Ulla Lohmann

On top of the world- climbing the highest Volcano in the world

2012-02-27T07:38:00.001-08:00

Back home!
Oh, it feels great smelling the spring here in the Alps, feeling the warm sun and enjoying a slight breeze.
Basti and myself just returned from a successful trip to the highest volcano on the planet, the Ojos del Salado, almost 7000m.

Ojos del Salado, the world's highest volcano with 6893 m

It was cold (over -20 degrees), windy (up to 200km per hour), and there was really nothing to smell. The air in the Atacama Desert was so dry, my nose was bleeding. But we had a fantastic trip!

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to still take pictures under these conditions, but I managed.

Basti traveses a snow field with crampons in 6500m

The height did affect me much less then estimated. It does not mean that it was an easy trip- no, by all means. The partial pressure of the oxygen is so low, you have to breathe many more times then normal and you can move only very slow.
But it could have been much worse. I did not even feel a headache. :)

The (slightly icy) climb to the summit

You might think that I was lucky, but I did realize that it is all in the preparation. Basti did plan our acclimatization period very thoroughly. The height where you sleep is important to adapt. We never moved our camp more then 400m higher then the previous one and we took it extremely slow in the beginning. We spend days and days doing..... NOTHING!

View from the summit over snow covered craters

No, I did not get bored. There were plenty of great photo opportunities and just to sit and take in the scenery of the Atacama desert was an amazing experience- even for me, who can't sit still.... ;)
Above all, it was also our honeymoon, and even if romance in two separate sleeping bags with -20 degrees outside does not work, we still had a very great time. ;)

Basti checks the altitude at the summit: 6893m

After almost 4 weeks, the conditions were not too bad (except a couple of lightnings in the distance) and we slept at the high camp, at 5800m .
People say that at this altitude, you don't sleep very much and during the night, your breath stops- but to be honest, we both slept really well until 3.30am. Time to get up! ;)

Oh, I am really fat in all these clothes, but I am at the summit!!!! ;)

10 hours later, we reached the summit.... 6893m!!!! YIPPIEH!

Shortly, I will publish parts of my journal and more images, if you are interested.
For today, I wish you a very nice start in the new week and would love to ask you a bit of a weird thing:
Stop a moment and SMELL what's around you. Smelling is a sense we usually neglect, but I realized that the world is different without smells and less colorful.
Too bad that photographs can't transfer smells- but don't worry, you would not have missed anything from today's photographs from the desert!
;)

Until soon,
Ulla

Waiting at the airport

2012-01-10T11:40:00.000-08:00

Hello from the airport in Madrid!
Since 4am this morning, we are on the road to Chile. And 16 hours later, we have only made it to Madrid!
:)
Never mind- "only" 5 more hours before the flight takes of, 13 hours of flying and 2 days of driving before we get to our final destination....

At least, I get to enjoy the comforts of civilization for the last time: Internet, electric power, flush toilets and good coffee.

The next 6 weeks, there won't be any internet, mobile phone access, or such things as hot water showers. After all these years of traveling, I don't care much anymore about showers or comfort- BUT I care about being WARM!

This won't be the case in Chile: Basti and myself will climb the highest volcano on the planet, the Ojos del Salado, with almost 7000 meters. On top, it can be as cold as -30 degrees, with 200km of winds....

To practise for the conditions in Chile, we went rockclimbing all winter. Here, Michi climbs at -2 degrees in the snow, without sunshine....

I try to be prepared as much as I can: You should see me here at the airport!
In front of me lies a mountain of clothes.... a down jacket, which has the size of a sleeping bag, a windstopper jacket and another warm jacket. Oh, I forgot to mention the down vest and the warm merino wool underwear.
Do I have to write that I feel out of place at the fashionable airport here in Madrid?
:)

Preparing for Chile- the ice was next to our rock where we climbed with bare hands, of course.

At least, we are on our way.
All the packing is finally done! 23 kilos exactly for each one of us. Climbing gear, Ice Axes, Crampons, climbing gear with 50m rope, harness and carabiners, belay devices, tent, super-fat sleeping bag, down booties, gloves (the gloves are larger then my upper arms!!!), hats, glacier sunglasses, medication, camera and filming equipment and many many warm clothes, just to mention a little bit. Each piece of gear needs to be carefully thought about.
One day, I should write a book about the art of packing! ;)

Basti at the first of January 2012: Climbing at 3 degrees, but with sunshine.

But first, I have to think about how to get up this mountain! I will keep you up to date on our expedition- but please, be patient. We don't have internet over there and we will be quite busy. Talk to you again in a month time- and please, do cross fingers !!!
Thank you very much.....
with best wishes,
Ulla

Sunrise over the mountains outside our house in the morning just a couple days before we left.

Preparing for chilly Chile

2011-12-29T13:20:00.000-08:00

Hopefully, you had wonderful, relaxing festive days!

My Christmas present, a YETI sleeping bag, carefully inspected by my dog Ronja.
Photographer: Basti Hofmann

I had the same, but unfortunately, reality hit quite hard today. I did realize what I still have to do before departing to CHILE on the 10th of January.
Besides a lot of emails, taxes and other well-liked office work, image submissions for photo contests, repairing cameras, packing and celebrating New Year, there is also some physical preparation to do for our trip.

Basti and myself want to attempt climbing the highest volcano on the planet with almost 7000 meters altitude. I have never been this high! My highest mountain was in Papua New Guinea (Mount Wilhelm with a bit over 4500 meters), just a couple month ago.

Mt Wilhelm in Papua New Guinea. Interested in being there as well with us?
Photographer: Basti Hofmann

Also, my knee, which I injured beginning of 2011, still hurts once in a while. No idea, how I should carry a lot of heavy load up and down such a high mountain. I don't have time to do my exercise at the gym, I don't have time to train with a heavy backpack hiking up and down mountains.

Well, you all know about the lack of time. But I start to get a bit anxious about the lack of time for preparations...
Fortunately, we have allocated six weeks for the trip- hopefully enough time in Chile to get properly acclimatized. We organize the expedition ourselves, and it will be just the two of us. So we can attempt the ascent when the conditions are right and when I have trained up a bit more before on several "smaller mountains" ("only" around 6000 meters).

2008: Flying over the Andes

Please, do cross fingers that the trip will be successful!!!!!
We will keep you informed of how we go...
In the mean time, please, do have a wonderful start in the New Year.

I do wish you much TIME for everything which you feel is important to you.

Here is a little quote I found on the internet about timing....
“Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out It's all about timing." Stacy Charter

All the best to you,
and with warm regards,
Ulla

In the Andes 2008- close to the mountains, but not on top. It will change! :)
Photogapher: Eric Massiet du Biest

Thanks to Yeti and Canon Europe for their support!

____________________________________________________________________

New dates for our workshops and expeditions 2012 announced!

South Tyrol: Easter (04.- 08.04.) and Summer (20.-24.06.)

Papua New Guinea: 06.08.- 01.09. and Vanuatu: 03.-16.9.

____________________________________________________________________

First time expedition to a remote tribe in Papua with "tourists"

2011-11-22T02:59:00.000-08:00

Hello!!!!

The sun is shining here in South Tyrol, and yesterday, we had a fantastic day climbing at 2200m altitude in the Dolomites. I can’t believe that it is already end of November.

The year has flown by so quickly, full of exciting adventures!

For example, last May 2011:

You might now that I made contact with a tribe who mummifies their ancestors in Papua New Guinea in 2002. I was the first Westerner who ever slept in their village, and most likely the third white person they have seen after the first missionary Walter Eidam and his wife Margaret went there in the 1950ies.

Over the years, I came back at least once a year and established a long-term friendship with the people at this remote location. Even more, the village chief Gemtasu adopted me as his daughter.

My photographs and films about the tribe were published internationally, my images were in magazines such as GEO and National Geographic, and the latest film we made has even won an EMMY award for the cinematography.

But I always asked myself: What does the tribe get out of all my work?

First of all, they also get money for their work.

Second, we help wherever we can- for example re-building the local school and supplying the local hospital with medication.

Last year, due to the imitative from Guy Franquinet, we established PPAF eV. Pacific People Aid Fund (www.pacific-people.com) and brought already many solar torches to the tribe. This year, Basti Hofmann and Gerhard had the idea to adopt school children, and pay their school fees. We already raised money for 6 children.

Last, but not least, there is something else to help my friends: Eco tourism.

The solution to many problems on earth? No, but a try to give them a little bit of a regular income with their culture.

The tribe has mummified their ancestors and believes that they are protective spirits. But since the arrival of the modern world with religions and legislations, they stopped their custom. The mummies start to deteriorate, and nobody knows the custom of mummification anymore except the old people. Once these ones die, the culture will be lost forever.

Tourism is not the ultimate solution, but at least, due to the interest from foreign visitors, the younger generation start to see that their culture is worth something, and they started to be interested in the process of mummification again, and in preserving their existing mummies.

After long reflections, I decided to try it, and to bring the first time some visitors to the tribe (I hate to call them „tourists“- they are not, because this is definitely nowhere near anything a normal tourist does).

In May 2011, we ventured into the unknown territory together. The Anga people are believed to be the last true warriors of Papua New Guinea and are quite hostile. I had no idea how they would react to 10 white people.

It was far from smooth sailing. Gemtasu and my friends were very happy to see me again, but the younger generation thought we were like a jackpot in Lotto, and they tried to squeeze every single Kina (the local currency) out of us.

On top of this came the introduction of mobile phones to the village just a couple months ago. Now, everybody wants to earn money to pay a mobile phone and a generator to recharge it.

It is very, very interesting to realize that somebody has no idea of the value of money. Somebody demanded with a huge smile 1000 Kina just for peeing on their land- around 300 Euros!

Basti Hofmann, who was the official expedition leader, and responsible for the negotiations, went crazy. One day, he got asked to pay around 900 Euro for 3 days parking for two cars on somebodies property- and in the end, the lady left happily with 9 Euro.

It was intriguing to watch the dynamics. But in the end, it all comes down to taking time to explain- how we life in our world, what money means to us, how hard it is for us to make money, and what we are planning to do in the future in Papua New Guinea. Our people were great in contributing to the understanding between our cultures, and in the end, they departed as friends, and with many experiences richer.

And- maybe the highlight - we were allowed to see the mummified ancestors on the cliff face.

Please, see the photo gallery for some pictures.

It’s been over 10 years now that I know Gemtasu, his family and friends.

I often ask myself how their journey into the modern world would have been without my interfering, but it would have happened anyways. Time flies, and can’t be stopped. And do we really want the people in remote places to live without what is now our daily life- school education, medical health care, electricity and mobile phones?

I am looking forward to our next visit next year!

Maybe, even with you?!

If you want to join the expedition team, please see "Dates" .

2008-07-21T02:19:00.001-07:00

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