Mount Everest Legend Kari Kobler: “Nobody Pays $58,000 To Get Diarrhea”

If you want to climb Everest, you are in mortal danger. Were you always aware of this?
Yes, but passion is greater than fear. Mountaineering made me incredibly happy and satisfied. I am not afraid of death and I am aware that life ends at some point. As a mountain climber you are a fatalist.

In 2008, one person died during your expedition. What exactly happened?
One of the participants really wanted to reach Everest without oxygen. On the way back we realized something was wrong with him. Although we then gave him oxygen and a doctor attended to him, he died about 100 yards from Camp IV, presumably of a heart attack.

How did you deal with that?
At that point I had incredible power and automatically switched to emergency mode. That is probably a protection, because as leader of the expedition I was responsible and it would have been the worst if I had not acted rationally in such a situation. But weeks later, the hammer came. I thought I had processed it. But this was not so.

How often have you yourself been in danger?
I’ve been very lucky two or three times. One time it knocked me down at the Jungfrau. I didn’t have a stand or an intermediate belay, but when I fell the rope luckily got caught in a split, which usually never happens, and saved my life.

Today, Mount Everest is big business. How much does that bother you?
You can climb Everest from the Tibetan north side or from the Nepalese south side. Up north it’s still family and Everest as I got to know it. Unfortunately, the situation is different in the south. Helicopters land there every ten minutes. There were phases where the climbers were flown to 20,000 feet.

In 2015 you experienced for yourself how absurd it all has become.
The year of the great earthquake. We were at 6400 meters, above us a 1000 meter high rock mountain. Fortunately no stones came down, but then of course we had to call off the expedition. I was then sued by a contestant for not being on top. He demanded his money back. That was absurd. Luckily I was there for the first time in 2000. That was a really great time. On Everest then there were only real mountaineers who simply had the dream of climbing the highest mountain in the world.

Today it’s different. Some are already talking about luxury on the mountain.
What is Luxury? I’ve spent about 4500 nights in my tent so far and had to scramble out on all fours every morning. Nowadays the tents are built in such a way that you can walk in and out of them upright. Is that luxury? Or the theme of nutrition and hygiene. In the past, no attention was paid to this. Today my motto is: if I bring a participant healthy to base camp and he is doing well there, there is a good chance that he will also make it to the top. That’s why we make sure he does well in base camp, that he’s not too cold and that he’s pretty comfortable. Because no one pays $58,000 to get diarrhea. More importantly, if you get diarrhea, chances are you won’t make it to the top, because once you get hit, it’s almost impossible to recover from the altitude.

Are you climbing Everest for the seventh time?
I hope so. In 2024 I will try again, of course from the north side. I am now 68, but feel fitter than 20 years ago.