) L/R: David, Gerlinde, Ralf and Hiro in Everest-Lhotse BC, some days before pushing for the summit. Image courtesy of Hiro's and Gerlinde's expedition websites (well, I got it from explorersweb.com).
|
Gerlinde is now level with Edurne Pasaban: both hold the current female record with 12x8000ers summited; Ralf has become a 14x8000er summiteer.
I fisrt met Ralf when we went to Queen Maud Land, Antarctica in 2000. He is one of the great legends of Himalayan climbing and I was very happy to spend the time there with him. In 2007 we met up again at K2 basecamp when he, Gerlinde, David and Daniel were a team, but eventually all of us without Ralf but with the addition of Dodo, and the two Piotrs tried for the single push ascent. The Photo above is of me and Ralf in Gokyo, Nepal, spring 2008, after randomly being at the same lodge. I am very proud of Ralf for finishing off all 14 8000m peaks!
