turn again. She was a genius when it came to procuring and transporting expeditions. At that time, everything that we and the Sherpas needed during the expedition of about 3 months had to be purchased in Europe and transported to Nepal, because it was not possible to get suitable food or equipment in Kathmandu.

To get all that, Hannelore wrote hundreds of letters and then mapped everything with a sponsored truck. In the course of a month, she and some of her companions, packed the material weighing several tons in loads of 30 kg / 66 lbs each, which could be taken over directly by the carriers. A gigantic work.

Apart from Hannelore and myself, six other highly experienced and successful mountaineers also belonged to the team:

The New Zealander Nick Banks

The Swiss Hans von Känel

The Germans Tilman Fischbach, Günter Kämpfe and Hermann Warth

Last but not least the American Ray Genet whom Hannelore and I met in 1978 with the climb of Mt. McKinley. He lived and lived in Talkeetna at the foot of Mt. McKinley, often referred to as the coldest mountain in the world, and escorted and accompanied expeditions there. 35 times he was on the summit of this cold mountain.

While post-monsoon expeditions of the past few years did not start before the month of September, we planned, as well as the British Everest expedition of 1975, to break up during the rainy season to reach the base camp in the first half of August. We wanted to avoid the cold in October, but above all the frequent hurricanes (jetstream).

After our arrival in Nepal we were informed by the Ministry that we should leave Kathmandu at the earliest on the 10th of August and should not build the base camp before the 1st September. After tough negotiations, we were at least allowed to start on the 31st of July with the approximately 250-kilometer/155 mile march, which normally takes 20 days, so that we had a full month for this. This circumstance, which was very useful to our acclimatization, could not compensate for the loss of time.

After the construction of the base camp, we went to the exploration of the Khumbu icefall, then to make it workable with ladders and fixed ropes. The snow and ice conditions were miserable. Nevertheless, on 4 September we were able to build our first high-altitude camp at an altitude of approx. 5,900 m above the icefall. The subsequent "Valley of Silence" (Western Cwm) made us difficult, although relatively flat. We had huge glacier crevasses and many vertical

Before we could build our camp II at about 6,300 m / 20669 ft.

The following Lhotse wall was deeply snowy and had changed so much in 1977 that we had to look for a completely different route in the lower part. On about 7,200 m, the tents of the camp III were erected in the wall in the guards of a vertical icebreak.

On our way we climbed the so-called "Gelbband" at a height of approx. 7,500 m, a characteristic, light rocky rock that runs through the Everest-Lhotse-Massif. Subsequently, the Geneva spur had to be traversed to reach the southern col (7.986 m), the lowest point of the ridge from the Lhotse to the Everest, on which we erected our last plateau on September 24th.

Even before the start of the expedition, Hannelore had repeatedly described the southern col as its destination. After showing that she was in excellent physical shape, as did all other participants, she also wanted to try to reach the summit

When we had made all preparations for the final phase after the camp had been built at the southern col, we were forced to descend to the base camp by a snowstorm lasting several days. There we decided, to be faster, to go nowhere in three, but only in two groups.

In addition to Hermann and Hans, the first group included two Sherpas and I, as an expedition leader. We wanted to take over the work and did not burden Hannelore with it. The second group consisted of the remaining five participants and three Sherpas.

On September 28th, the weather improved again and we got back up again. After a three-day climb, the first group reached the camp at the South Col.

On October 1st, after an acceptable night, we begin to get ready for the summit at about 0300. These preparations, but above all the cooking of tea, last much longer in this oxygen-poor air than in the lower camps. At 0600 we are finally ready to leave. Hermann, the Sherpa Lhakpa and Hans go on a rope, the other I go, followed by Sherpa Pertemba. The weather is medium. Among us is a cloud layer and high above us also one. But it is relatively warm and the feared storm on the ridge does not bother us today. The snow and ice conditions are not good. We had never expected so much and so soft snow in this region exposed to the wind. In part, we sink to the knees, which in this height makes the ascent extremely difficult. At 1200 we reach the southern summit of Mt. Everest (8.760 m). From there we see the further rise. Firstly a messy ice ridge and then the so-called Hillary-Step, whose difficulties the first ascent had almost prevented.

At the Hillary-Step we also have difficulties. As a result of the steepness and the poor snow texture, the kicks break out again and again. The snow is too soft, to steer quite a few reliable steps and too deep to find ice for the crampons. How fatal this can be measured, if you know that this place is probably one of the most dizzying in the world. The narrow ridge breaks to the east about 4,000 m and to the west more than 2,500 m. But then, in the deep snow, we find some handles in the rock that help us as an anchor of rescue and we know that our goal can not be too far away.

At 1400 we arrived at the summit and we exchanged hugs and celebrated our success. The pennants are taken from the backpack and the usual photos are taken. Although it is now beginning to snow, time passes as in flight.

After about an hour, we leave and go to the descent. Again, the Hillary-Step is the most delicate place. At the southern summit, we rushed again briefly. The further descent is on schedule and around 1900 we reach the southern coast after dark.

In the afternoon, the second group has already arrived, which wants to set off for the summit the next morning. We congratulate ourselves on our success and look forward to meeting you. When Hannelore congratulated me, Pertemba and I describe the bad snow and ice conditions. We ask her to give up her decision to go to the summit as well.

Hannelore is a bit annoyed and says we should not take her the elan. Günter, who listens to our debate, points to the good conditional condition of Hannelore and says that today she had advanced from camp III to the southern col in a very good time without any difficulty. After our conversation, we crawl into our tents to find the deserved sleep.

At 0200, the summit candidates began their preparations. At about 0500 they left the camp. As the first team, Tilman and Sherpa Ang Phurba, second Nick, Günter and Ray, and third Hannelore with the two Sherpas Ang Jangbu and Sundare.

We, who were on the summit the day before, however, as quickly as possible, descend from the death zone into Camp II, which is almost 2,000 meters lower. Worried, we are always looking at the sky, as the weather deteriorates. We do not believe our comrades will continue the ascent and reckon with their repentance. In the evening our speculations turn out to be wrong.

When around 6 pm the first team of the summit group at the southern col is, comes the funkspruch, that beside all the other Hannelore was on the summit. We rejoice and rejoice.

We go to the fair and celebrate the success. In doing so, we note that our Everest expedition

Which was the smallest number that reached the summit

The fastest (32 days)

And the first in which all participants were at the summit, including Hannelore as the first German and world-wide fourth woman

With me the first man, older than 50 years

And for the first time with Hannelore and me a couple reached the summit

Our joy is dampened, however, when our comrades announce about Sherman Ang Jangbu on reaching the southern col, about 2130, Walkie-talkie, Ray, Hannelore and Sherpa Sundare would bivouac at the southeast ridge. We immediately instruct the Sherpa's at the top of Camp III to ascend to the South Col as soon as possible in order to provide assistance if necessary. Nevertheless, our worries are limited, as Ray is among the bivouacs. At McKinley, he was an absolute expert in survival and building snow caves.

Now the description of the participants and Sherpas belonging to the second group:

The rise was just as we had planned, if one ignores the fact that Ray has been released from the rope after a relatively short time and left alone in the end. Obviously the gehrhythm of his comrades did not like him. The weather conditions were above better than we had assumed below. Günter was still talking to Hannelore shortly before her team reached the summit. He had the impression that she was by no means exhausted, but in good physical condition. As the weather worsened, they all stayed briefly at the summit.

Also the descent over the southern summit was normal. Ray, who had risen alone, had joined on the way back to Hannelore's rope. Later, when oxygen spilled at an altitude of about 8,500 m, he refused to go further. He wanted to bivouac. Hannelore and the Sherpa Sundare stayed with Ray, while the Sherpa Ang Jangbu descended into the Southcol. Ray tried to dig a snow cave, which was not enough for the soft snow.

At nightfall, a heavy high-altitude storm set in, which lasted all night. The next morning Ray died. Hannelore and Sundare had to be severely depressed without the descent. At an altitude of about 8,300 m, Hannelore was then dead and died with the words "water, water".

At that time, the Sherpa Ang Nawang and Tilman Fischbach, coming from Camp III, were already on the way up above the Southern Col to help. When they met Sherpa Sundare, he made the inconceivable message for us all. Since he too was near to exhaustion, and evidently suffered frostbite, the two ascendants immediately took his place and brought him into the camp.

All this I had to experience in Camp II under the SW wall of Mt. Everest, without the slightest chance to do anything. I was so stunned that I had only realized schematically the scope and tragedy of what happened.

Surely one experiences continually from tragic accidents, which break a close human connection abruptly. But even to be affected by such an anti-human place and in such an extreme situation is another, hardly imaginable dimension. Hannelore and I were very close to each other for 20 years, not only in their daily lives, but also in dangerous situations in the mountains of the world on almost every continent.

In spite of my bewilderment, I was forced to continue what Hannelore had done with so much commitment so far. She knew in the camps in the tohuwabohu of the crates and bags at any time where that was what was wanted. Although I was the expedition manager, I had no idea of the important details in the individual case. I was compelled, in my unspeakable grief, to complete her work.

Nevertheless, the team came home. I, however, quite alone without my beloved Hannelore. A long, successful but infinitely tragic way had come to an end.

For statisticians: The 8 expeditionists and the 5 Sherpas, all on the summit, have the numbers 90 - 102 in the list of climbers, which in the past has become longer and longer. So we have made the first 100 full.

[hannelore-schmatz]

Besteigung des Mt. Everest 8.848 m - höchster Berg der Erde

Als meine Frau Hannelore und ich im Mai 1973 von einer erfolg-reichen Manaslu-Expedition nach Kathmandu zurückgekehrt waren, habe ich beim nepalesischen Außenministerium Antrag auf Genehmigung zur Besteigung des Mt. Everest gestellt. Ich habe damals nicht ernsthaft damit gerechnet, die beantragte Genehmigung zu bekommen. Zu viele einflussreiche Interessenten gab es. Außerdem gehörten wir zu den wenigen, die eine solche Expedition ganz privat auf eigene Kosten, also ohne Unterstützung durch eine alpine Organisation oder eine Regierungsstelle unseres Heimatlandes durchführen wollten.

In den folgenden drei Jahren haben meine Frau und ich, wie schon seit längerer Zeit, jedes Jahr einen der hohen Berge unserer Erde bestiegen, um unsere Erfahrungen im Höhenbergsteigen zu erweitern.

Kurz nachdem wir im Juni 1977 von einer erfolgreichen, ebenfalls von uns organisierten Lhotse-Expedition zurückgekehrt waren, erhielten wir überraschend die Genehmigung zur Besteigung des Mt. Everest für die Nachmonsunzeit 1979.

Umgehend begannen wir mit den umfangreichen Vorbereitungs-arbeiten. Nun war wieder Hannelore an der Reihe. Sie war geradezu ein Genie, wenn es um die Beschaffung und den Transport von Expeditionsmaterial ging. Damals musste noch alles, was wir und die Sherpas während der Expeditionsdauer von ca. 3 Monaten benötigten, in Europa erworben und nach Nepal befördert werden, denn seinerzeit war es nicht möglich, in Kathmandu geeignete Nahrungsmittel oder irgendwelche Ausrüstungsgegenstände zu bekommen.

Um all das zu beschaffen, schrieb Hannelore hunderte von Briefen und hat dann alles mit einem gesponserten Truck selbst zusammengekarrt. Monatelang hat sie, teils mit Unterstützung von Kameraden, in einer Lagerhalle das mehrere Tonnen schwere Material in Lasten von je 30 kg abgepackt, die von den Trägern direkt übernommen werden konnten. Eine gigantische Arbeit.

Außer Hannelore und mir gehörten noch sechs weitere sehr erfahrene und erfolgreiche Höhenbergsteiger zum Team:

der Neuseeländer Nick Banks, der Schweizer Hans von Känel, die Deutschen Tilman Fischbach, Günter Kämpfe, Hermann Warth und last but not least der Amerikaner Ray Genet, den Hannelore und ich 1978 bei der Besteigung des Mt. McKinley kennengelernt haben. Er hat in Talkeetna am Fuß des Mt. McKinley, der oft als kältester Berg der Welt bezeichnet wird, gelebt und dort Expeditionen geleitet und begleitet. 35 mal war er auf dem Gipfel dieses kalten Berges. Während Nachmonsun-Expeditionen früherer Jahre mit dem Anmarsch keinesfalls vor September begannen, beabsichtigten wir, ebenso wie die britische Everest-Expedition des Jahres 1975, noch während der Regenzeit aufzubrechen, um das Basislager schon in der ersten August-Hälfte zu erreichen. Dadurch wollten wir die im Oktober einsetzende Kälte, vor allem aber die dann häufig auftretenden orkanartigen Höhenstürme (Jetstream), vermeiden.

Nach unserem Eintreffen in Nepal wurde uns jedoch vom Ministerium eröffnet, dass wir Kathmandu frühestens am 10. August verlassen und das Basislager nicht vor dem 1. September errichten dürften. Nach zähen Verhandlungen wurde uns wenigstens gestattet, mit dem etwa 250 km langen Anmarsch, der normalerweise 20 Tage dauert, schon am 31. Juli zu beginnen, so dass uns hierfür ein voller Monat zur Verfügung stand. Ein Umstand, der unserer Akklimatisation sehr zustatten kam, den Zeitverlust aber nicht ausgleichen konnte.

Nach Errichtung des Basislagers machten wir uns an die Erkundung des Khumbu-Eisfalles, um ihn anschließend mit Leitern und Fixseilen gangbar zu machen. Die Schnee- und Eisverhältnisse waren miserabel. Trotzdem konnten wir schon am 4. September auf ca. 5.900 m oberhalb des Eisfalles unser erstes Hochlager aufbauen. Das anschließende "Tal des Schweigens" (Western Cwm) machte uns, obgleich es relativ flach ist, schwer zu schaffen. Wir mussten riesige Gletscherspalten und viele senkrechte Abbrüche über- winden, ehe wir auf ca. 6.300 m unser Lager II errichten konnten.

Die folgende Lhotse-Wand war tief verschneit und hatte sich gegenüber 1977 so verändert, dass wir im unteren Teil eine völlig andere Route suchen mussten. Auf etwa 7.200 m wurden in der Wand im Schutze eines senkrechten Eisabbruchs die Zelte des Lagers III aufgestellt.

Auf unserem Weiterweg überkletterten wir in einer Höhe von ca. 7.500 m das sogenannte Gelbe Band, ein charakteristisches, das ganze Everest-Lhotse-Massiv durchziehendes helles Felsband. Anschließend musste der Genfer Sporn traversiert werden, um das Südcol (7.986 m), den tiefsten Punkt des vom Lhotse zum Everest ziehenden Grates zu erreichen, auf dem wir unser letztes Hochlager am 24. September errichtet haben.

Schon vor Beginn der Expedition hatte Hannelore mehrmals das Südcol als ihr Ziel bezeichnet. Nachdem sich bisher gezeigt hatte, dass sie, ebenso wie alle anderen Teilnehmer, in ausgezeichneter körperlicher Verfassung war, wollte auch sie versuchen, den Gipfel zu errei