All photos illustrating this note courtesy of Chhang Dawa Sherpa and Seven Summits Treks
Chhang Dawa Sherpa was born on July 30, 1982, he is the youngest mountaineer until 2019 to reach the 14 highest peaks in the world. He was born and raised in the rural village of Narbuchaur in the Makalu village of the Sankhuwasabha district in Nepal.
He reached his first eight thousand on the Makalu in the spring of 2001 without supplemental oxygen along with his brother Mingma Sherpa. He and his brother Mingma Sherpa achieved the Guinness World Record for «The World´s First Two Brothers» for successfully reaching the top of the world´s fourteen mountains that are over 8000 meters high. The Sherpa brothers used supplemental oxygen in only four of the 8,000 tallest among the fourteen. Now they operate the expedition company called Seven Summits Treks, which organizes climbing and trekking in Nepal, Pakistan and China.
As head of the company Seven Summits Treks that led the largest group of climbers to the last and tragic winter expedition to K2, it was necessary to talk with him to draw some conclusions and clear up some doubts that much of the mountain world has at the moment .
Many pointed to SST during these days for some kind of responsibility in all these events that have been happening. We even asked ourselves some questions that only Dawa could answer. Hence, in the days after the tragic outcome, we contacted him and he very kindly showed us his predisposition to this interview, which he tried to touch on all the «hottest» points, the ones that generated the most doubt and finally he was able to fully satisfy all of our requests. .
As for the definitions given by Dawa himself, well, that remains for the analysis of each of you, who will surely be able to draw many conclusions with this exchange. Just note that his statements clarify some points that needed to be clarified, and distributes responsibilities mainly among the actors of this experience.
He then left them with Chhang Dawa Sherpa right now.
What do you think could have happened to Sadpara, Snorri, and Mohr?
What I think is one of them got in trouble other tried to help and other got problem too. It´s what we call chain reaction, maybe. And also, they exposed themselves in high for too long OR maybe icefall (serac) fell down in bottleneck and swept the climbers.
As the head of Seven Summits Treks (SST), what was it that prompted them to carry out such deployment in winter K2, launching an expedition, at this height, to the most dangerous eight thousand in the entire Himalayas? Did you have to see the closing of the seasons during the year?
Many people requested us to organize this winter expedition, so there will be enough manpower with huge support. The chances to make the summit in winter with the small team are very small. And also, we do not sell a guided expedition, we only provide infrastructure. The climbers who participated in the expedition are experienced in climbing 8000m and aware of the dangers and such an advanced climb K2 in winter, cannot be guided.
Did any company other than SST participate in this idea or was it an exclusive impulse of you?
Because the SST was the major team with the large support, this attracted other companies and climbers to join the expedition.
Some climbers who went with you, I am not going to give names, were in charge of emphasizing that it was not a commercial expedition. What do you think about it?
In my opinion anybody they join for the self-promotion is the commercial in their own way. So, everybody uses the infrastructure of SST or the service providers during the whole expedition, but this is quite common that so-called independent climbers use the basecamp service and the other infrastructure of the commercial team. Where they join SST or Pakistani Company it´s any way part of the commercial expedition, this is what I think.
Did you take into consideration that what finally happened could happen?
Yes, the statistic of the K2, do not lie about the risk, whether you climb it in summer or winter or any other season. K2 has never been climbed in winter and had been tried by many strong teams.
Regarding the accidents of Sergi Mingote and Atanas Skatov, what do you think could have gone wrong?
Human´s common mistakes are the biggest risk on a mountain, they probably made a small mistake probably changing the rope, maybe in combination fatigue cause them to make this error.
What forecasts did you make for this expedition, I mean the issue of support, in every sense, in the event of an accident, alert for covid, deployment before an evacuation? How did that work when there were problems, for example, the people who had to be evacuated to Skardu? Did Seven Summits Treks work together with other companies (Jasmine, etc)?
Climbers beforehand decide to climb with or without Sherpa, then we have additional rope fixing Sherpa who can assist in an accident. Rescue up to basecamp only be done by manpower. Our company paid the mandatory helicopter rescue deposit at the Pakistani Army. Helicopter rescue in Pakistan can be only performed by the Army. No, the other team assisted any of the rescues because of the manpower they did not have. Covid wise we followed all health protocol determined by the Pakistani government.
When launching this expedition, and seeing that so many people joined the SST project, did you have any forecast for the final days of the push, knowing that there was no place up there for all those people?
The day before Sherpas were supposed to deposit the tents and other stuff at C III, but due to the high wind they cannot reach higher than Japanese C III. This means the following day all the stuff like tents, oxygen, and tents should take to C III in one single push. Also, some members left C II too late against all the advice of the leader, also some members did not respect the turnaround time set by the leaders at the basecamp, few of them even turned their radio off and cut all the communication. All this event gets a cost problem, mainly the attitude of some members making summit at any cost.
What differs in terms of the staging of an expedition of this type, I mean infrastructure, support, Sherpas, between a mountain like Everest and another like winter K2? Is it handled in the same way?
The infrastructure that we need or use in the K2 is quite similar to the Everest, such as ropes, tents, oxygen bottles, etc BUT much more is expected from each individual climber. In K2 in winter members are expected to help or work together as a team besides the Sherpa team.
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Do you remember how many Sherpas went by SST on this expedition? How many climbers were there?
The total expedition had 22 climbing members 18 Sherpas, 3 rope fixing teams, and among the international climber 5 of them are decided to climb without Sherpa, without high camp support and Oxygen beforehand because of their own ethical beliefs.
Let´s go now to the famous day of the final push, February 4, when the most outstanding events of this entire deployment took place, regardless of the Sergi incident that was much earlier. How was the issue of bottled oxygen distribution for the push day handled?
Oxygens were carried up in several stages during the expedition by our Sherpas. All SST members used oxygen from C II and found the other bottles of the oxygen either in C III or from the bag pack of Sherpa. Juan Pablo Mohr and Tamara beforehand decided to climb without oxygen and Sherpa´s support.
You surely know that some climbers stated that the oxygen was not where it should be, the specific case of one of them is that of Elias Saikaly, who said it explicitly in an article. What can you say to these claims? Was it really so?
Elia was not a member of our team, but of Jasmine Tours, the same company as John Snorri, Ali Sadpara, and his son chose. Elia who showed up himself in K2 requested us to buy oxygen from us because his own team did not have enough oxygen for him. We sold him 6 bottles of oxygen, below the black pyramid, carried up by our Sherpas before. His own HAP did not pick up these oxygen bottles from Black Pyramid, because of some miscommunication. To carry up the bottles from the Black pyramid to C III was the responsibility of his own team, this was agreed beforehand. Why there was a miscommunication on his own team we do not know.
How was the activity of the SST Sherpas on push day? Specifically, where were they?
All Sherpa climb simultaneously from C 2 – C 3 carrying supply and personal equipment. Only three members (Bernhard, Tomaz, and the Josette) decided to push for the summit, accompanied by 4 Sherpa. Later all three climbers decided to turnaround (some of them reach 8000m) because of the extreme cold and some new big crevasses on the way. Other Sherpas stayed behind in C III with the members who did not go to the summit and descended back to basecamp on the following day. All members and Sherpas reached basecamp except 2 members and 2 Sherpa (they stayed in C1). JP climbing without the Sherpa, no oxygen, and no high-altitude support decided to follow Ali and Snorri alone.
Do you think there were people up there who weren´t self-sufficient?
Many climbers decide to climb in different climbing styles, we are not the judge at all. A climber makes their own decision based on their own capabilities to climb the peak.
What do you think about the huge number of ropes, according to the testimonies of the climbers themselves, which exist on the Abruzzi route, shouldn´t something be done about it?
Because of the decades of the expedition there are many ropes in Abruzzi Route (which were many years before we started operating the K2 expedition) and this is a safety issue. Unfortunately, because of pressure we get from the members to establish the route as fast as possible to make the ascent, we or any other company have no time to remove the old rope. Also, the small weather windows in K2 do not allow any major clean-up of old ropes. In order to do this, we need a separate team that focuses only on cleaning up the ropes. Cleaning the ropes and carry the equipment of self and the members at the same time is practically impossible. I agree old ropes are definitely an issue and are the responsibility of all climbing teams on the mountain. It will be good if in the future all companies operating the expedition in K2 can make a plan to remove these old ropes.
Do you know why the majority decided to descend when they reached C3? I refer for example to Tamara, Conte, and many others. Did they tell you when they came back or did you hear if they said anything about it?
Conte turned around from Camp 1 because he did meet the timing set by the leader, Tamara and the rest of the team turned around from C 3 because they did not feel safe and confident for the summit, also the weather window on 5th was minimal. All members are aware of this.
What kind of contact did they maintain from base camp with the group above?
Members and Sherpas carried a VHF radio set, to communicate to the basecamp, that´s how basecamp gets updated on the situation, and from the basecamp, they received the weather forecast and advice.
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Knowing that Juan Pablo Mohr was a member of the SST expedition, did you have contact with him when he decided to move on with Snorri and Sadpara?
Juan Pablo Mohr sign up with SST only for the basecamp support, Juan Pablo decided to climb independently beforehand, this is how he climbed several 8000m peaks, these are his own ethical believe to climb the peak with no Sherpa, no oxygen, and no high camp support. JP carried the radio set, and he told he will contact the basecamp if necessary. 5th morning Ali contacted the basecamp from C3, asking the weather forecast, I (Dawa) told him it´s good till noon, and for the safe descend you need to climb early like at 9 Am approx. I advised Ali the timing is extremely tight, cause for the safe return they shall reach C 3 earlier, and start the summit push around 11 PM (4th Feb) already, but they decided to leave C3 around 2 AM (5th Feb). We did not know the JP continued with Ali and Snorri´s summit push, until Sajid was back in C3, and mentioned they continued climbing in the bottleneck.
When all the climbers returned to the base camp, and already knowing about the disappearance of one of the SST members, such as Juan Pablo Mohr, did any SST representative remain at the base camp with the military team? (In case of the negative answer) Why?
Our majority of our entire team did not leave BC until 3 days after JP´s disappearance. Dawa (I) been involved inside the Army´s Helicopter with all searches and support to the Snorri´s team. Dawa did not leave the basecamp until the Army decided not to send Helicopters for several days anymore due to the bad weather. Some people expected that we would deploy our Sherpa for SAR, but our Sherpa was just reaching the basecamp when 3 climbers got missing. Climbing up would take several days, and also need necessary oxygen and high camp supplies to make the search. Also, the climbers (HAP) who sent later, were not able to climb even Camp I. Deploying manpower for SAR is extremely risky in such a bad weather condition, if not impossible. Even a helicopter can not fly above 7000m usually, so expecting a person to reach there so fast just hypothitical.
Do you think that SST had some degree of responsibility in some of the facts that today in the networks and different media are claiming it? If so, what would they be and should be corrected for the future?
Climbing 8000m peak, especially K 2 in winter is extremely dangerous, this is why it´s never been done before. We expect some kind of self-efficiency from each member that signs up for such an advanced expedition. Actually, all our members are experienced and aware of this. Although we are a commercial expedition operator, we do not promise our members to be guided. Most of the problems occurred due to the small weather window and could not be prevented unless we had more time.
Do you plan on SST to continue with this type of winter release?
Ans: If enough people request us, and we can put a team of experienced climbers together then we probably will have such expedition in the future. The normal seasons in 8000m peak seem busy, more climbers are getting interested to climb in winter. This winter we also had expedition in Ama Dablam and in Manaslu (with Alex Txilkon and Simone Moro).
What learning has all this left you, if you have still been able to take stock of it, taking into account that there are still three climbers, one from SST of which there is no news?
I am extremely sad about the disappearance of these three-climbing including JP from SST. Ali was like a family and worked alongside our Sherpa staff on many 8000m peak climbs in Nepal. We realized that K2 and in winter is extremely risky, but climbers have the freedom to make their own decision even if it goes against our leader´s advice. In the future we will urge members to have more support, maybe one Sherpa from each member is not enough but can never make K2 winter climbing 100% safe, also not other than 8000m. Actually, the uncertainty and the fact that never been done is the attraction for most climbers to do it. Many teams before us filled also.
Do you think Nepal will open for the 2021 Himalayan season? And China?
Yes, in Nepal open with minimal quarantine rules and safety protocols, but think China remains closed this season.
Some international companies, SST competition, have come down from Everest 2021, how is the season for spring at the top of the world?
Some companies who have travel restrictions from their own countries pull out Everest and other expeditions in Nepal. We are Nepalese, based in Nepal and owned by Sherpa, Nepal is actually open for tourism and climbing, with few rules to follow. Everest season I can see it´s quieter, but Everest will definitely have several teams attempting to climb. SST has 5 international teams in Everest this season via the south side.
We know that they plan to go to Kangchen and Annapurna, as we have seen «over there.» Is there another eight thousand?
Yes, there are some expeditions this season (Spring) in Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Lhotse, and in other 7000ers as well. Seems climbers still want to climb; only regular tourist and the trekkers are a lot less.
Why do you think there is so much «suspicion» of these international companies for OSH? Is there really such suspicion, or is it a «feeling»?
The cases in Nepal (Covid) are declining, and there are several safety protocols to follow for each tourist who enters Nepal, which makes bit safer. And the fact is climbing 8000m peak is much more hazardous than Covid.
By Chhang Dawa Sherpa (14×8000)
Thank you very much Dawa for your testimony.
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