2018/19 Winter Climbs: 2 “shapes” Spotted on Nanga, K2 Team Near C4
There was a lot of buzz today but followers of the search for Nardi and Ballard on Nanga Parbat were left unsure what the communications means. On K2, the Russian lead K2 team made slow progress and stopped for the night below Camp 4 but are still hopeful they can summit soon. “Objects” Sighted on Nanga The Italian ambassador based in Pakistan, Stefano Pontecorvo, tweeted that Alex Txikon and his team spotted two figures or “silhouettes” low on the Mummery Rib late yesterday. Txikon was using a high-powered telescope from the base camp to make one last visual survey of their route. To be clear, its unknown of the objects are bodies, or even Nanga Parbat climbers Tom Ballard and Daniel Nardi, and if so, were they moving at all. Tixkon and team were schedule to be picked up by a Pakistan military helicopter and flown back to K2 to continue their summit ambitions. However, once the sighting was made, a call for the helicopters to come immediately was made but the conflict with India stopped that opportunity for March 7. Pontecorvo is saying the choppers will pick up Txikon tomorrow morning, weather permitting, and fly to the location of the object sighting for further inspection. In a move that signals an end to the overall search effort, the base camp of tents, cooks, etc used by Ballard and Nardi was taken down and the entire staff along with Txikon and teammates, went down Valley to the tiny village of Ser. This is where the helicopters will pick Txikon up tomorrow. If the objects are the climbers, that would help bring closure for their families. The two have now been missing for 11 days. You can follow them on their sponsors site, Montane and Facebook. K2 Progress K2: Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan Team – Near C4 established Part of the Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan team climbed a bit higher today to 7,400-meters a bit short of their traditional Camp 4 location objective around 7,600-meters. If the weather holds, they may make a summit attempt from this location but closer would be better. You can follow them on Instagram but Facebook and their site are the best sources. K2: Spanish/Galician Team – Still on Naga, Sherpas on K2 Four members of the K2 team lead by Alex Txikon’s , Alex Txikon, Felix Criado, Ignacio de Zuloaga and Dr. josep Sanchis, are all at the village of Ser waiting for the helicopter tomorrow. Txikon and one or two other searchers will take a helicopter tour where the objects were sighted. I assume, they will return to K2 for their attempt once there is clarity on the objects. Txikon believes winter ends on March 20, so in his mind there is still time for a winter summit. You can follow their movements on Alex’s GPS tracker, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
2018/19 Winter Climbs: Search Draws Down for Nanga Climbers, K2 Team at C3
Another disappointing day on Nanage Parbat. The Russian lead K2 team made good progress and are hopeful they can summit soon. Search Draws Down on Nanaga Several sites are reporting that the search has officially ended for Nanga Parbat climbers Tom Ballard and Daniel Nardi. But the official page acknowledges today’s search on the Kinshofer route, which is to the climbers left of the Mummery Spur, yielded no positive results but the search continues. It appears the families have asked for another, perhaps last, search Thursday in an area of the spur that is sheltered from avalanches. K2 climbers Alex Txikon and team were scheduled to be picked up today but the helicopters were needed elsewhere so they are scheduled to pick them up tomorrow, March 7, 2019, perform a fly over where the families have requested and then, reportedly, return to K2. The two have now been missing for 10 days. You can follow them on their sponsors site, Montane and Facebook. K2 Progress K2: Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan Team – C3 established Part of the Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan team have established Camp 3 at 7,400-meters/24,280-feet. The weather forecast seems favorable, if it’s to be believed, for a complete attempt to summit on this push. The real test will began once they leave Camp 4 and make the club through the Bottleneck and across the Traverse. You can follow them on Instagram but Facebook and their site are the best sources. K2: Spanish/Galician Team – Sherpas at C2 on K2 Four members of the K2 team lead by Alex Txikon’s , Alex Txikon, Felix Criado, Ignacio de Zuloaga and Dr. josep Sanchis, were helping with the search on Nanga but as mentioned earlier, I assume, will return to K2 for their attempt. However, a lot of energy has been used and the Sherpas who remained on K2 climbed to C1 but were stopped by high winds yesterday and there was no update on their position today. They were stocking camps for a summit bid. Txikon believes winter ends on March 20, so in his mind there is still time for a winter summit. You can follow their movements on Alex’s GPS tracker, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
2018/19 Winter Climbs: K2 Winds, Nanga Search to 6500M
The search on Nanga Parbat has made progress with searchers on the Mummery Rib using drones, however, no sign of Tom or Daniel at the end of Tuesday, March 5, 21019. The searchers will look on the Kinshofer route on Wednesday. The K2 teams have been stopped near Camp 3 and Camp 1 by high winds, once again. Nanga Search Overview It has now been 9 days since Nanga Parbat climbers Tom Ballard and Daniel Nardi went missing and their last sat phone communication with base camp. By now there have been multiple searches using helicopters with trained mountaineers and mountain rescue personal. They have sighted avalanche and tent debris but no signs of humans. A GOFUNDME account is open to help offset the estimated $50,000 a day when helicopters are used. Search Details On Nardi’s Facebook page, which is the official source of news, they posted that climbers Alex Txikon, Muhammad Ali Sadpara, Felix Criado and Rahmat Ullah Baig searched the area between Camp 2 and Camp 3 plus used their drone to go as high as 6,500-meters/ 21,325-feet on the Mummery Rib with no signs of the climbers. One of the three drones they brought with them was lost in the process. Notably, they didn’t find tents where Camp 3 was supposed to be located. Due to low temperature and avalanche risks, the search team was going down to lower camps for the night, perhaps even base camp before searching on the Kinshofer route on Wednesday Anna Piunova, who is Editor-in-Chief at Mountain RU, Facebook page posted this picture from the search: You can follow them on their sponsors site, Montane and Facebook. Italian Peers Weigh In: Suicidal, Hopeless and Silent Respect Perhaps correct but somewhat insensitive to the families of the Nanga climbers, Italian Simone Moro tells the UK Times that the route taken was “suicidal” because of avalanches and tumbling chunks of ice as big as cars. He went on “Going up the dangerous Mummery Spur on the mountain was like playing Russian roulette, and a Pakistani climber who was due to go with Nardi and Ballard pulled out weeks before the climb, claiming he did not want to die. When I heard they were missing I immediately suspected they were lost, and believe we are now looking for bodies.” Tragically, Ballard’s girlfriend, Italian Stefania Pederiva, told another UK paper: “… has been ‘crying constantly’ since her boyfriend disappeared, “It’s pointless. No hope any more. It is hopeless.” Finally well respected Italian alpinist Marco Confortola told Montagna.tv. ” … that he had nothing to declare except that what was already said to Dario Ricci of Radio24, a friendship he shares with Daniele Nardi. “It does not seem right to me to release interviews right now,” he tells us. “Out of respect for a mother, a father, a child” it is better to be silent than to say that pontificating from above explains. “It would be a bit of silence,” he reiterates.“Respect for Tom’s wife, Daniele’s wife and son” . K2 K2: Spanish/Galician Team – Helping on Nanga, Sherpas at C2 on K2 Four members of the K2 team lead by Alex Txikon’s , Alex Txikon, Felix Criado, Ignacio de Zuloaga and Dr. josep Sanchis, are helping with the search on Nanga. The Sherpas who remained on K2 climbed to C1 but were stopped by high winds. They are stocking camps for a summit bid by Txikon if/when he returns from Nanga. Txikon believes winter ends on March 20, so in his mind there is still time for a winter summit. You can follow their movements on Alex’s GPS tracker, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. K2: Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan Team – Stopped near C3 by Winds Part of the Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan team are resting in Base Camp while others are now below the traditional Camp 3 around 7,200-meters just above the Black Pyramid. They were stopped once again by high winds. You can follow them on Instagram but Facebook and their site are the best sources. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
2018/19 Winter Climbs: NP Drone Search, K2 Resumes
Update: 1 March 2019: No rescue fight today due to poor weather. In what has become a deadly sad and uncertain season, the K2 climbers have been asked to stand down for helping with the search for British climber Tom Ballard, 30, and Italian Daniele Nardi, 42, on Nanga Parbat instead drones will be used. The K2 climbers are now refocused on their own summit aspirations. Winter Nanga Parbat – Search Continues After no Contact for 5 days Daniele Nardi, and British Thomas Ballard were last reported at Camp 3 on the Mummery’s Spur but there has been no contact since Sunday. There has been two helicopter searches and more to happen on March 1. The initial information that Nardi and Ballard tent was spotted seems incorrect according to a new post by Philippe Poulet is with Muhammad Ali Sadpara. A tent found half buried at 5500 m but no trace of the mountaineers Pakistani information is clear. The two reconnaissance flights, from 3 h30 in everything, allowed visual research on the entire spur spur, from 7 000 to 5 100 m. The only clue found is a red / Orange Tent, half buried in a snow slope around 5 300 m. For now the authorities believe that it could be the tent of Camp III, established at 5 700 m and which would have therefore been swept into the slope, probably by an avalanche since traces of flows have been observed in The sector. The Doc provided by the pakistan army however is confused because the tent location is located in the middle of the kinshoffer wall, far too far from the axis of the mummery spur and especially too steep to match the images provided. In addition, the altitudes do not correspond, 18 000 feet are rather around 5 500 M THAN 5 300 m. Maybe it is a infographic approximation or then the tent spotted has nothing to see tom and Daniele’s material and could thus be the relic of a camp of the way path? The night arriving the helicopters are anyway back to their base and the research will resume tomorrow. You can follow them on their sponsors site, Montane and Facebook. K2: Spanish/Galician Team – Base Camp The K2 team lead by Alex Txikon are at base camp relaxing and posting about how good the food is The cooks are very important at the Base Camp. Since Eneko Garamendi Meabe is with us, things are so different. This will be his second winter with us, after the Everest expedition of last year. I used to lose between 10-12 kg in winter expeditions due to the work of carrying material and all the effort made in the mountain at the most extreme conditions. However, now I only lose 6 kg !! With his tasty meals, he makes our days happier. Eating well is fundamental when climbing… You can follow their movements on Alex’s GPS tracker, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. K2: Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan Team – At Base Camp The Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan team are regrouping and planning for a summit attempt on K2: The Italian coordination center for search and rescue operations at Nanga Parbat, given the high risk to the lives of rescuers, decided to use drones to continue the rescue operation. Our team remains in K2 base camp and will make a final summit bid attempt in the coming days. You can follow them on Instagram but Facebook and their site are the best sources. Plans The next 24 hours will provide clues as to the fate of the NP climbers and the next attempt on K2 will reveal if its possible this season. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
2018/19 Winter Climbs: What Now? – Updated
Update 28 February 21:00 local time: First Helicopter search completed with Pakistani climber Ali Sadpara on board. He reports seeing their tent at Camp 3 at 5,700-meters but also evidence of avalanche in the area. Tomorrow, March 1, is for four climbers from the Russian lead team to be picked up and dropped off at NP Camp3 for ground search. Update from Nardi’s Facebook page by his home team: Following the sweeps this morning, in agreement with the Italian Embassy and Pakistani Aviation, two helicopters helicopters, weather allowing, early morning from skardu for the base camp of k2. There will be the four Russian Mountaineers, LED by Vassily Pivtsov, who have been available this morning to support the rescue operation on the nanga parbat in favour of Daniele Nardi and Tom Ballard. Mountaineers will be deposited as close as possible to field 3. Ali Sadpara has announced that the 3 field tent invaded by snow has been detected by the helicopter. In the area, traces of avalanche have been identified on the slope which indicates the danger of the area. Also, Txikon has volunteered his team to assist in the search. The winter climbs on Nanga Parbat and K2 are in deadly trouble. As I fully covered in my last post, on NP a search is underway for British climber Tom Ballard, 30, and Italian Daniele Nardi, 42, on the Mummery Rib after their base camp and home teams lost contact with them over this past weekend. And on K2, the two independent teams are back in base camp after retreating from harsh weather. The Kazakhstan/Russia/Kyrgyzstanm team has offered to assist in the search on NP. In many ways this is Déjà vu from last year when Polish climber Tomasz Mackiewicz died during a winter attempt on Nanga and his partner, French alpinist Elisabeth Revol, was rescued in a dramatic effort by climbers who left their K2 attempt to render aid. On their Facebook page, the Russian lead team said they were ready to help: The international Kazakh-Russian-Kyrgyz expedition officially declares that it is ready to take part in search and rescue operations in the area of Mount Nanga Parbat in the number of four climbers. The Txikon lead team with six Sherpas has made no public comment on their facebook page. A helicopter search was schedule to start early on Thursday, February 28, with Pakistani climber Ali Sadpara leading the search. Other reports say a helicopter will pick up three climbers from the International K2 team to assist. The deepest hope amongst climbers worldwide is that Ballard and Nardi’s sat phone battery went dead or perhaps one was injured and not able to move and they are laying in wait for a rescue. I join all in hoping for the best outcome. Alan Memories are Everything
Climbers Missing on Nanga Parbat – Search Hampered
After having no contact for two days, the home team and base camp crew for British climber Tom Ballard, 30, and Italian Daniele Nardi, 42, have asked for help to search for them. They were attempting a new route on the Mummery Rib – a steep, avalanche-prone area known for taking lives. The two climbers arrived at base camp in December but made little progress due to harsh weather and deep snow along the route. Two Pakistani climbers on their team left a few weeks ago citing the difficult conditions and poor weather forecast. Their last known position was near 6,300-meters between Camp 4 and Camp 3 according to Nardi’s wife who received a satellite phone call from him on Friday, February 22. Low clouds and snow shrouded the view from base camp where their two cooks and Liaison Officer have been using binoculars to search the area. Today, with better conditions, the two were not spotted. To complicate the search, a dispute between India and Pakistan escalated over the last two days with Pakistan shooting down two India fighter jets thus closing the air space around Nanga Parbat to rescue helicopters. Through diplomatic efforts, an exception was made to allow a rescue helicopter to conduct an air search. It will begin tomorrow, February 28 with Pakistani mountaineer, Ali Sadpara, on board. He was on the team that made the first winter summit of Nanga Parbat two years ago. This is Nardi’s fourth attempt on the Mummery Rib. Ballard is known as one of the world’s finest climbers and solo climbed all six of the Alp’s major north faces in one winter, a first. Ballard is the son of famed British alpinist Alison Hargreaves who in 1995 was the first woman to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen. She died a few months later attempting the world’s second highest peak, K2. Their home team made this report on their progress to C3 on February 24: Daniele Just informed us that they arrived at about 6300 meters, maybe even something more! They climbed along a fireplace different from the one up with Elisabeth. They went on light, now they’re going down to c4. The weather is not good, there was fog, sleet and wind gusts. The last position that Daniele managed to send us was little lower than the one indicated on the photo, then continued in the climb for another hour, the position in red is therefore an approximation. Nanga Parbat has a deadly reputation. In 1895 British climber Albert F. Mummery died on Nanga Parbat along with two fellow climbers. Last winter Polish climber Tomasz Mackiewicz died during a winter attempt and his partner, French alpinist Elisabeth Revol was rescued in a dramatic effort by climbers who left their K2 attempt to render aid. In 2013, ten foreign climbers and base camp staff were executed by 15 Taliban extremists at base camp. Hopefully the climbers are stranded by conditions and can be reached tomorrow. You can follow updates on their sponsors site, Montane and Facebook. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
2018/19 Winter Climbs: K2 Progress
Excellent progress on K2 over the weekend with both teams moving well but more bad weather in the forecast including wind chills of -108F!! K2: Progress and Waiting K2: Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan Team – Progress Four climbers, Abildaev, Aubakirov, Danichkin and Pivtsov, of the The Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan team climbed above the Black Pyramid and left a cache of gear at 7,100-meters over the weekend. This was their high point thus far. They returned to Camp 2 and will return to base camp to wait out degrading weather. You can follow them on Instagram but Russian Climb and their site are the best sources. K2: Spanish/Galician Team – Camp 1 Round Trip The other K2 team, lead by Alex Txikon posted a nice update about their round trip climb to Camp 1 As I told you yesterday, we will only risk what we can control. When we saw that the wind was still quite strong at the first camp and that in those conditions, it was impossible to continue equipping more, we decided to return to the Base Camp. It has helped us to prove ourselves and to see how long it takes us. We took our headlamps and went out at night, it took us 7 hours to get to Camp 1. We spent there a few hours at -40 degrees of thermal sensation, and we returned to the Base Camp. In total 16 hours, we are happy of doing it in that a short space of time. Therefore, it is important to respect the weather until the K2 gives us the chance to go up again. We are in winter and this is how the mountain works, but I wouldn´t change it for anything else. You can follow their movements on Alex’s GPS tracker, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Winter Nanga Parbat – Holding Daniele Nardi, and British Thomas Ballard continue to wait out weather at base camp. They are attempting the Mummery’s Spur. You can follow them on their sponsors site, Montane. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
2018/19 Winter Climbs: K2 and Nanga Stalled by Weather
More big winds and snow are causing slow, if any, progress on these two Pakistan 8000-meter peaks. One teams feels they might not go for the summit until early march. K2: Reinforcements K2: Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan Team – More Money The Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan team has received a boost in funding from their sponsor allowing three new members to join the team. Originally there were 11 members but due to lack of funds it was reduced to 7. Now three Kazakh climbers: Ildar Gabbassov, Ahat Smailov and Amaner Temirbaev will join the team. While they are not acclimatized, they are fresh legs that hopefully can help get the camps set. However, more high winds that were not forecasted kept the teams working hard today. One group got to C2 and another left gear 5,700-meters after giving up on reaching C1 and descended to ABC. Thus far they have climbed to just under House Chimney at 6,500-meters where they found a lot of trash – tent fragments, oxygen bottles, etc. They assumed it was left by the large commercial teams this past year. You can follow them on Instagram but Russian Climb and their site are the best sources. K2: Spanish/Galician Team – Planning to Move The other K2 team, lead by Alex Txikon, is looking to move up and feels the weather is improving. They currently have gear cached at C2. One member, Polish climber Paweł Dunaj, did attempt to go to C1 today but also gave up with the poor weather. There continues to be no cooperation with the International team for unknown reasons. You can follow their movements on Alex’s GPS tracker, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Winter Nanga Parbat – Holding Daniele Nardi, and British Thomas Ballard continue to fight the weather – wind and snow. While they make trips to C1 and C2 to uncover and/or look for tents, the conditions are holding them at base camp for the most part. They had established Camp 3 at 5,714-meters with a cache of gear. I continue to expect go/no go decision soon. They are attempting the Mummery’s Spur. You can follow them on their sponsors site, Montane. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
2018/19 Winter Climbs: K2 Stalled, Nanga Regroup
Progress on K2 and Nanga Parbat feels stalled as the winter clock continues to advance. Teams are in their respective base camps either recovering from rotations or waiting for good weather. Injuries have taken six members thus far from the collective K2 efforts. K2: Climbers Injured, Weather Delays K2: Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan Team – Sleep at C2/6800m The Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan team is back at K2 Base Camp resting up and passing time by spending 30 minutes each in a Gamo bag. They did a day trip to Advanced Base Camp, about 2 hours from normal BC, to check on the fixed line through the small Icefall – all was well. Apparently the news that four of the international team were hit by rock as “false new from Pakistain” according to message I received from Russian Climb. They had four members hit by rock or ice this past week requiring them to be evacuated to Skardu. They were Dmitry Muraviov from Kazakhstan, Konstantin Shepelin from Russia and Michael Danichkin from Kyrgyzstan. This leaves Artem Braun and Roman Abildae from Russia, Tursunali Aubakirov and Vassiliy Pivtsov both from Kazakhstan still climbing. You can follow them on Instagram but Russian Climb and their site are the best sources. K2: Spanish/Galician Team – Waiting The other K2 team, lead by Alex Txikon, is content to go slow and steady. After establishing their Camp 2, he is now at base camp waiting for good weather (which may or may not come this winter) for a go to C4 and on to the summit. He posts: Every step counts and we need to be sure in what we do. I think that in the last two expeditions on Everest, we equipped with ropes too early, and as the good weather did not arrive, we waste our energy re-equipping the track again and again after the strong storm. For that reason, and to be able to be strong and ready when the good weather arrives, we do not want to run, we need to listen to the mountain! I think that after equipping with ropes until Camp 2 in just two days, the mountain as well needs some days to rest until the good weather allows us to equip up to Camp 4. The forecast will tell us when to put the crampons on and climb towards one of the most beautiful mountains in the world. They have also had evacuation and injuries. Jon Barredo and Eva Robles from Spain plus Waldemar Kovalevsky from Poland were all taken to Skardu. You can follow their movements on Alex’s GPS tracker, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Winter Nanga Parbat – Tents Disappear The NP team now has only two members since the local Pakistani climbers ended their effort due to hardships and deep snow. The team of Daniele Nardi, British Thomas Ballard continue to climb. They had established Camp 3 at 5,714m with a cache of gear but upon their return found their tents blown away with no trace. Now they are back investigating the situation at C2. Expect go/no go decision soon. They are attempting the Mummery’s Spur. You can follow them on their sponsors site, Montane. As usual with any big mountain winter climb, it comes down to weather. Both K2 and NB are playing tough and the winter clocks keeps ticking. On K2, it feels odd that the two teams have not joined forces – after all both have incredibly strong and experienced climbers – but politics on the mountain is always a strange beast. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything
2018/19 Winter Climbs: K2 Progress, No Manaslu, Nanga Fragments
There is progress on K2 but clarification that the two teams are working independently. Locals quit on Nanga and avalanches end Manaslu effort. The winter clock continues to advance. K2: Climbers Injured, Weather Delays K2: Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan Team – Sleep at C2/6800m The Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyzstan team is back at K2 Base Camp after a few rotations up the mountain and after almost 7 days of weather delays. They have slept at 6800-meters/22,310-feet the location of traditional Camp 2 on the Abruzzi. In an interview with Michael Danichkina on the Polish site Wspinanie.pl we learn that all is about the same as a summer climb: We locate all camps in usual places. Except some intermediate camps, while fixing up ropes. C1 and C2 are set well already. We have 5 tents redfox cave, on the route. Ropes enough for the whole route, snow anchors, ice screws, pitons. Food and gas we bring just enough amount for every trip plus little deposit for emergency cases. All garbage is brought down to BC. Contrary to what has been reported on other sites, Danichkina says there are no plans to work with Txikon and in fact he is putting in parallel ropes to his: We have neutral relationship with Alex team. We do our tasks and they do their task. Mutual plans have not been discussed. You can follow them on Instagram but Russian Climb and their site are the best sources. K2: Spanish/Galician Team – Injuries The other K2 team, lead by Alex Txikon, continue to make plans and build igloos but there are some issues with ice and rock fall taking two members off the mountain by helicopter: Waldemar Kowalewski and Marek Klonowsk. Two people from the Base Camp’s support team (NO mountaineers) have descended from the Base Camp; one of them, for an injury he has had for several days and the other one just to help him. There was no urgency but we decided it just to avoid unnecessary risks. On the other hand, as I said yesterday, the Polish Waldelmar has also descended after being hit by an ice block. Marek who has been with antibiotics, has also gone down to recover and climb up again with our doctor Josep Sanchis !! ;);) They are making progress now that Txikon finally made a route decision after being on K2 for a couple of weeks – they will take the Abruzzi – same as the other team. He considered the extremely dangerous and once climbed East face. We have equipped up to Camp 2 at 6700 meters in just 2 days. It is a real success and we are very happy. I am very proud of the whole team, we have equipped a new route line. After equipping with 1,100 meters of rope until Camp 1, we have taken another 1,200 meters of rope with us. The weather has been quite good although the strong wind has not helped much. However, we have worked well and we still don’t believe what we have achieved. Txikon and crew spent a lot of time thinking a lot about other routes, especially the unclimbed East Face which was well known for serious objective dangers not only in the summer, much less in the winter. He made this post as to their decision on the Abruzzi: After exploring the east side of K2 we have made a decision. It is very dangerous and risky, because between 6800 and 7000 meters is very exposed, and then you have to cross the glacier to Bottleneck. In addition, everything from the mountain falls towards that side. Therefore, we will ascend through the Abruzzos route. We have also equipped more than 5800 meters, almost until Camp 1. You can follow their movements on Alex’s GPS tracker, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Winter Nanga Parbat – Tents Disappear The team of Daniele Nardi, British Thomas Ballard continue to climb on NB but the two local climbers, Pakistanis Rehmatullah Baig and Karim have left, giving up after too much snow and winds up high. They had established Camp 3 at 5,714m with a cache of gear but upon their return found their tents blown away with no trace. They are attempting the Mummery’s Spur. You can follow them on their sponsors site, Montane. Winter Manaslu – Over Simone Moro and Pemba Gyalje Sherpa have given up. The “winter maestro” made this announcement” Finally a good weather window has opened today, and again Karl Gabl was right. Obviously with the sun, the avalanches have increased, they also approached and reached our base camp. Fortunately shortly after this photo a helicopter came to rescue us. Over the last few days the aim of reaching my fifth summit in winter was transformed into surving in this situation! It would take at least 2 to 3 weeks of sunshine to settle 6 meters of powder snow, but the forecast is far from good. Sometimes giving up is an essential ingredient for future success and with this decision I want to honor the nickname “winter maestro” I have been given. Again, When does Winter End? If you remember the K2 attempt last winter, there was a lot of controversy over when winter ends, mostly by Denis Urubko. He feels it ends on February 28, not the Spring equinox on March 20, 2018 at 12:15 pm EDT. It appears this year, teams are taking the long view. The K2 teams are making good progress at the moment but more bad weather is in the forecast – winter after all. NB is not looking promising at the moment. So we will see but the next week or so will be pivotal to see if the climbers can touch 8,000-meters and establish sustainable high camps for a summit push. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything