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Excellent progress on Gasherbrum and Broad Peak and Jost is on the move on Everest. There are expeditions on K2, Everest, Broad Peak, and the Gasherbrums plus a few others. Big Picture – Patience Pays Off Taking advantage of lower winds, but still, mind-numbing cold, teams from Everest to Broad Peak are climbing and establish the high camps. By either definition of winter, there is still plenty of time but they need to jump on every opportunity. Some teams are comfortable summiting using the meteorological definition of the seasons that begin on the first day of the months that include the continue reading

Big winds have returned to Everest and the Karakorum forcing teams to remain at base camp waiting out the storm. There are expeditions on K2, Everest, Broad Peak, and the Gasherbrums plus a few others. Big Picture To state the obvious, climbing big peaks in the winter is all about the weather. Regardless of your fitness, skills or preparation, humans cannot survive in -100F/-73C wind chill for, well, not for long. The summit winds are hovering over 150 mph/240kmh – that’s a category 5 hurricane and we saw what that does to a place like the Bahamas last year. The continue reading

Poor weather has hampered progress on Broad Peak and the Gasherbrums meanwhile we get a good look at the Everest West Ridge route. There are expeditions on K2, Everest, Broad Peak, and the Gasherbrums plus a few others. Everest – West Ridge Animation German alpinist Jost Kobusch, age 27, has announced on his Facebook page that he will take the West Ridge. Initially, he will climb with his photographer, Daniel Hug the top of the Lho La Pass but then proceed solo. His team put together this excellent animation of the route: Jost Kobusch – Mount Everest winter solo 2019/2020 from 3D continue reading

The winter climbing season of 2019/20 has begun in earnest. Teams are arriving at Base Camps and some are already on acclimatization rotations. There are expeditions on K2, Everest, Broad Peak, and the Gasherbrums plus a few others. Everest – Exploring German alpinist Jost Kobusch, age 27, is at Everest Base Camp using it as a base to explore an alternative route to the Khumbu Icefall. Prior to his arrival he had mentioned wanting to use the West Ridge but then said the standard Southeast Ridge. Yesterday, January 1, 2020, his route tracker showed him taking a hike approaching the continue reading

The winter climbing season of 2019/20 continues.  A bit of progress but no summits .. yet. There are expeditions planned for K2, Everest, Broad Peak, and the Gasherbrums plus a few others. Everest – Exploring German alpinist Jost Kobusch, age 27, has arrived at Everest Base Camp. He appears to be exploring an alternative route to going through the Khumbu Icefall. Prior to his arrival he had mentioned wanting to use the West Ridge but then said the standard Southeast Ridge. His route tracker shows him taking a few hikes up the Lho La Pass. This from his tracker:   continue reading