Alex Txikon in Everest high camp (in the background on the right Pumori)

Alex Txikon is pleased with the progress made so far on his winter expedition on Mount Everest. On Sunday, the Spaniard and five Sherpas ascended from the base camp on the previously prepared route through the Khumbu Icefall, slept in Camp 1 at 6,050 meters and reached Camp 2 on Monday. “I am very happy, I did not think for a moment that we were going to reach Camp 2 at 6,500 meters in just one day and with a small team of only six people,” says the 36-year-old.

Foot off the accelerator

Alex (l.) and his comrades

“I think I have to take my foot off the accelerator and dose the speed. After all, this is not a 100-meter run but a long marathon. Six very hard days are behind us and we are very proud of them.” Txikon and the Pakistani climber Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” want to scale Everest without bottled oxygen. Together with the Italian Simone Moro, they had made the prestigious first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat in February 2016.

Waiting in K2 base camp

Wind vane on K 2

The jet stream is currently raging on Pakistan’s eight-thousander. For K2, wind speeds of up to 125 kilometers per hour were expected today on the summit at 8,611 meters, on the highest point of Nanga Parbat at 8,125 meters of up to 110 km/h. The storm is to calm down not before next weekend. That means for the winter expeditions on both eight-thousanders: Waiting in the base camp. On Sunday some climbers of the Polish team had ascended on the second highest mountain on earth up to 5,700 meters on the Cesen route. For today’s Tuesday it was actually planned to pitch up Camp 1 at 5,900 meters. However, there was no move shown on the GPS tracker of the expedition. K2 is the last remaining eight-thousander that has never been climbed in winter.

Nanga Parbat: Material depot at 6,700 meters

Elisabeth Revol (l.) and Tomek Mackiewicz on Nanga Parbat

From Nanga Parbat, the Pakistani expedition operator “Alpine Adventure” informed that the Pole Tomek Mackiewicz and the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol had returned to base camp because of the strong wind and extreme cold. Previously, they had deposited equipment at 6,700 meters. They would rise again as soon as the conditions permit, it said. That should be probably towards the end of the week.