Summary of the first part of the Project 4-4-8: Shisha Pangma

You can do all possible and even more but still nature decides to have its own way. That is life and that is also the characteristic of Shisha Pangma or better the first part of our expedition.

We had been fighting with unfavorable weather for the whole 42 days. At the beginning the eager and energetic Jiri Jakubec was lot of help and motion setter in our team of three. It was no surprise since he was best acclimatized out of us and he is truly a grinder. Based on my past experience from 2002 (expedition with Milos Palacky) I knew that coming early under the mountain and getting acclimatized well would pay off. Thus we decided to come to Shisha Pangma as early as March 30.

Yet incredible weather changes started right after our arrival to the Advanced Base Camp. The weather changed even few times throughout the day and after two weeks in the ABC I even ceased on 'reading the sky'. Still, I could rely on my Suunto and alarm that would start beeping if a considerable increase or decrease in barometric pressure would have occurred. The Internet gave it straight then - unstable weather. Only after a week we knew there was no sense in waiting for a better weather. Every altitude camp meant an unbelievable struggle or, better, a fight on rounds. Without the help of Sherpas we felt like mountaineering pioneers in the old times. First round was to break through the ice labyrinth which was accomplished by Jiri and Jan. Another round was to reach the C1 during which we fell into hidden cracks for at least five times. Jiri had a dangerous one - he was hanging only by the poles over a deep hollow. But the rounds continued.

The ice labyrinth: quest to find the best way through

Anytime we reached C1 again it was only to leave another equipment there but the weather never allowed us to move higher to C1. Only upon the fourth time we managed to set C2. By that time we stopped counting falling into the cracks covered with fresh snow. But I will never forget the one time I was with 20 kg backpack hanging on an edge of one of those - half body out, half body in the hollow.

Note the crack in the lower right corner

Nothing really changed after other expeditions also came to the mountain. Most of them just kept waiting for better weather and relaxed. We fought for every vertical meter meanwhile. A team of French mountaineers heightened our spirits with weather forecast that was really accurate: wind that had been whipping us for about four weeks was to end. Though correct about that one, they didn't predict snowfalls bringing 20 to 40 cm of new snow every day. Some of it melted in the warm weather but not all. The remaining volume of snow was the stopping limit for reaching the summit, to climb Shisha Pangma. Our Suunto wristops kept rising by 2 milibars while falling by 5 milibars afterwards.

In the ABC I spoke to Italians whom I met while climbing Cho Oyu in 2002. All of us could agree that Shisha Pangma is from the climbing technique point of view the easiest eight-thousander but only during optimal weather conditions.

The mountain covered in clouds: wind and snow raging up there

I'm glad me and Jan turned back at 7800 m and made it back relatively safe. Back in the ABC we learned about the Slovak expedition that wasn't that lucky. They climbed a different route from another side and the tragedy with one mountaineer dead happened at about the same height where we turned back. They decided to break up, one continued up and the other one was to return. Only one came back.

Consecutive snow storms and strong wind forced us out
of C1, C2 as well as C3 altitude camps for many times.

When we came with the yaks to the Base Camp we learned about another tragedy when a Sherpa and his Korean client fell into a crack and after three days they showed no signs of life. It almost seems that Shisha Pangma decided this year to show everybody that she may be the last eight-thousander on the list but definitely not the least. Simply an uncompromised eight-thousander with all that it means and brings. All I can say now is: Thank you Shisha Pangma for letting us back alive!

Best regards,
Miro