Blog

Back at ABC

For a more detailed report in German, please visit www.kobler-partner.ch.After three windy nights on the mountain, we are back at the comfortable altitude of 5,700m at our ABC, which feels great. I don’t know why some people claim that Shisha Pangma is the easiest 8,000m-peak (I don’t think there IS an easy 8,000m-peak) but for me the long distances are quite a challenge. „This was not in the brochure when I booked this trip,“ Nicole Steck said to me jokingly. Well and due to the fact that Shisha Pangma is not part of Miss Hawley’s archives, I also did not do my homework properly to find out more about the route.However, apart from the strong wind during the night we spent at Camp 2 at 6,900m everything went smoothly. As usual, Suzanne and I shared a tent and as food is not our main priority high up on the hill (we both struggle with getting food down – even the things we love at sea level), we spent the afternoons lying in our sleeping bags, watching movies on my little iPod.

After our wind-beaten night at Camp 2, we decided to spend the third night back at Camp 1 due to the huge amount of snow the wind had transported to the slope between the two camps. „The gradient of the slope makes it pretty avalanche-prone and if we wait any longer, it will get worse,“ Suzanne explained and so we safely descended to Camp 1 in little visibility and high winds.The gusts of wind did not die down and we had another wind-beaten night at Camp 1 before we returned to the comforts of our ABC on Sunday morning. Now we are back at ABC to rest, eat, wash and recover before the weather window allows us to try for the summit. „Well, it is not only the weather but also the conditions higher up on the mountain that may prevent us from summiting,“ said Norbu Sherpa from an international skiing team, which has just started their summit push. They expect to reach the top on 24th September. It remains to be seen what the team will encounter higher up on the mountain, however, as far as our group is concerned, we will wait for a longer weather window to go back up and try the same.