This is where the biogas plant is to be built

There are things that stink to high heaven – quite literally. For example, if up to 1000 climbers, high altitude porters, cooks, kitchen helpers and other staff relieve themselves for two months during the spring season in the base camp on the Nepalese south side of Mount Everest. The number of 12,000 kilograms of faeces has been reported for years, which seems to me rather low. The removal of the human waste from Everest Base Camp has been regulated for a long time, in contrast to the faecal problem in the high camps. The excrements from the toilet tents of the expeditions are collected in barrels and carried downwards by so-called “shit porters” – until 2014 without exception to Gorak Shep, the next small settlement, located  about five kilometers from the base camp, now also further down the valley. There the faeces have been tipped into pits thus posing a great danger to the drinking water. The International Climbing and Moutaineering Association (UIAA) has now awarded an environmental protection project which could make an important contribution to tackling the problem.

Groundbreaking scheduled for spring 2018

Project manager Garry Porter

The “Mountain Protection Award 2017” of the UIAA goes to the “Mount Everest Biogas Project”. Two Americans, the expedition manager Dan Mazur and Garry Porter, a former engineer of the aviation group Boeing, had founded the project in 2010. In Gorak Shep the faeces from Everest are to be collected in dense containers and used for a biogas digester. The technical challenge is to maintain the required temperature for the digester at the partial extreme cold at an altitude of 5,200 meters. This problem appears to have been solved. “Our engineering and architectural design is sound and we have high confidence in it,” says project manager Garry Porter. “It is now time to put theory to test.” The groundbreaking is scheduled for next spring – if the fundraising is successful by then. In this case the plant in Gorak Shep will probably be completed in winter 2018/19, and the lodge owners could cook with biogas instead of wood or Yak dung.

Faeces problem not only on Everest

Further customers of the technology should also be found in other areas of the Himalayas and the Karakoram. So the base camp at the foot of the eight-thousander Manaslu had Everest proportions this fall. The faecal barrels might have been full there too – if the human waste has been carried away at all.

Kazuya Hiraide (l.) and Kenro Nakajima

Put the eight-thousander glasses aside! At an insignificantly lower mountain in the west of the Karakoram in Pakistan, two Japanese climbers succeeded an extraordinary ascent on 22 August. According to the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA), Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima climbed for the first time via the Northeast Face of the 7611-meter-high Shispare. In four days, the two Japanese climbed in Alpine style through the 2700-meter-high wall to the summit and descended via the Northeast Ridge, it said.

Dramatic rescue operation

New Japanese route on Shispare

Especially Hiraide is a well-known figure in the scene. For their first ascent of the Southeast Face of the 7756-meter-high Kamet in India in 2008, he and his compatriot Kei Taniguchi were awarded the Piolet d’Or. Taniguchi was the first woman to receive the “Oscar of the climbers”. Aged 43, she fell to death on a Japanese mountain at the end of 2015.

With regard to Hiraide, some will also recall a dramatic rescue operation in fall 2010 on the 6812-meter-high Ama Dablam in the Khumbu area: After having opened a new route through the North Face, the Japanese and the German climber David Göttler had gotten into trouble on the North Ridge and had asked for a helicopter rescue. After Göttler had been safely brought into the valley, the helicopter took off again to take Hiraide on board. It touched the ridge and crashed, the two pilots died. The Japanese was saved a day later by another helicopter crew.

Four times on the top of Everest

On 25 May 2017, exactly on his 38th birthday, Hiraide reached  as a cameraman of a Japanese expedition the summit of Mount Everest. It was for the fourth time in his career.  He had tackled the Northeast Face of Shispare for the first time in 2007, In 2012 and 2013, Hiraide had tried to climb via the Southwest Face of the mountain. Now he was rewarded for his tenacity.

Death after first ascent

Shispare (rear)

The shapely Shispare is located in the Hunza Valley and is a real eye-catcher. The mountain was first climbed on 21 July 1974 by a Polish-German expedition via the Northeast Ridge. Among the seven successful climbers was Leszek Cichy, who – in 1980 – succeeded the first winter ascent of Everest along with Krzysztof Wielicki, and the two Germans Hubert Bleicher and Herbert Oberhofer. The two last mentioned climbers made two years later also the first ascent of the nearby 7795-meter-high Batura Sar. The success on Shispare in 1974 was overshadowed by a death: During the summit attempt of a second group, the German climber Heinz Borchers was caught by an avalanche and buried in a crevasse. He remained missing.

Frits Vrijlandt

The Netherlands are called so for good reason. The highest “summit”, the Vaalserberg near the town of Aachen, is only 323 meters high. Nevertheless you find “Oranje boven” also on the highest mountains on earth. Frits Vrijlandt is not a blank slate in the climbing scene. In 2000, he was the first Dutchman to climb Mount Everest from the Tibetan north side, later he became the second mountaineer from the Netherlands who scaled the Seven Summits, the highest mountains of all continents. At the International Mountain Summit (IMS) in Bressanone in South Tyrol, the General Assembly of the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) was held – and Vrijlandt was reelected as President for another four years.

Frits, a man from such a flat country is the head of all climbers worldwide. That sounds a bit strange.

(He laughs) Why? I have to be a friend of all countries who have mountains. This is important for my role to bring all countries together.

How is it for someone who has climbed the highest mountains of all continents to be an official for mountaineering?

I’ve been already doing this for four years. There are parallels to mountaineering. You want to achieve goals, and also the way to reach them can be beautiful.

Climbers often talk about freedom and independence, and to be honest, many are also egoists. How does this fit with a world federation that has to set up rules?

This is not our main task. We want to help the Alpine Clubs to make progress. We take care of safety, sports and environmental protection. This doesn’t always go together. Particularly environmental protection and mountain experience often create a tension field – all over the world.

Much traffic on Everest (in 2012)

The UIAA’s new strategy paper for the coming years does no longer provide a commission for expeditions. Isn’t there any problem in this field from the UIAA point of view?

The big “conquest” of the mountains, how it was said in former times, is over. But of course expeditions remain our task, even if we do not need to have a commission for this issue. We deal e.g. particularly with Nepal, because there is the highest mountain in the world. Today, with the commercial expeditions and with Sherpa support, it is almost possible for any well-trained, little experienced person to approach the summit of Mount Everest. But this is also an ethical question. We think Everest should remain a mountain for people who are experienced. They should be able to ascend on their own or with a partner – and not depend on ten or more Sherpas who decide everything for them.

Sport climbing will be part of the Olympics 2020 in Tokyo. What does this mean for mountain sports?

I think it’s great. This is a big task for our members who deal with sport climbing. I believe it will have only positive effects. For top sport climbers, the incentive to compete at the Olympic Games is perhaps the same as for alpine climbers to tackle the steepest wall or reach the highest summit.

South side of Mount Everest

Backing for the Nepalese authorities: The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) “fully supports the decision to propose more stringent measures for climbers wishing to scale the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest (29,029ft / 8,848m)”, as it said. These measures will include individuals having to prove they have already scaled a peak higher than 6,500 meters, thus eliminating the possibility of novice climbers scaling the mountain. “Everest should become a mountaineers’ mountain again”, said UIAA president Frits Vrijlandt.

“Restore a sense of dignity and glory to Everest”

“We support the requirement restrictions on age (denying access to those under 18, and over 75) and the minimum requirements regarding physical and mental ability to assure you are able to climb by yourself or with a partner. If you have to be hauled up the mountain you don’t really belong on Everest.” Vrijlandt said that the Nepalese authorities “have Everest’s best interests at heart”. The UIAA president was in 2000 the first climber from the Netherlands who scaled Everest from the Tibetan North Side and in 2003 the second from his country who completed the Seven Summits.
The UIAA said that they and the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) “believe implementing these measures will drastically improve safety on an increasingly overcrowded mountain, lessen pressure on guides who are often reduced to risking their lives assisting ill-prepared climbers and restore a sense of dignity and glory to Everest.”

Plea for self-responsible climbing

The new Everest rules have still to be implemented into the Mountaineering Expedition Regulation, which is part of the Nepalese Tourism Act. But I think, the country’s new government is currently facing more pressing problems that have to be solved than dealing with Everest climbing, for instance the still continuing blockade of Nepal’s border to India. Even in case the new measures on Everest come into force before the beginning of the next spring season, the question remains how to ensure compliance with the regulations. The Tourism Ministry will hardly establish training grounds where the Everest aspirants have to prove their climbing skills before granting them permits. Thus the expedition operators will have to ensure that their clients comply with the conditions to climb Everest. The operators would be well-advised to transfer the responsibility to the clients themselves, because in the end every climber who wants to scale Everest should be self-responsible for his decisions on the mountain. That would be a major step forward.

Mount Everest (from Kala Pattar)

A ladder at the Hillary Step? This story just won’t die. Last spring, a member of the Nepalese government had given a tip to some journalists that there were considerations in Kathmandu about this subject. After this year’s General Assembly of the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) at Flaggstaff in the USA a few days ago, the issue was item 1 of the final news release. “As one of the most iconic landmarks of the world, Mount Everest belongs to all of mankind”, the UIAA statement reads. “Thus, the ascent of this magnificent mountain should be reserved to those who acquired the skills and the experience needed to reach the highest point of the world.”

And the ladder on the north side?

The UIAA does not support “the addition of permanent structures to the ascent routes, as this would lessen the value of the achievement, spoil the adventure and encourage the abuse of this sacred place we call Mount Everest.” Does it also apply for permanent material deposits which the operators of commercial expedition would like to install above the dangerous Khumbu Icefall, so that the Sherpas would not have to carry up and down equipment which is used year after year? And what’s about the ladder at the Second Step, which alleviate the key point on the Northeast Ridge since 1975? Does the UIAA want the Chinese to remove the ladder or is it taken for grown together with the mountain after almost 40 years?

Two ways at key points

There is not much to suggest that Nepal’s government really needs a decision support on Hillary Step just now. In spring 2013, for the first time Sherpas fixed two ropes at the bottlenecks of the route so that traffic jams could be avoided. Even on the Hillary Step – without a ladder. Taking the UIAA statement literally, the entire commercial climbing on Mount Everest would have to be debated. How many of the hundreds of summit candidates really have the necessary “skills and the experience” for climbing Everest as demanded by the UIAA? That issue could be disputed splendidly.

UIAA avoided the term “doping”

The drug Diamox contains an active ingredient which is able to reduce the intracranial pressure. Many trekkers and climbers take the pills prophylactically against acute mountain sickness. Actually, Dexamethasone is an emergency medication for high altitude cerebral edema, but is also often used preventively. Are the climbers and their doctors just dewy-eyed or do they act negligently? “At least, they break the rules of fair sport,” Kuepper answers. “Since it is strictly doping, even if the UIAA – despite my intensive efforts – was not willing to call a spade a spade.” Above all, the trekking and expedition operators are acting incredible negligently, by urging their clients to take drugs “without any individual benefit-risk analysis”, says Kuepper. “During Everest treks you can regularly hear: Okay, we have some five minutes left, time enough for another coffee and our Diamox pills.”

“Pockets full of drugs”

Everest ER

US doctor Luanne Freer is quoted in the UIAA report. In 2003, she founded the “Everest ER”, the highest infirmary in the world, located in Everest base camp. “We estimate that during our informal survey on Everest spring 2012, at least two thirds of climbers we contacted were prescribed several performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and had intent to use them not for rescue, but to increase their chances of summit success“, said the 56-year-old physician. One day a commercial guide had asked the ER team to counsel his clients on use of PEDs for summit day. “We were alarmed to find a tent full of anxious climbers with pockets full of prescription drugs (prescribed by their personal physicians and filled at home pharmacies) and with no understanding or instructions on when and how to use them”, said Luanne.

Bottled oxygen on the list

Prof. Thomas Kuepper

The UIAA Medical Commission has listed drugs that are used by mountaineers and climbers. Among others the list includes oxygen. That caused more debates within the members of the commission than any other section, says the report. That was due to the fact that bottled oxygen is established in high altitude mountaineering and is not regarded as a drug in many countries, explains Professor Kuepper. In addition, there are data showing that the death rates of mountains above 8500 meters were significantly lower for climbers who use supplemental oxygen. “My opinion is: Those who need it, do not belong up there”, says Kuepper. “By definition ‘method that artificially enhances the performance’, it’s doping, because it changes an 8000er to a high 6000er.”

New category?

The UIAA wants to sensitize mountaineers and climbers to the problem of drug misuse. Dangerous interactions that might occur are listed for each active ingredient. However, the report is also an appeal for fair sport, says Thomas Kuepper: “The UIAA is no drug squad. Who really wants to use it, can do it. But then he must also be fair enough to point out after a successful ascent that he has used drugs. There would not only be the difference with/without supplemental oxygen, but as another category with/without drugs.”

One of many suggestions

One point, two ways (© IMG/Mike Hamill)

Already in 2013 it was reported with bold letters, that soon there would be a ladder at the key point in the summit area. And it was also whispered about that during the general assembly of the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) in Pontresina in Switzerland in October – much to the annoyance of the Nepalese delegation. The ladder was only one of many suggestions, said then UIAA honorary member Ang Tshering Sherpa, who meanwhile has been elected once again President of the Nepalese Mountaineering Association (NMA). The 60-year-old pointed out that in spring 2013 for the first time double ropes had been fixed at bottle necks like the Hillary Step. These measures had “led to a safer and more secure climbing season with no reports of traffic jams”, Ang Tshering said in Pontresina.

Double ropes at critical points

Experience means maintaining what has worked well. The Everest Expedition Organisers’ Association (EOA) has announced that this season second ropes would be fixed at critical points. Dawa Steven Sherpa, leader of the Eco Everest Expedition 2014 and a member of EOA, mentioned not only the Hillary Step but the “Yellow band” (7600 meters) and the “Geneva Spur” (7900 meters) on the steep Lhotse face and also the “Balcony” (8500 meters) in the summit area. He was not speaking of ladders. These are now used by the Sherpas in the Khumbu Icefall above basecamp. The so-called “Icefall doctors” have begun to work on the route through the dangerous labyrinth of ice.

Two Broad Peak 8000ers?

Nepal has to be patient for about one more year. At its general assembly in Pontresina in Switzerland the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) has not yet decided whether it will recognize additional 8000-meter-peaks or not. According to the Nepal Mountaineering Association a UIAA commission had named six side peaks that could be accepted as prominent peaks with a unique identification: Kanchenjunga West-Peak (alias Yalung Kang, 8505 m), Central-Peak (8473 m) and South-Peak (8476 m), Lhotse Central-Peak (8410 m) and Shar (8382 m), Broad Peak Central (8011 m). “Both Nepal and China Mountaineering Association delegates welcome and fully support the UIAA initiation”, Nepalese Ang Tshering Sherpa, Honorary member of UIAA, wrote to me after his return from Switzerland. “Also Pakistan Alpine Club and Indian Mountaineering Foundation delegates were very positive but need more time to get approval from their association’s annual general meeting which will be held end of Dec 2013 or January 2014.”

Nepal hopes for a larger number of expeditions

Ang Tshering says that the question of new 8000ers will be discussed again at the meeting of the UIAA Management Committee in May 2014 in Istanbul in Turkey and afterwards at the next general assembly in Flagstaff in the USA. In Pontresina Ang Tshering had campaigned for the recognition of the additional 8000ers. “It is our duty to make mountaineering exiting for the next generation and make them feel that they are able to also achieve new successes”, the 59-year-old Nepalese said to the delegates. “Recognizing new peaks will also mean that a larger number of expeditions will be going to our mountains for climbing.”

Brawl on Everest a “single incident”

Ang Tshering Sherpa

In another speech at the UIAA general assembly Ang Tshering reviewed current discussions about Mount Everest. The Sherpa attack against Ueli Steck, Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith at the end of April was a very unfortunate incident, he said: “We hope that this single incident will not ruin and tarnish the image of the country and century long reputation of all Sherpa’s hard work, dedication, deliberation, honesty, courage and sacrifices for the sake of putting so many climbers on the top of Mt. Everest and other Himalayan peaks.”

Ladder at Hillary Step only one of many suggestions

Ang Tshering also referred to improvements in spring 2013 to manage the great number of climbers, e.g. by fixing double ropes at bottle necks. These measures had “led to a safer and more secure climbing season with no reports of traffic jams”, he said. Ang Tshering denied that Nepal had made any decision to fix a ladder at the Hillary Step. The delegates of his country  were “very upset”, that during the conference in Pontresina there had been rumors and criticsm concerning this point without giving the Nepalese the opportunity to express their view on it. In his words the ladder was only one of many suggestions and ideas the Nepalese authorities had received: “It is our intention to protect our mountains and that does mean that we have listen to new ideas, deliberate on their consequence and make informed and democratic decisions.”