Spring Himalaya Season 2019 part 1.

02/05/2019

• The Malaysian climber rescued from Annapurna, Wui Kin Chin, has died in hospital. Was his rescue delayed by red tape?
• High winds and snow predicted on Everest over the weekend as Cyclone Fani hits India
• The rope fixing team on the south side of Everest has reached the South Col and Camp 4, they will now head down as the weather turns

Everest Base Camp and the edge of the Khumbu Icefall. Photo: Aimee Silver

01/05/2019

• The rope fixing team on Everest’s Nepal side has almost reached the Geneva Spur, tomorrow they will push on towards Camp 4 and the South Col
• Commercial teams are studying weather forecasts in an effort to determine when to start their second rotations
• The Himalayan Times is reporting the death of a Nepali Sherpa on Cho Oyu near Camp 2
• Nirmal Purja Magar announces he will try Dhaulagiri without O2 as part of his project to complete all 14 8000ers within seven months

Climber Rupert Jones-Warner approaches the summit of Annapurna. Photo: Don Bowie

Bielecki: Why I’m Going Back to Annapurna.

Polish climbing ace Adam Bielecki is leaving this weekend for another crack at the daunting Northwest Face of Annapurna. He will follow the same route, in the same style and with the same climbing mate, Felix Berg. Although frazzled by juggling last-minute preparations with daily workouts, he found time to discuss his latest project with ExplorersWeb.

In the past months, Bielecki has renounced the winter Himalaya and focused totally on Annapurna. This is why he dropped his original plan to go to Patagonia during the southern summer. “Patagonia is spectacular, but you may spend three months there and only climb three days,” said Bielecki, about the place’s famously vicious weather.

Instead, he and his team looked for conditions roughly equivalent to those on 8,091m Annapurna. They chose to ice climb intensively around Kandersteg, Switzerland, then storm some classic Alpine lines, such as the 1,200m Colton-McIntyre route up the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses, which they climbed in a single push.

Now back home, he hits the gym five times a week, combining the climbing wall, stairs and treadmill with weightlifting and core work. “But if you ask me how I’ve prepared for Annapurna, I can honestly say that I have been training for the last 20 years of my life,” he says.

Oddly, the aesthetic line up Annapurna’s Northwest Face came up as a plan B when, back in 2017, the climbing team was refused a permit to attempt a new route on the North Face of Cho Oyu. Since then, though, Bielecki and Berg have dropped their previous goal and taken up what he describes as a rare privilege in the 21st century: an unclimbed line on a lonely, rarely attempted face. Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander opened the only previous route on the face in 1985, but they eventually traversed to the NW ridge and avoided the summit triangle.

Bielecki and Berg considered adding a third member to the team — as they did in 2017, with Scotland’s Rick Allen — but not for long. “We needed someone we knew well and who was as strong as we are, but we found none,” Bielecki said.

He believes that they’ve learned their lesson from their previous failure. “I feel super- excited, happy to go,” he insisted. On their previous attempt, he explained, bad weather was the final blow that thwarted the expedition, but it was not the only one. “We climbed too heavily loaded, with 23kg backpacks. In the end, they slowed us down too much.”

This time, the two men are paring down their load ounce by ounce and believe that if the weather cooperates, or at least isn’t too perverse, they have an excellent chance of success.

Bielecki admits that their approach isn’t what he’d call pure alpine style. By his definition, that would require a totally on-sight attempt, and both of them know the route up to 6,500m, their highest point reached in 2017.

The Definition of Winter for K2 and Everest Climbs.

With the drama dissipating from K2, the Polish team remains at base camp waiting for better weather. Everest is now officially over but the debate about when winter ends, will continue forever. See this post for full background on the K2 and Everest expeditions and the history of winter attempts on the highest two mountains on Earth.

Big Picture – When does Winter End?

One of the big questions this season on both K2 and Everest is “When does winter officially end?” If you have been reading my blog  you might have seen comments from readers with clear views, for example from one reader “They can summit after February, but it won’t be winter.” Other simply say it is at the Spring equinox on March 20, 2018 at 12:15 pm EDT. The reality is, it depends on where you live and the local customs and definition.

First off, both Pakistan and Nepal issue climbing permits with different fees according to the season. On Everest, for example, they charge USD$11,000 per person for a spring permit – the most popular time. But for a winter permit, the least popular time, it drops to USD$2,750. Both countries’ tourism ministry define winter as December, January and February for permit purposes. They simply take the year and divide into four equal parts. For most people born and raised in this environment, that is what defines the seasons.

However, many people, including myself, were raised and taught that the seasons are defined according to the astronomical definition which is based on how the sun hits the earth and the shortest and longest days each year, in other words the equinoxes and solstices.

Then there are the seasonal definitions influenced by length of day and temperatures. Obviously March 1 at the North Pole compared to being on the equator are very different. Also, if it a rainy time of year or dry. To make matter even more complicated, the Hindu calendar has six seasons!! But hold on, it gets worse (or different 🙂  )  Australia and New Zealand use the meteorological definition, so spring begins on September 1 each year. Ireland uses an ancient Celtic calendar system to determine the seasons, so spring begins on St Brigid’s Day on February 1. In Finland and Sweden, the dates of the seasons are not based on the calendar at all, but on temperatures. To make your head spin a bit, take a look at this chart courtesy of Scribd

So if the Poles summit K2 in March will it be winter or spring? The answer is “yes.”

K2 Team Focuses on the Summit. Another Everest Attempt?

Denis Urubko remains at base camp along with the drama. Now that he is off  the team, the remaining climbers are focusing on a potential summit push around mid March.  Alex Txikon suggested he ended his winter Everest attempt with his permit expiring on 28 February but today said maybe not! See this post for full background on the K2 and Everest expeditions and the history of winter attempts on the highest two mountains on Earth.

K2 Team Wants More Acclimatization

A few days ago Marcin Kaczkan and Maciej Bedrejczuk tried to reach C3 at 7,200-meters but only got to 7,000m before weather, once again, forced a retreat. They did get the fixed line through the Black Pyramid. Marek Chmielarski and Artur Małek slept at  C2, 6,500m. Today all four climbers are back to base camp where they will take a few days of rest. All climbers are reported to be in good health.  Wielicki has said he intends to continue running the expedition according to the schedule for a summit attempt in early March.

The latest from their Facebook account :

After returning to the Base both teams were tested: Marcin Kaczkan, Marek Chmielarski, Maciej Bedrejczuk and Artur Małek. Despite the heavy load: wind, temperature, physical effort, all parameters of the boys are in the full standard, without any complaints or injuries.  After 2-3 days of regeneration, the boys will be completely ready for further action in the mountains. KW, Expedition Doctor

The highest anyone on the K2 team had reached was when Adam Bielecki and Denis Urubko touched 7,400-meters. At the moment, it appears that Adam Bielecki and Janusz Golab are the strongest climbers and have the best chance for a summit bid but Golab wants to spend one night at 7,200-7,400-meters (C3) before the attempt. In other words, there is another rotation before they feel it is time for the summit push. Thus we are looking at least a week or more.

K2 Abruzzi Route Map

 

Urubko – No Apologies and Banned from Internet

Urubko reached around 7,700-meters/26,262 feet, just above Camp 4, on his solo push before poor weather (high winds and low visibility) forced him back. This was about 300 meter higher than he and Bielecki touched during an acclimatization run a couple of weeks ago.

He reached the usual spot for High Camp or Camp 4. From there the climb is straightforward snow slope to the base of the huge serac. You go through the bottleneck to reach the traverse, which is a couple hundred meters of near vertical ice wall. Once past this section, it is a long, but straightforward climb to the summit. In a normal year, from C4 to the summit might take 6-8 hours assuming the ropes are in. Given he had to set some kind of protection, or free climb the traverse, Urubko was looking at an enormously long day from Camp 3 – close to 24 hours round trip. He made a wise decision to turn back.

Now back at base camp Urubko will depart on 28 February to begin his trip home.

Denis Urubko on winter K2

Denis, speaking to the press before his access was cut-off (see below) made his position clear in an interview with Poland’s tvn24.pl

I do not think I have to apologize to anyone. They also are not angels. Wielicki allowed me to enter the third camp, and then told me to come back for reasons I do not understand. This is not a situation to say “sorry” . Me no one apologized for their mistakes. My opinion remains the same .

It was my chance to do something, and not to sit all the time in the basecamp. I am glad that I made the summit attempt. If I did not, I would be furious. Not won the summit, it was too big a risk. Conditions were very bad: lots of snow, zero visibility. Back was the only right decision. Now I can focus on other projects, prepare for climbing elsewhere.