Karakoram 2018: More Teams Heading to Base Camp in Pakistan.

Yesterday we took a quick look a the main peaks that climbers will be focused on summiting this summer in the Karakoram Range in Pakistan. Some of those mountains already have a few alpinists already in place, while other teams are starting to make their way to Base Camp in preparation for the summer climbs ahead. Here’s a quick rundown on some of the things that are currently happening.

The Furtenbach Adventures team is trekking to BC on Broad Peak where they’ll warm up before attempting both that mountain and  K2. The squad had been on the trail for more than week now and expect to reach Base Camp on Friday where they’ll spend a few days getting settled before starting their first acclimation rotation. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Madison Mountaineering team is just now preparing to leave for Pakistan, so they’ll be about two weeks behind Furtenbach in terms of reaching BC.

Other major expedition teams that will be on K2 this year include Seven Summits Treks, SummitClimb, and Himex, although Russell Brice has still yet to confirm his company’s participation this season. Last year was a particularly frustrating one for him and his squad, promoting Brice to head home early, only to have other teams reach the summit. At the time, he had expressed his frustrations in an open letter that seemed to indicate he was ready to retire, but later clarified that stance and said he would continue guiding, admitting he still had to figure out what K2 was all about.

In addition to the well established commercial squads, there are a number of talented individual climbers in the region this summer with their own objectives too. For instance Romanian Alex Gavan and Turkish alpinist Tunc Findik have set their sites on Nanga Parbat this summer, while Adam Bielecki and Jacek Czech are heading to the Gasherbrum massif, possibly to bag several summits. Polish climber Andrzej Bargiel is back once again this summer as well to continue his pursuit of climbing and skiing down K2, something that seems utterly wild. Fredrik Sträng will have a go at K2 as well and indicates that he’ll be setting out for Pakistan in the middle of next week, while Nathalie Fortin and Brit Jake Meyer have also targeted the world’s second highest peak.

For now, most of these teams and climbers are still in the preparation phase back home, but there are a few who have already reached their starting points. For instance, Mike Horn has already started acclimatizing on Nanga Parbat and went to Camp 2 yesterday. His most recent dispatch indicated that he is planning on moving higher today, which would lend me to believe that he is looking at a rapid ascent on this mountain. At this rate, he could be done and heading home before most of the other teams arrive. We’ll just have to wait to see what happens.

That’s all for now. The stage has been set and soon the Karakoram will start to get busy. We’ll be following the news there very closely for the next month and a half.

Autor : Kraig Becker

* source: – Karakoram 2018: More Teams Heading to Base Camp in Pakistan

** see also: – Trekking – posts on my site :

– Trekking in Nepal Himalaya : GOKYO, KALA PATTAR and EVEREST BASE CAMP TREK (19 days).

– Everest Base Camp – CLASSIC treks. / Version polish and english /

– Trekking in Nepal Himalaya : EVEREST HIGH VALLEY – Travel Guide. /Version english/

Himalaya 2017: Everest Summiteer Cory Richards Shares Intimate Challenges of His Life.

In the mountaineer world Cory Richards is known as quite a success story. He is an accomplished climber and adventure photographer who has topped out on some of the world’s tallest peaks, including Everest. Back in 2011, he was even part of the first team to complete a winter ascent of Gasherbrum II, joining Simone Moro and Denis Urubko on the summit. To all outside appearances, Richards looked like a guy who had the world at his feet, knocking off tall peaks in remote parts of the world and delivering some of the most stunning images of those places. But, as it turns out, he was also battling a lot of demons, which hid just below the surface threatening to bring it all crashing down.

In a new article for National Geographic, Richards opens up about the challenges he has faced in his personal life, revealing that he first ran into trouble as a young teenager who began using drugs and found himself homeless on the street at the age of 13. That would alienate him from his family for a time and send him on a downward spiral that would leave a lasting impression on any young person. But, he would eventually crawl out of that situation and reunite with his family.

Years later, while climbing Gasherbrum II, he would get caught in an avalanche, narrowly avoiding death. Understandably that would lead to Richards developing a case of PTSD that would begin to haunt him on and off the mountain. He started to drink, he battled addiction issues, he got married but struggled to stay faithful. The difficulties continued to mount, even as his career really started to take off. Eventually, it would all come crashing down. He lost his wife, he left the multimedia studio he helped found, he turned away from friends, and it looked like everything would implode.

Then, last year, climber Adrian Ballinger reached out to Richards to see if he would be interested in climbing Everest together. The two men traveled to Nepal and went to work on the highest mountain on the planet, using social media in unique ways to document their climb. On summit day, Ballinger was forced to turn back, but Richards continued upward, reaching the summit alone. It was then that he knew he had to confront the demons that he faced and get his life together.

In the article, Cory shares some very personal stories about his internal battles, how he got to the lowest point in his life, and what it has been like to crawl back out of that spot again. He gives us a stark, honest look at himself with the hopes that his story might help others, even as sharing the truth helps him too. It is an interest read and a cautionary tale for sure.

Check it on in its entirety here.

Autor : Kraig Becker

* source: – Himalaya 2017: Everest Summiteer Cory Richards Shares Intimate Challenges of His Life

** see also: –Himalaya Spring 2017: Season Progressing On Schedule.

Best of Himalman’s Weblog.

1.Best pictures:

–

Everest – photo by Ryszard Pawłowski – Polish International Mt Everest expedition 99

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Everest – photo by Ryszard Pawłowski – Polish International Mt Everest expedition 99

2 Best post on my site :

– Polish famous climbers – The golden decade of Polish Himalayan mountaineering.

–30 rocznica zimowego wejścia na Mt. Everest: droga do sukcesu.

–How Much Does It Cost To Climb Mt. Everest?

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

Winter expedition to Nanga Parbat 2011/2012: Pakistan wrap-up – details on Nanga Parbat new route attempt.

Simone Moro takes us into the world of winter mountaneering. After his first winter ascents of Gasherbrum II he introduces us to his next project: to climb Nanga Parbat with Denis Urubko.

Winter expedition to Nanga Parbat 2011/2012

Pakistan wrap-up: details on Nanga Parbat new route attempt. (Posted: Feb 02, 2012 02:46 pm EST)

(Angela Benavides) Brilliant sunshine is treating all climbers to a nice winter break, unfortunately the current window came a bit early for summit pushes. Yesterday Denis spoke of the new route he and Simone hope to do on Nanga Parbat. Messner, who once commenced it, hopes the two will finish it. Nanga Parbat: Denis and Simone for a double-firstAlthough known as the Messner route, the South Tyrolean actually never completed the line that Simone and Denis have deviated to. Should they succeed, they would thus bag a double…

* CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING

Unfavourable Conditions Stalls Summit Attempt for Moro and Urubko. (Posted: January 31, 2012)

Nanga Parbat base camp 4230m -16 C°

Today was supposed to be the last day of rest and tomorrow the planned departure for Denis and Simone to begin the planned one week stretch of climb to attempt the summit. But as it is ultimately important to have the right weather conditions, the team must now wait a few more days as the forecast for the next days is not favourable.

In a message from base camp, the team said;

“Karl Gabl, our weather guru in Innsbruck, should have authorized us to go. Unfortunately the forecast is not good and only two days of good weather is expected, following with snow and wind up to 140km/h at 8000mt altitude. So we will have to wait and it looks like we have to wait for a while.”

   Winter expedition to Nanga Parbat 2011/2012

Weather Conditions Confirm Forecast; Moro and Urubko Train Instead. (Posted: February 1, 2012)

Nanga Parbat Base Camp 4230m – -12° C

   Winter expedition to Nanga Parbat 2011/2012

Karl Gabl is always right! The weather today began with sun so we started to train a bit. A 4 hours walk down to Kutgully using snow shoes and setting up a route for the shepas who will come tomorrow bringing food and fuel to sustain us for the next month.

We walked pretty well and set a really good path through the valley. On the way back from Kutgully the sky became cloudy but we expect some light snow fall tomorrow as forecasted by our weather guru in Innsbuck.

Story: Simone Moro/ Denis Urubko
Photo: Matteo Zanga

* Source : – http://www.thenorthfacejournal.com/category/nanga-parbat/

* Related Links : – winter-expedition

** Previous story :

– Winter expedition to Nanga Parbat 2011/2012: Moro and Urubko expedition Video Dispatch.

– Winter expedition to Nanga Parbat 2011/2012: Simone and Urubko Acclimatize at Camp 3 – 6600m.

– Winter expedition to Nanga Parbat 2011/2012: Moro and Urubko Reach Basecamp 4230mt.

Winter 2011-12 Pakistan teams

Simone Moro blog
Denis Urubko blog
Matteo Zanga blog
Russian K2 winter expedition
Russian Climb
Polish GI winter team
Alex Txikon
Gerfried Göschl
Carlos Suarez blog

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