Annapurna: Nepal Looks To Capitalize On Commercialization

There have been many debates over the years surrounding the commercialization of the world’s highest peaks.  Mt. Everest is the biggest example of mountain commercialization, where hundreds of climbers a year flock to the world’s highest mountain, paying thousands of dollars for a guided chance to reach the coveted summit.  The recent tragedy on K2 has sparked conversations of concern for it’s own commercialism, after it was being reported that high-altitude porters had been brought in for some of this years climbs.

Annapurna, while not as well-known to the outside world as Mt. Everest or K2, is still a very important peak to high-altitude alpine climbing.  The peak rises 26, 538 ft., making it the 10th highest mountain in the world.  Along with the climbing, Annapurna also happens to be the focal point for a 7,629 sq. km. conservation and protection initiative known as the Annapurna Conservation Area Project.

The Annapurna Conservation Area Project helps to protect an area that offers some of the finest trekking trails in the Himalayan region and the world.  These trails have become a world destination for many venturers into the Himalayan region and offers a nice glimpse at the natural wildlife and ecology of Nepal.  This area is the largest protected area in all of Nepal and has been looked upon as an area of prestige and value to a country where income is hard to come by.

That could be changing in the very near future.  Nepal has enacted plans to commercialize the area known as the Annapurna circuit.  The thought is to capitalize on the area’s growing popularity with trekkers and make it more tourist friendly.

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Inaki Ochoa: What Really Happened on Annapurna?

There has been a lot of talk going on in regards to the recent events on Annapurna.  Inãki Ochoa, one of the premier climbers in the world, tragically perished.  Once it was learned that Inãki Ochoa was in trouble, a massive effort was undertaken to rescue the fallen climber.  He was stranded high in the deathzone, with only his climbing partner, Horio Calabasanu by his side.

During the hours and days that followed, many of the world’s top alpine climbers would make a heroic effort to reach Ochoa and bring him down to safety.  Up to this point, there has not been much information as to what actually took place between Horio Calabasanu’s first call for help and the death of Inãki Ochoa de Olza.  That is, until now.

The Hardware Sessions Blog, the adventure blog from the Mountain Hardware Team, has recently put up a piece written by Edi Erstermannn who goes in to the details of what actually transpired on Annapurna just a couple of weeks ago.  It should be noted that Ueli Steck, who was able to reach Ochoa on Annapurna is sponsored by Mountain Hardware and was recently awarded the Eiger Award, in part for his efforts in this rescue attempt.  Steck should not be the only one recognized for the incredible effort to reach Inaki Ochoa as Simon Anthamatten, Horio Calabasanu, Denis Urubko, and Don Bowie all put up a heroic effort to save a friend in need.

I am going to warn you, the Hardware Sessions piece is quite emotional, but to truly understand the events that took place, you need to hear from those who were there.  For the first time, most of the participants speak out and let us in to a miraculous attempt that unfortunately ended in tragedy.  A special thanks needs to go out to Patricia Bamert and Cynthia Houng for translating this wonderful piece.  Click below to read the article.

On Annapurna

Inaki Ochoa’s Death On Annapurna Sparks Letter From Ochoa’s Family

The recent death of world-class climber Inaki Ochoa has sent fans around the world mourning for the fallen legend. After getting in to trouble once he summited Annapurna and began his descent, Inaki Ochoa’s situation would spark a huge high-altitude rescue effort that would include many of the top climbers currently in the Himalayas. Ueli Steck made it to Inaki. It was reported that Inaki Ochoa, after a couple of scary days at Camp 3 with no help, could not move or talk. He could eat and drink though, and this had many people who read the first reports optimistic. That feeling would soon fade as his tragic death was quickly spread around the internet and the world on May 23. There was nothing no one could do. Inaki Ochoa was gone.

I covered this incident as it began to unfold here at The Adventurist. Other sites done the same. The Adventure Blog and ExplorersWeb both tuned in to the events as well. UKClimbing, Alpinist, Summitclimb Forums–the list goes on and on. Most of us thought it was going to happen the way we picture it in our heads. Like a movie, almost always with a happy ending. That would not be the case this time.

Today, ExplorersWeb received a letter from Inaki Ochoa’s family. I am not going to print the whole thing here, but I will share a paragraph:

By noticing the help you all wanted to bring him right in front of death, you allow us to believe and feel that there are reasons not to forget his joy, and to hope that his style helps others to build their own love for freedom.

You can read the rest by clicking HERE.

I do have to say that for a family that has been through so much in recent days, this message is mostly a heartfelt thank-you from his family for the care and kind words that people sent to Inaki. That would be tough, but it does give you a glimpse of the kind of people that made Inaki who he was.

I never met the man, but many of us knew him through his personal thoughts and interviews when they would surface. We would hear the name and recognize it–think “cool he topped out on another huge peak. That’s great.” Then move on. Here is just a suggestion. Go back and read some of his interviews. Experience part of his personality. In order to understand why thousands of people are currently mourning the loss of a great climber, you have to understand a bit of who the man was. ExplorersWeb has followed along with him on numerous climbs. They have done a great job at getting some very good interviews with him–go read a bit, then tell me what’s not to like about the way he wanted to live his life. It was always an adventure to him. It was never a matter of ‘IF’ he could do something, but when. I think there is a lesson there for all of us. He will be missed.

Legendary Climber Inaki Ochoa Dies on Annapurna, Ueli Steck By His Side–May 23, 2008

Heroic efforts to rescue climber Inaki Ochoa, unfortunately were not enough. Inaki Ochoa passed away at 12:30 pm local time. Ueli Steck, who was in the process of helping to carry out a high-altitude rescue on Ochoa, was with him and continued to try to revive him until the very end.

Sorry guys. I am a bit choked up. I think many of us believed that the rescue efforts would be a success, but unfortunately, today, that was not the case. Over the past couple of days, as this rescue effort played out, many people had been watching, hoping, and praying for Ochoa, one of the leading mountaineers in the world. His struggle on Annapurna began with no warning, and ends quite the same. I think many of us are shocked. My heart goes out to Inaki Ochoa’s family, friends, and associates. Let’s not forget Ueli Steck, who made an amazing effort to rescue the struggling climber. Even if the rescue did not come out as we all hoped, Ueli Steck and the other individuals who were struggling to get up Annapurna to rescue Ochoa–quite frankly, they should be treated as heroes for their personal ethics in helping a fallen comrade.

I will have a bit more information and make another post later on today. In the meantime, feel free to leave your thoughts and comments–prayers for Inaki Ochoa, all involved in these efforts, and for Inaki’s family.

To catch up on news and information, you can read my previous posts on this rescue effort HERE, HERE, and HERE. For the latest Update, head over to ExplorersWeb.

Once again, Inaki Ochoa has died on Annapurna–May 23, 2008

Rescue on Annapurna: Ueli Steck HAS REACHED Inaki Ochoa –Updated

BREAKING NEWS

I have recently been following a high altitude rescue attempt that is taking place on Annapurna. If you will remember back a few days ago, word had been sent out that climber Inaki Ochoa, who has previously summited 12 8,000 meter peaks–was in trouble. In days previous, Inaki was trying to top out on Annapurna. His attempt was unsuccessful. He was turned back a few meters from the summit due to frostbite and runing out of rope. Things went downhill from there. Inaki called his wife and family from Camp IV and said he was tired and had received some frostbite during his climb. A half hour later, Inaki Ochoa was vomiting violently, then went in to an almost comatose state.

A call for help was put out for climbers in the area. Inaki Ochoa needed some fast help. Unfortunately there was no one around, other than his climbing partner, who could not bring him down by himself. A couple of days later, Ueli Steck has stepped up to the plate and taken it upon himself to try the high-altitude rescue.

News has come out today that Ueli Steck has reached Inaki Ochoa at Camp IV and is currently administering medicine to the fallen climber. Many people thought that Inaki Ochoa would not survive the night, when this first began to take shape. He has survived and is surviving and now has the help and aid of Ueli Steck. Other climbers are currently headed to Inaki, as well. Hopefully they can get him down from Camp IV and back where he can get some much needed medical attention. Let’s hope this rescue goes as planned. You can never tell on these things, but luckily there are individuals out there like Ueli Steck, who will jump to help in a heartbeat. Let’s keep these guys in our thoughts today as this high altitude rescue continues on Annapurna–I will keep you updated. Also, if anyone else runs across more information, send me a tip at theadventurist@cliffhanger.com.

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SECOND UPDATE  Posted 3:33 pm May 22, 2008

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ExplorersWeb has just updated the above information.

As most of you guessed, the Swiss rescuers are Ueli Steck and his climbing mate Simon. Ueli has now reached Iñaki in camp 4, after two days climbing in bad weather.

Literally running up next is Denis Urubko, sleepless since he found out about Ochoa while in Kathmandu. Russian Serguey Bogomolov should be in a hospital, nursing frostbites he suffered on the wall two weeks ago. Instead, he’s leading rescue team number 2, of Denis and Don Bowie who has volunteered to help as well, in spite of leaving the team earlier due to differences between the climbers.

There is also news that a third rescue party is waiting in back-up if the first two can not extract Ochoa from Annapurna.  Ochoa is said to be unable to walk or speak, but can eat and drink.  At least that is a bit of hope, he isn’t totally incapacitated, although in high-altitude that is about as close as you can get.

More from ExWeb:

Artur Hajzer has provided route details and Javier G. Corripio is providing special weather reports. Climbers’ friends and home teams, mountaineering websites such as RussianClimb and ExWeb, team sponsors and Inaki’s family have all been working around the clock from all corners of the world over the different time zones to save the men on the south face of Annapurna - in one of the most difficult rescue operations ever in the Himalayas.

I will update more as I get word.  Keep the fingers crossed!

Photo of Inaki Ochoa Courtesy of ExplorersWeb

Ueli Steck, Simon Anthamatten To The Rescue–Racing Up Annapurna For Inaki Ochoa

A commenter here at The Adventurist just gave me some breaking news on the continued efforts to rescue Inaki Ochoa from Annapurna. Jo commented:

Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten are on the way. Have reached 6900m and now resting. True mountaineering spirit. Thoughts and prayers to them all.

After a brief word with Jo, I can now confirm this information with a bit of an update. Yesterday I posted about Inaki Ochoa getting into trouble on Annapurna. No climbers were said to be in the area. That has changed–

A MAJOR high-altitude rescue is in the works. This is the real deal for one of mountaineering’s best. Inaki Ochoa, at last word, was almost in a comatose state after recently attempting a summit on Annapurna. He was helped back to Camp V. I am going to skip the details of this event, but I did make a post here yesterday concerning all of this (sorry, have to get this update up). You may read it HERE.

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Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten To the Rescue!

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From Barrabes.com and translated through the Google Translator:

Inaki Ochoa is still alive. Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten are heading up to assist in the rescue of Inaki on Annapurna. As mentioned in the comment by Jo, the swiss climbers are currently sitting at Camp 3 and resting up and planning to go higher. Russian climber in Kathmandu as going to be heading up as well. These include Horia Bolotov and his partner Bogomolov (will have to get a first name in a bit, I am going on the source for this info)

he place where there are 3 mountaineers is the south wall of Annapurna. They need someone who moves fast and fluently wall, not just a Himalayan height, but someone very technical accustomed to the style and self-Alpine routes in high difficulty. It is not a normal route to an eight-thousander, kicked and fixed ropes. And remember, for example, that in February Uli Steck single-handedly beat the record of the northern wall of the Eiger: climbed the 1,800 meter winter route Heckmair (ED2) in 2 hours, 47 minutes and 33 seconds. We may also recall his solo climb on the wall north of Cholatse, which almost validates the Piolet d’Or.

There is hope that Inaki Ochoa can be brought off the face of Annapurna.  We will all have to keep our fingers crossed and kep an eye on this developing situation.  I will update with more when I hear it.

Inaki Ochoa in Trouble on Annapurna–Nearly Unconscience at Camp 5

Breaking News—Breaking News—Breaking News

Inaki Ochoa, who was attempting a summit bid on Annapurna beginning yesterday, is having some MAJOR problems.  He turned back from the summit after he ran out of rope.  He was also suffering from a bad case of frostbite to the hands.  If this weren’t enough, Inaki Ochoa, once he was helped back down to Camp 5 at 7400 meters,  began to cough and vomit violently.  It has actually gotten so bad that whatever this is going on with Inaki, has left him incapacitated and nearly unconscience.

More from ExWeb:

Iñaki seemed to be all right when he called home, but half an hour later he suffered a sudden stroke or sorts, including violent burst of vomit and cough, which left him almost unconscious.

Since then, Horia has been trying to find help and counsel from Doctors in Spain over the sat phone. He has apparently administered Iñaki some medicines, and will try to help his mate down the south face of Annapurna today. As Iñaki’s relatives told Diario de Navarra, Horia could have also asked for help to a Swiss team currently on the northern side of the mountain.

Questions are beginning to arise concerning a high altitude rescue.  It seems there may not be anyone else on Annapurna’s South side that could assist in a rescue of this nature.  At this point, it isn’t looking to good for Inaki Ochoa, who continues to suffer and wait it out in very bad shape.

Inaki Ochoa is originally from Spain.  He has climbed 12 of the world’s 8,000 meter peaks including a new route established on Shisha Pangma.  In a recent interview with ExWeb, Inaki expressed his dislike for artificial assistance and the use of supplementary oxygen on his climbing expeditions.  Remember, these guys do know the risk involved in their particular field.  Inaki Ochoa is not an amature by any means, and is actually one of the world’s best at high altitude climbing.  He is currently climbing with Horia Colibasanu, a Romanian, and his team-mate of choice.  Horia has accompanied Inaki on many previous expeditions.  At times like this, that can be a very big asset.  Russian climber Alexi Bolotov had also joined the two for this final summit push.  Let’s all hope that Inaki can be brought down for further medical treatment.  Only time will tell if this is feasable.  Let’s kep him in our thoughts today.

ExplorersWeb is doing a great job of following this up with updates.  For the latest, head over there.  Kraig, over at The Adventure Blog, tipped me off through email to this one, he is currently running updates, as well.  I will keep you posted if anything changes