A lot of snow on Gasherbrum II

A short snowfall break in the Karakoram – or, as Felix Berg describes it from Gasherbrum II with a twinkle in his eye “a small good-weather disturbance”. Time for the climbers to stuck their noses into the wind and to reconsider their plans. Dominik Müller, head and expedition leader of the German operator Amical alpin has decided to strike the tents on the 8,051-meter-high Broad Peak and to return home. “All the equipment from Camp 1 was recovered,” Dominik writes on Facebook today. “Just now it’s snowing again, and during our ascent there were some avalanches!” The porters have been ordered for Sunday.

Stitzinger: “Too much snow in the flanks and couloirs”

The Amical team led by Luis Stitzinger, who wanted to first climb the 7,082-meter-high Urdok Kangri II, threw in the towel too. “It’s been snowing for days since we arrived at the base camp. There is now half a meter of fresh snow, and up to one and a half meters at 6,000 or 7,000 meteres,” Luis writes on Facebook. “The route looks elegant, but there’s too much snow in the flanks and couloirs.” For the next three days more than half a meter of fresh snow is expected, says Luis adding that they’ll finish the expedition early: “I’ve never experienced such a season with so constant bad weather in the Karakoram.”

Like Russian Roulette

Alex Gavan (l.) and Tunc Findik (r.)

Snowfall has also increased the risk of avalanches on the other eight-thousanders in Pakistan. Continuing the ascent would be like “Russian Roulette”, Romanian Alex Gavan wrote three days ago. Alex and his Turkish team partner Tunc Findik had interrupted their activities on Nanga Parbat. The two want to climb the 8125-meter-high mountain without bottled oxygen.

Bargiel and Golab move to the K2

On the eight-thousander Gasherbrum II, the Poles Andrzej Bargiel and Janusz Golab declared their acclimatization over – “due to heavy snowfall. Time to move on to K2 base camp and focus on our main goal,” writes Bargiel on Instagram. The 30-year-old is planning the first complete ski run from the 8611-meter-high summit of K2. Last year, Bargiel failed on the second highest mountain in the world – because of bad weather.

Göttler and Barmasse want to climb G IV Southwest Face

Gasherbrum IV

The German climber David Göttler and the Italian Hervé Barmasse are probably glad to have made their way to the Karakoram rather late in the season. Both are still on their trekking. They definitely haven’t missed anything so far. Göttler and Barmasse want to first climb the Southwest Face of the 7,925-meter-high Gasherbrum IV – in pure Alpine style, i.e. without bottled oxygen, high camps and high altitude porters.

The “King of the Eight-Thousanders”

K2 remains the only eight-thousander still unclimbed in winter. Krzysztof Wielicki declared the Polish winter expedition on the second highest mountain on earth over. “The priority of the expedition is the safety of the participants,” wrote the expedition leader on Facebook. Adam Bielecki and Janusz Golab found during their exploration climb that all ropes up to Camp 1 on the Abruzzi route were blocked. It had to be assumed that the Camps 1, 2 and 3 were destroyed, said Wielicki. In the last week, there had been 80 centimeters of fresh snow. This had increased the avalanche danger, especially in the upper part of the mountain. In addition, only around 11 March a good weather window was expected, but probably it was too short for a summit push, explained Wielicki.

A lot of disquiet

Adam Bielecki after being hit by a stone

The expedition, which brought together the best Polish high altitude climbers, was not running smoothly. First, a part of the team was involved in the rescue operation for Elisabeth Revol and Tomek Mackiewicz on Nanga Parbat. Then, within a few days, two climbers were injured by falling rocks on the Basque route. Bielecki broke his nose but was able to continue the expedition. Rafal Fronia broke his forearm and had to leave early. The team switched to the Abruzzi route. The solo ascent of Denis Urubko, who had not consulted his plan with expedition leader Wielicki, caused further disquiet. The 44-year-old reached an altitude of 7,600 meters, before storm and deep snow stopped him. After returning to the base camp Urubko left the expedition.

Andie MacDowell with a real groundhog

What are Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell actually doing this winter? Perhaps the two Hollywood stars are traveling to Pakistan to shoot a remake of their blockbuster “Groundhog Day” that is set in the world of high altitude climbers. After all, the same match on Nanga Parbat is repeated year after year: Several expeditions arrive at the different base camps to climb the “Naked Mountain” for the first time in winter. And again and again they return home exhausted and empty-handed two months later. 27 expeditions ended this way. This winter, another five teams will tackle the 8,125-meter-high mountain, which is – apart from K 2 – the only eight-thousander which has never been climbed in the cold season. Two of the current climbing teams have the Murray/MacDowell pattern – even if the name of one of these expeditions sounds more like a Disney movie.

Rubber ducks

Elisabeth Revol in Camp 4 at 7,000 meters

The male lead in the “rubber duck” team is played by Tomek Mackiewicz. For the sixth year in a row, the mountaineer from Poland is trying to first climb Nanga Parbat in winter. For the third time, he will be doing this along with the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol. Last winter on the Diamir side of the mountain, both reached an altitude of about 7,800 meters before extreme cold and strong winds forced them back. “When I reached out, I could ‘feel’ the summit with the touch of my finger. It was very close”, Revol said then. This year, the Pakistani Arslan Ahmed Ansari is completing the team. The “rubber ducks” want to finish the Messner route, climbing it in Alpine style. In 2000, the South Tyroleans Reinhold and Hubert Messner, Hanspeter Eisendle and Wolfgang Tomaseth had opened this route up to an altitude of 7,500 meters.

Powerful engine

Tamara and Simone in Manaslu base camp

The other “Groundhog Day” team will also try to climb this route. “I want to see if the route Denis Urubko and I had identified as possible during the winter of 2012 is the right one”, says Simone Moro. The Italian is a real specialist for winter expeditions. He made three first winter ascents on eight-thousanders so far: on Shishapangma (2005), Makalu (2009) and Gasherbrum II (2011). The 48-year-old will tackle Nanga Parbat for the third time. The 29-year-old South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger takes the female role in this team. Last winter, Tamara and Simone went for the first time on a joint expedition. Masses of snow forced them back on Manaslu. Although they had not even climbed further up than Camp 1 at 5,700 meters, Tamara returned home with a smile in her face, says Moro and praises his rope partner’s performance: “Tamara has an engine that I have seen in very few men.”

Familiar faces

Nanga Parbat (seen from Diamir base camp)

Some of the climbers of the three other teams who try to climb the mountain this winter seem to have a special Nanga Parbat engine. Among the nine members of the Polish “Justice for all” expedition, who want to climb the Schell route on the Rupal side of the mountain, are some repeaters. This also applies to the Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Italian Daniele Nardi and the Pakistani Ali Sadpara who are familiar faces on Nanga Parbat. They want to use the Kinshofer route on the Diamir side – in traditional climbing style, i.e. with high camps. The fourth member of this team is the Polish climber Janusz Golab, who – along with his compatriot Adam Bielecki – had climbed the eight-thousander Gasherbrum I for the first time in winter in 2012.
Janusz is going to meet his former climbing partner in Nanga Parbat Base Camp: Bielecki, who was also among the climbers who, in 2013, first climbed Broad Peak in winter, will be accompanied by Jacek Czech. The two Poles also want to climb the mountain on the Kinshofer route, however in Alpine style.
Thus everything is prepared for a new episode of “Groundhog Day” on Nanga Parbat. But maybe this time there will be the kind of happy ending that Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell have submitted in their Hollywood blockbuster.