Bittersweet: 2008 Himalaya Season Wrap-Up (Hardwear Sessions)

By Cynthia Houng

This spring, 3 Mountain Hardwear-sponsored teams headed to the Himalayas. Two teams chose to tackle Annapurna (Ueli Steck and Simon Anthmatten went for Annapurna's notoriously treacherous South Face, while Ben Clark and his crew were aiming for the first ski descent of Annapurna IV), while the 3rd team, composed of Kenton Cool, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, and Rob Casserley, were Everest-bound.

The 2008 season ended with a mixture of triumph and heartbreak.

Ueli and Simon abandoned their bid on Annapurna's South Face to rescue the Spanish climber Inaki Ochoa and the Romanian climber Hori Calibasanu. On May 23rd, 2008, Inaki died at Camp 4 (7400 m) on Annapurna's South Face. At that point, Ueli was the only other climber at C4. Inaki, Hori, and the Russian Alexey Bolotov were enroute to the main summit of Annapurna I, but Hori and Inaki turned back just 100 m from the summit. After Inaki's death, Ueli climbed to C3, where he joined the other rescuers. By May 26, all 14 rescuers had been airlifted to Kathmandu.

Ueli and Simon experienced success on Tengkampoche, where the team completed the first ascent of the North Face of Tengkampoche in true alpine style, "without any bolts or fixed ropes." After Tengkampoche, the duo attempted to climb Annapurna's South Face, but turned back due to bad weather.

Ben Clark, too, turned back. On Annapurna IV, poor weather and unstable snow conditions forced the team to descend earlier than planned. Ben and his team finished up their expedition with a tour on the Annapurna circuit.

Annapurna's weather is famously unstable, and this year, the weather conditions were poor. Don Bowie reported, on his blog, that the rescue team encountered thick fog, deep snow, and avalanches. April is the clearest and driest month. By May, Annapurna's weather turns unstable. The monsoon season runs from June through September. This year, the monsoons began in the last week of May, spelling the end of the 2008 climbing season.

This year, Kenton Cool and Rob Casserley hoped to guide Sir Ranulph Fiennes to the summit of Everest. On May 24, 2008, Sir Ran abandoned his bid for the summit. Exhausted and suffering from heart problems and vertigo, the 64-year-old adventurer turned back. Kenton and Rob successfully summited Everest without Ran, and returned safely to base camp just as a cold bitter wind began to blow. Kenton and the team followed the South Col route established by Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953.

On May 21st, 2008, the Australian climber Andrew Lock summited Mt. Makalu, the world's fifth tallest mountain. Now, Andrew only has one mountain left (Everest) before he can claim all 14 of the world's 8000-meter peaks. Neither of Andrew's partners were able to make it to the top of Makalu. Andrew completed the climb with Ted Atkins (UK) and Radek Jaros (Czech Republic).

The season ends both bitter and sweet. We hold Inaki in our hearts. Death crept close to us this season, and we are grateful that all of our climbers returned home safely.