After several days of uncertainty, Simone Moro has spoken out. His most important statement: “Now I’m feeling good.” What happened? Over the weekend, Nepalese media reported that the 58-year-old top mountaineer from Italy had to be flown out of the mountains to Kathmandu by helicopter.
That was true, but the medical details initially reported were contradictory. In such cases, it is advisable to wait until reliable information is available. Simone himself provided that information, sitting in a tracksuit in the hospital, with a statement that he posted on Instagram, among other places.
Blocked heart artery
Moro reported that he had suffered a heart attack in the village of Khare at the foot of the sixthousander Mera Peak. He suddenly felt severe pain in his heart and also in his left arm. Simone said that he knew immediately that it was something serious with his heart. An instant helicopter flight to the capital was not possible: “So I had to deal with this pain and this situation for all the evening and all the night.”
The following day, he was flown to the hospital. There, doctors determined that one of his coronary arteries—which supply blood to the heart muscle—was blocked. The doctors cleared the artery, Simone reports, adding: “They didn’t put any bypasses in, any pacemaker, any stents, nothing.” He will now stay in the hospital in Kathmandu for another day and then return to Italy. “. I just need some time to recover until I can start training again,” Simone concludes.
Acclimatization for seventh winter attempt on Manaslu
Moro had planned to climb the 8,163-meter-high Manaslu in western Nepal this winter in alpine style together with his young Nepalese rope partner Nima Rinji Sherpa. The Italian had already failed six times in winter attempts on this mountain, mostly due to difficult weather conditions.
To acclimatize, Simone and Nima had climbed Mera Peak at a rapid pace. The 6,461-meter-high mountain in the Khumbu region is considered a technically easy so-called trekking mountain. Moro can only speculate about the reason for his blocked heart artery: “Maybe for so many expeditions in high altitude, (which lead to) thick blood. I don’t know.”
Four winter first ascents of eight-thousanders
Simone is the only mountaineer to have four winter first ascents of eight-thousanders to his name. Together with Piotr Morawski from Poland, Moro reached the 8,027-meter-high summit of Shishapangma for the first time in the cold season in 2005. Three more winter first ascents followed: in 2009 with Kazakh-born Denis Urubko on Makalu (8,485 m), in 2011 with Urubko and American Cory Richards on Gasherbrum II (8,034 m), and in 2016 with Spaniard Alex Txikon and Pakistani Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” on Nanga Parbat (8,125 m). Simone did not use bottled oxygen on any of these ascents.
Youngest mountaineer on all eight-thousanders – in expedition style
In fall 2024, Nima Rinji Sherpa completed his collection of the 14 eight-thousanders as a member of commercial expeditions, i.e., in a large team and with bottled oxygen, at the age of only 18 years, five months, and 21 days, which earned him an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. As a kind of mentor, Simone Moro now wanted to introduce the young Nepalese to alpine style: climbing an eight-thousander without a breathing mask, without fixed high camps, and without Sherpa support. That will have to wait for now. Simone’s health comes first.
