“The trigger was an earthquake that hit the Rolwaling region very hard in 2015”, says Ralf Ohnmacht, Co-founder of the bivouac project. The 42-year-old Austrian was responsible for the construction, structural analysis and installation of the emergency shelter. The qualified engineer organises the setup of the aluminium bivouac capsules around the globe. “A lot of spontaneous aid projects emerged in the following two years to rebuild homes, roads and infrastructure. In doing so, the difficulty of crossing the Trashi Labtsa Pass caught the attention of two Tyrolean helpers, Josef Einwaller and Stephan Keck”. All three of them soon agreed on carrying out the expedition as a private aid project and started planning.
“Both the weather conditions and the rocky landscape itself are extreme. There aren’t any safe overnight lodging options, and there is a high risk of rockfall”, says Ralf Ohnmacht, describing the area. “Rolwaling Valley is also one of the areas that are most affected by earthquakes in the Himalayas. All of this means that people lose their lives again and again while crossing the pass”. These people are mostly local mountain guides and porters who commute from the poorer Rolwaling region to the more affluent Khumbu region in order to work or trade goods. Ralf Ohnmacht emphasises that “by building the emergency shelter, we specifically wanted to increase the safety of the people in the Rolwaling region while simultaneously encouraging tourism and trade in order to improve the livelihood of the local inhabitants”.
Based on a modular system, the bivouac consists of light, prefabricated individual elements. The impeccable structure is built on a MERO space frame on any type of terrain. Bivouacs of various sizes and functions are assembled on-site within a short space of time, minimising the cost of flights and installation. The “Polybiwaks” have proven themselves as research stations and shelters in the ice deserts of the Antarctic and as measurement stations and (emergency) bivouacs in the Alps for over 50 years.
“Due to the location at over 5000 metres and the tremendous logistical challenges we opted for a scaled-down version of the Polybiwak with a material-saving basic construction, a simplified wall structure and a pared-down interior”, Ralf Ohnmacht says about the David Lama bivouac. “Initially, we also omitted beds and insulation, which will be added during the next expedition”. Upon completion, the bivouac in Rolwaling Valley will offer enough space for 15 people to sleep in. It is extremely wind and weather resistant due to its aerodynamic shape and its high-quality stainless steel and UV-resistant materials and sealants. The project required many details to be clarified: “On the one hand, there are the questions – where exactly should the emergency shelter be located? What type of bivouac are we using? And how are we financing it all?” Ralf Ohnmacht explains, before continuing: “On the other hand, there are specific logistical preparations: How do we get the materials to an altitude of 5080 meters? What approvals do we need? What can be transported by helicopter, what needs to be carried on foot?”
The expedition team ultimately failed in 2018 due to the sheer multitude of organisational questions. The bivouac was therefore temporarily stored at 4000 metres before completing its mission a year later with the support of a helicopter. A 15-strong team returned to Kathmandu in October 2019. Due to the large number of tools and equipment, the team initially chartered a bus in Kathmandu, with which they travelled to Naa Valley near the Tibetan border during a 12-hour journey from the Nepalese capital. The trek then marched by foot for a week from an altitude of 1300 metres to the bivouac’s setup point in Rolwaling Valley. The team, which was intermittently accompanied by up to 25 Nepalese porters, had to overcome almost 4000 metres in altitude. The stages were kept deliberately short to prevent altitude sickness, allowing the climbers to gradually adapt to the altitude. The base camps also had less than 300 to 400 metres of difference in altitude each day.
Carrying all this luggage on foot for a week was a major challenge, as Ralf Ohnmacht describes: “The first three days just took us across glacial moraines, ice and stones. Then it turned into alternating ice ruts and via ferratas. Matters were further complicated by the fact that the helicopter was unable to simply fly the bivouac parts up to the pass from Kathmandu”. The reason for this is that a helicopter that can transport parts weighing around 800 kilogrammes in the lowlands of the Alps can only transport a maximum of 150 kilogrammes with a longline at altitudes of over 5000 metres due to safety reasons. One large toolkit and a bit of material already take up an entire flight. The Nepalese porters carried the three-metre long aluminium parts for the bivouac across country, and the helicopter was only used for the final metres in altitude.
The bivouac was then set up on a rock between two glaciers within two days, with steep drops on both sides. The bivouac stands on six “legs” with adjustable base plates, each of which was anchored into the rock with four M20 threaded rods at a depth of around 30 cm. For the drilling, two battery-operated drill hammers were used with a portable generator to charge the batteries. Grid sleeves weren’t required due to the homogenous and compact rock. “The fast-curing mortar was ideal for the extreme temperatures and conditions in the Himalayas”, Ralf Ohnmacht says about the fischer fixing system. The fact that the superbond mortar also has an ETA approval for cracked concrete and seismic loads also put the team’s mind at ease. “We are extremely grateful to fischer for providing excellent advice and for sponsoring 24 cartridges. After all, we want the bivouac to remain standing for another 50 years”.
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