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Last week was all about Himalaya. Following an extended storm, the peaks were summitted one after the other in improving weather. Everest (both sides), Lhotse, Manaslu, Dhaula, and Kang all had success – Everest south side in very large numbers.

The most remarkable of them all became Mr Park’s summit of the highly technical Everest SW face.

We lost two climbers; one on Everest north side and one on Manaslu. The list of 14, 8000er summiteers got another addition – this time of Ralf Dujmovits. His wife Gerlinde topped out Lhotse as well in her 12th, 8000er – equaling Edurne who summited Kangchenjunga in a scary climb. Nives Meroi turned back, for her husband.

Mr Park climbs Everest SW face The wall cost him three very good friends over the years. But for them exactly, South Korean Mr Park summited Everest Thursday, via a new route on the immense and difficult technical SW Face – 27 years since it last was climbed.

Everest south side: summits! About 100 climbers departed South Col Monday night on the normal route towards the top of the world. Jagged Globe was among the first summiteers at 7:15 am on Tuesday morning local time, followed by First Ascent (with Ed Viesturs on supplementary oxygen) at around 8 am. The following day, another wave of summits kicked off already before dawn. At 3.45am, 3.54am and 4.43am respectively the Singaporean women’s’ team were not only first up that morning but became also the first Singaporean women to summit the world’s tallest mountain. By Thursday, most teams had topped out. Croatian Darija and Iris Bostjanèiã became the first sisters to summit Everest together. British polar farer Ran Fiennes made it in his third attempt since his heart attack and Apa Sherpa summited the peak for a record 19th time.

Everest north side: summits! With fewer climbers to fix the normal route Everest north side proved a tougher nut to crack this season. In spite of high winds, the peak was summited on Monday morning by Kanagawa University’s Yasunori Tanaka (57) and Kenta Miyamori (28) and a large team of Chinese climbers. Wu Wenhong, from eastern Jiangsu Province, however died on descent at around 8,750 meters of altitude exhaustion. The north side of Everest was also summited by SummitClimb on 20 May.

Lhotse-Everest traverse: Ready to try again Heavy loaded, the Kazakh LET team fixed 600m of rope above C4, but were forced to abort their summit push when weather deteriorated. They left another 250 meters of rope in a cache close to the top, which they hope to use in a new attempt after a short rest in BC.

Lhotse summit! Gerlinde bags her 12th – Ralf his last Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Ralf Dujmovits, Hirotaka Takeuchi and David Götller summited Lhotse; with that Gerlinde is now level with Edurne Pasaban: both hold the current female record with 12×8000ers summited; Ralf has become a 14×8000er summiteer. IMG put members on top and so did SummitClimb. Catalan Xavi Arias made it on his own – after his Sherpa skipped BC town just before the summit push.

Kangchenjunga – Edurne bags her 12th 8000er! Spanish Ferran Latorre, climbing ahead of the rest, topped-out Kangchenjunga around 2:30 pm, local time. Ferran’s mates Edurne Pasaban, Juanito Oiarzabal, and Asier Izguirre reached the summit about two hours later. The descent proved very difficult – especially for Edurne. The climbers reached high camp only past midnight, and Edurne was finally administered oxygen in C3 in order to make it back to BC. Alberto Zerain (K2 speed climber and survivor last year) abandoned his summit push and left high camp carrying oxygen and a tent to aid the descending climbers. Or so he thought: after checking they were OK, he continued up – and summited shortly after dawn.

Kangchenjunga – more summits with love as the greatest of them all “It was the toughest climb of my life!” Polish Kinga Baranowska (w/o 02) and Norwegian Jon Gangdal (on 02) both used the same words to describe their ascent of Kangchenjunga. Kinga summited alone and dedicated her top to Wanda Rutkiewicz’s memory.

Also the Koreans summited (on 02), according to Kinga. Had she continued up, she would have equaled Edurne and Gerlinde with 12, 8000ers summited. But Nives Meroi gave up her success for the best reason possible – Romano felt bad during the summit push and, fearing he might be developing HACE, Nives sacrificed her summit chance in order to escort her husband down.

Manaslu: the rocky top, and disaster Italian Mario Panzeri was the first to reach Manaslu’s summit last week, in his 10th 8000er. Alexei Bolotov’s Russian team paved the way on Monday but strong wind forced them back. A second attempt on May 18th lucked out and included Gleb Solokov, summiteer in the 2007 Russian K2 West Face expedition, and 2004’s Everest’s Central North face wall. Manaslu was also summited by Tamara Romero and Inma Garrido, from the Andalusian female Manaslu expedition and Manuel ‘Lolo’ Gonzales. American Nick Rice made it as well. Hungarian Zsolt Eröss (8, 8000ers) summited with Daniel Barna, “including its very top Rocky Summit,” the press correspondent pointed out. Sadly, fellow climber Levente Szabo fell to his death after turning back at 7800 meters.

Dhaulagiri: summits! South Korean Kim Chang and Seo Sung Ho from the Dynamic Busan Expedition (SK) reached the summit of Dhaulagiri last week in their second 8000 meter ascent this season. The summit marks the 9th 8000 meter peak for Kim Chang Ho (all without aid of bottled oxygen) and 5th 8000er for Seo Sung Ho. The expedition, led by Hong Bong Seong, plans the possibly first Nepal triple-header within one season and hopes to leave for Annapurna I after Dhaula and Manaslu. Also a Japanese mountaineer and 7 out of 9 DAV Summit Club Dhaulagiri Expedition members topped-out. DAV leader Luis Stitzinger and team mate Rupert are not yet done with Dhaula though. They hope to summit again, and then ski down to BC.

Cho Oyu: It’s over for the Spaniards Strong wind forced back the Spanish Al Filo team from Cho Oyu’s C2.

Cho Oyu: Denis’ new route topo Back in Kathmandu, Kazakh Denis Urubko sent RussianClimb a topo showing the new route he recently opened on Cho Oyu’s SE face. Denis’ line goes straight up the face and eventually joins the winter Polish route. Kazakhs Denis Urubko and Boris Dedeshko climbed Cho Oyu’s SE face in alpine style via a new route on May 11th – a remarkable finish of the 14×8000ers project for Urubko.

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A big storm sent down most climbers early in the week except for Denis Urubko who incredibly bagged the summit of Cho Oyu via a new line on the SE face in alpine style. 

Huge summit pushes are underway again however, with most climbers – including on Everest – gunning for a May 18-19 weather window. The Kazakhs Lhotse-Everest team is retreating, while many Everest South side teams are in Camp 3.

Last week brought debriefs on the fatal Khumbu icefall avalanche; deadly methanol in Everest BC; the car accident involving Central Asia Institute staff and journalists; a ghost ship; a cruise in pirate waters; and – the Hubble telescope. There were several interviews and K2 pioneer Achille Compagnoni passed at age 94.

Everest south side icefall avalanche debriefs: Walter Laserer, Lhapka Nuru Sherpa and Bernice Notenboom got hit by the biggest avalanche this season racing down the West Shoulder of Mount Everest. Bernice escaped without much harm, while Walter had to be rescued by other climbers – mostly members in the Indian Mountaineering Institute which were very close when the avalanche struck. Several people looked in vain for Lhakpa Nuru until dangerous conditions forced the search to be called off. A boot belonging to the Sherpa was the only trace found.

Bad whiskey kills Sherpa in Everest BC Ngima Sherpa and Mountain Top Kaji Sherpa shared what they thought was Nepali Royal Stag deluxe whisky – instead this was methanol, part a stock of illegal brew made in Kathmandu and delivered throughout the Khumbu in the last few months. The dealer in Lukla is a Gurung called Lama and so far four other people have died in the region because of this poisoning, Gavin Bate reported. Kaji died while Ngima survived after a prolonged battle for his life first by the Indian Army team doctor and then the HRA medical emergency tent and others.

News from Pakistan: American photographers recovering – obituary for driver Raza Khan Teru Kuwayama, the fearless NYC photographer who has helped Central Asia Institute (CAI) for several years, was in a near fatal accident on the road from Peshawar to Islamabad last Saturday evening. Pathan driver Raza Khan was killed. Preliminary reports said that Lynsey Addario, a New York Times photographer/writer was also killed in the same accident. However, ”both photographers are no longer in critical condition at Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad, and will be evacuated back to USA later this week,” CAI’s Greg Mortenson told ExWeb in an email. “Teru had multiple contusions and head trauma, while Lynsey sustained a broken collarbone and other injuries.”

Cho Oyu: Denis and Boris’ SE face summit, alpine style Only months after his virgin winter ascent of Makalu; Denis is done with his last 8000er – Cho Oyu’s SE face climbed in alpine style for the first time. The summit was attained on May 11 just as a big storm ravaged Himalaya sending down all other climbers; descent took three days, via the ascent route.

Cho Oyu: Anyone to fix ropes? Al Filo Spanish team of disabled climbers reported that there are no fixed ropes above C2, and some climbers are waiting for someone else to do the job for them. “There are no strong Sherpa teams here fixing the route,” they dispatched. “That’s fine with us, but apparently not with other climbers who lack the skill to fix ropes by themselves – and haven’t brought a single meter of rope anyway.”

Ben Clark – 10 days on Baruntse The team was stuck at 21,500 for a few days in the storm. A case of AMS prevented a ski descent so the climbers came back down their ascent route. Ben and Josh might go back up in a few days.

New line in Western Sichuan Jannu North face 2002’s summiteers Alexander Ruchkin and Mikhail Mikhailov climbed an unnamed 6206 m top via a 1000 meter big wall, RussianClimb reported.

Makalu: retreat from the West Pillar Weather forced Albert, Mikel and Juan back from Makalu West pillar last weekend. The climbers returned to BC after a rough night in high winds at 6,500m. This weekend the climbers returned to BC after a second failed attempt.

Kangchenjunga: Edurne Pasaban hoped to reach the top by Saturday or Sunday. “Everybody is here,” Edurne told ExWeb over the sat phone from C3 on Friday. “Mi Sun Go’s Korean team; Spaniards Alberto Zerain, Patxi Goñi, Koke Lasa, Juanjo Garra; Polish Kinga Baranovska; Norwegian Jon Gangdal; a Dutch climber (don´t know his name), and Italian Nives & Romano.” By Sunday the Kangch summit bid was delayed one day due to wind (summits expected on Monday).

Dhaulagiri: Sky-skier Louis Stitzinger’s team, two Korean newcomers and a Japanese team are on summit push.

Manaslu: “There’s a limit for everything – after 40 days on this mountain, we’ve reached ours by far,” Carlos Pauner decided Thursday and called the expedition off. In spite of deep snow burying the route and wrecked high camps, some other Manaslu teams launched a summit push: “The Andalusia girls, Japanese, Swiss and some individual climbers are going up,” the girl’s home team reported Friday. The climbers hope to reach C4 on Sunday, and then go for the summit later that night. Should the wind blow too strong, they may wait for one extra night in C3, in order to attempt the summit on Tuesday. Bolotov’s Russian team is still hoping for the weather to improve, in order to launch a fifth (!) attempt to reach Manaslu summit.

Everest north side: Everest north side teams have been moving slowly due to excess snow. Newcomers are World Wide Viking’s Norwegian expedition which includes Petter Kragset (in his third attempt on Everest), Johnny Brevik (second time on the mountain) and Stein Grønnerøe (Everest first-timer). Some climbers such as the Japanese plan summit pushes within two weeks.

Shisha Pangma: Romania’s Explorers Sport & Charity Foundation is attempting a new route on Shisha Pangma near the 1982’ British route. The team will only use one high camp and a gear drop. The expedition is a first stage in the “Endeavor 8000 Transylvania” series aiming to summit all 14, 8000ers in light style.

Summit pics and debriefs: Joao Garcia, already back in Portugal, sent over some pics from his recent ascent on Manaslu. Also the Indian Army expedition members are back home, from where they sent over a Dhaulagiri summit report and pictures to ExWeb.

Lhotse: Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Ralf Dujmovits, David Göttler and Hirotaka Takeuchi are preparing to set off from BC towards Lhotse’s summit. “We’ll wait for a further confirmation forecasts tomorrow, but all going according to plans we will leave BC on Sunday,” Ralf reported Friday.

Nanda Devi: The Polish team is in their second week on Nanda Devi East. Some members reached Longstaff pass last week, and are now on their way back to BC, across C1 and ABC.

Puryear and Gottlieb’s Jobo Rinjang debrief: “It is with great happiness that David and I report the first ascent of Jobo Rinjang (6,778 meters) via the direct south face, in the Khumbu Region of Nepal, climbing alpine style over 6 days (from April 20 to April 25), summiting on April 22,” Joe Puryear reported in his debrief. Americans Joe Puryear and David Gottlieb bagged a first ascent on a highly difficult 6,778 m mountain face in alpine style, and compiled a complete list of surrounding peaks – for those who will follow.

Pakistan: BP/K2double team off to Skardu Elisabeth Revol, Antoine Girard and Ludovic Giambiasi are sharing permit for Broad Peak and K2 with another team and will fly to Skardu tomorrow morning. The trek starts May 18 – the small team’s outfit agency reportedly told them they are first up, with the others expeditions to arrive later.

Achille Compagnoni dies Italian K2 pioneer Achille Compagnoni died on Wednesday May 13 in a northern Italy hospital at age 94.

ExWeb Interview with 2009 Nanga/K2 leader Gerfried Göschl After surprising the Himalayan climbing community by summiting Shisha and Everest (no O2) within one month in 2005; Gerfried Göschl will lead a large team in an attempt on Nanga Parbat and K2 via new routes this summer. ExWeb ran a 2-part interview with the mountaineer.

Chocolate Sherpa Project: Chocs tasted for Nepal mobile hospital Louis-Philippe Loncke and his team reached their goal to distribute 100 kg Belgian chocolate at Everest Base Camp and raise awareness for the necessity of a mobile hospital in Nepal.

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

Everest was summited for the first time this season on May 5th but the joy was clouded by serious avalanches claiming one life.

Also Kang and Dhaula got summits, with a near-complete ski descent on Kangchenjunga, but sadly the peak claimed another mountaineer last week. Two major climbs have kicked off: Makalu West Pillar and the SE face of Cho Oyu are full throttle, both in alpine style.

Mountaineers seem undeterred by fightings in Pakistan; some were scheduled to arrive Islamabad last week and with that the Karakoram 2009 list of expeditions is up.

The Indian Ocean Rowing Race keeps losing contestants and around-Antarctica Olly Hicks had a hard time making it back at all. In other news: cool NP debriefs and pics have arrived and two interesting Space events will take place in Orlando and NYC within the month.

Everest Summit news broke early this season. As usual the first top went to Sherpas working on the route with British David Tait following close behind on supplementary oxygen at 12.43 pm local time, on May 5th. Several teams such as IMG and SummitClimb are in the next wave of summit pushes ongoing right now.

Avalanche danger on Everest: Seems that the glaciers and mountain slopes are very active on Everest this year. A big avalanche swept the Khumbu icefall on May 1st, and Thursday yet another huge slide claimed a Sherpa’s life. The trouble is reportedly the West shoulder that has been calving on the icefall consistently this spring. A large avalanche swept also parts of Everest’s north side route Tuesday morning, right below the North Col.

Dhaulagiri summits: Czech David Fojtík and Turkish Tunc Findic summited Dhaulagiri on May 1st around 2:30pm via the NE ridge and skied down from the summit except for a clear ice section between 7,300m and 6,700m. A Korean climber topped-out at 6:30pm. David Fojtik was later airlifted to Kathmandu with frostbite. Sadly, the mountain claimed Iranian Mehdi Etemadfar who reportedly fell to his death while pushing for the summit on May 1st.

Dhaulagiri first Indian summit Six members from the Indian Army led by Maj Amit Aukta summitted Dhaulagiri on 8 May 09, 1130h – bagging a ‘first’ in the history of Indian mountaineering.

Cho Oyu: SE face summit push! Denis Urubko and Boris are ready to leave Cho Oyu ABC in a single summit push up a new route on Cho Oyu’s SE face. Denis reckoned the planned route looked extremely serious but said, “decided to fight ‘till the end – and Boris agrees with me.” The climbers are not bringing their sat-phone, so there will be no news from them until they return. Check in at ExWeb for a special story on this climb.

Makalu West Pillar summit push! Alberto Iñurrategi, Mikel Zabalza and Juan Vallejo departed BC early Wednesday morning for a single push up Makalu west pillar. The team hopes to climb the imposing ridge in 4-5 days, without previously set camps, Sherpa or fixed rope. Check in at ExWeb for a special story on this climb.

Summer 2009 Karakoram list of expeditions is up! Hundreds of thousands civilians are reportedly fleeing the North-West Frontier Province due to a military offensive against the Taliban. President Asif Ali Zardari however denied that the state of Pakistan is on the verge of collapse; “We are 180 million people. There the population is much, much more than the insurgents are,” he told NBC news Sunday. Also mountaineers seem undeterred; some climbers were scheduled to arrive Islamabad late last week and with that the Karakoram 2009 list of expeditions is up.

Manaslu rescue report: Merelli’s Italian team has packed up after they lost Giuseppe Antonelli on Manaslu. Reportedly, not only Antonelli was in trouble on the summit push: Marco Rusconi turned around at 8,000m, fell ill and his mates had to drag him down to C2, where they learned of Giuseppe’s death. Carlos Pauner’s doctor, the Andalusian female team and parts of the Val Valesia expedition all collaborated in Marco’s rescue and tried their best for Giuseppe. “Two Iranian climbers, on their way up, simply turned around in order to help Marco down. I sincerely appreciate everyone’s solidarity,” Merelli said.

Kangchenjunga summit: Kinga Baranowska, Edurne Pasaban, Nives Meroi – Kangchen is hosting a good number of the world’s foremost female 8000+ climbers. One such is Korean Oh Eun-sun, who bagged the first Kang summit of this season late last week.

Makalu summit and South Korea update: Last week word on Makalu was that a 12-member Korean team was fixing the entire route and breaking trail for Korean female climber Oh Eun-Sun; turns out the dark horse was Go Mi-Sun – and she summited Makalu on May 1st, together with three mates. Oh Eun-Sun is a serious contestant in the current quest for the first woman to climb all 14, 8000ers. Check in at ExWeb for the special report.

Everest south side one step closer to gondola? “80 years from now Everest will be climbed by helicopters and cable cars. In the lift, you will hear somebody say, ‘Hey, remember years ago all those dumb-asses getting themselves killed in avalanches and storms?’ And people will agree, smiling and shaking their heads in disbelief. Fortunately I’ll be gone.” To some, Inaki’s last words at ExplorersWeb before Annapurna took his life are ringing close already. Last week, IMG reported that Kari Kobler donated his Hilti bolt gun and guides Willie Benegas and Adrian Ballinger drilled six new 10cm Mammut stainless steel bolts up on the Yellow Band.

How many credits for Everest High School? Among the climbers currently preparing for a summit push on Everest’s south side are three 17 year old American kids on their first 8000+ meters experience: Johnny Strange, guided by Scott Woolums; John Collinson, guided by Damian Benegas (Mountain Madness), and Erica Dohring, guided by Dave Hahn (First Ascent).

Taiwanese firsts Only Everest remains for a Taiwanese team to bag the first “Seven Summit” quest for the country. “In addition, our only female member Chang is hoping to become the first Taiwanese woman to complete the 7 Summits and to summit Everest from both sides,” the team reported from BC.

Nanda Devi: Polish team in place Marcin Miotk’s Polish team reached Nanda Devi’s base on Monday. “We’ve set up BC at 4,300 m and ABC at 5,000 m,” the team reported.

Baruntse: American Ben Clark and his mates have begun climbing, charting the safest path on Baruntse east face. “We will likely begin by climbing a 20,000′ peak just above us and then suss out the access on the East ridge to get to the NE face,” Ben said. “Sometime in the next two weeks we will summit!”

Vacancy in Nepal: Visionary Leader Needed ExplorersWeb keep close watch of areas that often happen to be political hot-beds. Regular Himalayan/Everest expedition leader Jamie McGuinness has been resident in Kathmandu for years and written regional political analysis at ExWeb since 2006. Go check his latest take on the current situation in Nepal.

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

* zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

Celebrations and terror both took place on Manaslu last week. Closing April 2009; high Himalayas have already claimed the lives of three mountaineers.

There was triumph at the North Pole, with both full length teams, one unsupported and one guided/supported, breaking a number of records. ExWeb ran an interview with Simone Moro, Henk de Velde reached another harbor, and Everest is slowly getting ready for the big day – on both sides.

Manaslu summit and tragedy Joao Garcia, Kim Chang-Ho, Seo Sung-Ho, and Lhakpa Tsering Sherpa (in a repeat) topped out in lousy conditions. A short sat call to his home team from Czech Radek Jaros said he summited Manaslu the following day. The mountain claimed the life of Italian Giuseppe Antonelli, who was lost to HAPE while retreating from C3.

Annapurna: Elisabeth Revol’s recount French Eli Revol reported that she and Martin Minarik reached Annapurna’s Eastern summit on April 19th. The weather turned for the worse that day, adding to the climbers’ exhaustion after 8 days on the face. The two reportedly came down the north side in a terrible snow storm, with Martin feeling increasingly weaker. Revol took a fall and barely escaped a gaping crevasse the following day. The last she saw of Martin was a dot descending at about 6,700m in her tracks. Search parties have been unsuccessful and hopes for Martin’s survival have faded.

Lunag Ri summit! Joe Puryear and David bagged the virgin summit of Lunag Ri, also called Jobu Ribjang, reported their KTM outfitter Climb High.

Everest north side: Gabriel Filippi’s team is in place with Peruvian Richard, who will attempt a no-O2, no Sherpa support Everest climb. Libor Uher’s team also crossed the Nepal/Chinese border. Manuel Pizarro and his mate climbed to 11,000 feet in a little less than 72 hours, and met mountaineers crushed by the altitude which had to descend all the way to Kodari. SummitClimb ascended to NC April 26 and will head back up on April 30th for a camp 1 and camp 2 rotation before the final summit attempt.

Everest South side: The jet stream descended on Everest early in the week; trashing a number of tents in C2. The fixed lines have been put in as far as the South Col, and the Yellow Band is to be bolted. Climbers are heading up on a last rotation trip which includes one night in C3, while some groups have reportedly not gone through the icefall at all, but are acclimatizing on nearby peaks instead. A snow weather front was expected to move in on Friday.

The Croatian Everest women got a cool visit from Andrej Stremfelj with wife Marija (the first married couple on top of Everest 19 years ago), Viki Groselj, Stipe Bozic, Tone Skarja and others from the Slovenian/Croatian/Bosnian 1979 Everest west ridge expedition.

Lhotse-Everest traverse: The team was visited by 14×8000er summiteer Silvio “Gnaro” Mondinelli, possibly going for Lhotse. The Kazakhs set off on their third rotation trip to C2 late week, with the goal to set and supply C4 at 8,000m, spend a night and then return to BC for final rest before the planned Lhotse-Everest traverse.

Cho Oyu: “Welcome to Tibet” SummitClimb’s international Cho Oyu troop crossed into Tibet April 25, uneventfully and the customs official said, ‘Welcome to Tibet’, Martha Johnson reported from Nyalam. Spanish Al Filo reported eight teams of barely 50 foreign climbers and about 20 high-altitude Sherpas in Cho Oyu BC.

Makalu: West Pillar Alberto Iñurrategi, Mikel Zabalza and Juan Vallejo climbed Baruntse as a preparatory climb before attempting Makalu’s West Pillar in alpine style. The climbers used no fixed ropes or camps on the way to Baruntse’s summit. Next acclimatization trip will be up to Makalu La, where the climbers plan to spend one night.

Makalu normal route: Roland Hunter and his team made it to the Col on Tuesday. Next stop is Makalu La and then the final push. Other climbers on the peak include a 16 men-strong Indian team, two Swedes, two Spaniards, one Japanese, one Mexican, and an American team led by Steve House (currently acclimatizing on Baruntse).

Makalu/Kangchen double for Korean dark horse? A 12-member Korean team is currently fixing the entire route and breaking trail for a female team member. “She has not left BC yet. Once the route is ready, she’ll just go all the way to the top, while a chopper waits in BC, ready to airlift her to Kangchenjunga,” the Basques reported. “Another Korean team is currently working for the lady on Kanchen, so she can go for another summit push right after arrival in BC, with everything fixed for her.” The Korean lady is probably Oh Eun-sun, hoping to bag the 14×8000ers in record time.

Kangchenjunga: Edurne & Co left a cache in C3, while Oscar Cadiach’s team did a first trip up to C1. No news yet on Nives and Romano, expected in BC any day. Norwegian Jon Gangdal’s team is also working on Kangchen’s southern side.

Dhaulagiri: Sky-skier Louis Stitzinger’s team left a cache at C1 and returned to BC. “An Indian expedition has fixed thick 10mm ropes on the lower sections of the route,” they reported. “In addition there are Korean, Japanese, Polish and Czech teams here.” Some climbers reported there might be a summit push ongoing, but no news is available yet. The Polish team of Tatra Mountain rescuers reported strong winds and tough sections of crystal ice between C2 and C3, which forced the climbers to fix a large amount of rope.

Pumori: Russian Krasnoyarsk team set up Base Camp (5180 m) by Pumori’s South face on Monday. “Weather’s being great – conditions are unusual for spring-time in the Himalayas: There is little snow and the rivers are dry,” they reported.

Steck, Anthamatten and Samurais awarded Piolets d’Or – BAC prize for Ochoa’s rescuers A wider choice for election turned the brand new award into plural “Piolets d’Or”, multiplying the number of prizes. Three teams – two of them Japanese – were unanimously awarded (Kamet’s SE face, Kalanka’s North face, Tengkampoche’s North face). A ‘life-time-award’ went to Walter Bonatti, 79. A “Spirit of Mountaineering”, award went to the group of voluntary rescuers who attempted to rescue Iñaki Ochoa on Annapurna’s South face.

Winter Makalu debrief interview with Simone Moro: Following his first winter ascent of Makalu, Simone returned home to a chain of dramatic events. His Shisha climbing partner was lost on Dhaulagiri and an earth quake struck his country. ExWeb caught up with Moro in US this week for a 2-part interview.

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

* zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

A century after Cook and Peary; this weekend John Huston and Tyler Fish became the first American team to reach the North Pole without assistance.

Concerns are grave for Martin Minarik, missing on Annapurna.

In other news: several major new route attempts were announced last week. A climber brought news from the Piolet d’Or award. ExWeb ran a number of interviews with researchers, climbers and polar explorers. The Indian Ocean race kicked off to a hard start: three boats retired, two within 36 hours.

Annapurna south watch: Czech Martin Minarik and French Elisabeth Revol reached Annapurna’s Eastern summit (8,021m) on Monday following eight days of rough conditions on the peak’s south side. By Wednesday while on descent, Eli Revol reported over SMS that “Martin is not well.” A report brought Sunday by Libor Uher’s website and later confirmed by Czech mountain news sources said that Eli and Martin split up at 7100 meters where Martin became unable to move on his own. Revol was found exhausted in Manang village and met with Libor´s team and Ms. Hawley in Kathmandu on Friday, trying to detail her route of descent. A two day search by helicopters and a team of Sherpa has been unsuccessful and the heli SAR was reportedly called off today.

From Annapurna to Kangchenjunga: “Conditions on Annapurna’s south face are too dangerous,” Nives & Romano’s home team reported. “Thus, the climbers are switching back to their original goal: Kangchenjunga.”

Annapurna north: Bad conditions on Anna’s north side thwarted all of Babanov & Afanasiev’s attempts to acclimatize up any of the routes. The Czech route was aborted due to a snow storm; a second push up the classical French was halted due to high risk of avalanches and serac falls. A huge snow-slide buried most of the ropes previously fixed by a Korean expedition and by Friday the two climbers decided to abandon altogether. “Annapurna is currently too dangerous both on its North and West sides – under such conditions; we can’t properly acclimatize for a serious climb,” commented Babanov.

Manaslu: massive summit push is on! Carlos Pauner, Joao Garcia, Mario Merelli, the French and Korean climbers are all on a big push, hoping to attempt the summit on or around April 27th. “The forecast shows three days of good weather, and then a major storm,” said Carlos Pauner about the tiny window.

ExWeb interviews with Joao Garcia. He is the first Portuguese summiteer of nine +8000 meter peaks, including Everest and K2 – all without supplementary oxygen. Only three 8000ers now remain to complete Joao’s quest for the 14 tallest mountains in the world. ExWeb caught up with the climber in Manaslu BC for a 2-part interview shortly before the current summit push.

Cho Oyu south-east face: Denis Urubko for new line in alpine style Only Cho Oyu remains on Urubko’s list of all 14, 8000ers. The politics holding his last mountain hostage proved an opportunity in disguise. Together with Boris Dedeshko, Denis will attempt Cho Oyu not from China – but from Nepal. The two mountaineers plan to study the wall for 5-6 days before the upcoming climb, which will go in alpine style.

Everest south side: A large chunk of ice collapsed mid-week in the Khumbu Icefall while over 100 Sherpas were heading up to C2. No injuries were reported, but the route was blocked for most of the day. A large number of Sherpa is currently fixing a double-lane route up the Lhotse Face towards C3. The Kazakh LET team moved their C3 camp to 7,300 meters by Friday. Explore Himalaya is launching “Everest Skydive 2009” run by world champion skydivers. Seven Summits Club reached the top of Amadablam (6856m) on April 18 and Island Peak on April 9 as the first climbers this season. Leader Victor Bobok then headed to Everest south side BC as guide for Alex Abramov.

Everest north side: Norwegian Jarle Traa is off to attempt Everest from its north side. After acclimatizing by climbing Elbrus twice, Jarle will continue his strategy from Shisha in 2006 and Cho Oyu in 2004 to climb independent with no Sherpa and no supplementary oxygen support. Canadian Manuel Pizarro and team mate André are rearranging to climb Everest from Tibet instead of their originally planned South side. SummitClimb reached ABC on Thursday. Japanese Kanagawa University’s Qomolangma team set off from Interim Camp towards ABC on Wednesday. The Serbian expedition was acclimatizing around the lower BC Friday while they arrange yaks to carry their loads to ABC.

Dhaulagiri mourning: Slovak Peter Hamor is back in Kathmandu, working all paperwork related to his friend Polish Piotr Morawski’s fatal accident on the mountain. “Blurry thoughts are slowly clearing up – very slowly,” Peter wrote. “In recent months, some great climbers were lost to the mountains: Jean-Christophe, Inaki, Jean Noel… And now ‘Tres Pedros’ belong to the past, since the youngest and healthiest of the three is gone…”

Cho Oyu unrestricted? In spite of closed borders, a few teams are reaching Cho Oyu’s Chinese BC. Members of a Belgian expedition arrived Monday.

E-Gongga (Mt.Edgar): “Jannu’s” for new route Jannu North face summiteers Alexander “Alex” Ruchkin and Mikhail “Misha” Mikhailov are off to Minya Konka massif (Western Sichuan), hoping to achieve the first alpine style ascent of E-Gongga (6618m) SE face.

Lunag Ri, so close: Following an ascent of the South Face of Jobo Rinzang (6,777 meters), the Eastern sub peak of the main summit – in the last report Joe and David were to climb a knife-edge 2km ridge to Lunag Ri’s main top.

Pumori: Russia for a new route: Russia’s Krasnoyarsk climbers hope to open a new route up the south face of Pumori.

Nanda Devi East: Polish Marcin Miotk and Grzegorz Mroz are leading a team currently on their way to Nanda Devi East, in an anniversary climb 70 years after a fellow Polish expedition achieved the peak’s first ascent. A British expedition led by Marin Moran is also on their way, in the first-ever guided attempt on the mountain’s East Summit.

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

MARCIN MIOTK – alpinista młodego pokolenia, fotograf, filmowiec. Od kilku lat sukcesywnie realizuje swoje marzenia związane z górami wysokimi. Mimo młodego wieku zdobył kilka trudnych szczytów, w tym trzy szczyty ośmiotysięczne. W roku 2004 Marcin zdobył Pik Pobiedy (7439 m n.p.m.) – jeden z najtrudniejszych siedmiotysięczników świata. W roku 2005 roku spełnił swoje wielkie marzenie – jako pierwszy Polak wszedł na Mount Everest bez używania dodatkowego tlenu.

· 1999 – ANDY, ACONCAGUA (6959 m) – samotne wejście od strony Plaza Argentina
· 1999 – HIMALAJE, SHISHA PANGMA MIDDLE (8013 m)
· 2001 – ANDY, HUANA POTOSI (6088 m)
· 2002 – MT KENIA (5199 m)
· 2002 – TIEN SHAN, CHAN TENGRI (7010 m)
· 2003 – HIMALAJE, CHO OYU (8201 m) – szybki atak z obozu II (7000 m n.p.m.)
· 2004 – TIEN SHAN, PIK POBIEDY (7439 m) – szybkie wejście w stylu alpejskim
· 2005 – HIMALAJE, ANNAPURNA (8091 m) – dojście do 7300 m drogą Bonningtona
· 2005 – HIMALAJE, MOUNT EVEREST (8850 m) – pierwsze polskie wejście bez użycia tlenu, samotnie, bez pomocy Szerpów

Więcej o wyprawach Marcina na stronie www.miotk.pl

Droga wejsciowa – Everest North 2005 – pierwsze polskie wejście bez użycia tlenu.

Źródło:  – http://himalman.wordpress.com/

* zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

Lonely climbers on difficult attempts have taken center stage in Himalaya, with two teams reported on Everest.

In other news: a Portuguese team was reportedly expelled from Cho Oyu, while it’s climbing as usual in troubled ex-Soviet. In Pakistan, the ministry has granted continued royalty cut, reporting all well in the northern areas.

The week brought a number of tech stories, introducing the 8848 High Speed Package plus the latest on Antarctica safety gear.

Lonely Kangchenjunga Jörgen and Fredrik are the only climbers on the south side of Kangchenjunga. The two have scouted the route pass crevasses and seracs on a steep glacier to camp 1 at 6200 meters. Next, the climbers will find the route up to Camp 2 at 7000 meters.

Everest: two expeditions Peak Freaks have reached ABC (5700m) on Pumori, with great views of Everest. The team reports two expeditions there this fall. Korean Park Young-seok is attempting Everest’s SW face with a team of 11 climbers. The other expedition could be that of François Bon, hoping to speed ride Everest, although this news is yet unconfirmed.

Shisha Pangma: It’s over for Edurne Dhaulagiri and Manaslu will have to suffice as 2008 summit results for Edurne Pasaban. Deep cold, mainly threatening her feet mutilated by frostbite from K2, forced her to give up her Shisha attempt. Meanwhile in Madrid, Sebastian Alvaro stated Al Filo is not returning to 8000+meters climbing, but will instead focus on smaller, technical peaks.

Cho Oyu: Portuguese expelled from BC A signed and stamped climbing permit was not enough for a small Portuguese expedition to Cho Oyu. The three members reached ABC on October 7, but sent home an SMS on October 9 stating that the Chinese wanted to close access to BC and would not let them stay in ABC. The team was forced to abort the expedition and leave.

Annapurna: Climbers reached 6,300 meters after 11 hours fighting their way in 50cm of fresh snow. With that much powder the mountain wasn’t ready Jean Troillet decided and called the attempt off for now.

Makalu-La reached Vince, Steve and Marko are acclimatizing on Makalu’s normal route reaching Makalu La (24,000 ft.) last week.

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Heads-up from Baruntse climber: “ECO card worked perfectly in the Hunku valley” Following his recent summit of Mera and Baruntse, and walking out via the Amphu Laptsa pass, Contact user Louis Kosztelny checked in with a heads-up for the HET community: “the ECO card worked perfectly in the Hunku valley,” he wrote. “With daily dispatches and phone calls I still only managed to use up less than two ECO scratch cards, so it is very economical.” Next, Louis is off to New Zealand in early November for a MtCook Grand Traverse and for next year he’s planning a private trip to GII and GI, pending the political situation in Pakistan at the time.

Pakistan: reduced climbing fees to continue in 2009 The Pakistan Ministry of Tourism has decided to continue the reduction in Royalty fee for the year 2009. There’s zero royalty fee for peaks up to 6500 m; 10% on mountains situated in Chitral, Gilgit and Ghizer except on Spantik/Golden Peak; 5% fee on all peaks during winter; and 50% discount on all peaks such as K2 during summer. The northern areas remain safe.

ExWeb checks in with ALE: technology must-have at Antarctica HumanEdgeTech checked in with Mike Sharp, Operation manager of ALE and longtime manager of the Patriot Hill Base Camp to get the scoop on safety gear requirements. Check the latest for GPS, Satellite phone and VHF on the ice.

Blank sun could mark calm before the storm in space weather forecast Solar activity rises and falls in 11-year cycles, and around two years back we reached the end of the last one. The next cycle is expected to be exceptionally stormy, with sunspots and solar flares messing up expeditions’ satellite phones and other satellite based tech. Solar cycles take time to build up to fever pitch and until now, the star has sported very low activity. But now SpaceWeather.com reports that for the third time in as many weeks a new-cycle sunspot has interrupted the year’s remarkable run of blank suns. While solar activity remains very low, the sunspot cycle is unfolding more or less normally, the source concluded.

2008 International Elbrus Race debrief During the eighties, speed ascent competitions on Elbrus (5642 meters) were part of the training program for members of the first Soviet Himalaya expeditions. The new Elbrus race is now open to the entire world. The latest edition kicked off in September with a record number of attendants. The four Extreme Class climbers topped out after 4-6 hours. Roman Gubanov (K2 Abruzzi ridge climb in 2007) won the extremes at 4 hours and 53 minutes. While the Classic class started at an advanced point 1300 meters higher up; many racers didn’t make the Col in 6 hours and only 13 finally made the summit, with Anna Petrova the only woman at 4 hrs 38 min.

Focus Russia: Georgia film festival and other short stories The Georgian Tbilisi Mountain, Adventure and Extreme film festival will kick off on February 12-22, 2009. Check ExWeb’s skinny on the current state of things in ex-Soviet.

G3 Announces A Ski Graphic Contest Genuine Guide Gear is inviting aspiring and professional designers and artists to submit their designs for a new topsheet on a G3 ski. The winner will be announced at the Coldsmoke Powder Festival the weekend of February 20, 2009 in Nelson BC.

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.
e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

** Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com