
He announced it a few hours ago. This season he reached the highest point ever achieved, on the winter West Ridge.
The German mountaineer announced a few hours ago, through social networks, that he is withdrawing from his winter Everest attempt for this season, due to several issues, which he listed in his statement. Firstly, he said that he was never rescued during his climbing career, and that at this time, a helicopter rescue on the route he has been developing is practically impossible.
The second reason points to the 7-point earthquake, recorded a few days ago in the region, which caused some problems on the route, and which has made it lose stability, which he was already well aware of, so an unexpected collapse cannot be ruled out. In other words, the route has become more dangerous.
He also mentioned his injury from last year, which had prevented him from taking on this challenge in 2023, which he had already been doing for two previous seasons. In this sense, the German climber said that «Due to my back injury, I missed many hours of aerobic-based training in preparation. I am not where I want to be as an athlete to go for the summit. I have already achieved my goal for this expedition, by going further than anyone else on the winter West Ridge. For this project to happen, everything needs to align, and right now there are several factors that are contraindications. I prefer to focus on getting back to training, developing skills, and becoming a better mountaineer, to come back stronger.»
Jost raises a very interesting point: knowing how to find the right moment to decide that the objective has become complex and unattainable, and being able to turn around, to return next year, as he says, in this case, with more experience, with new learning, and consequently, with greater possibilities, on a route that is already extremely complex in the normal season. To this we add the winter, and the solo attempt, together with an earthquake, which «moved» the scene, who knows which way. What is certain is that this side will always be in favor of the mountain. I applaud his decision.
