Winter climbs of the world’s highest peaks have a poor summit rate primarily due to harsh weather. Well, history repeats itself this winter of 2021\/2022. Teams are calling it quits or returning to large cities to wait out the weather.<\/p>\n
German climber Jost Kobusch is having a tough time as the wind is challenging his no O solo attempt on Everest’s West Ridge. Thus far he has reached\u00a0<\/span>about 6464 meters above the Lho La pass.\u00a0<\/span>He gave this brief update:<\/p>\n “Overnight, the tent had bent completely. I heard cracking, poles broke and tore a hole in the flysheet. The whole thing completely collapsed.😬 The only option left was to crawl out, remove the poles and try to get some sleep in that wreck of a tent. I’ll say this much, it didn’t work out very well… 😅The wind was so strong I was lucky not to have flown back to Everest Base Camp with my tent like a magic carpet.😜 Fortunately, the snow anchors had held well. There are worse things! Nevertheless, in the end I am glad that everything turned out so lenient.🙌🏻<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Everest has seen only 13 winter summits for 371 attempts out of the total 10,656 summits. The last winter summit, defined by Nepal and the Himalayan Database as December through February was in 1993 by a very strong Japanese team led by Hikaru Hoshino on the SW Face (Bonnington Route).\u00a0Polish climbers Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki were the first on February 17th\u00a01980 via the South Col route with oxygen.<\/p>\n Please see this\u00a0<\/span>video interview<\/span><\/a>\u00a0I did with him a few months ago, where we discussed his plans in detail. He says his goal is to reach 8,000-meters and not the summit. You can follow him on\u00a0<\/span>Instagram<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a>, and an excellent 3D view of his current location on his\u00a0<\/span>website<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Simone Moro<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Alex Txikon<\/a>\u00a0continue to wait for better weather in Kathmandu. Moro noted:<\/p>\n Gelje Sherpa<\/a> has begun his effort to create a standard route on the Nepal side of Cho Oyu but no updates on their progress. The Nepal side is rarely climbed due to avalanches and other objective dangers. Of the 3,923 summits on Cho, only 135 have been from the Nepal side.\u00a0<\/span>Gelje’ team includes Pasang Tendi Sherpa, Lakpa Dendi, Chandra Tamang, Gesman Tamang, Tashi Sherpa, \u00a0Phuri Kitar Sherpa, Ashot Wenjha Rai and Karma Sherpa.<\/span><\/p>\n After German climber David G\u00f6ttler and Italian Herv\u00e9 Barmasse,\u00a0“climbed up to 6200m on the Schell route and spent 3 nights on the route,” they have ended their entire effort.\u00a0<\/span>Also on the team were American Mike Arnold who had to leave due to schedule conflicts, and the Pakistani Qudrat Ali.\u00a0G\u00f6ttler posted on Facebook<\/a>, <\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m a firm believer that so much of life happens as a result of the choices we make. Luck is definitely in the mix as well, more so in the choices life presents us with: but ultimately there are always choices.\u00a0In the context of our winter expedition to Nanga Parbat here are some of the choices we made from the outset:<\/p>\n – the first choice was to climb in a very light alpine style as a team of only two. No fixed ropes and no fixed camps.<\/p>\n -the second choice we made before we even left home was that we would not spend the whole winter sitting in BC waiting.<\/p>\n Now we are making our third choice:<\/p>\n the long term weather forecast confirms that there is not a decent weather window<\/strong> on the horizon. The Jet Stream is sitting very comfortably stable just above the summit of Nanga Parbat. (The jet stream is a very strong wind system at very high altitudes that often interferes with climbing on 8000m peaks but that aircraft often take advantage of if it\u2019s a tailwind!)\u00a0So our third choice is to end our expedition now<\/strong>. It\u2019s not an easy decision, but we have thought carefully, discussed endlessly and listened to our emotions in order to make it.<\/p>\n Were these the right choices? For us, yes. The first choice, undoubtedly so. The second and third – maybe a great weather window appears in a couple of weeks that would have been perfect, but we have chosen not to take the risk of sitting endlessly in the cold waiting for that small chance.\u00a0I am happy with what I have learned and with the time I\u2019ve spent here. Now it\u2019s time to move on.\u00a0I\u2019ve been reading Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa whilst I\u2019ve been here, and a great quote comes to mind:\u00a0\u201cI will do nothing that I will regret\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n They reached 5600-meters on their first rotation. They wanted to complete the first winter climb of Nanga Parbat by the Direct Rupal route, a 4,500-meter wall that terminates at the 8,126-meter summit, conditions caused them to switch to the more indirect Schell.<\/span><\/p>\nManaslu – Wating out the Weather<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Cho Oyu<\/h3>\n
Pakistan<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Nanga Parbat – Over<\/span><\/h3>\n
Winter K2 at BC<\/strong><\/h2>\n