German Alpinist Jost Kobusch is back home after accomplishing his objective of a winter, solo, no-O\u2019s climb to tag over 7500 meters on Everest\u2019s West Ridge. In this podcast, we go into deep detail on his climb. If you are a climber, explorer or sour on the entire Everest scene, this is for you.<\/p>\n
Jost is not your usual Everest climber. His style is solo, with no Sherpa or oxygen support, and he likes to climb in winter when no one else is on the mountain. He began thinking about Everest’s West Ridge around 2017 and has done several exploratory climbs but has never set out to summit, a critical point when understanding his climbs thus far. He began this climb on December 21, 2024, the winter solstice.<\/p>\n
The goal was important as it broke the previous 7500-meter record. There have been several winter attempts on the West Ridge, all stopped by weather; most recently, in 1985-86, a South Korean team stopped at 7,100m, a French expedition in 1984\/84 tagged 7,500m, and a British expedition reached 7,300m in 1980-81. No one had tried solo.<\/p>\n
He reached his goal in six days, compared to weeks on his prior climbs. An earthquake in Tibet forty miles north of Everest shook Jost in his tent as he returned to Camp 1 after tagging 7537, so he decided it was enough for 2025 and headed down.<\/p>\n
Youst is no stranger to tough climbing challenges, preferring solo and light as his style. He summited Denali solo in February 2023 via the Messner Couloir. He’s also nabbed Annapurna in 2016 at age 27. He has spent the last month in Nepal climbing lower peaks to acclimate to his Everest climb.<\/p>\n
In 2019\/20, Jost’s high point was 7,329 meters\/23,750 feet. In 2021\/22, he tagged 6300 meters before the weather shut him down. He wanted to return last year, 2023\/24, but an injury forced him to cancel.<\/p>\n
Does he want to summit? He addresses this near the end of this Podcast.<\/p>\n
In this Podcast, we cover a range of topics, including what he learned from his previous climbs, what he did differently this time, his style of solo climbing, no O’s, and more. I think you’ll enjoy meeting this young climber.<\/p>\n
You can see his climb on the excellent tracking map at 3D Reality Maps,<\/a> which uses\u00a0Zoleo<\/a>, and on his social media channels, including Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, and his\u00a0website.<\/a> I did two interviews with Jost at:<\/p>\n