{"id":20332,"date":"2014-12-01T11:36:09","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T17:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=20332"},"modified":"2016-12-12T16:54:08","modified_gmt":"2016-12-12T23:54:08","slug":"climbing-news-winter-k2-denali-everest-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/01\/climbing-news-winter-k2-denali-everest-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Climbing News: winter K2 and Denali; Everest 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"K2<\/a>As autumn winds downs and winter approaches, climbers around the world are already busy, especially in the southern hemisphere. But what may be the most exciting climb in a long time is an attempt on K2 in the winter.\u00a0 Of the 14 mountains above 8000m (26, find 2300′) only K2 and Nanga Parbat remain without a winter summit.<\/p>\n

Vinson and Antarctica<\/h3>\n

The short season to climb in the south pole area starts around December 1. The normal commercial groups are all there again this year attempting the Vinson Massif plus with a few trying to ski to the South Pole. In contrast to the past few years, there are no big efforts on the continent other than the normal scientific expeditions.<\/p>\n

South America and Aconcagua<\/h3>\n

Aconcagua being the highest peak outside the Himalaya always attacks hordes of climbers from November through March, this season is no different. Again, the usual commercial operators are running full trips but the local Argentinean guide services are doing well with improved services.<\/p>\n

First Ascents<\/h3>\n

Nepal opened up over 300 new mountains ranging from 19,000 to 25,900 feet for climbing in 2014 and this autumn saw a few attempts and first ascents. A team of Japanese female college students succeeded in the first ascent of Mansail, 6242, in the Mustang Region of Nepal on September 29, 2014. source <\/a><\/p>\n

In mid-October, Ben Jones, Jon Mancuso and Melissa Arnot began an exploration in the Mustang region of Nepal. They scouted Mansail, 20,130′ and it’s subsidiary peaks but found it too technical for the gear they brought. source<\/a>. Last report said they were attempting Mustang Himal. Update<\/strong>: They summited Himal on December 2, 2014 – a first ascent.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Alan Rousseau and Tino Villanueva completed a new route on Nepal’s 20,000′ Rolwaling Himal. source<\/a><\/p>\n

winter Denali<\/h3>\n

For the 4th time, Lonnie Dupre will attempt to become the only person to solo Denali in January. Denali has only been summited in the month of January by a Russian pair. Of the 16 winter summits, 6 have died trying. Dupre has been stopped in his previous attempts by weather, snow conditions or fatigue. This time he will take a tent rather than relying on building snow caves. He leaves December 15, 2014. You can follow him on his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

winter K2<\/h3>\n

As now been widely reported on many websites, a Russian team will attempt K2 this winter by a hybrid route. The most challenging part of the climb will be the weather, significantly more harsh than summer conditions with gale force winds, deep snow drifts, rockfall and constant avalanches. There is a reason K2 has not been summited in the winter.<\/p>\n

The team consist of Russians:\u00a0 Denis Urubko\u0003, Artiom Braun, Dmitry Siniew, Pole: Adam Bielecki and Spaniard Alex Txikon. All have extensive 8000m experience including Kanchenjunga in winter conditions. They will be climbing by the North ridge aka North Pillar hoping for a direct route to the summit and avoiding the dangerous serac. source, <\/a>, source<\/a>, source<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Everest 2015<\/h3>\n

Climbers are training hard right now for their attempt on the world’s highest in April and May next year. However it remains a bit of an unknown if the Nepal government will follow through on their promise to honor those 2014 permits. While recent news reports say they will, some insiders are still doubtful. Hopefully climbers eligible will know for certain by year’s end. It is to check with your operator and ask them to continue to put pressure on the Ministry.<\/p>\n

All I know is if Nepal reneges on their promise, it could mean significant loss of tourism business and confidence. This is a poor situation on top of the tragic trekking deaths in the Annapurna region. Nepal needs to prove it is safe and reliable for visitors.<\/p>\n

All this said, I remain confident that climbing Everest from Nepal is as safe as it has ever been and there is little to be gained by climbing from the north if safety is a concern.<\/p>\n

Climb On!
\nAlan
\nMemories are Everything<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As autumn winds downs and winter approaches, climbers around the world are already busy, especially in the southern hemisphere. But what may […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climbing-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}