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ExWeb special – Winter Nanga Parbat timeline:
The Killer Mountain’s 8-0 score

(K2Climb.net/MountEverest.net) Up to now, eight expeditions have attempted Nanga Parbat in winter (or near   winter) – and failed. The latest real winter attempt was made by a strong team of Polish winter wolves including Wielicki and Hajzer.

In a few weeks time another set of Polish climbers will try their luck.

Here goes ExWeb’s third entry about previous winter attempts on the upcoming 2008/09 winter climbs: today Rodrigo Granzotto’s report on Nanga Parbat; a.k.a the “Killer Mountain.”

Nanga Parbat Winter History
By Rodrigo Granzotto Peron

The first winter attempt on Nanga Parbat was done in 1988/89 by a Polish team under the leadership of Maciej Berbeka. Bad conditions forced a re-route from the primary target SE Buttress to the Messner Route on the Rupal Flank. The summit bid was halted at 6800 meters.

Frostbite and rescue for record climbers

Berbeka was back for another round in 1990/91. After failing again on the Messner Route (6800 meters), he decided to try the long Schell Route. But it was too late in the season and the team gave up at 6600 meters.

In 1995/96 another Polish expedition, now under leadership of Maciej Pawlowski, made a serious attempt to 7850m on Diamir Flank (Kinshofer Route). The two climbers that reached the highest point – Zbigniew Trzmiel and Krzysztof Pankiewicz – suffered frostbites and were rescued by helicopter from 3900m.

In 1996/97 UK Victor Saunders showed up with Danish/Swedish Rafael Jensen and Pakistan Ghulam Hassan to attempt the Kinshofer Route. The trio gave up already in early December.

In 1997/98 Andrzej Zawada, 69 years old at the time, commanded a team of Polish stars that included Ryszard Pawlowski, Jerzy Natkanski and Dariusz Zaluski. The chosen route was Kinshofer on Diamir Flank. After an initially fast progress problems began to accumulate. Camp I was destroyed; BC was wrecked two days later and two weeks after Pawlowski broke his leg. The expedition was canceled at last.

The Austrian attempt and the veteran winter wolves

In 2004/2005 the Kinshofer Route on Diamir Flank was attempted again – this time by Austrian brothers Gerfried Goschl and Rainer Wolfgang Goschl, along with Pakistan Hasil Shah and Mehrban Shah. A number of problems, deep snow and high winds forced a premature cancellation also of their expedition.

In 2006/2007 Krzysztof Wielicki arrived with a strong and experienced team (Jan Szulc, Artur Hajzer,  Krzysztof   Tarasewicz, Dariusz Zaluski and others) to climb the Schell Route on the Rupal Flank. They were defeated at 6800 meters by knee-deep snow and hurricane winds.

In 2007 Italian dark horse Simone La Terra challenged the Kinshofer Route accompanied by Pakistan Mehrban Karim. It was over already at 6000 meters when high winds flattened the kitchen-tent, damaging all gear and blowing away provisions.

Polish ruling the real winter

While there were 8 cold expeditions on Nanga Parbat; only three took place in real winter – the 1st, the 3rd and the 5th – all Polish. The others were “partial winter” or “late autumn” attempts. The highest point reached to this day was 7850m, by the 3rd expedition led by Maciej Pawlowski.

* see :

- Polish Winter Nanga Parbat Expeditin 2008/09. Zimowa Wyprawa na Nanga Parbat 2008/09. /Version english and polish/

- Ice Warriors not give up – HiMountain winter expedition to Broad Peak – 2008/09. HiMountain wyprawa zimowa Broad Peak – 2008/09. /Version english and polish/

- Don Bowie’s website

- Polish winter expedition to K2, 2002/3 /Version polish and english/

- Polish-Italian winter expedition to Shisha Pangma (8027m), 2005 /Version polish and english/

- Winter Manifesto of Krzysztof Wielicki – Manifest zimowy Krzysztofa Wielickiego /Version polish and english/

- 2007 Winter Nanga Parbat: It’s over – http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=15523

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

* oryginal post by – http://himalman.wordpress.com/

ExWeb special – Winter Broad Peak timeline:
No winners yet in a tough game

(K2Climb.net/MountEverest.net) Up until now only 8 out of all 14 eight-thousanders have been winter climbed. Over the previous weeks ExWeb have run debriefs on all the first winter ascents, and also all winter, or near winter, summits in Himalaya.

But what about winter attempts on the peaks ahead? Last week Simone Moro offered winter history for Makalu; while ExWeb’s contributor Rodrigo Granzotto Peron dodged flooding and power outages in his home town of Brazil for a skinny on the remarkably few winter attempts on Broad Peak and Nanga Parbat (check in for NP tomorrow).

HiMountain winter expedition to Broad Peak – 2008/09 – route

Broad Peak Winter History
By Rodrigo Granzotto Peron

For two weeks in the winter of 1983, Andrzej Zawada and Jacques Olek researched the Baltoro Glacier; checking the weather and routes on Broad Peak and both Gasherbrums for future expeditions. Their conclusion was that “winter conditions were much more severe than in the Everest region.”

Polish climbers breaking trail

Five years later, in February 1988 Polish Maciej Berbeka (Manaslu winter 84, Cho Oyu winter 85) arrived for the first winter attempt on Broad Peak. It became the most successful winter climb on Falchan Kangri yet.

Berbeka reached the Foresummit by the normal route one month later. Very strong winds blowing from the real summit prevented him to do the first winter ascent of an 8000er in Pakistan.

Here come the Spaniards

In 2003 Spanish Juanito Oiarzabal arrived with a strong team: Juan Vallejo, Mikel Zabalza, Losu Bereziartu and Italian Silvio Mondinelli. They reached 6500m on the normal route, but after the destruction of Camp II (February 9th) and Camp I (February 20th), they headed home without summit.

(Ed note: the Spanish team reportedly said that just to get to BC was a long, frozen walk from hell.)

Latest attempts: another Italian against all odds

Four years later, in 2007 Simone Moro decided to try his luck, teaming up with Pakistan Shaheen Baig, again on the normal route. Progress was very slow as a result of high winds and incredible amount of snow on the route. The expedition was called off after reaching 6800 meters.

With valuable experience bagged, Simone Moro was back already the next year, in 2008 with Pakistan climbers Shaheen Baig and Quadrat Ali. But logistics wrecked the schedule right from the start.

The three climbers arrived BC very late (February 2nd). According to Simone, “this expedition is a charade of inefficiency, bad luck and unhelpful people.” Still, the mountaineers climbed the normal route until 7800 meters before calling the expedition off due to high winds in early March.

* see :

- Ice Warriors not give up – HiMountain winter expedition to Broad Peak – 2008/09. HiMountain wyprawa zimowa Broad Peak – 2008/09. /Version english and polish/

- Don Bowie’s website

- Polish winter expedition to K2, 2002/3 /Version polish and english/

- Polish-Italian winter expedition to Shisha Pangma (8027m), 2005 /Version polish and english/

- Winter Manifesto of Krzysztof Wielicki – Manifest zimowy Krzysztofa Wielickiego /Version polish and english/

- 2007 Winter Nanga Parbat: It’s over – http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=15523

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

* oryginal post by – http://himalman.wordpress.com/

“Ice Warriors” not give up.
HiMountain winter expedition to Broad Peak – 2008/09.

The eighties are long gone but a warrior’s soul never dies: The tough bunch of climbers who wrote the coolest pages of mountaineering history 20 years back are still kicking – and more. In only a few weeks, they will take on any mountaineer’s ultimate nightmare: A winter climb on a Pakistan 8000er.
Not even Messner could beat them: Polish climbers have all the first winter ascents on Himalayan 8000ers.

Winter Manifesto of Krzysztof Wielicki :

The golden decade of Polish Himalayan mountaineering, besides the unquestionable personal accomplishments of Jurek Kukuczka, Wanda Rutkiewicz, Wojtek Kurtyka and others, also saw winter achievements that were a team rather than individual success. It was particularly noticeable during the winter expeditions how the whole team worked for the result. In Winter it is difficult to achieve success without teamwork. Climbing in the Alps or the Tatras in wintertime is no longer surprising to anyone: it was the natural course of things, an attempt to raise the challenge without raising the altitude. The same had to occur in high mountains too.And it’s great that it was achieved by Poles. Jurek Werteresiewicz drew up a programme, Andrzej Zawada implemented it and many of us put it into practice, often successfully but there were failures as well.In recent years a total withdrawal from wintertime climbing could be observed in the Tatras, the Alps as well as the Himalayas…..

… We were successful in high mountain winter explorations. After all, half of fourteen 8000-metre peaks were climbed by Poles, with in just eight years (1980-1988) to boot. Six unconquered peaks are waiting for us, but volunteers are nowhere to be seen. Let the nickname “Ice Warriors”, given us by Englishmen, be inscribed in the history of Himalayan climbing for ever.

Today started next winter expedition -

HiMountain winter expedition to Broad Peak – 2008/09.

HiMountain winter expedition to Broad Peak led by Artur Hajzer , the team :  Robert Szymczak and Don Bowie  from Canada.

Artur Hajzer is a Polish mountaineer best known for the first winter ascent of Annapurna on February 3,  1987 together with Jerzy Kukuczka. He was member of latest winter expedition – 2006/07 Winter Nanga Parbat!

Upcoming winter expeditions on 8000es

Artur Hajzer will lead Robert Szymczak and Don Bowie for a winter attempton Broad Peak; Jacek Teler will lead a team on Nanga Parbat. Simone Moro will attempt Makalu, teaming up with Denis Urubko. Pavel Krupièka, Jan Krabec and Milan Wlasák will atempt Manaslu.

* see :

- Don Bowie’s website

- Polish winter expedition to K2, 2002/3 /Version polish and english/

- Polish-Italian winter expedition to Shisha Pangma (8027m), 2005 /Version polish and english/

- Winter Manifesto of Krzysztof Wielicki – Manifest zimowy Krzysztofa Wielickiego /Version polish and english/

- 2007 Winter Nanga Parbat: It’s over – http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=15523

Lodowi wojownicy nie dają za wygraną.

HiMountain wyprawa zimowa Broad Peak — 2008/09

Rusza kolejna polska zimowa wyprawa na ośmiotysięcznik — „HiMountain wyprawa zimowa Broad Peak — 2008/09”. Celem wyprawy jest pierwsze w historii zimowe wejście na 12-ty szczyt świata Broad Peak (8051 m) w Karakorum (Pakistan).

Himalaizm zimowy to iście polska specjalizacja. Mimo dużej ilości prób podejmowanych przez najlepszych alpinistów z całego świata, tylko Polacy (wyjątkiem jest Włoch Simone Moro, który zdobył Shisha Pangma razem z Piotrem Morawskim – Polish-Italian winter expedition to Shisha Pangma (8027m), 2005 /Version polish and english/) stawali do tej pory na ośmiotysięcznikach zimą (zdobyli już osiem). Jak pisał Krzysztof Wielicki w swoim słynnym Manifeście… “Niech przydomek ” Ice Warriors”, nadany nam przez Anglików, na stałe zapisze się w historii himalaizmu.” Ostatnia zimowa próba to Winter Nanga Parbat – zimowa wyprawa Wielickiego z 2007r ; niestety wyprawa nie zakończyła się sukcesem , himalaistów pokonała pogoda.

Sześć spośród czternastu ośmiotysięczników pozostaje niezdobytych, z tego pięć w Pakistanie i jeden w Nepalu.

Trasa wyprawy zimowej na Broad Peak 2008/09

Wspomniany Simone Moro dwukrotnie próbował zmierzyć się zimą z Broad Peakiem, za każdym razem bezskutecznie. Co znamienne, żaden spośród pięciu pakistańskich ośmiotysięczników (cztery w Karakorum oraz Nanga Parbat) nie został do tej pory zdobyty zimą. O krok od wejścia na główny wierzchołek Broad Peaku zimą był Maciej Berbeka. Osiągnął on przedwierzchołek, tzw. Rocky Summit (8035 m), który jest niższy od wierzchołka głównego zaledwie o 16 metrów, ale oddalony od niego o godzinę wspinaczki.

W przeddzień odlotu wyprawy, 8 grudnia 2008, w warszawskim Centrum Olimpijskim odbyła się konferencja prasowa uczestników wyprawy, którą prowadziła zdobywczyni Everestu, redaktor naczelna National Geographic Polska, Martyna Wojciechowska.

W wyprawie uczestniczy trzech himalaistów: Artur Hajzer — kierownik, Robert Szymczak i Don Bowie z Kanady. Wspomagani będą przez dwu tragarzy wysokościowych.

Don Bowie.

Sprzęt i żywność wyprawy, w sumie 86 ładunków, zostały już dostarczone do podnóża góry na lodowcu Godwin Austen i oczekują w miejscu, gdzie stanie baza wyprawy. Ładunki przetransportowano już 15 października, ponieważ — jeżeli wierzyć zapewnieniom pakistańskiej agencji — w okresie zimowym nie jest możliwe, aby w tamtym rejonie przeszła karawana tragarzy. Uczestnicy wraz ze sprzętem osobistym i ładunkami uzupełniającymi mają dolecieć do bazy helikopterem między 19 a 21 grudnia 2008 roku.

* strony o wyprawach zimowych :

- 2007 Winter Nanga Parbat: It’s over – http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=15523

- Polish winter expedition to K2, 2002/3 /Version polish and english/

- Polish-Italian winter expedition to Shisha Pangma (8027m), 2005 /Version polish and english/

- Winter Manifesto of Krzysztof Wielicki – Manifest zimowy Krzysztofa Wielickiego /Version polish and english/

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

*** Żródło : – http://himalman.wordpress.com/