Tibet earthquake: 'Everything was shaking'

"At first I thought a serac [a large block of ice from a glacier] had fallen off next to me," German mountaineer Jost Kobusch told DW. "Then I realized that everything was shaking."

When the earth shook in Tibet on Tuesday, January 7, Kobusch was in a place that was anything but earthquake-proof: in his tent on Mount Everest at an altitude of 5,700 meters (18,700 feet).

"Eventually, I heard rocks falling. And I felt the pressure waves when some seracs collapsed."

Despite all this, Kobusch wasn't frightened.

"My tent was relatively safe on a rock slab, like on a small balcony, flanked by ice towers to the right and left."

Still, the quake made this tent unusable.

"It has a few holes from small stones hitting it. A pressure wave also literally pushed out the viewing window of the tent," he said.

Kobusch waited until the earth tremors subsided, before setting off on his descent.

"I deliberately took my time so that everything on the mountain could sort itself out again," he said.

A few hours later, he arrived safely at an Italian research station in the Everest Valley at around 5,000 meters, where he was reached by DW. The station has been serving as his base camp for this expedition.

At least 126 killed in Tibet

The epicenter of the quake, which measured 7.1 on the Richter scale, was located 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Mount Everest, in the Tingri region of Tibet. According to Chinese state media, at least 126 people were killed and 188 others injured as a result. The sparsely populated area is well known to many mountaineers and trekking tourists as it is on the way to the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest.

Kobusch is attempting to climb Everest from the Nepalese south side in winter for the third time after 2020 and 2022. He is doing so single-handedly, without bottled oxygen, via the west ridge of the mountain – a climb that has been rarely attempted because it is so challenging. On December 27, he reached an altitude of 7,537 meters on his first attempt, according to his altimeter. No one had ever reached this height on this route before in winter.

The first winter ascent of the highest mountain on earth was achieved in 1979 by two Polish climbers, Krzystof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy – albeit with bottled oxygen and as part of a large team. To date, only 15 climbers have reached the summit at 8,849 meters in winter, of which only Nepal's Ang Rita Sherpa managed to do without a breathing mask, in 1987.

Anyone who attempts to climb Everest without bottled oxygen at any time of year is pushing him or herself to their physiological limits. In winter, the usually very low air pressure further exacerbates the strain on the body.

2015 avalanche video goes viral

This was the second time that Kobusch has experienced an earthquake on Mount Everest. In April 2015, a devastating quake in Nepal triggered an avalanche from the 7,000-meter Pumori peak, located on the other side of the valley. It destroyed the Everest base camp, killing 22 people. Kobusch had intended to climb the Lhotse, an eight-thousander located next to Everest, that spring. His video of the avalanche went viral. The 2015 earthquake claimed the lives of around 9,000 people.

Kobusch has not yet decided whether to quit his expedition.

"I'll wait and see over the next few days. Who knows what will happen? There will be further tectonic activity, possibly some aftershocks," he said.

The planned route is already at high risk of avalanches in the lower section. His ambitious winter project on Mount Everest is not limited to this winter anyway.

"Ultimately, I'm not interested in breaking any records in the short term," the 32-year-old said. "I want to complete the project in the long term. That's the focus."

This article was originally published in German.