{"id":28456,"date":"2017-12-22T15:05:46","date_gmt":"2017-12-22T22:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=28456"},"modified":"2017-12-31T17:27:56","modified_gmt":"2018-01-01T00:27:56","slug":"k2-and-everest-winter-climbs-are-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/22\/k2-and-everest-winter-climbs-are-on\/","title":{"rendered":"K2 and Everest Winter Climbs are on!"},"content":{"rendered":"

After months of speculation, Alex Txikon will return to attempt a winter, no supplemental oxygen summit of Everest. And the Polish K2 team will leave Poland on 29th<\/sup> December for their winter K2 attempt. UPDATE: The K2 team has left Poland.<\/p>\n

Winter Dates<\/h3>\n

To claim a true winter ascent of a northern hemisphere\u00a0peak, the summit must be reached during the calendar winter of the northern hemisphere. For 2017\/18 this begins with the winter solstice on December 21, 2017 at 11:28 am EST and ends with the spring equinox on March 20, 2018 at 12:15 pm EDT.<\/p>\n

Also to be fully certified as a winter ascent, not only the summit has to be reached within the winter calendar, but the start of the expedition cannot be before winter solstice either. Practically this means that the Base Camp must be reached after the winter solstice.<\/p>\n

Winter K2<\/h3>\n

I spoke with the team’s project Manager today and confirmed the K2 team will leave Poland on 29th December for Pakistan. It will take a few days to get back on the road to Askole where they will begin the 7 day trek to K2 Base Camp. They should arrive at Base Camp around 15th January, maybe a bit earlier.<\/p>\n

I also confirmed they will be climbing without supplement oxygen and plan on taking the \u010cesen route. As you can see from this photo, the \u010cesen and\u00a0Abruzzi routes merge at Camp 3.<\/p>\n

\"K2<\/a>
K2 Routes: Abruzzi and \u010cesen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The entire expedition is being lead by 67 year-old Krzysztof Wielicki<\/a> who lead the last Polish K2 attempt in 2003. Wielicki has summited all of the 8000ers without supplemental oxygen<\/del>.<\/p>\n

The Polish\u00a0Ministry of Sport and Tourism has funded the expedition to the tune of $275,000.\u00a0Jasmine Tours<\/a> in Pakistan is the ground agent for the team and will provide 6 high altitude climbers from Pakistan for the expedition support.<\/p>\n

The team is composed of\u00a0Adam Bielecki, Marek Chmielarski, Rafa\u0142 Fronia, Janusz Go\u0142\u0105b, Marcin Kaczkan, Artur Ma\u0142ek, Piotr Tomala, Jaros\u0142aw Botor and Dariusz Za\u0142uski, Denis Urubko and\u00a0Wielicki.<\/p>\n

In my view, its all about the weather. They\u00a0certainly have the skills and raw power to summit -that\u2019s no question. But to get a few days with winds under 40 mph – that\u2019s the key, so we will see!<\/p>\n

For more details on K2, winter attempts and this year’s effort, see this post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

K2 Winter Attempts<\/strong><\/p>\n

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There have been few winter attempts due to the difficult and financing involved.<\/p>\n