Manaslu (l.) and Pinnacle East (r.)

The cat is out of the bag. Simone Moro has revealed his Himalayan winter project: The 47-year-old Italian wants to climb Manaslu in Nepal, with 8,163 meters the eight highest mountain in the world. Not via the normal route, but with the detour via the upstream 7992-meter-high Pinnacle East. The Polish climbers Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer were the first climbers who succeeded in climbing this spectacular traverse in November 1986, i.e. in fall. The first winter ascent of Manaslu – without traverse – was also made by Polish climbers: Maciej Berbeka and Ryszard Gajewski reached the summit in January 1984. Simone Moro will not travel alone to Manaslu within the next few days.

With Tamara Lunger

Tamara Lunger

He will be accompanied by 28-year-old South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger. In 2010 she became the youngest woman who ever climbed the 8516-meter-high Lhotse – with bottled oxygen. Without breathing mask, Tamara stood on top of K 2 (8611m), the second highest mountain in the world, on 26 July 2014. “Tamara is physically very strong. And now she has also the necessary experience on the highest mountains”, says Simone Moro, who was a mentor for the young mountaineer in recent years. Tamara is looking forward to the common winter project in Nepal: “It was one of my dreams, I immediately accepted. It will be hard, it will be cold. But I love to fight my way through. I’m ready.”