Benedikt Böhm climbs Cho Oyu – misfortune at Shisha Pangma

2023-10-09 14:51:04

Prakash Sherpa (left) and Benedikt Böhm on Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world. Image: Benedikt Böhm

The mountaineer Benedikt Böhm and his companion Prakash Sherpa climbed the summit of the sixth highest mountain in the world in under 13 hours. Almost at the same time, a fatal accident occurs at the Shisha Pangma.

Life and death are often close together in high-altitude mountaineering. This was demonstrated again these days by two eight-thousanders in the Himalayas, the highest mountains in the world. On Saturday, at the foot of Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world at 8,188 meters, an exhausted but happy Benedikt Böhm was happy about his successful speed climb; Together with his companion Prakash Sherpa, he traveled 12 hours and 35 minutes from the base camp at 5,660 meters to the summit.

Less than 100 kilometers away, at the 8,027-meter-high Shisha Pangma, terrible news made the rounds at almost the same time: American mountaineer Anna Gutu and her companion Mingmar Sherpa died after an avalanche at an altitude of around 7,800 meters, and a second avalanche occurred Two hours later, Gina Marie Rzucidlo, also from the USA, and the Nepalese Tenjen Lama Sherpa with her – both have been missing since then. And missing, according to Böhm’s assessment of the chances of survival, “means dead after 24 hours up there.”