Himalaya 2009 climbing season, Karakoram and Himalaya wrap-up /24/ – Week in Review.

K2 claimed a first victim last week; highly skilled ski-mountaineer Michele Fait slipped and fell while skiing down the Cesen route.

Iran, Afghanistan and Somalia; adventure news arrived from unusual places while a historic meet was held in Nepal, a call went out for Mongolian horses, a last word was posted on Everest spring 2009 and the Indian Ocean race reached safe harbor.

Outside the regular Karakoram updates, last week also brought an ExWeb special on the “hidden” Gasherbrums.

K2: sky-skier down Italian Michele Fait slipped and fell while skiing down the Cesen route. Ericsson and Fait had already skied 900 meters from C1 and set up C2 in a second climb last week. They were skiing back to BC when Michele suddenly plummeted and died in the fall.

Kalashnikovs traded for ice-axes on Mt. Noshaq Last year, John Mock & Kimberley O’Neil from Yosemite National Park asked climbers to help clear the landmines blocking entrance to Afghanistan’s highest peak, Noshaq (7492m). The mountain has had many ascents including the first 7000er winter climb, but never by Afghans themselves. Now four Afghan men plan to become the first locals to reach the summit of the country’s highest peak, le by project manager Louis Meunier plus guides Jean Annequin and Simon Destombes.

Sherpa climbers First Ever Meet held on 21 June in Kathmandu “Nepali mountaineers have come of age to lead their own destiny,” said one. “Does the state know the plight of Nepali climbers when they get old?” asked another. “Foreign climbers talk more about their yaks than their Sherpas,” a third chimed in. A historic first ever meet of Nepali climbers was convened in Kathmandu on 21 June. The meet was attended by 34 regional mountaineers clubs, mountaineering related association/agencies, approximately 600 Nepali climbers and 100 expedition operator representatives. Over 30 speakers, majority of them Nepali climbers, spoke on special provisions to be incorporated in the drafting of the new constitution to address concerns of Nepali mountaineers such as rescues, social security, insurance, regulations, education and retirement.

Iran: Iran is changing and so is its mountaineering: an avalanche of Iranian climbers is hitting Karakoram. Only on G2, there’s a team of 11 climbers from Tehran, a team of 2 mountaineers from Golestan, and a team of 9 alpinists from Sarab expected.

K2: Bogomolov’s comeback, take 4 “There is no justice in Heaven!” Serguey cried on K2 in 2006, after four fellow Russian climbers perished in an avalanche on the Abruzzi spur, which almost swept him with them. In 2007, he attempted K2 Chinese side, with the Kazakh National team. This season, the Russian climber is attempting K2 for the fourth time, going back for the Pak side with Kazakhs Maxut Zhumayev and Vassily Pivtsov.

GIII-GIV: The climbers planed to establish a tent in the cwm near 7000 meters.

GIII-GVI: ExWeb special on “the other Gasherbrums” While most Gasherbrum climbers shoot for the two 8000ers – GI (Hidden Peak) and GII – their “lesser” cousins GIII, GIV and GV provide a higher degree of exposure and difficulty, plus a number of unclimbed faces and ridges. Moreover GVI, located at the edge of the range, is probably virgin. Yet little is known about the lesser Gasherbrums, so last week ExWeb ran a skinny on the range.

Nanga Parbat: Three of Göschl’s team members suffered altitude and had to descend to below 4000 meters with Dr. Günther Straub. Otherwise, the climb on Nanga is progressing fast. Louis Rousseau reported that the team hopes to be ready for a first summit bid by the end of the upcoming week. Joao Garcia spent two nights in C2, at 6,000m. Korean Miss Oh reportedly arranged a chopper to airlift her the moment she returns from the summit, in order to take her to Gasherbrums’ BC.

Gasherbrum II: Altitude Junkies reported that out of the estimated six or seven expeditions currently present in base camp, few have high altitude porters. Major teams Amical, Altitude Junkies and Jagged Globe are all cooperating to prepare the mountain.

Broad Peak: Eli Revol and Ludo Giambasi failed a traverse of the mountain. Antoine turned back above C3 on the normal route. FTA’s Broad Peak team leader Chris Szymiec reported that there are a few other teams on the mountain so lines need to be fixed. The team had member Barry Dawe evacuated last weekend due to vision problems.

Last word on Everest spring 2009… Gabriel Filippi, one of the three last men standing on Everest this season, posted a debrief showing an unusual side of the usually crowded mountain. Gabriel, his cameraman and Peruvian Richard Hidalgo launched a failed summit push on Everest North side on June 6, ”Being alone on Everest has its charm,” Filippi reported. “We descended without trails, on a hidden side of Everest, across snow slopes and breathtaking traverses – a pure delight.”

…and early fall kick off? Indian-Tibetan Border Police mountaineers may attempt Everest from its south side in August, according to the Indian Express. The Indian team originally announced plans to climb and ski down Everest’s North side in spring this year, hoping to use their own encrypted communication equipment, but eventually switched to standard satellite-phones at the Chinese Authorities’ reluctance to allow such comm-gear to be used in their territory. Now the ITBP team is back in Indian headlines – reportedly going for a early fall climb on Everest, from Nepal.

ExWeb interview with Linda Beilharz, “this is a combination of excitement and fear” Linda Beilharz’ big goal is a journey on the four Icecaps of the World. She has skied to the South Pole, crossed Greenland and is on her way to the Southern Patagonia Icecap with her expedition teammate and husband, Rob Rigato. Linda talked about their different strong points, why the four Icecaps, the gear and preps in an interview with ExWeb’s Correne Coetzer.

ExWeb interview with Rob Rigato, “joining Linda was a way of supporting her in her goals” Rob is joining his wife and ExWeb’s Correne Coetzer caught up with him in Chile for his side of the story.

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

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Everest legend Edmund Hillary. /Version english and polish/

Everest legend Edmund Hillary has died at the age of 88. 

This is a big loss to the world of exploration, Hillary’s family and also to Himalaya chronicler Elizabeth Hawley, 83, who remained one of Hillary’s closest friends since his great Everest ascent.

Edmund Hillary has passed away, taking a big chunk of Everest history with him.

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary,(July 20, 1919 – January 11, 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt.
Hillary was part of a British reconnaissance expedition to Everest in 1951 led by Eric Shipton before joining the successful British attempt of 1953.

In 1952 Hillary and George Lowe were part of the British team led by Eric Shipton that attempted Cho Oyu. After that attempt failed due to the lack of route from the Nepal side, Hillary and Lowe crossed the Lho-La into Tibet and reached the old Camp II, on the northern side, where all the pre-war expeditions camped.

After Everest :Hillary climbed ten other peaks in the Himalayas on further visits in 1956, 1960–61 and 1963–65. He also reached the South Pole as part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, for which he led the New Zealand section, on 4 January 1958. His party was the first to reach the Pole overland since Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912, and the first ever to do so using motor vehicles. In 1977, he led a jetboat expedition, titled “Ocean to Sky”, from the mouth of the Ganges River to its source.

In 1979, as he had done previously, Hillary was scheduled to act as a commentator on the ill-fated Air New Zealand Flight 901, an Antarctic sightseeing flight, but had to pull out due to work commitments elsewhere. He was replaced by his close friend Peter Mulgrew, who perished as the aircraft crashed on Mount Erebus, killing all 257 on board. He later married Mulgrew’s widow.

Hillary took part in the 1975 general election, as a member of the “Citizens for Rowling” campaign. His involvement in this campaign was seen as precluding his nomination as Governor-General, with the position instead being offered to Keith Holyoake in 1977. However, in 1985 he was appointed New Zealand High Commissioner to India (concurrently High Commissioner to Bangladesh and Ambassador to Nepal) and spent four and a half years based in New Delhi.

In 1985 he accompanied Neil Armstrong in a small twin-engined ski plane over the Arctic Ocean and landed at the North Pole. He thus became the first man to stand at both poles and on the summit of Everest.

In January 2007, Hillary travelled to Antarctica to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of Scott Base. He flew to the station on 18 January 2007 with a delegation including the Prime Minister. While there he called for the British government to contribute to the upkeep of Scott’s and Shackleton’s huts.

On 22 April 2007 while on a trip to Kathmandu he is reported to have suffered a fall. There was no comment on the nature of his illness and he did not immediately seek treatment. He was hospitalized after returning to New Zealand.

Philanthropy

Following his ascent of Everest he devoted much of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he founded. Through his efforts many schools and hospitals were built in this remote region of the Himalayas. He was the Honorary President of the American Himalayan Foundation, a United States non-profit body that helps improve the ecology and living conditions in the Himalayas.

Hillary spoke of his disdain for the attitudes displayed by many modern mountaineers. In particular he publicly criticized New Zealander Mark Inglis and 40 other climbers who, in various groups, left British climber David Sharp to die in May 2006. He said:

I think the whole attitude towards climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top, it was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say good morning and pass on by.

He also told the New Zealand Herald that he was horrified by the callous attitude of today’s climbers:

They don’t give a damn for anybody else who may be in distress and it doesn’t impress me at all that they leave someone lying under a rock to die.

I invite on viewing of gallery of photo…. Discovering Mt Everest with photos from expedition from 1953 -year – Edmund Hillary summit Everest : Album – Summit of Mt. Everst

* see :

–  Routes – part 3.Drogi do celu. cz.3. /Version polish and english/

Edmund Hillary, nowozelandzki himalaista, który przeszedł do historii jako pierwszy zdobywca Mount Everest, zmarł w piątek 11 stycznia 2008 w wieku 88 lat – powiadomiła ze smutkiem premier Nowej Zelandii Helen Clark.

Legendarny alpinista, poszukiwacz przygód i filantrop był najbardziej znanym Nowozelandczykiem, jaki kiedykolwiek żył – oznajmiła Clark.

Edmund Hillary dokonał pionierskiego wejścia na Mount Everest wraz z Szerpą Tenzingiem Norgayem 29 maja 1953 r. “Załatwiliśmy skurczybyka” powiedział do towarzyszy eskapady po zejściu ze szczytu, a dzięki relacji BBC słowa te usłyszał cały świat. W szeregu wielkich poszukiwaczy przygód stawiają go również inne wyczyny: zdobył m.in. oba bieguny i pokonał łodzią motorową rzekę Ganges od jej ujścia aż do źródeł.

Hillary znany był również ze swej działalności filantropijnej, która koncentrowała się wokół założonego przez niego funduszu powierniczego Himalayan Trust, prowadzącego akcje pomocy dla Szerpów.

Pośród licznych wyróżnień, Hillary miał na swym koncie również Krzyż Komandorski Orderu Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, którym w 2004 r. odznaczył go prezydent Aleksander Kwaśniewski.
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (ur. 20 lipca 1919 w Tuakau koło Auckland, zm. 11 stycznia 2008 w Auckland) – nowozelandzki himalaista i polarnik, z zawodu pszczelarz.

W latach 1951-1952 uczestnik trzech wypraw himalajskich. 29 maja 1953 zdobył, jako pierwszy człowiek w historii, wraz z Szerpą Tenzingiem Norgayem, szczyt Mount Everest (8850 m).

Do historii przeszły jego słowa “Załatwiliśmy skurczybyka!” (We finally knocked the bastard off.) – wypowiedziane po zejściu ze szczytu Everestu. Nie przypuszczał nawet, że za pośrednictwem BBC usłyszał je cały świat.

Za swój wyczyn został uhonorowany przez królową angielską Elżbietę II tytułem szlacheckim. Natomiast Nowa Zelandia umieściła podobiznę Hillary’ego na pięciodolarowym banknocie. Był pierwszą osobą umieszczoną na banknocie za życia.

W 1954-1967 r. kierował wyprawami nowozelandzkimi w Himalaje i na Antarktydę. W trakcie ekspedycji zorganizowanej w ramach Międzynarodowego Roku Geofizyki (1955-1958) dotarł 3 stycznia 1958 r. do bieguna południowego i przeszedł w poprzek Antarktydę. Następnie przeszedł do nowozelandzkiej służby dyplomatycznej, którą pełnił do 1989 r.

W 1960 r. założył fundusz powierniczy – Himalayan Trust, który prowadzi akcje pomocy dla Szerpów. Dzięki działalności funduszu w himalajskich wioskach wybudowano dla Szerpów 27 szkół, 2 szpitale, 12 ośrodków zdrowia, mosty, wodociągi, a nawet małe lotniska.

Został honorowym obywatelem Nepalu. Tam też zginęła jego żona.

Podczas wizyty w Polsce w czerwcu 2004 r. został odznaczony przez Prezydenta RP Aleksandra Kwaśniewskiego Krzyżem Komandorskim Orderu Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej.

Edmund Hillary jest autorem licznych książek m.in. The Ascent of Everest, High Adventure (1955), Schoolhouse in the Clouds (1965), autobiografii Nothing Venture, Nothing Win (1975), From the Ocean to the Sky (1979).

Zmarł wskutek niewydolności serca, w piątek 11 stycznia 2008, ok. godz. 9 czasu nowozelandzkiego, w szpitalu w Auckland. Informacja o jego śmierci została podana publicznie przez premiera Nowej Zelandii ok. godz. 11:20.

* zobacz : Album – Zdobywanie Mt. Everst

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

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Nepal urged to reduce Mount Everest climbing fee.

A leading mountaineering official on Tuesday urged Nepal to reduce climbing fees for Mount Everest and other mountains during the peak climbing season, to lure climbers back from Tibet where mountaineering is cheaper.

Ama Dablam 6,812 metres (22,349 ft)

Tourists are returning to Nepal, one of the world’s poorest countries with largely aid-and tourism-dependent economy, after the Himalayan republic emerged from a long civil war in 2006.

Climbing is one of the most popular tourist pastimes but Ang Tshering Sherpa, chief of the Union of Asian Alpine Associations, an umbrella body of 26 alpine groups, said overcharging was driving climbers across the border to Tibet.

“The royalty rates must be reduced if we have to compete in mountaineering,” said Sherpa, who also runs a big hiking agency.

“If the cost of climbing is not competitive, climbers will naturally go to places where they can spend less and we will lose our business.”

Tibet is Nepal’s main competitor in mountaineering as five of the world’s tallest mountains straddle their border, he said.

Nepal charges $25,000 per person to climb the 8,850– metre Mount Everest and $500 for a smaller peak.

Climbers in Nepal must also pay for transporting supplies, equipment and sherpa guides, making climbing pricier than in Tibet from where Mount Everest can also be scaled. Prices in Tibet were not immediately available.

Nepal, which is in political limbo after the former Maoist rebels quit the government in May, earned $230.6 million in 2007 from tourism — 4 percent of its GDP.

Tourist arrivals grew 4 percent last year from 526,000 in 2007, according to the Nepal Tourism Board, the highest number since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed Mount Everest in 1953 and effectively launched the country’s tourism industry.

The government has set itself the ambitious target of doubling visitor numbers by 2011.

Source: Reuters India

* Previous story : –  How Much Does It Cost To Climb Mt. Everest?

** take a look at my photo gallery which pictures the story of the discovery and climbing the Mt. Everest :

– discovery and climbing Everest.

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

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Andrew Comyn Irvine famous British climber.

Andrew Comyn (Sandy) Irvine was born in Birkenhead England on the 8th April 1902. His father, William Fergusson Irvine, a business man, married Andrews mother, Lilian Davies-Colley, and eventually went on to have a large family. Andrew had four brothers, Hugh, Kenneth, Alexander (known as Alec) and Thomas (known as Tur) plus one sister, Evelyn.

Andrews childhood was full of adventure as most youngsters were, but he was also brought up with strict rules and discipline from both very religious parents. Andrew was educated at Birkenhead and Shrewsbury School’s before going to Merton College in Oxford to study engineering. Andrew was also a very keen sportsman and became a member of the Oxford crew for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race in 1922 and 1923.

Andrew was very good with his hands, and he had the ability to fix or improve anything mechanical. It was during the First World War, while Andrew was still a schoolboy, he sent the War Office a design on paper to allow a machine gun to fire from a propeller-driven aeroplane without damaging the propeller’s blades.

In 1919, Andrew rode his motorcycle to the top of a 3000-foot Welsh mountain, Foel Grach, where he surprised Noel Odell and his wife who had climbed it on foot.

In 1923 Andrew was chosen for a expedition to Spitsbergen, where he excelled on every front. It was during this expedition that Noel Odell, the expedition’s leader, had discovered that it was Andrew riding the motorcycle on top of Foel Grach. Noel Odell was so impressed by Andrew that he recommended Andrew for the third British Mount Everest expedition. Andrew was selected on the grounds that he might be the ’superman’ that the expedition needed. Andrew was 21 years old when this opportunity arose.

In 1924 Andrew showed that he was not frighten of hard work. He made major changes to the oxygen apparatus, maintained the expedition’s stoves, camp beds, cameras and many other important devices. Andrew became very popular and respected by his older colleagues.

Andrew was to find himself teamed up with George Leigh Mallory on the last summit attempt after a previous two attempts had failed. Using oxygen for this attempt they reached Camp V1 with no real problem.

On the 8th June 1924 expedition member Noel Odell reported seeing them at 12:50 pm ascending one of the major “steps” on the ridge and “going strongly for the top”. That was the last time they were seen alive.

When Odell returned to the tent at Camp V1 the following day to see if Mallory and Irvine were there, he found the inside of tent covered in bits and pieces from the oxygen apparatus. So it looks like that the young Andrew was still maintaining the oxygen apparatus the night before or the morning of their summit attempt.

The body of Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine has never been found.

The above Questions & Answers are (C) Copyright of Mount Everest The British Story

* Source :  – http://www.everest1953.co.uk/ChrisBonington

** take a look at my photo gallery which pictures the story of the discovery and climbing the Mt. Everest :

– discovery and climbing Everest.

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

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