Außerfern duo

Tyrolean mountain rescuers on the “Matterhorn of Nepal”

The view of the magnificently shaped Ama Dablam is almost impossible to take your eyes off.

(Bild: zVg)

Riccardo Mizio from Ehrwald and Markus Wolf from Berwang succeeded in climbing the 6814-metre-high Ama Dablam in the Himalayas. It is considered the most beautiful mountain in the world. The duo already have their sights set on the next expedition - a ski descent from a 6,000-metre peak.

In the Außerfern region, people know all about "Matterhorns". After all, the Ehrwalder Sonnenspitze is also known as the "Matterhorn of Ehrwald". So it was only natural that a quartet of mountain rescuers from the Außerfern region set their sights on the Ama Dablam.

A large "tent village" is the base camp for Ama Dablam.

(Bild: zVg)

Injured at the last moment
Unfortunately, the quartet became a trio. "One of them got injured a week before departure and had to stay at home," regrets Riccardo Mizio (32). The Ehrwald native with Italian roots is a mountain guide, mountain rescuer in Ehrwald and member of the Tyrol Mountain Rescue training team.

Riccardo Mizio on the descent from Lobuche East.

(Bild: zVg)

Only one with experience of these dimensions
His expedition partner Markus Wolf (52) from Berwang heads the mountain rescue team in the Außerfern region. A younger colleague, also from Ehrwald Mountain Rescue, was the third person on board. "Markus had already gained experience on the highest peaks, but this dimension was new territory for me and my young colleague," explains Mizio.

Three-day forced break at the airport in Kathmandu

The expedition was not under a good star when they arrived in Kathmandu. The Tyroleans were stuck at the airport for three days due to a flood that had occurred earlier.

The extremely steep ascent to the summit of Ama Dablam.

(Bild: zVg)

Acclimatization in the foreground
Good acclimatization is the be-all and end-all in the heights of the Himalayas. That's why Mizio and Wolf first climbed the "rather easy" (quote Mizio) Lobuche East (6119 m) from High Camp - 800 meters of altitude had to be covered. Unfortunately, the third member of the group had to miss out due to health problems caused by the altitude and was therefore unable to climb Ama Dablam later on.

We could hardly believe our luck after the summit victory. It took us a few days to realize our success.

Riccardo Mizio und Markus Wolf, Bergretter aus Ehrwald bzw. Berwang

In any case, Wolf and Mizio subsequently moved to the base camp of the expedition's destination in order to climb from there to Camp 1 (5750 m) with two climbing Sherpas. The "Ama Dablam adventure" began here at 11 pm on the same day in fantastic weather.

Done: Markus Wolf (left) and Riccardo Mizio with the Tyrolean flag on Ama Dablam.

(Bild: zVg)

Key section "Yellow Tower"
In the first section, the key section "Yellow Tower" had to be conquered. "That was a tough one," recalls Mizio. After this climbing passage, snow and ice awaited the Tyroleans and, from Camp III (6,300 m), the extremely steep summit ascent including overhanging glacier sections. The Außerferner did not have to make any intermediate stops - the Sherpas were amazed!

Ama Dablam firmly in sight.

(Bild: zVg)

October 29, 8.48 in the morning
On 29 October at 8.48 in the morning - after just nine hours - the Tyroleans' dream finally came true: Mizio and Wolf stood on the summit at an altitude of 6,814 meters. "We had incredible feelings," says Mizio, "all around us were imposing walls, our eyes fixed on Everest."

22 hours in a row on the mountain
The descent once again demanded everything from the Tyroleans. Incredibly, they made it back to base camp on the same day - after a total of 22 hours on the mountain. Mizio returned to Ehrwald a few days later. Wolf stayed on to explore possible further expeditions. The next one should be a 6000-meter peak on skis.