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Mountain photos - amateur
and professional photos of mountains.
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Urgent radiogram. Jack Krivosheitsev has "fragged" "GULLIH", 8ń +
Excellent news from Crimea: the earlier unclimbed route "GULLIH", 8ń +, Red Stone, fall before Jack Krivosheitsev's legs (and hands). |
World Youth Championship Beijing (25-28 August 2005). Results. Yesterday World Youth Rock-Climbing Championship in Beijing took its stock.
Russian children competed in Lead more than adequately. That fact warms the cockle of heart: Speed. 9 medals are ours!
Male Juniors
Female Juniors
Male youth A
Female youth A.
Male youth B.
Female youth B. The Winners in different age groups:
Female juniors: Mina Markovic, 1987, Slovenia |
Koskulak. Made by MAI-team :) Mike Volkov, Nikolay Sinyushin, Andrey Mashenin, Alexander Vorob'ev, Igor Tarnovsky summited Koskulak on August, 26. The Koskulak's North Pidge was climbed for the first time- on the 8-th day of working on the route and the 3-rd day of working on the second rocky bastion. |
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Rustam Gelmanov. Hot news from the Crimea. Like a wild beast :) "Parallelny Chertopolokh (Parallel Thistle)", 8ń + (!). 8a on-sight and 8ń redpoint.
"I on-sighted Alexis, 8a. "Parallelny Mir (Parallel World), 8b +, and "Chertopolokh", 8b, - both lines third go. "Tri Klucha (Three keys)" Connection (Flatter-Chertopolokh), 8ń, - fourth go.
On August 27.08 in the morning I succeeded "Parallelny Chertopolokh (Parallel Thistle)", 8ń +. |
Valery Shamalo and Alexey Gorbatenkov. Koskulak North Face.
Valery Shamalo reports the latest news from Kashgar: Further we made an ascent Koskulak North Face: on August 10 we reached the glacier 5100 m, on August 11 - began summit bid and got the summit on August 17 in the evening. The third, fourth and fifth spendings the night were sedentary, we could hardly cook a hot meal. Unequivocally, the route grade is 6Ŕ (Russian Grade). We found out that we were not the first on Koskulak. Three guys from Moscow (including Dmitry Komarov) assert that they ascended Koskulak on a snow slope on foot in the same place, where muscovites Novikov & Co and the expedition led by Ershov. Let's go further. After rest in BC we on August 21 we came on pass 6100m and ascended Muztagh Ata via Southern ridge through Kalaxong pass then. I recon we first opened this route 5B-graded. At the summit we were on 24.08 in the afternoon. Very sad news. Climbing classical route an old couple from Germany got frost bitten deadly and died having lost the way.
And now we are in Kashgar still. It seems it will be difficult to get out of here. So, we won't be at home soon. |
K2 Expedition of the combined team of Kazakhstan is bollixed! High-altitude burglars, hang it! K2 Expedition of the combined team of Kazakhstan is bollixed! High-altitude burglars, hang it! K2 Expedition of the combined team of Kazakhstan is bollixed. On August 24 at their arrival in ABC the guys found out that high-altitude burglars had stolen all their gear, including crampons, harnesses etc... The climbers had to descend to base camp. Zhumaev Maxut and Pivtsov Vasily will retrieve camps I and II without basic climbing equipment. It's the sad but nude fact: the expedition is broken because of people cashing in on another man's preserves. The message from the Forum Mountain.RU
K2 Expedition of the combined team of Kazakhstan
The Kazakh Army' team's members Expedition current events
11.07.05. The team arrived to Islamabad. |
SUCCESS OR FAILURE, THAT IS THE QUESTION |
PICTURES BETWEEN THE WORD AND SILENCE 18th August 2005 - Baltar Glacier Friend of clouds,/fellow of the lightning,/son of the earth,/where is your house?/ A field of roses/ yellow maize/ a snowy mount/ a gravel bed/ an audacious female/ the word is silence. I have not found better than these buried rhymes to begin the last message that I will reach to you from the Baltar Glacier. Soon we will leave again to Karimabad, from where we will be able to think with more separation a report of our shipment. Now, instead, dipped between action and contemplation, we are divided, or better I am divided, between the word and the silence. In the middle there is a world that would want itself to be said. There is the exploration and the communication. Two aspects of the same truth that many times are not agree, because who explores does not know or want to communicate and who communicates does not know or want to explore. And so I have thought, in order to make to emerge this variety, the word on silence, to tell something about my friends. They are also divided between exploration and communication and their painting could be not only the mirror of their mountains, hurt or dreammed, but also of our promises. Shortly, turning my look on the left, it is easy for me to begin from who is engaged in one extraordinary climb. A snow line embedded in a dihedron of cliff, that it falls from 6000 to 5000 meters is receiving the action of Renzo Corona from Primiero, and Carlos Buhler, american from Montana. Renzo is a pure force of the nature. So powerful and so strongl and sure that sometimes he scares. His behaviour is good and sweet. It is pleasant to be with him. But he instead withdraws. He starts along his path and sometimes he does not communicate. He does. Carlos, on the other part, one of the maximum contemporary himalayst people, astonishes for its unparalleled patience and cure. He lives in an expanded time. The wait and the preparation of every gesture, from the food to the word, are his winning crews. He is like a mechanism that has long times of loads and unfathomable resistance. If Renzo and Carlos shall do the route in which they are engage, it will be a beautiful ascension, that it will remain not only in their personal history. If I watch instead to right, it has remained in my sight the great line always gone up from Renzo with the native of Bergamo Ivo Ferrari on a vertical impulsive snow wall that comes out to 6250 m. Ivo is one of the stranger persons that I met mine in my life. He haven’t medium-wave, but only ups and downs , that he uninterruptedly and without reservoirs communicates to the external world. He also is an impetuous force of the nature, but not pure, a force that always discusses with its limit. Then, to guide the people from Vicenza, there is Mirco Scarso, president of the CAI of Montecchio, the more resistant and sincere mountain climber who I know. He writes a diary day by day. Goodness knows what is written. If you want to catch up a objective and you have need someone that strikes you a trace, also moral, let you entrust yourselves to Mirco, my companion for excellence. With Michele Romio, the youngest of the group, we climbed an incredible "north face" for continuity and dangers. The true enterprise he has made it in skies. Left sick from the BC, he arrived to 5000 m of the high camp, after crossing kilometers of unstable stones and snows. With all the material on his shoulder for the camp. During the night he didn’t sleep and the day after he finished the wall with us, while his eyes communicated suffering, tenacity and fear also. The healthy fear that for us mountain climbers are an option. And while we caught up the crest of the Daryio Sar for a spur on the left Ivo, solo, turned to right of the wall in order to go directly to the return. An other great raid from the Red Primula (or Blond) of the Dolomiti. Within of him the memory of his brother, Dario, and our powerful beloved Mass (note: Mass is, or better was, Lorenzo Massarotto, a famous dolomitian climber died during an ascension few days before the beginning of Rakaposhi expedition). Finally ours two fotoreporters. Crista-Lee Mitchell, from Canada, pregnant, after the Rakaposhi left to us her sweet smile and her skillful indiscretion in picking that a few of us would have the courage to pick in foreign land. AlessandroPianalto from Vicenza is instead collected in the formula "he sees what the other people does not see". And here to the BC nobody has doubts in purpose. The images that he captured from the Baltar Glacier will be the bread for the mountaineering of the future and, I believe, masterpieces of the artistic photography of landscape. (the BBC has announced that the next year will be in the Baltar Glacier).
About me, demanding as I am on the communication inter nos, I do not find way better for give appointment to you to Karimabad that fishing, apparently also in closing, other buried rhymes:
Periods of the maximum beautiful time of two days has not allowed to approach too much to the two higher mountains of the earth not still climbed, Batura III and II. In these last days we are searching carefully the possibilities of climb from the Baltar Glacier. |
Tomaz Humar Back At Home Source: www.humar.com All photos (number: 4) |
A COMPLETED PARADISE 106th August 2005 - Baltar Glacier, 4100 m. If I had to find a way in order to open the scene of a show that represents our adventure, I would begin therefore, in the darkness of the hall it, with the index of the actor suddenly illuminated and aimed against the attention of the public: "Well, you believe is crazy a father who abandons a son to go to climb a mountain twenty thousand feet over the sea". I do not dare to think, or to reveal, what remains but to that first and tremendous hint I would answer yes. That’s so. The father who abandons a son, or sons, expecially nuch young, in order to climb one unknown mountain far days and days from house, with relative risks and dangers, is some crazy. It is this to leave to associate to an excess of pathos, or a defect of equilibrium. The important is to acknowledge in this particular shape of anomaly made of men, to carry on the enormous hard works for the freedom. Or vainglory. Far from house, far from the sons. Here, to the new BC, in the remotest Baltar Glacier, the exploration proceeds on/off. Not only the environmental conditions, hard and beyond our power, are our adversaries, but also the subjective conditions. Too far from the world, often shutted in our irreducible personalities, homesick attacks us and our thought flies towards house, towards our children, ours wives and our beloveds. Nothing of pathetic in that one, but the raw and wonderful truth of our weakness. Raw because we must resist, wonderful because it puts together our limits. When, in the normal life, we become participates of our limits? And here, in the Baltar Glacier, the possibilities are infinitive. We have made I consult between the guru of world-wide alpine exploration. By means of Carlos Buhler, via satellitare, we heard the British Stephan Venables, then we intercrossed the news with our German exploratory friends, finally, we have asked information firsthand to the Italian the Simone Moro. There is no doubt, although difficult to catch up because geographically remote and culturally closed, the Baltar Glacier is a vertical paradise of the future. 11th of August. Renzo Corona and Ivo Ferrari opened a great line of 1200 meters in pure alpine style on a neverclimbed top of 6000 meters. The day after a snow storm rejects Alberto Peruffo, Carlos Buhler, Mirco Scarso and Michele Romio in the attempt to catch up an other great inviolate top. Alberto Peruffo |
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TOWARDS TO UNKNOWN
Digged roads for too to make places Alberto Peruffo
Images courtesy of Simone Moro All photos (number: 5) |
Date update: 17.08.2005 BETWEEN THE ANVIL AND HAMMER BETWEEN A ROCK AND AN HARD PLACE During more than a week that we turn like crazy under the gigantic north-west face of Rakaposhi. We explored three glacial basins covering improbable unevennesses in order to pass from one to the other and to hope, arrived a lot up, to find the door of access to the wonders of the wall north and to its indecipherable ice architectures. But nothing. "the Bastiani fortress of my dreams resists to sweet flatteries, that they besiege it like worthy violences of Tamerlano." The glacier seen of forehead to our camp base it never does not stop of push out its irreversible instability, detaching ice castles that fall roaring in front of our eyes. Like saying that the ancient door of access to the spur now is worned out and behind its shoulders there is a chaotic and impraticabile ice maze, alive. Much alive and walking, than its stone bones emerge where a time ago it was ice meat. More to the west the glacier is far away how much the hard work of our legs could not more supporte after to have it one single treaded on time. And to the here nothing good.. The doors are shutted by a rock saddleback that it would make you to fall without breath in the throat of deep dangerous crevasses, too much far corridors from our mind. To east, instead, the glacier of Ghulmet offered to us a small opening, having left us to go up in order nearly 1500 meters of unevenness, through channels of cliffs and grass until steep snowy slides. A long devious, nearly a passage to north - west, projected us on one perfect snowy back, door of access to the terrible northen wall. Terrible because beautiful, beautiful because untouchable. Arrived to 4800 meters, put the camp, we have seen that that we did not imagine. The breath of avalanches, and the indefensible lightness of who has planned this mount. Nearly it was a god that it does not want to communicate with the men. We shut ourselves in ours stretches. Here, to the camp base, the night it makes warm too much. Every day is disturbed, within and outside of us, “we are caught between the rock and an hard place”. We are between the anvil and the hammer. "Is this one the space that remains to us to explore" we are wondering every rising of new sun. |
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Fog obstructed helicopters 9.8.05 16:11 CET As it was promised - as soon as the weather improved, 3 helicopters arrived to base camp. Two LAMA helicopters and a fuel carrier.
The face of the mountain was still covered by a thick cloud, and Tomaž reported that it is still snowing and he sees no signs of improvement. Six expedition members had about an hour to exchange information - to have a look at the photos of the wall taken by Aleš 2 days ago and to come to a conclusion " the rercue will be difficult, but is possible!" Preparations continued with the preparation of ropes and weights, analysis of day and night temperatures around Tomaž (from-5 to -7 degrees C), the type of clothes he is wearing (red colour), if he can use something to flag or signal the helicopters (he can with the red bivouac bag), if he speaks english (speaks well), if he's fit enough to hook himself on to the ropes (yes) and if he has the karabiners (yes) ...
Tomaž Humar is rescued! The rescue mission was outstanding. Tomaž was rescued with a rope on which he hung all the way to touch down at base camp. As Maja told us, doctor Anda examined him immediately after landing. Tomaž’s hands and legs have reddened, however, there seems to be nothing critical. He is able to walk and has decided to remain at base camp for a while. He feels he does not need to be admitted to the hospital in Islamabad. After being trapped on a small shelf in the wall for six days with nothing more than a rope and an ice screw, Tomaž is exhausted, especially because he had no food in the last few days. All photos (number: 2) Source: humar.com |
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Tomaž hasn't called us yet... Tomaž only has 4 batteries left - his last - therefore we haven't heard from him since 10.p.m yesterday. We read him some encouraging E-mails, all telling him to hang in there. It has been raining all night in the base camp and snowing above 5000 meters. Because of the cloud we can only see the foothill of the mountain, above that, only fog. Today the helicopter can't get of the ground - the weather is just too bad. From time to tome we try calling Tomaž - with his old batteries he can hear us, but we can't hear him. We tell him he should stay warm and move as much as moving is possible in a such little hole, he is in.
We heard from Tomaž!!! All photos (number: 3) Source: humar.com |
RAKAPOSHI NW Spur
1.08 |
Serre Che. Sandrin Levet&Patxi Usobiaga. Results. Results
Women
Men Photos http://www.kairn.com All photos (number: 3) |
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ARCO ROCK MASTER 2005 The 19th Rock Master, the trophy for the climbing champions, takes place on 3-4/09/2005 at Arco (Trentino, N. Italy). This edition begins with a special preview: a celebration on Friday 2 September of the 20th anniversary of climbing competitions at Arco. A book and a film retrace the various stages of the most noble competition in the world. Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 September 2005 at Arco (Trentino, N. Italy) the best climbers in the world will contend for the 19th Rock Master trophy, the most sought-after and prestigious competition in the history of sports climbing. As always these will be two days of great climbing reserved for the best only and the enthusiastic spectators. Rock Master is a true sporting festival: only the best in the world take part, only the greatest of every era have won the title. And it has always been this way, since the very beginning which coincides perfectly with the history of sports climbing competitions. For it is exactly here, on the shores of Lake Garda, that this young sport made its first tentative steps. It is because of this that Rock Master is the most noble, historically important and crowd teasing competition of all. It's true passion that rekindles every year since 1987. And this passion will truly enthuse and excite the spectators in Arco’s Climbing Stadium. 2005 will be a special edition: the celebration of the 20th anniversary of climbing competitions at Arco. Because in 1986 the second edition of Sport Roccia, a competition twinned with Bardonecchia, was held on the Monte Colodri rock face. Just one year later in 1987 Arco invented Rock Master, the competition reserved for the best climbers in the world. Twenty years have passed since a group of friends and Arco town councillors decided to start this great adventure: no other climbing competition can boast such long and successful tradition. A book and film recounting this story have been published and will be presented on Friday 2 September at the Arco town casino. The champions and protagonists of these two climbing decades will attend the evening’s presentation. As always the top ten in the world ranking are invited to Rock Master and these can be joined by four wild cards chosen by the organisation. The current world champions Angela Eiter and Tomasz Mrazek will take part, as will Alexander Chabot from France, winner of the last three editions, the Spaniards Ramon Julien Puigblanque and Patxi Usobiaga, Sandrine Levet from France, Alexandra Eyer from Switzerland, but above all the current World Cup leader Flavio Crespi from Italy and the Italian champion Jenny Lavarda. As tradition has it, the classic Rock Master difficulty comeptition will be joined by the Sint Roc Boulder Contest, the thrilling knock-out confrontation for the strongest specialists of short and intense boulder problems. This will be followed by the Speed competition, or rather the competition for the sprinters in search of new records on the great Climbing Stadium wall in Arco. The event will be completed with Sunday’s fantastic Ennio Lattisi Trophy, the duel in which the top four Rock Master athletes compete on two identical and parrallel routes.
Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 will be a 48-hour great climbing immersion!
ASSOCIAZIONE ROCK MASTER C.P. 60 38062 ARCO TN - TEL 0464 516830 - FAX 0464
517691 |
Patxi Usobiaga - the champion of Spain On his road from Chamonix to Innsbruck Patxi Usobiaga ped in home for a while and at odd moments won a Cup of Spain |
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Ę2 West Face. On July, 10 Victor Kozlov called: |
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Alexander Ruchkin, the fearless hero - scout. Masherbrum North-East Face, first impressions: Once upon a time in June in a very distant land, Godforsaken kingdom, somewhere in Pakistan there lived our reconnaissance of peak Masherbrum detachment.
The top part of the wall is visible from Baltoro glacier: from the caravan track heading to well-known "8-thousand" mountains: Ę2, Gasherbrum, Broad Peak.
The reconnaissance detachment got almost under the wall at 4550m, the beginning of the route is roughly at 4700m, summit- 7821m. This implies overall altitude difference 3 km, that we can divide into three parts of about 1 km every one. The top part - yellow vertical strong granite rocks, average one - black rocks of schist of about and more 70 degrees, and the bottom part - an abrupt snow-ice slope with hanging seracs that we will have to run very quickly. |
Simone Moro. Batura II
10.07 Unfortunately Joby was behind me and he did his best to be efficient and concentrate as he climbed down well but taking his time. Waiting for him under seracs and cornice would have been suicide... I was in base camp drinking cold juice and doing a sat phone call when Joby called me on the radio. I immediately started the rescue effort, mostly realized from Didar (the cook) and with help from Karim (cook assistant) and me. During the long and painful (for Joby) walk down on the moraine till base camp, I did some sat phone calls to our agency, Adventure Tour Pakistan, to request a helicopter evacuation the day after. Today at 12:20 an army helicopter arrived at base camp and took Joby and me to Gilgit... Joby has some difficulties and pain to move the leg and walk but the first medical control said that probably nothing is broken but he has to rest and recover some weeks as a ankle and hip traumas. The expedition is finished in advance, with 2 summit reached and one new route, but our principal aim is failed due the bad luck. We are happy because all that is missing is the sport result, Batura 2, but not the life of someone...
I would like to thank Ashraf Aman and his staff Essar and Neiknam for the strong and fast "diplomatic" effort to obtain the military helicopter for us. Unique and great job!!!!
8.07 Finally at 1 p.m. we found a place for our camp 2. In 40 minutes we set the camp at 5900 meters protected by one big serac. We are now close to the Batokschi Peak. Near the ridge we found also some very old fixropes, hold by some iron carabiners, but obviously it was not advisable to use them. Result after 2 days: near then 2000 meters climbed in alpinstile without ropes.
Ciao till tomorrow All photos (number: 4) |
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K2 West Face
On July, 7, Victor Kozlov reports from base camp: The guys came under the Wall and then returned back to Japanese camp site at 5300m. Tomorrow they are going to displace the tent at 5600 to begin observing the Wall for the next 5-6 days. First impressions: the Wall knocks eyes out. It's just for Russians! Only a pass behind it separates the area from China. |
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K2 West Face
July, 6 |
Simone Moro. Batura II
7.07 |
Parteigenosses Odintsov and Ruchkin have gone back to native land after their reconnoitering. "The Challenge Mountain!"
Alexander Ruchkin: "Our greetings to everybody! |
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K2 West Face On July, 5 Victor Kozlov called from K2 base camp (under the classical route): on July, 2-3-4 we stayed at the base camp because of very bad weather. Today it's snowing too, but in the morning we caught the weather window and the guys went again up to the Japanese camp to take there some more gear. There are a lot of crevasses on the glacier, but they are not too deep. We are on a half way up to the foot of the West Face and if the weather allows tomorrow the guys Shabalin, Elagin and Kuznetsov will trek up to beginning of the Wall and stay there for 6 days. |
Russian seasons in Munich. UIAA World Rock-climbing Championship, Munich (Germany), 1-5 July 2005 Let bourgeois make nose swell: the Russians blaze up as well (c)! Salavat Rakhmetov and Olga Shalagina - are the champions in bouldering! Hip hip hurrah, comrades! Bouldering. Salavat Rakhmetov and Olga Shalagina - are the champions in bouldering! The Ukrainian climber Olga won her first World Championship. Julia Abramchuk - is the second ... Olga Bibik - the sixth.
MEN:
WOMEN: Qualification
Lead
Men.
1. Tomas MRAZEK, CZE
Women.
1. Angela EITER, AUT |
Simone Moro. Batura II Joby and Simone on summit of Ya Chhish (climbed the 2nd time!)
5.07 All photos (number: 1) |
Date update: 6.07.2005 Simone Moro. Batura II
4.07
All photos (number: 2) |
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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 UĘ 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 6Ŕ). 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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