The probably fittest of all seniors among the high altitude climbers must still wait for his 13th eight-thousander. Because of too much snow on the mountain Carlos Soria declared his expedition on the 8,167-meter-high Dhaulagiri for finished. During the ascent of the 78-year-old Spaniard and his companions to Camp 1, some avalanches had swept down not far away from the climbers, Carlos indicated on Facebook, adding that the high risk of avalanches would continue in the upper parts of the mountain. Moreover, the fixed ropes which they had laid before had been buried by fresh snow. “Because of all these adversities, we have no choice but to abandon our Dhaulagiri expedition for this season,” said Soria. A first summit attempt had failed one and a half weeks ago at an altitude of about 7,800 meters, because Carlos and Co. had missed the right route while the fog had become stronger.

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They did it! The Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Pakistani Ali Sadpara and the Italian Simone Moro have made history making the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat. “3:37 p.m (in Pakistan). SUMMIT! We just got the confirmation by walkie: Alex Txikon, Ali Sadpara and Simone Moro have reached the top of Nanga Parbat for the first time in Winter. Tamara Lunger stopped some meters below. Will spend night in Camp 4 (7.200m) and tomorrow will be back in Base Camp”, Igune Mariezkurrena writes from Diamir Base Camp on Facebook. Congratulation to all climbers on this amazing performance – and a safe descent!

For Simone, it was already the fourth time that he first climbed an eighthousander in winter. Before doing it today on Nanga Parbat, he had succeeded on Shishapangma (in 2005), Makalu (in 2009) und Gasherbrum II (in 2011).
Now K 2 remains the only of the 14 eight-thousanders that has never been climbed in winter so far.

Update 16.45 MEZ: Alex, Ali, Simone and Tamara have safely arrived in Camp 4 at about 7,100 meters.

Update 27.2.: All climbers are safe and sound back in Base Camp. This completes the summit success on Nanga Parbat. “Tired but very happy! Ready to go to bed and recover a bit”, is said on Tamara’s Facebook account. Reportedly she had turned around at about 8,000 meters. Nevertheless, well done, Tamara! A part of the summit success is yours.