Journal

Thursday, April 19, 2012

BD athlete David Göttler reports from his expedition to Nuptse's east ridge

Black DIamond athlete David Göttler is back in Nepal, this time set to tackle the formidable east ridge of Nuptse (7864m). Below is his first report from the expedition. Best of luck to David, and we look forward to receiving more reports from him as the expedtion progresses.

gottFrom: David Göttler
Sent: Dienstag, 3. April 2012 07:27
Subject: newsletter 01 david göttler nuptse

I know! We were really going to go to the West Buttress of Makalu. How come I'm writing something about Nuptse now?

Here is how that change happened:

Michi, who was tasked with leading the hard bouldering moves at 8000 m on the West Buttress, took his training as serious as could be. Unfortunately he had been training so hard that he tore his biceps tendon three weeks before departure. And because that left us minus a veritable rope gun, we canceled the West Buttress for now. But I was so motivated and had made firm plans to go to Nepal again in the Spring that I started looking around who else might be going there ...

And it did not take long to find an alternative that was no worse than the original plan. Gerlinde and Ralf generously accepted me into their Nuptse team! And voila, here I am, back in Kathmandu, back with those two with whom I had been on a number of other expeditions. That makes me all the happier to be on a mountain with them again, after two years.
gott
I know that our team is great. It works and we can trust each other blindly after all this time. That makes me look forward to the coming adventure even more!

And of course because Nuptse is a mountain that leaves nothing to be desired! It's rarely climbed and most impressive. On top of that we want to try a first ascent from the North via the East ridge. Our plan for the first upcoming weeks looks like this: since I still had the 'old' Makalu flight booked, I arrived a few days before the two in Kathmandu, and could sort my gear and make the last acquisitions here. Now I'm enjoying Kathmandu, met my Japanese friend Hiro and visited with Sabin's and Purna's families (pilot and copilot of the stricken Ama Dablam helicopter).

Ralf and Gerlinde arrived yesterday and tomorrow we'll be heading on toward Lukla and Namche Bazaar, as so may times before. Sure I'm getting to know this place really well, but that has the advantage too that I get to meet a lot of people again, visit with old acquaintances and just like this corner of the planet a whole lot.

Talk to you soon.
Namaste!
David

Photos