K2 and Everest Winter Efforts Gets Serious and a Death
Both the K2 and Everest teams have established a base camp and touched their mountains. In other news sadly a death on Lobuche Peak in Nepal. See this post for full background on the K2 and Everest expeditions and the history of winter attempts on the highest two mountains on Earth. Winter K2 The Polish team arrived at the spot where they are currently building their base camp. Meanwhile, a few climbers began to fix a small part of the route up the Česen. They are reporting high winds at base camp that has delayed some progress but also some issues with getting all their gear to BC. Some were left at Concordia so they had to arrange for more porters to ferrying the last goods to their camp. Winter Everest Alex Txikon and five Sherpas have fixed the ropes through the Khumbu Icefall to Camp 1 at 6,050 meters in the Western Cwm. Alex was quite pleased with their progress noting it took them one less day than last year with six instead of 11 climbers. Muhammad Ali Sadpara was acclimatizing elsewhere and did not participate in this work. The team will take the weekend off during a period of forecasted high winds and resume fixing the route early next week. Alex posted this video on his Facebook feed: You can follow their movements on Alex’s his GPS tracker, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Lobuche East Death The Himalayan Times is reporting that Austrian climber, Markus Schett (41), died while attempting to climb Mt Lobuche East (6,119 m). He was reported to have asked his guide to stay at base camp while he attempted to summit alone. He left high camp on December 19 and was not heard from. His guide contacted authorities who did a helicopter search but his body was found by another Lobuche team on 29 December. Authorities were preparing to retrieve his body but his family has requested he stay where on the mountain. There is no update on this as of this date. Masherbrum West Peak A small team of Pakistani climbers are attempting the first winter summit 7200 meter Masherbrum West Peak aka Masherbrum 2. Lead by Maaz Maqsood. No updates until they return. Moro-Lunger Cold Climb Another big winter climb is by Simone Moro and Tamara Lunger on a very northern peak in Siberia, Pik Pobeda, 3003 meters, in the Chersky Range region. They have not posted any updates. Nanga Parbat Tomek Mackiewicz and Elisabeth Revol are hoping to get a winter summit of NB this year. This will be the seventh attempt for the 42 year-old Polish climber, Mackiewicz. No updates available. Remembering Sir Edmund Hillary Today is the 10th-anniversary of Hillary’s passing at age 88 due to illness at the Auckland City Hospital in New Zealand. Of course, he made headlines with being on the first team to summit Everest in 1953 but more so for his foundation that built 25 schools, 2 hospitals, 12 clinics, and numerous water works in Nepal. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
Winter K2 and Everest Progress to Base Camp
The Polish K2 team is trekking up the Baltoro Glacier and should be at K2 base camp around 8/9 January and the Everest team has arrived at base camp but had a problem already. Also updates on a few other winter climbs. See this post for full background on the K2 and Everest expeditions and the history of winter attempts on the highest two mountains on Earth. Winter K2 The Polish team continues to trek over the Baltoro Glacier towards K2 Base Camp. It’s reported they have 100 porters! Friday, 5 January was Krzysiek Wielicki’s 68th birthday. He is leading the team. They were last reported at the primitive camping spot of Urdukas after a day delay due to porter issues. They have another couple of nights to camp out before crossing Broad Peak Base Camp and then on to K2 BC. This 1 minute video is from my own K2 summit in 2014 as we traveled on the Baltoro: Winter Everest Alex Txikon and Muhammad Ali Sadpara took 8 days to trek the Khumbu to Everest Base Camp on the Nepal side. The pictures on their blog reveal a dry Khumbu! Alex has already made mention of very windy conditions at the base camp. They have established their base camp a bit higher, by 100 meteres/300 feet, than last year. This shortens the access to the Icefall but also give them a bit more sun as Nuptse, Lhotse and the West Shoulder of Everest block the morning sunrise. Before the Sherpas will enter the Icefall, they have a puja where a local Lama will ask the mountain Gods for permission to climb the mountain, forgiveness for damaging the mountain and for the safety of the climbers. The day before their puja, an inauspicious event took place with one of the Nepali team. Nauam, who serves as the coordinator of the Base Camp, apparently fell, opening a large wound that wouldn’t stop bleeding. He was helicoptered to a local hospital, probably Kathmandu, and is reported to be recovering. Their puja has been delayed to Monday. From their GPS tracker, it appears they made their first sorte’ into the icefall. This is a normal first step to evaluate the condition and begin to set the route. They had reported they will acclimatize on Pumori Peak which is located immediately next to Everest Base Camp. This 7,161 m (23,494 ft) mountain is extremely avalanche prone and rarely climbed these days. Perhaps they have changed plans given the conditions. You can follow their movements on Alex’s his GPS tracker, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Masherbrum West Peak A small team of Pakistani climbers are attempting the first winter summit 7200 meter Masherbrum West Peak aka Masherbrum 2. Lead by Maaz Maqsood. They are going very low budget as Maaz describes: we gonna use one mess tent at our basecamp it ll be our sleeping tent,kitchen tent n everything (of course we have high altitude camps lol),with used clothing n gear it will also be tough job to survive beside climbing, but we r a great team, we r planning to move light n fast n will be climbing in Alpine style n using less rope as we have only 30 days for climbing including acclimatization n base camp setup, due to low budget we will have to be bak by 8th of February in shaa Allah, will leave from skardu on 5th of January n will establish our basecamp probably by 8th January.. Moro-Lunger Cold Climb Another big winter climb is by Simone Moro and Tamara Lunger on a very northern peak in Siberia, Pik Pobeda, 3003 meters, in the Chersky Range region. It has not been climbed in winter. He says on his Facebook post announcing the expedition that in the center of a nearby town, the temperature was officially recorded at 71,3 c° (-96,34 F) They have not posted any updates. Nanga Parbat Tomek Mackiewicz and Elisabeth Revol are hoping to get a winter summit of NB this year. This will be the seventh attempt for the 42 year-old Polish climber, Mackiewicz. They are planning on climbing the same route Reinhold Messner and Hanspeter Eisendle attempted in 2000 but cross over to the Kinshofer route or on the original Hermann Buhl line for the final leg to the summit according to montagna. This was the same route they attempted in 2016 according to his crowdfunding page. They arrived at Base Camp on 24 December and are reported they have reached 6000 meters on their first acclimatization push. Best of luck to all. I’ll be covering these climbs throughout this winter. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 and Everest Winter Teams on the Move
The Polish K2 team is now in Pakistan and the Everest team in the Khumbu. It will be weeks before they begin actually climbing either peak. See this post for full background on both expeditions and the history of winter attempts on the highest two mountains on Earth. Winter K2 I received this update today from the Polish team: News from Pakistan: The expedition crew arrived in Skardu today by morning, all rested and in excellent moods. Repacking and preparing jeeps and tomorrow they will drive to Askole, from where the caravan will go to K2 Base Camp. Everything according to plan Most teams try to fly from Islamabad to Skardu but some have to drive the Karakoram Highway – a 48-hour grueling journey with sharp turns and bumps every other minute. The drive to Askole is on one of the roughest roads around. Pure dirt, blocked by landslides along the way, the teams will cross creaky wooden bridges and across rushing streams. Once to Askole, they begin the 80-mile hike to K2 Base Camp! This is a video I made from my own journey to Askole in 2014. Drive from Skardu Drive to Askole in 2014 byAlan Arnette Winter Everest Alex Txikon and Muhammad Ali Sadpara are already in the Khumbu. They had reported they will acclimatize on Pumori Peak which is located immediately next to Everest Base Camp. This 7,161 m (23,494 ft) mountain is extremely avalanche prone and rarely climbed these days. As you can see from his GPS tracker, and he posted on Twitter, they were at Pheriche at 4371 meters. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
K2 and Everest Winter Climbs are on!
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 December for their winter K2 attempt. UPDATE: The K2 team has left Poland. Winter Dates To claim a true winter ascent of a northern hemisphere peak, 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. 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. Winter K2 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. I also confirmed they will be climbing without supplement oxygen and plan on taking the Česen route. As you can see from this photo, the Česen and Abruzzi routes merge at Camp 3. The entire expedition is being lead by 67 year-old Krzysztof Wielicki who lead the last Polish K2 attempt in 2003. Wielicki has summited all of the 8000ers without supplemental oxygen. The Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism has funded the expedition to the tune of $275,000. Jasmine Tours in Pakistan is the ground agent for the team and will provide 6 high altitude climbers from Pakistan for the expedition support. The team is composed of Adam Bielecki, Marek Chmielarski, Rafał Fronia, Janusz Gołąb, Marcin Kaczkan, Artur Małek, Piotr Tomala, Jarosław Botor and Dariusz Załuski, Denis Urubko and Wielicki. In my view, its all about the weather. They certainly have the skills and raw power to summit -that’s no question. But to get a few days with winds under 40 mph – that’s the key, so we will see! For more details on K2, winter attempts and this year’s effort, see this post. K2 Winter Attempts There have been few winter attempts due to the difficult and financing involved. 1980 Reconnaissance: Pol Andrzej Zawada and Canadian-resident Polish national Jaques Olek 1987/88 Attempt: 13 Poles, 7 Canadians and 4 Brits / made to Camp 3 2002/03 Attempt: 14 climbers from Poland, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Georgia / made Camp 4 2011/12 Attempt: 9 climbers from Russia / made Camp 2 2014/15 Near Attempt: Denis Urubko and team lost permit Winter Everest Alex Txikon attempted Everest last year but was stopped by deep snow and harsh weather on his second attempt. As you can see from his GPS tracker, he reached 7,950 meters before turning back last year. Now he is returning for another attempt. He made the announcement on Twitter pus on various other media outlets. This is video of his announcement in Spanish. Alex may be one of the few climbers on the planet qualified to attempt climbing Everest in the winter without supplemental oxygen. In 2016/17 he and teammates, Simone Moro and Pakistani Muhammad Ali Sadpara knocked off Nanga Parbat . The 36 year-old Basque climbers will be joined by his Nanga partner, Muhammad Ali Sadpara on this year’s Everest attempt. They are scheduled to arrive at Everest Base Camp the first few days of January 2018. Last year, Txikon carried a significant part of the load to establish high camps and to put the route in the Khumbu Icefall. He was supported then by Seven Summits Treks. This year he is saying he will back off the many days of work and do a better job of pacing himself. Txikon posted this ghostly image of himself last year saying he lost 12kg/26 pounds on his already lean frame. 2016/17 Attempt The team arrived in Kathmandu on Christmas day, 25th December 2016 with plenty of time to summit before 20th March, 2017 – the end of winter. They spent weeks setting the route thru the Khumbu Icefall and establishing Camp 1 and Camp 2 before leaving Base Camp aiming for a 14 February summit. Their first summit attempt didn’t go well. Txikon, and Seven Summits Sherpas: Norbu, Chhepal left base camp on 10 February for the summit push arriving at Camp 2 in about 8 hours. The next day 3 more Sherpas, Nuri, Furba and Pemba joined them. They reported extremely cold still air temps in the -20F to -30F range, without windchill. They left Camp 2 to establish High Camp at the South Col and began to experience even worse weather -45C/-49F air temp with 60 kph/37 mph winds. This puts the wind chill at -70C/-95F, perhaps a bit lower at this extreme altitude but still deadly cold. Skin would instantly freeze in those conditions and even with the world’s best down suits the climber would soon become chilled beyond recovery. Given they were climbing without supplemental oxygen, the risks were dramatically increased. On the push from Camp 2 directly to the South Col, there were fighting the wind on each step. At the South Col, the high winds made it impossible to set up a tent. They arrived without sleeping bags assuming a short stay in the tent before pushing for the summit. The climbers were becoming dangerously cold. As they struggled to establish camp, the wind broke a pole sending Txikon searching in tents from last spring’s expeditions for a spare. He finds not one, but two dead bodies in separate tents. He didn’t identify them. After only half an hour, with harsh winds making establishing Camp 4 impossible, they all retreated to Camp 3 for a short, cold night then down to Base Camp. But while on the Lhotse Face, an avalanche of snow and mostly falling rock, hits the team sending Txikon sliding hundreds of feet and injuring Sherpa Chhepal. Txikon went