First ascent on this day, 1979.05.13; Everest (8848 m) via the Direct West Ridge by a Yugoslav team

…First ascent on this day, 1979.05.13; Everest (8848 m) via the Direct West Ridge by a Yugoslav team led by Tone Škarja…

A strong team saw Nejc Zaplotnik and Andrej Štremfelj reach the summit May 13. Then Stane Belak Šrauf, Stipe Božić and Ang Phu summited on May 15, the latter dying during the descent

“I am back in Kathmandu, cycling along dusty, rubbish-strewn streets, surrounded by a surging crowd, by merchants’ cries, car horns and taxi drivers’ shouts, droning lamas, shuffling shamans; surrounded by shitcaked, four-legged, slowly ruminating saints; surrounded by wasted, drugged-up hippies lounging about, by the prim, heavy tread of rich, self-absorbed tourists who look down their noses at Eastern slowness and dirt and can hardly wait to get back home to their spotless mansions. And above all this pandemonium, the gods walk – and with the help of good and evil demons, watch over this crazy planet so that, in spite of all the confusion, things happen as they should.” [Nejc Zaplotnik, “Pot”]