:: Without oxygen

In spring 1997 I joined international expedition to Mt. Everest 1 from Tibetan side. After Shisha Pangma it was my second expedition to Tibet. We started in Kathmandu, crossed the border at Kodari and the third day wecould see Everest from the distance2 . Life in small villages on the N side of Everest is hard, and tibetan children 3 learn how to work very early...

After a short stop in a lower base camp, yaks 4 came with their yak drivers 5 and we continued to Everest base camp at 6500 m. During our approach we wanted to buy the old tibetan tent 6 , but it was not for sale...

On April 27 first climbers started from the base camp and established Camp 1 on the Everest North col 7 , the last "comfortable" site on the mountain. The weather was changing from unstable to stormy, and the wind on the N ridge 8 became main enemy of all expeditions trying from the north. After three weeks the weather improved and on May 22 Aco Pepevnik with Canadian Andy Adams reached the top as the first climber from our team. Sepp Stiller 9 , a strong guy from Bavaria, and me were in the following rope party, and in the morning of May 23 we could enjoy a nice early morning view 10 from Camp 3 at 8300 m. We were tired after a very bad night in a poor tent, but still decided to try without oxygen... The weather was promising. Soon we reached the rocky NE ridge 11 with clearly visible two steps. There was not much snow on the mountain that season. We had no problems with the first step 12 , but after the long ridge and the second step at 8700 m 13 Sepp decided to return. He was too tired... I watched him descending down the second step 14 . Were Irvine and Mallory able to climb that wall more than 75 years ago ? It's hard to believe...

There was no more hard climbing in last 150 m 15 , but the air was really thin. I reached the top 16 at 13:45 and the first thing I noticed were two climbers descending the south ridge 17 . I was late, but still I could take some moments to enjoy the highest view 18 . The world looks round from there...

It was a long way down 19 , again in stormy weather...to the base camp, where Aco and other friends already prepared the celebration party 20 .