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Mountain photos - amateur
and professional photos of mountains.
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03.10.2007
Source: Valery Babanov |
| (2.10.2007)
Babanov-Kofanov. Jannu (7710m) North Face: in a two-man team & alpine style. Opening of base camp. The wall is snow-crowned. 30.09.2007 Today was the opening day of the exhibition our BC with puja - a traditional Buddhist ceremony to ask the gods for protection and permission to climb. Weather remains unstable, rain interchanges with snowing. The entire wall is snow-crowned. Tomorrow we set off for acclimatization climb. Valery. SMS from Sergey Kofanov: "The disposition is the same, unless rain changed snowing. Visibility is still zero. We are sitting in 500 meters from the wall, but have not seen the Mountain yet. There is nothing to do but just sit and act Grand Slam playing cards... On September 30 we made an acclimatization climb up to 5300m". Source: babanov.com |
Dhaulagiri Ski Expedition. The sun is shining over Dhaulagiri again after six days of snowfall.
If conditions and weather are good I will continue up towards C2 and C3 the following days. Very early Friday morning I will put the skis on my backpack, leave my tent in C3 and start climbing towards the summit of Dhaulagiri.
All photos (number: 3) |
Dhaulagiri Ski Expedition Update 4. Puja, Fixed ropes and Acclimatisation The weather is good and time flies by here in Nepal. Life in base camp (BC) is simple and easy going, mostly focused on food. After three days in BC I went up and had my first taste of Dhaulagiri, The White Mountain.
Since I arrived in BC the weather has been very nice and stable, lots of sunshine and not much wind. To climb an 8000-meter peak you need to spend a lot of time getting used to the altitude, acclimating as it’s called. The mountains here in Nepal are sacred and the Buddhist people believe that the god’s live in the mountains. Therefore, before you begin climbing you have to do a ceremony that is called Puja to show your respect to the God’s. The Nepalese people here in BC built a Chorten (Buddhist monument) out of rocks and attached to it was prayer flags in four directions. On top of the Chorten was a photo of The Dalai Lama and offerings like rice, cookies, chocolate bars etc. The ceremony was held by Buddhist monk who was singing and saying prayers as we threw rice towards the Chorten. After the Puja you have permission from the god’s to set your foot on their mountain and you have their support during your climb. Summer has been hard on Dhaulagiri. It’s very dry on the lower slopes and the snow level is around 5500 meters. The first part of the climb is a cracked up glacier that is called the icefall. The Serac’s (ice pillars) in the icefall are regularly falling and making a brumming noise giving us climbers something to fear. You don’t want to be anywhere near the Serac falls therefore the climbing route goes on the right hand side of the ice fall, on the lower parts of a big rock wall. Without snow on this part it’s a mix of sand, rocks, and ice. Horrible, if you ask me. After that you walk on a flat glacier for a bit until it gets steeper up to the northeast pass of Dhaulagiri where you’ll find camp 1 (C1), at around 5700 meters. Apart from the sandbox in the beginning the terrain is fairly easy with only a few hairy crevasses (cracks in the glacier) to cross. My first time on the mountain was a long struggle to get up to C1, where I spent the night. It took me six and a half hours to climb the 1000 vertical meters up to camp and during the night I didn’t sleep much due to an evil headache. That didn’t give me much confidence for the future. The next day I went back down to base camp. Everyday life in base camp is simple but comfortable. I have my own tent where I sleep and keep my clothing and gear. In our kitchen tent chef Budhi and his assistant Kansha are serving breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. It’s like having my mom here in camp. All I have to do is to show up to get an excellent meal. Other than that there is time to read books, listen to music and cruise around visiting the other climbers. The climbers that are here this year to climb Dhaulagiri are a big Japanese team with about thirteen climbers, including six Climbing Sherpa’s (Nepalese porters), a Dutch-Austrian team with four climbers and one Korean climber with his two climbing Sherpa’s. In the last few days a French team and a Polish team has arrived as well. It’s a good mix of people and we‘re having a good time. The Japanese team has hired Sherpa’s to fix ropes on the mountain making the climbing safer and easier. The ropes are fixed along almost the whole climbing route. I heard a figure of 2800 meters of rope only up to camp 1. Personally, I think it takes away some of the exploratory experience you get from climbing a mountain. It has one positive thing though, if you follow the ropes you will never get lost. The second time on the mountain I slept one night in C1 before I climbed up a gentle snow slope towards the northeast ridge. On the ridge it got steeper and there were a few crevasses to cross on the way to C2 at 6500 meters. After having dinner with a view of an amazing sunset on the Annapurna Mountains I tucked myself down in to my thick sleeping bag to get some rest. My sleep that night was disrupted by yet another evil headache. During the days I feel fine but during the nights the nasty “high altitude man” is giving me a few punches in the head. To get the most out of this acclimating trip I climbed up the ridge to about 6900 meters before turning around and heading back down to C2. I spent a second night in C2 feeling a bit better and the next day I skied down to C1. It started with cautious turns in powder on the steep ridge and went big cruising turns in sugar snow on the slopes down towards C1. It was an amazing experience to ski on the slopes of Dhaulagiri with mountains like Annapurna and Nilgiri in the background. Felt good to finally get some skiing after some weeks of transportation. Now I’m back in base camp and I will stay here for three to four days to rest before I go up again. I’m feeling well acclimated so next time I will aim for the summit. If everything goes as planned, the weather is good and I’m in good shape, I will summit Dhaulagiri at the end of the month. Looking forward to more skiing. For more info about Fredrik and the Dhaulagiri Expedition check out his website www.fredrikericsson.com Fredrik’s partners: Dynastar, Osprey, Adidas Eyewear. Supporters: Grivel, Giro, Ortovox, Dynafit, Therm-Ic, Himaya, Duracell, Loben Expeditions and Jämtport. All photos (number: 2) |
"Sharf" - New Boulder World Champion! Mens' results : 1 Sharafutdinov Dmitriy 1986 RUS Womens' Results : 1 Stohr Anna 1988 AUT |
Climbing World Championship 2007 (Lead, Bouldering, Sped - Aviles, Spain. Bouldering Qualification contest. While we were working, drinking or visiting galleries yesterday Spain's Aviles became the theatre of the a stiff battle in bouldering qualification. Not all to the last Russian have got qualified. There it goes! |
Frenchmen in Garwhal. Changabang (6864m). Expedition is up and running... Well, expedition is up and running. Our small team come forward Garwhal. On September, 14 we left Delhi and the next afternoon safely reached up to Joshimath, a small small town in the Central Garwhal of about some thousand souls in population. The things were rather tiresome in Delhi: buying food, running for a permit (without success this time: probably we should come back here again and Yannick is our volunteer to do that). We found Joshimath very lively and noisy. And this is because of a local festival there. Everything appeared very nice.
While we are waiting for a local a climbing permit for Arwa Tower: it was Sunday yesterday, today is Monday but festival, - everywhere Ambushes. Our greetings and kisses for all of you, Christian Trommsdorff, Yannick Graziani, Vanessa and Carolina |
How should you climb "9a+": learning lessons from Dave Graham Do you want to see how Dave Graham bagged the 4th ascent of Chris Sharma's masterpiece "Biographie/realization", 9a + ? |
World championship in Spain. First news from Julia Abramchuk
On September, 19 Julia Abramchuk Qualification results |
Headache and Donkey dung
After the spectacular flight from Pokhara to Jomsom and a short walk to Marpha my two companions Budhi and Kansha and I started the three days trek towards Dhaulagiri Base Camp. Leaving Marpha at 2670 meters we headed up the trail on steep grassy slopes gaining altitude quickly. According to Budhi, that has done this trek a couple of times before, our camp for the night was supposed to be at 3600 meters and it would take about 3-4 hours to get there. That sounded good to me. I didn’t want to go too far since I’ve been battling a flew for the last few days and didn’t feel very strong. After about three and a half hours we came up to a couple of stone houses on a nice grass field. It reminded me of the sheep herder huts in the Alps. That was a perfect camp site I thought but Budhi had something else in mind. -It’s time for lunch, he said.
Second day of the trek was a feast in beautiful views. The higher we got the more spectacular the surrounding mountains became. We had Nilgiri, on the other side of the valley, behind us and after about an hour of uphill the stunning view of Tukuche Peak and Dhaulagiri came into sight on our left hand side. The more than 1000 meters higher Dhaulagiri looked disappointingly small compared to the much closer located Tukuche from that angle. Going around the northern side of Tukuche Peak we lost sight of Dhaulagiri but saw the sun set behind its brother peak Dhaulagiri 3 as we pitched our tents in camp. Unfortunately we didn’t reach our camp in the Hidden Valley before the donkeys had spread their shit all over the place. During the night I got a headache that was growing heavier and heavier leaving me with only a few hours of sleep. I’m definitely blaming the donkeys for my headache and not that I had ascended too fast to 5000 meters. The final day of the trek was a four hour walk on rocky and uneven moraine with the high point of The French Pass at 5360 meters. My headache from the night before slowly disappeared with my growing excitement as we closed in on our final destination, The Dhaulagiri Base Camp. I have now settled down in our camp at 4780 meters. I have built a nice platform for my tent that is going to be my home for the next month, taken my first shower in five days and I’m enjoying Budhi’s excellent food. All is good and I’m eager to head up the mountain. For more info about Fredrik and the Dhaulagiri Expedition check out his website www.fredrikericsson.com
Fredrik’s partners: Dynastar, Osprey, Adidas Eyewear. All photos (number: 2) |
Date update: 17.09.2007 Big Wall - Russian Way. Kyzyl-Asker peak (5600m) Southeast face. Summit! Odintsov's team reached the summit on September 14 about 16.00. Then the guys descended to their summit bivy and the next day is going to descend. The details will be soon after the climbers come back to BC. |
Fredrik Ericsson. Dhaulagiri Ski Expedition. Update 2 2007-09-10 On the road, again! After a week in Kathmandu things have finally started moving here. With a smile on my face I’m on my way to the mountains.
It all changed last Friday after a few days of grumpy me. I was close to exploding of anger believing that the airline had lost my skis and climbing gear. I had started working on plan B: finding gear in Kathmandu, so that this wouldn’t be the end of the trip. Most of the climbing gear and clothing was possible to gather from friends and shops. Skis were more difficult, at least there was nothing from the 21st Century to be found. Having sorted out the gear problem I got on the bus for the six hours ride to Pokhara where I was met by a massive rain. I guess the monsoon is not quite over yet. Walking back to my hotel from a restaurant in the evening was like walking in a shallow creek. It was water all over the place. I had one day of sightseeing in Pokhara and went on a boat ride on the Fewa lake, visited the Peace Stupa and the Devi’s waterfall. Sunday morning I got up early and went to the airport to catch the flight to Jomsom. Ghorka Air took me along for a mind blowing experience. As the small propeller plane rose through the clouds we were in the middle of an anfi-theatre of beautiful peaks. The Machhapuchhare, also called the fish tail mountain, the four Annapurna’s and Nilgiri to mention a few. Last but not least I got the first glimpse of Dhaulagiri. That was a great feeling. In Jomsom Budhi, that will be my cook in base camp, and his brother was waiting for me. They’ve been trekking in three days from a town called Beni with the food, gas canisters and all the rest of the gear that couldn’t be taken on the plane. As soon as I got my bags we left Jomsom and walked the one and half hours down the valley to a town called Marpha and the Snow Leopard Lodge were we were going to spend the night. Monday the trek towards base camp will start. It’s a serious trek going over two passes (Dhampus and French pass) that are higher than 5000 meters. If everything goes as planned we will reach Dhaulagiri base camp (4700m) on Wednesday. For more info about Fredrik and the Dhaulagiri Expedition check out his website www.fredrikericsson.com Fredrik’s partners: Dynastar, Osprey, Adidas Eyewear. Supporters: Grivel, Giro, Ortovox, Dynafit, Therm-Ic, Himaya, Duracell, Loben Expeditions and Jämtport.
Captions: All photos (number: 2) |
Club "Climbers of 30 years and upward". 8b from Jibe Tribout The 46-year living free-climbing legend, frenchman Jean Baptiste Tribout keeps up the speed supporting hopes and motivation of all aged climbers :) This summer Jean Baptiste has redpointed up to 8b and flashed 8a. |
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British expedition: first ascent in Chinese Xinjiang On July 25 a British expedition set up base camp at 4500 meters on the Kuksay Glacier in Chinese Xinjiang. And in early August the team of John Allen, David Barker, Joe Howard and Richard Taylor made the first ascent via the line marked on the north face of Yilpiz (5313m) that rises from the Kuksay Glacier basin immediately east of Muztagh Ata in Chinese Xinjiang (TD, Scottish III, 60 degrees, 10 roped pitches). |
Dhaulagiri Ski Expedition Update 1 2007-09-04 Missed flight and a lost bag! Finally the trip has started. I’m on my way to Dhaulagiri, the 8167 meter high mountain in Nepal to climb and ski. I must admit that the trip could have started better. I left Chamonix last Wednesday and flew from Geneva in Switzerland to Doha in Qatar. That part went smoothly. I was in time, the flight was on time and I didn’t have to pay for any excess weight for my big and heavy ski bag with all my ski and climbing gear. In Qatar my luck changed. I had three hours until my flight for Kathmandu was leaving. That was plenty of time I thought so I strolled around the airport, checked the internet and listened to a book on my mp3 player. Not at all thinking of the one hour time difference between Europe and Qatar I arrived at the gate when the plane had already left. Fortunately for me they let me rebook on the next flight without charge. Not so fortunate, the next flight to Kathmandu was 24 hours later. By now I know the Doha airport quite well. I do not recommend the restaurants. Friday morning I arrived in Kathmandu and after a bit of queuing to get visa I walked over to the baggage belt to pick up my bags. My duffel bag was there, but my ski bag was nowhere to be found. In that bag I have my skis, poles, crampons, ice axes and down clothing: the gear that I need to be able to go up in the mountains. Without it I might as well take a flight to a beach resort and go swimming.
After filing a report for my lost bag and checking in at the hotel my Nepalese friend Loben took me sightseeing in Kathmandu. We visited the touristy shopping quarters of Thamel, Bouddhanath, the sacred Buddhist stupa and the Hindu temple of Pashupatinath. Kathmandu is a big city with millions of people and it seems that everyone has a car or a motorcycle. I first met Loben in 2004 when I was in Tibet to climb and ski my first 8000-meter peak, Shisha Pangma. Loben runs a company called Loben Expeditions that is organizing anything from short treks to big expeditions all over the Himalayas. If you’re interested in a great experience in the mountains of Nepal, Tibet or India you should talk to Loben. On my Shisha Pangma Expedition as well as my ongoing Dhaulagiri Expedition Loben has made all the arrangements with climbing and trekking permits, base camp staff and all logistics in Nepal. To find out more about his services you can check out his website: www.lobenexpeditions.com
Hanging out with Loben and his friends I’ve found out that a Nepalese guy is competing in the TV show “India’s Idol”. He’s one of only three remaining so it’s getting big here in Nepal. What can be better evening entertainment than watching India’s Idol?
I take full credit for missing the flight, but the lost bag I must give that to Qatar Airways. They have put in a great effort to lose a big ski bag. All photos (number: 3) |
Date update: 17.09.2007 Big Wall - Russian Way. Kyzyl-Asker peak (5600m) Southeast face. The team started the climb. The area is so distant that the guys can make communication only by phone and sms. So we are precluded from an opportunity to hear Odintsov's and Bakin's expressive comments. Only the facts: the team started the climb in clear weather and favorable forecast. Doctor Bakin reports that all are healthy. |
| (5.09.2007)
Sergey Bogomolov Ê2: Well, that's about... The mountain has made the choice
3.09.07
2.09.07
30.08.07
31.08.07
1.09.07 |
Tennis on Top of Cho-Oyu (8201)
September 11 “7Summits Club – Alpindustria” expedition is leaving for Nepal under the leadership of Alexander Abramov. The aim is to climb the sixth highest mountain in the world. Classic route from Tibet side.
Expedition members:
On the foto All photos (number: 1) |
Date update: 17.09.2007 Big Wall - Russian Way. Kyzyl-Asker peak (5600m) Southeast face: Independence Day in Kirghizia. The helicopter under the wall is postponed on September 3. There is Independence Day in Kirghizia. The helicopter under the wall is postponed on September 3. We have a thunder-storm and cloudy sky. But have already made two training ascents. |
| (2.09.2007)
Good news. On a good day a trio Klenov-Davy-Shabunin has opened a new route on Shingu Charpa. "We climbed a new route in 24 days and now we are in Skardu. Tomorrow we fly to Islamabad. 37 pitches, max 7a/A3, but that means nothing because the line appeared more difficult than any route each of us has climbed before. We named it " Never more ". |
Dhaulagiri Ski Expedition 2007 In the end of August Swedish extreme skier Fredrik Ericsson is going to Nepal to try to make the first ever ski descent of the 8167-meter high mountain Dhaulagiri , the seventh highest mountain in the world. To succeed with his goal Fredrik has a long and adventurous journey ahead of him. During the six weeks in Nepal he will travel through the country, experience its culture and food, fight to stay healthy and last but not least he will climb and ski one of the highest mountains in the world. - Dhaulagiri will be a fight against thin air, cold temperatures and strong wind. On top of that there is more than 3000 meters to climb and skiing steep and exposed terrain. All that makes this an exciting adventure, says Fredrik. Normally the highest mountains in the Himalayas are climbed by big teams that are using sherpas (porters) to carry all the equipment and food to the camps that are spread out along the route up the mountain. Many of the climbers are also using bottled oxygen to reach the summit. When Fredrik is going to climb the northeast ridge of Dhaulagiri, he's doing it different. He climbs on his own, without bottled oxygen or help from sherpas. Did I mention that he's skiing down? Dhaulagiri comes from ”Dhavali giri” which is Sanskrit and means ” White Mountain ”. Dhaulagiri , at the altitude of 8167 meters, is the seventh highest mountain in the world. It was first climbed on May 13 1960 by Kurt Diemberger, Peter Diener, Ernst Forrer, Albin Schelbert, Nyima Dorji and Nawang Dorji as members of a Swiss/Austrian expedition. They climbed the northeast ridge. Since then the mountain has been climbed by hundreds of people and seen legends like Reinhold Messner, Ed Viesturs and Jean-Christophe Lafaille. But at this day no one has skied Dhaulagiri . Fredrik Ericsson is a professional skier from Sweden , living in Chamonix , France . 2004 he became the first Swede to ski an 8000-meter peak when he skied from the central summit of Shisha Pangma (8012 meters) in Tibet . The year after, Fredrik travelled to Pakistan and skied his second 8000er, Gasherbrum 2 (8035 meters). On the same trip he also skied on the coveted Laila Peak (6069 meters). During the winters Fredrik travels the world with his skis, exploring remote mountain ranges. That has taken him to places like Turkey , Tajikistan , Spitsbergen and Sarek National Park in Sweden . The 8000ers have gained a legendary status in the climbing world. There are only 14 peaks in the world higher than 8000 meters and all of them are in the Himalaya or Karakoram mountain ranges. To reach the summit on these mountains one has to climb in the so called Death Zone. At the altitude of 8000 meters the air pressure is about a third compared to sea level. That means that the body doesn't get enough oxygen to function and starts to deteriorate, therefore the name Death Zone. On June 3, 1950 French climbers Louis Lachenal and Maurice Herzog made the groundbreaking ascent of the first 8000er when they reached the summit of Annapurna (8091 meters). In the following 14 years all the 8000ers was conquered. In 1986 Reinhold Messner became the first man to have climbed all 14 peaks. Follow Fredrik's adventure on the mountain Dhaulagiri in Nepal on www.fredrikericsson.com Fredrik's sponsors: Dynastar skis, Osprey, Adidas Eyewear All photos (number: 4) |
| (29.08.2007)
Sergey Bogomolov Ê2: We fought our way through to the third camp.
28.08.07
27.08.07 SB. |
Climbing expedition in Madagascar : The hardest route in the South Hemisphere? Karambony expedition : Extrem climb in Madagascar Island A 400m overhanging face, with pitches up to 8b+ (5.14a) with the fantastics landscapes of Madagascar. We are talking about the last climbing trip organized by http://www.Kairn.com After the cliffs and boulders of Argentina (Look at "Encantado" DVD : http://www.tkbfilms.com/dvd-encantado1-bonus.html ) Kairn decides to send some of the best climbers worldwide in order to bring back some nice images. The main goal of this expedition is to free the route "Tough Enough". Opened inaugust 2005 by germans climbers A. Steinel y D. Gebel, Tough Enough is a 12 pitches route on the 400 overhanging face of Karambony, Tsaranoro massif, Madagascar The route was opened in aid climbing with Camalots # 0.1, 0.5,0.75, 1, 2, 1/2 double, Rocks 4-10, 1-10,Rurps/Beaks, Heads Actual grade : 8b/A3 The upper part has not be freed.
In order to free this route, http://www.kairn.com asked some of the world wide climbers to joind the expedition : Evrard Wendenbaum, who filmed "Amazonian Vertigo" will be there to film the best images of the trip. You can follow the expedition and the daily reports on http://www.humanedgetech.com/expedition/kairn/ Source: www.kairn.com |
Jannu (7710m) North Face: in a two-man team & alpine style
26.08.2007
The idea to open a new route on Jannu North Face in a two-man team and alpine style leaped into my mind not today but about seven years ago. And the things seem to go right way and in four weeks we can already take a view at Jannu summit. All photos (number: 5) |
K2 West Face first climb: Summit!!! 21.08.2007 13:00 Summit!!! 12-50 Andrey Mariev and Vadim Popovich had a radio communication from K2 summit! At 12.50 Pakistan time, 11.50 Moscow time, Andrey Mariev and Vadim Popovich reached the summit of
Ê2 ! succeeded on the hardest route - Russian!- via the West Face of K2- the most complicated world mountain! Congratulations!!! Thanks for your support! Victor Kozlov, the head of Russian National K2 expedition |
The hardest route of Deverse for Alex Chabot
Last week, Alex Chabot did what he thinks to be the hardest route of Deverse
: "PuntX" (Gorges du Loup, France)
More information and pictures on : Source: www.kairn.com |
Charakusa big-wall action A strong Belgian-Polish team consisting of: brothers Nicolas and Olivier Favrese, Sean Villanueva (all Belgium) and Adam Pustelnik (Poland) has spent more than a month in Charakusa Valley with a goal to open new routes on beautiful granite spires. And they managed two major sends. Their first objective was an unclimbed pillar of Pik 6615m in the west ridge of K7. They tackled it in big-wall style - bringing portaledges and hauling loads. The 1000-meter/26 pitch route went free at 7b. The team spent 16 days on the wall, strugling with bad weather and snowfalls, which eventually stopped them at the end of the rocky pillar, leaving 200m of a snowy ridge to the summit. They tried to wait out bad weather, but eventually were forced to finished their route there and rapelled down. The name for the climb is Badal - which in Urdu means "partly clouded". After resting a couple of days in the base camp the four men team chose to go for one more climb, light'n fast this time. The goal was the right side of the central pillar of K7 (6950m). They made it in one long push, which lasted 39 hours basecamp to basecamp. Their route, Ledgeway to heaven is 1300 meters/28 pitches long and went almost all free at 7b+ 1xA0. They moved in good style, leaving just a single bolt and a single piton on the route. This is probably the first ascent of the pillar. If that is confirmed they propose name Nafees Khup for it. Source: www.wspinanie.pl |
French mountain Guide and former president of UIAGM died
Claude Rey, french mountain guide died yesterday after falling in a crevasse on the Aletsch glacier, Switzerland. |
Geoffray de Flaugergues the youngest to repeat Geminis 8c
After Charlotte Durif : en.kairn.com Source: en.kairn.com |
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| (25.02.2005) All nominees are assembled. In some minutes the hanging committee opens representation of the projects - the most important alpine achievements over the past year. In the evening just past midnight (Moscow time) the Winners will be announced.
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Our climb was rather uneasy - the route appeared very long and difficult. We had to haul a lot of gear as the route includes practically all elements: difficult rock-climbing, AID-climbing, ice and snow climbing. We did our best and showed a good result - for the first day we climbed the ice-fall, made 11 pitches up to the Col and 18 pitches after it and stop to spend the night sitting on a small ledge under the traverse. It was cold but according to the Patagonian measures rather tolerable as it could be much worse. Since the morning we quickly traversed and met a great company of British climbers descending to base camp after four day-climbing the route. They were impressed very much at our technique and speed of climb, and later, on the party they invited us to arrive in UÊ on annual international forum. In the same place we met Slovenian familiar girls Tanya and Monica that had luck this time: they found courage to return after a week-old failure and summited after a three-day climb. After the traverse we made four pitches more. The sun was already shining with all his might. It was the 4-th day of ideal sun weather. We prayed on good weather and we had it. However it brought us the main problem. Under the sun's rays the summit ice mushroom, hanging above a vertical headwall, began to thaw and crumble. When we got under it, the collapse of ice-blocks drew to a head. Every pitch more and more ice fell from above. Making the 4-th pitch we had to shelter from the ice bombardment with our backpacks for some minutes and to take advantage of a 30-second break to climb some meters more. It became too dangerous. And we decided that living is high and bailed being overpowered by nature. And it was not for nothing. Traversing back and being already in safe place we saw a great ice collapse falling on our route and sweeping away everything on the way. Really, we realized that the danger was over. Slovene girls descended this dangerous dihedral before us, but they were not such lucky - Monica was rather seriously injured and fractured rib. But all the same, they were very pleased indeed. For the same reason this day Dean Potter did not manage to summit Torre Egger, Thomas Huber bailed too, the Austrians Toni and Marcus stop climbing Cerro Torre via Maestri -Egger route. Too good weather appeared good-for-nothing for climb in Patagonia. Now we are reviving in Chalten and plan to leave on Fitz Roy to climb the American route. This time the weather is bad, but according weather forecast we will have a weather window on Monday. And on Monday we will leave Polish camp site at the foot of Fitz Roy. We have no enough time, in a week we have to leave back. So if they do not prove the weather window, we will not climb at all. It will not be easy to get under the route: we have to go through rather dangerous place - a couloir between Fitz Roy and Poincenot with hanging above huge ice seracs. We will try to work quickly. Wish
us of good luck. |
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At night there was a nasty turn in the weather indeed, however the next day it improved again and we moved forward to Norwegian-camp at the foot of Cerro Torre. Having humped our heavy backpacks (about 40kg each) we made good time crossing 10 km onto a huge glacier, moraines and loose talus for 11 hours. Well, later we were requited for our uneasy trek.
Having spent the white night under stones at Norwegos we moved further. Under the plan we had to climb towards the Col where to spend the night. But on our way we were informed on a satellite phone about bad weather forecast for the nearest 3 days. It seemed to be the truth because since the morning the summit was tightened with dark clouds with lightning flashed in. Thus everywhere except for Cerro Torre the weather was good. Fitzroy (just in 3 km) was absolutely clear of cloud. We dropped the backpacks and went further with light baggage - to get limbered up and look at the route condition. On our way we met the Slovenes who bailed their climb due to the bad weather and then Dean Potter and Thomas Huber. They did not want to ask for trouble too climbing through bad weather. Thomas appeared a very pleasant guy, smiling and thanking a lot when we suggested them to throw off the rope for rappelling. As the result we climbed halfway up to the col. Rocks were wet with ice sites in places and we climbed in crampons. When small avalanches began to collapse we gave up and descended right up to Bridwell-camp.
Leo and Kevin just summited Fitzroy, Cazarotto route (North ridge). They had expected to climb the route for one day (under the description it's difficultly no more than 6b, and the guys are the real experienced climbers of 8-graded lines). However the route appeared very complex. They had to spend 2 cold nights on the wall without sleeping bags and a stove, meal and water. They were heated putting on backpacks on a head. After they descended Leo was sleeping for two days and then was drinking nonstop one day more. Now he is as sober as a judge, and they'll leave tomorrow for the next climb: this time it is El Mocho turn. Dean and Stephanie yesterday descended to Bridwell and tomorrow are going to Norwegos. They want to try to summit Cerro Torre all the same. We'll leave tomorrow too. We decided to try to start directly from Norwegos in alpine style not to bivy at the Col. It would be hard. All the route includes about 40 pitches. We'll start at night on Monday. We have a good forecast on Monday - Tuesday, but on Wednesday the weather will start to spoil. We'd like to hug tight all of you, |
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Tomorrow we will climb hardly upper and spend the night on a shoulder's bergschrund there. Thomas Huber and Dean Potter plan to start climbing in 2 hours and ascend all the night, i.e. tomorrow to reach the top and then Dean Potter wants to make a b.a.s.e.-jump right from the summit. |
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That is all there is to it for today. |
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And in Buenos Aires the real summer holds. They are dancing tango in the streets, beggars and paperboys are passing to and fro. The day is sweaty. Tomorrow we take off for El Calafate. We'd like to hold you in our arms.
Today we arrived from Buenos Aires in El Calafate. Cerro Torre and Fitzroy were visible from the plane. The sky is grotesque here. Low torn clouds, absolutely flat, bear heavily on your mind. There was only one terrible tent and we had to buy it unconscious of how to use it. But there was no other alternative. And we bought a cool newest down sleeping bag in weight of 700g. Tomorrow at 7 a.m. we leave in Chalten by bus. This journey will take us for 5 hours. Alxander, Leonid, Olga.
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(31.01.2005) In the Super Final in Valle di Daone the Austrian and German beat Herbert Klammer from Italy and Natalia Koulikova from Russia. Simon Wandeler from Switzerland and Jenny Lavarda from Italy placed third. For full news reports and a great photo gallery by Giulio Malfer, please visit: http://www.daoneicemaster.it/
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| Such fast ascent's ending appeared unexpected for a lot of fans. We were adjusted for waiting for good news for some days. As it turned out during communication Kodar-Krasnoyarsk Nikolay omitted mention of the bottom 4-5 pitches of an abrupt snow-ice couloir they had climbed. Thus, all the route is really of 22 pitches, extent of its wall part - 17 pitches. All the plans have been completely accomplished. The team prepares for returning. Term of return depends on helicopter's availability in Taksimo and good weather. We congratulate and wait for the winners! |
| We decided not to take off the fixed rope for extreme descent in case of bad weather. Today is negative 34, but a thermometer has already registered -38 and-40 degrees centigrade. The wall is very cold and all ice-covered due to its exposition: within all the day any stream of sun does not reach its slopes. Large monolithic blocks, corners, chimneys are characteristic parameters of wall's terrain structure. It's hard to organize a safe belay. We use sky-hooks to climb very firm granite plates, but it's really difficult. Steepness is up to 80 degrees in places, but the top part of the route seems more abrupt on the average. Everything is lovely in the base camp. The warmed tent Rock Pillars is worth its keep. When it's made up the fire in it we have about +20 inside. Under the wall we dug a good cave for 6 people. The area is very interesting, wild: there is not any local habitation, hunting shelters or man's traces. Loginov and Sikilinda climbed a beautiful winter 5B-graded route on the next (left) mountain spending 2 days for fixing the rope and one day for the summit push. The other free members of our expedition climbed less complex routes 1B- and 2A-graded. We keep shootings a film about our expedition. In spite of the fact that the camera is frequently freezing, we have already shot an hour and a half. Misha Vershinin actively works. Now it's full of the moon, and Mike is shooting even in the moonlight. Unfortunately, there is no opportunity to send photos. And we can only receive SMS-messages but not send them. Keep in touch with us!
24.01.05. |
(26.01.2005) In ice-climbing organizers do not want to peddle cups: if they carry out something it will be a championship. The results of World Championship-2005 were summed up: Austrian Hari Berger and Petra Muller from Switzerland won Difficulty and Evgeny Kryvosheytsev from Ukraine and Natalia Kulikova from Russia were the first in speed. Results Difficulty. Men 1 BERGER Hari (Austria) Difficulty. Women 1 MULLER Petra (Switzerland) Speed. Men 1 KRYVOSHEYTSEV Evgeny (Ukraine) Speed. Women 1 KOULIKOVA Natalia
Russia Photo:
Hari Berger. Author: Giulio Malfer, |
(24.01.2005) Sergey Borisov Master of Sport of International Grade The last climber who was called as "The best climber of the USSR" (1990 and 1991) just before USSR's disintegration. 1990 - won the USSR championship in a technical class (Fanskie mountain) having ascended 8 summits for 13 days (six 5B-graded routes and two 6À). 1991 - the USSR championship, a rocky class, Karavshin gorge of the Turkestansky ridge. The team of Alexander Klenov, Sergey Borisov, Michael Bruk, Igor Bugachevsky, Michael Donskikh, Alexander Solodovnikov summited peaks "Slesova", "Asan" and won "the gold". 1991 - the USSR championship, a technical class, Aksu gorge of the Turkestansky ridge. The team of Sergey Borisov, Alexander Klenov, Michael Brook, Michael Donskikh, Alexander Kolesov, Alexander Limarenko summited Admiralteets, Iskander, A.Blok and won "the gold". 2002 - Everest via Northern col. |
| 22.01.05 21.01.05 19.01.05 |
| The day before we start our descent adventure we lost our Kitchenboy Chiring, who went to ABC to take down the last things….. In the evening he didn’t come back to BC and we was very worry…. All together we went out in the darkness and the storm, looking for him. We thought about the worst, because the temperature was very low and it had snow a lot. Luckily Chiring organised by himself one bivac 2 ours far from BC, when he understood the difficulty of the situation. But we pasted a very bad night…. The day after we droved by the jeep to Zangmu, the boarder to Nepal. There we take showers and sauna for 3 ours non-stop!!! Today we arrived at Kathmandu. On more shower and now we are preparing to go out from our Hotel and I want to eat a big beef and make party for be back to the normality. P.S. Today, the 20th of January the CTMA certificated our summit with the sentence “first winter Summit” as the first winter summit from Shisha Pangma, maked by Simone Moro ITA and Piotr Morawski POL at the 14th of Januray
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| On January 19 at Parallel Slalom Denis became only 13th and Svetlana - 12th. The world championship is carried out twice a year. And against rather sad results of Russian skiers in technical sports (slalom, giant slalom) success of our snowboarding team is impressing.
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| Ines Papert won Difficulty event with the best time 19:53 and thousand spectators could enjoy her sending the most complicated mixed line in the artificial ice canyon. She was the unique women made TOP - really that was not a sensation, but that fact that her time was the best by the end of the competitions went through like a packet of salts! A cool Canadian athlete Will Gadd yielded this fragile German girl almost for two minutes, and Harry Berger from Austria - much more than that. It is fair to say that Will Gadd sent a final line without "Heelhooks" manner and that took much more time to send. Well, this result and sending the route of "Vertical Limit" are confirmed Ines's high class and unconditional leadership among all the masters of frozen water.
The tenth annual festival "Events in Ouary" (Salt Lake City, Utha) became unqualified success of its Organizers, some thousand spectators were obvious confirmation to that. The conditions for ice-climbing in Ouary canyon were simply phenomenally good. And slide shows and a fashion parade of exclusive sports mark "Arc'teryx" completed even without that interesting evening programs. Ines's result is really unique. The Chief of Black Diamond European branch said: "Ines is very cool. I do not know any woman in athletic sports in which a girl could become better, than the best man!" Total report
Photo - www.bergsteigen.at |
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| The Wall justifies our expectations: impressive, severe, tempting. It's very abrupt and has altitude difference not less than 1000m. We set a camp in 3 kilometers from the Wall. Woodland is insignificant there. Today the part of our team went downwards the gorge for preparation of fire wood for the stove, and the others went to break trail to Wall's foot. Yesterday the temperature in Taksimo was negative 40, but in the gorge it is a little bit warmer. Our greetings to everyone who is a fan of us! 14.01.2005 Our Expedition started.
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One of these days the guys come back, but I want to be late a little and stay here to take a walk. Our greetings to all of you. |
(14.01.2005) This is first winter ascent on Shisha Pangma in history (callendar winter started 21st December) and we can truly say that in typical winter conditions (strong wind, no snow, a lot of ice). Now only six 8000 meters peaks are waiting for its first winter ascents...
Simone and Piotr |
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It is worthwhile to say that Nick and Stuart sent the route clean, i.e. free climbed. Nick already tried the route last year but fell and broke his anklebone, and this year he returned there with MacAleese to have luck again on 13-pitch mixed route. All the route took them four days, from which two full days they were climbing.
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http://www.planetmountain.com/
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Simone and Piotr |
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The wind is still blowing with terrible force. But we'd like to reach the col (about 7300) and hope to set up Camp 2 behind the col. Today, during the way to the ABC we were watching a wind smoke on the summit ridge, and we didn't want even to think what was up there... Also the south wall of Shisha has totally changed character comparing to that 2 weeks ago: instead of snow we could see big fields of pure ice! |
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We are in a good physical condition and motivation is high... In any case we will follow his advise and Piotr and I will go tomorrow "only" to try to finish to fix all the route till the ridge at 7300 and fix C2. Than we will be back in base camp waiting for good news from Karl and his perfect forecast.
Yesterday they get a really hard job and difficult conditions and this morning was difficult to take decision to left the sleeping bags and start for the descent to ABC and BC. Jan also started to come down from ABC to BC and this evening we will be all together here at 5200 meter of Base Camp. Tomorrow we will take decision and strategies for the next important week....
Yesterday we finished to repair one of the 3 tends we get in ABC that had been seriously broken from the big hungry birds. The birds were looking for food and brake all the tends, without find any food (we left especially in a plastic drum). Maybe the damage is a revenge....?
Tomorrow they will try to carry higher....
Cross the finger for us.... The next 1/2 weeks will be extremely important for
the climb.
Darek and Jacek were working all the day above the C1 (6550
m). They probably reached 6800 m, foot of the last few hundreds meters of couloir. Our route occured longer than we expected and with ropes we already have up, it will be difficult to reach the col. But we will do our best.
Our generator stopped to work and "get frostbite". Piotr and Jan today made a surgery operation and they obtain to get 12 volt power from it. Together my solar pannel we should continue to give enough energy to our camp...
Karl Gabl (our Austrian Guru for the weahter forecast) said to be patient and to call him Monday in Innsbruck. We will have our next weather forecast and we hope to have good news... We wish again a nice 2005 full of smiling moments...
Last night the wind and the cold had been a good test for our capacities. The bad weather should persist for the next 3/4 days and we will take a good rest and "charge our motivations and determination". Tonight we will celebrate the new year and we wish to all of you a 2005 in health and without any polemic... Have a nice 2005!! and I hope you will continue to follow the adventures from me and my friends also in 2005. |
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Tomorrow we'd like to work higher. Now the weather is quite good, a lot of clouds, sometimes sun and the wind is shaking our tent, but not blowing us out from the wall. Ciao, Simone |
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Today we worked to fix all the tends of base camp and fix them with ropes and big stones to avoid that wind brake them during next storms. Tonight we will celebrate our Christmas and Jan prepared a nice Christmas tree in the dining tend. Tomorrow we probably go to ABC and back to BC, to carry some equipment. We wish all of you our greetings and Marry Christmas!!!
Simone, Jan, Darek, Piotr, Jacek |
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We arrived
in Nyalam today. We left yesterday because today there was supposed to be
a strike with numerous blockades on the street from Kathmandu to the border. Unfortunately,
although we left yesterday we still had problems half an hour before Kodhari (on
the border of Nepal and China). A military street blockade with a barbed wire
and machine gunners lined up forced us to wait until the next day to continue.
We were able to sleep in a small private house and eat in a hut for the Nepalese.
A few days ago, before returning to Nepal, he gave Lafaille the certificate which proves his climb to the peak at 14:00 on December 11th, but he did not write "WINTER EXPEDITION" even though the Frenchman insisted he write it because he didn't consider it a winter climb. Nawang says that he has 10 years of expedition experience in all 4 seasons and Lafaille's climb was not to be registered with the TMA as a "WINTER EXPEDITION" but as "LATE AUTUMN." Anyone can contact Nawang at the TMA in order to confirm this. The French alpinist got his Chinese Visa extended because
he only intended to stay 30 days and as he entered Tibet and started the expedition
before December 1st, he acted with the normal autumn permission. With all this
news and clarification, added to the scientific one of the world season calendar
which says that winter starts the 21st of December, we must consider that Shisha
Pangma has never been conquered in winter. Now it's up to us to see if this climb
is possible… Translation by Jonathan Etes |
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Having stayed for some days in only 150 meters up to the summit waiting for the weather window, the guys began their sad descent. |
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In
any case we would like to congratulate JC Lafaille for the good climb and the
success. Really! We also would like to congratulate him for the tactics.....
Simone, Darek, Piotr |
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It is the first successful ascent on Shishapangma (8047m) done solo and without supplementary oxygen. The information is provided by Katia Lafaille, France, www.jclafaille.com
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(24.11.2004)
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Only at base camp we will decide the route we will attempt. We want to see directly the snow condition of the face and the weather forecast we will have from Innsbruck from my personal friend Karl Gabl. Herewith I'm sending you the postcard I prepared for our expedition. I dind't received yet the cable but I took free all next week to realize all the procedure and training with iPAQ and Contact 3.0. Keep in touch |
| See all the results http://www.digitalrock.de
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| (11.11.2004) |
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| (4.11.2004) UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2004 Bouldering Women Men Speed Women Men Difficulty. The current rating Women Men All results http://digitalrock.de |
| (2.11.2004)
The leaders of Big Cup Mrazek and Sarkany. Chabot and Eiter are the second. |
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