Ascent via the Abruzzi route on K 2

“The weather is not the best,” Krzysztof Wielicki, leader of the Polish K2 winter expedition, writes on Facebook. “Full of clouds and wind.” Denis Urubko ascended via the Abruzzi Spur to an altitude of 6,500 meters to check the condition of the route. Some old ropes are to be replaced, says Wielicki. The Polish climbers  had abandoned “for reasons of safety” their original plan to climb the Basque route (also known as the Cesen route). Previously Adam Bielecki and Rafal Fronia had been injured by rockfall. While Bielecki is able to continue, Fronia had to cancel the expedition because of a broken forearm.

Txikon and Co. waiting in EBC

Alex Txikon in the Lhotse flank at the end of January

On Mount Everest, the Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Pakistani Muhammad Ali “Sadpara””and their Sherpa team are waiting for an opportunity for a summit attempt. “it seems that the weather does not work in our favor,” writes Alex. The climbers are well acclimatized. At the end of January, Txikon and Ali had scaled the 7,161-meter-high Pumori. A few days later, Alex and Co. had climbed on Everest up to an altitude of 7,850 meters, then the weather had turned.

First winter ascent of Gora Pobeda reported

Gora Pobeda in eastern Siberia

Meanwhile, Italian Simone Moro and his South Tyrolean team partner Tamara Lunger announced the first winter ascent of the 3,003-meter-high Gora Pobeda (also called Pik Pobeda) in the icy eastern part of Siberia. “”It snowed all day long, but there was good visibility,” the two climbers informed on Facebook.” It was extremely cold! How cold we do not know yet, we’ll check and tell you.” Gora Pobeda is located only about 140 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. Local reindeer herdsmen had accompanied Moro and Lunger from the last inhabited settlement to the base camp.

Tomasz Mackiewicz

Tomek’s love for Nanga Parbat almost verges on mania. Six winters in a row, from 2011 to 2016, the “Naked Mountain” in Pakistan dismissed Tomasz Mackiewicz. But the 42-year-old climber from Poland just does not give up. He wants to make his way to Nanga Parbat for the seventh time this winter – if he is able to finance the expedition. Tomek has again launched a crowdfunding campaign on the internet. “Money is always a problem,” Mackiewicz writes to me. “I’am poor.”

Others succeeded the first winter ascent

Group picture 2016 – with Tomek (r.)

Even before and during his last Nanga Parbat expedition in winter 2015/2016, the father of four, who earns his living as a car mechanic, had collected donations for his project on the Internet. At that time he had reached an altitude of 7,500 meters with his French team partner Elisabeth Revol. After Mackiewicz and Revol had abandoned their expedition, the Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Italian Simone Moro and the Pakistani Muhammad Ali “Sadpara” had succeeded the historic first winter ascent of  Nanga Parbat on 26 February 2016. Mackiewicz had subsequently doubted the summit success and also accused Moro that he had wanted to boycott Tomek’s expedition in Pakistan.

Moro criticizes low-budget tactics

Tomek Mackiewicz on ascent

The Italian rejected the accusation in an interview with the Polish website “mountainportal.com” – pointing out that some of Tomek’s declarations were “often given under the evident influence of drugs and/or alcohol”. Not a very fine reply, after all, considering that Mackiewicz makes no secret of the fact that he was heroin-addicted as a young adult and that it took him years of rehabilitation to get rid of the drug. In his recent book, “Nanga in Winter”, Moro also criticized the low-budget tactics of the Polish climber, who “fanatically forgoes any kind of accommodation”: “There is not much point in setting off in bad weather, getting yourself into trouble and, for example, spending a week in an emergency bivouac in the snow without food, if you can avoid it.”

“Pure Alpine style”

Moro and Mackiewicz will probably not become best friends again.  When I ask the Pole for his motivation, after Txikon, Moro and Ali “Sadpara” have made history with their first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat, Tomek answers with a side-swipe at the Italian: “My motivation to climb Nanga was a long time before Simone arrived there. His motivation was to be first. My one is to climb it in pure Alpine style in winter.”

On Buhl’s track

Hermann Buhl

As in 2014/2015 and 2015/2016, Mackiewicz wants to complete the so-called “Messner route”, according to Tomek “the only possible Alpine style route in winter”. In 2000, the South Tyroleans Reinhold and Hubert Messner, Hanspeter Eisendle and Wolfgang Tomaseth had opened the route through the Northeast Face up to an altitude of 7,500 meters. Further up there are two options, says Tomek: “My dream is to continue on the Hermann Buhl route (the Austrian Buhl succeeded the first ascent of Nanga Parbat in 1953, solo climbing the last 1,300 meters in altitude) to the summit.” As an alternative, the Polish climber considers to cross over to the right to the Kinshofer route and to reach the highest point on the normal route.

Again with Revol?

Elisabeth Revol and Tomek

Mackiewicz wants to climb again (as on his last two attempts on Nanga Parbat) with Elisabeth Revol. Tomek did not want to (or was not allowed to) confirm, that the Frenchwoman has already promised to join him. Revol herself does not yet want to reveal her plans for the upcoming winter. But if I had to, I would bet on another team Mackiewicz/Revol on Nanga Parbat. This year, Elisabeth had tried in vain to climb the Manaslu in winter. In spring, she climbed on Makalu up to the 8,445-meter-high pre-summit, reached the 8516-meter-high summit of Lhotse and returned on Everest – ascending as always without bottled oxygen – in bad weather halfway between the nearly 8000-meter-high South Col and the highest point at 8,850 meters.

Alex Txikon on Everest

It is a race against time. Another storm front is approaching Mount Everest. The meteorologists expect the small weather window with relatively favorable conditions in the summit region to remain open only until Wednesday and then close for a longer period of time. Therefore Alex Txikon, who wants to climb Everest in winter without bottled oxygen, has to push now. In two weeks, the meteorological winter will end. On Monday, the 35-year-old Basque and his five-man strong Sherpa team climbed up to Camp 2 at 6,400 meters. Today Txikon and the Sherpas Nuri, Gesman, Temba, Sanu and Pasang Nurbu want to reach the South Col at 7,950 meters. All Sherpas use supplemental oxygen. Three weeks ago, Txikon’s first summit attempt had failed on the South Col. “We hope to reach the summit on Wednesday ,” Alex said.

Two on the last stage

Climb light

Light and fast, this is Txikon’s tactics. He is climbing with a light backpack. On the first attempt, the team had deposited sleeping bags in Camp 2 and on the South Col. “Although I am no specialist in this modality, we are good connoisseurs of the route,” said Alex. He wants to climb to the highest point with Nuri, the other Sherpas are to wait on the South Col. However, Txikon warns against too high expectations: “ I recognize that the possibilities are very small because the weather does not help us.” While ascending to Camp 2, the wind was still strong. “There were times with speeds of up to 60 kilometers per hour, in which we could not even move forward,” Alex said.

Energy kick by Messner

Alex along with his idol Reinhold Messner (l.)

Just before his departure on Monday, Txikon had received an unexpected visit at the Base Camp: Everest legend Reinhold Messner came along. The 72-year-old has been staying in the Khumbu area for film recordings. In 1978, Messner – along  with Peter Habeler – had climbed Everest for the first time without breathing mask. In 1980 the South Tyrolean succeeded in doing the first solo climb of the highest mountain, again without the use of bottled oxygen. “The support he has given us is indescribable,” said Alex, “an energy kick from the hand of the greatest.”

I suppose he needed this encouragement. The eight-day interruption of the expedition had brought the Basque climber out of the rhythm. In addition, Txikon had returned with an almost completely new Sherpa team. Nuri Sherpa is the only member left from the original crew. The other Sherpas had stayed in Kathmandu to recover for the upcoming commercial spring season on Everest. It will start in a few weeks.

Hard work in the Khumbu Icefall

Once more it is served on Mount Everest. For three days, the Basque Alex Txikon, six Sherpas and two “Icefall Doctors” worked to restore the route via the Khumbu Icefall up to Camp 1 at more than 6,000 meters. 60 percent of the route had to be renewed, because the hard weather conditions of the past two weeks had left their mark in the ice labyrinth, the team of the 35-year-old Spaniard said. “It has been hard days refitting the route,” Alex noted on Facebook. After today’s rest day, Txikon and Co. want to ascend tomorrow to Camp 2 at 6,400 meters.

Time to grind the teeth

Alex Txikon

“I know that every time I go up, my strength is decreasing and therefore the chances of summit too,” Alex wrote in his blog. “But I’m a bit stubborn and I like to climb and fight it. It is time to grind my teeth.”

As reported, Txikon had had to interrupt his winter attempt involuntarily because the Nepalese expedition operator Seven Summit Treks had ordered the entire team back to Kathmandu after the failed first summit attempt. On Saturday, Alex had returned to the Everest Base Camp by helicopter.

Back to Everest by helicopter

“Back to the adventure!”, Alex Txikon wrote on Twitter. After eight days in the Nepali capital Kathmandu, the 35-year-old Basque has flown back to Mount Everest by helicopter. “We are already at the Base Camp at 5,250 meters, with very good sensations,” said Alex. “Despite having lost weight and having worked hardly, I am physically still very strong.” According to Alex’ words, it’s still sunny and windy at the top of the mountain, as it had been since the beginning of the expedition in early January. Already on Sunday, Txikon wants to climb up with his Sherpa team to check their previous route through the Khumbu Icefall up to Camp 1 on 6,050 meters and if necessary to repair it or to relocate the way through the ice labyrinth.

Only Nuri Sherpa back

Alex Txikon in Everest BC again

Alex will be accompanied by six Climbing Sherpas and two “Icefall Doctors”. Out of his original Sherpa Team only Nuri Sherpa flew back with Alex. The others had not yet recovered from the hardships of the first summit attempt, Txikon’s team said. Almost two weeks ago, a storm on the South Col had forced the Basque and his Sherpa companions to turn back and descend. Subsequently, Seven Summits Treks, the Nepalese agency that is operating Txikon’s expedition, had ordered the entire team back to the capital – against the will of the Spaniard. Afterwards, both sides pulled together, so that the winter attempt can now continue. Four weeks remain for Alex to realize his dream of a winter ascent on the highest mountain on earth without using bottled oxygen. Let’s see if he is able to regain his rhythm quickly.

Alex Txikon during his previous climb to the South Col

“The die is cast,” says Alex Txikon. “There will be only a single summit attack and we will try to climb as we have done so far.” Today the 35-year-old Basque climbed along with the Sherpas Nurbu and Chhepal from Everest Base Camp at 5,250 meters to Camp 2 at 6,400 meters. The other three Sherpas of Alex’ team, Nuri, Pemba and Phurba, want to follow on Saturday. For five days, Txikon and Co. had sat out the bad weather – with squalls of up to 190 km/h in the summit area – in Base Camp. At first, the climbers want to check whether the equipment which they had deposited in Camp 3 at 7,300 meters and in Camp 4 on the South Col at 7,950 meters has been damaged or even blown away and therefore has to be replaced.

Good forecasts

Alex in Everest Base Camp

“It looks as if there will be a good weather window between Tuesday and Saturday with optimal conditions compared to those of the previous days. That would favor a summit attempt,” says Alex. “Maybe all of our options to reach the summit will disappear. But we’ll try everything!”

Everything has to fit

Txikon wants to scale Everest without bottled oxygen. So far, only Ang Rita Sherpa has managed this: on 22 December 1987, at the very first day of the calendrical winter, with exceptionally good and comparatively mild weather. Since 1993 no climber has been on the summit of Everest in the cold season. The great cold in winter normally causes the air pressure in the summit area to fall even further. An ascent without breathing mask is then in the absolute limit of the possible. And really everything has to fit, so that Alex Txikon has a realistic chance to reach the summit and return safely to Everest Base Camp.

P.S.: From Sunday on, I will tear up the slopes of East Tyrol and will, if at all, only blog “sparingly”. So don’t wonder!

Krzysztof Wielicki

Krzysztof Wielicki is skeptical. “I think they can have a problem because they only slept in Camp 3 and not at 8,000 meters,” answers the Pole when I meet him at the trade fair ISPO in Munich and enquire him about the chances of the Basque climber Alex Txikon on Mount Everest. Txikon, who wants to scale the highest mountain of the world this winter without bottled oxygen, is currently waiting in Everest Base Camp to set off for his first summit attempt. “In my opinion, you should have slept at the South Col, if you want to push to the summit,” says Wielicki. “I wish him good luck, I hope that nothing happens. It’s most important that they’ll come back safely. It doesn’t matter if they climb to the summit or not.”

Wielicki about Txikon: They can have a problem

Empty bottle at the summit

Wielicki (l.) and Cichy after their successful climb

The now 67-year-old knows what he is talking about. On 17 February 1980, Wielicki and his countryman Leszek Cichy had succeeded on Everest the first ever winter ascent of an eight-thousander. Above the South Col, they had used bottled oxygen “We didn`t know that it was possible to climb without,” says Krzysztof. “Our leader [Andrzej Zawada] said, here is the bottle. You have to carry it. One bottle, nine kilos. When we climbed to the summit, we realized, that the bottle was empty.”

Never again with breathing mask

Despite a flow rate of only two liters per minute, the bottled oxygen lasted only for three or four hours. “The mask was frozen. I even didn’t feel that I was using oxygen,” says Wielicki. “It was horrible. I never again used oxygen afterwards.” Even without breathing mask, the Polish climber remained a pioneer. In 1986, he and his compatriot Jerzy Kukuczka managed the first winter ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 meters). In 1988, Krzysztof scaled Lhotse (8,516 meters) not only for the first time in winter, but also succeeded the first solo climb of the mountain. In 1996, Wielicki became the fifth person who had stood on all 14 eight-thousanders. Bottled oxygen “is not necessary, if you are well acclimatized,” says the Pole. “That’s the key.”

Wielicki: It was horrible

Still financing problems

K 2

In winter 2017/2018, Krzysztof Wielicki wants to lead a Polish winter expedition to K2, the only eight-thousander that has not yet been successfully climbed in the cold season. The planned financing by Polish government companies has not yet been finalized. “We are a little disappointed with the government”, says Wielicki. “But we fight and I hope that we can overcome the problem.” According to Krzysztof, at the moment 14 climbers are still on his list of candidates, in the end he wants to assemble a team of eight.

Wielicki: I hope we can overcome the problem

“The most difficult challenge”

Denis Urubko

Adam Bielecki, who succeeded the first winter ascent of Gasherbrum I (8,080 meters) in 2012 and of Broad Peak (8,051 meters) in 2013, will surely belong to the team, says Wielicki. And also Denis Urubko, first winter ascender of Makalu (8,485 meters) and Gasherbrum II (8,034 meters): “He wants to go and we want him to join us. I think he will go with us.” Urubko was born in Kazakhstan, but now he has a Russian and a Polish passport. Already in winter 2002/2003, Wielicki and Urubko had been together on K 2, with an height of 8,611 meters the second highest mountain on earth. Wielicki had then also led the expedition on the Chinese north side of the mountain. Urubko had reached an altitude of 7,650 meters before he and his rope partner had been stopped by bad weather and the expedition had been canceled. This time, the attempt is to be made on the Pakistani side of K2. “Either via the Abruzzi Ridge or the Cesen/Basque route, depending on the conditions in the wall,” says Krzysztof Wielicki. “I think, if we talk about winter expeditions on 8000 meter peaks, it is the last and most difficult challenge.”

Wielicki: K 2 the last and most difficult challenge

Alex Txikon

Alex Txikon seems to be euphoric. “I do not feel tired,” writes the 35-year-old Basque, after having descended from Everest South Col at 7,950 meters in one go to Base Camp at about 5,300 meters. “My body signals to me that we will go to the summit the next time. Soon you will have news of the attack.” Before, Alex – along with the Sherpas Norbu, Nuri, Chhepal, Phurba and Pemba – had ascended to Camp 4 for the first time during his winter expedition.

Close to the sky

Txikon and Co. set off from Camp 2 towards the South Col at night, the thermometer shows around minus 30 Celsius. “I’m quite nervous,” Alex describes his feeling before heading out into the starry night. “I do not want to go cold and miss the opportunity to attack the summit during the next rotation.“ The climbers are rewarded by the view. “In a night like this you are so close to the sky that it seems you can reach it.”

200 percent concentration

In the Western Cwm

The six-man team fight their way through the Lhotse flank in the cold that is intensified by the wind. “It is not until 11 a.m. that the sun appears and we finally warm up,” writes Alex. A little later, the climbers reach the South Col. Txikon is depositing 15 kilograms of equipment in Camp 4, a tent, gas cartridges, ropes – and turns around immediately: “Concentration to 200 percent for the descent.” After a short break in Camp 2, Alex decides to descend to Base Camp, without his Sherpa friends who feel too exhausted and want to follow the next day. “Over the years, you learn to measure your strength,” says Alex. “So I knew I could make it unless the Icefall collapsed again.” That was exactly what had happened on the previous ascent, the team had been struggling to find a new way through the ice labyrinth.

Cracked fingertips

This time everything is going well. 18 hours after the start at night, Alex reaches Everest Base Camp. “My feet ache, the fingertips have cracked by the intense cold and the work we have done. The eyes, the lips … I am a mess. But happy.” And ready to climb up to the summit at 8,850 meters the next time. Now, however, it is first of all necessary to sit out the announced storm and to recover.

Everest Base Camp

Alex Txikon and his Sherpa team have reached the Base camp at the foot of Mount Everest in sufficient time before the beginning of the expected bad weather period. This is shown by his GPS tracker. The 35-year-old Basque was “exhausted but satisfied and very confident to reach the summit,” the Spanish sports newspaper “Marca” reported on Saturday evening. It has not yet been confirmed how high exactly Txikon and Co. have ascended this time.

Really up to the South Col?

“Marca” claims that the team has already equipped Camp 4 at 7,950 meters. However, this does not coincide with the information given by Txikon’s GPS tracker. The device displays a turn-around altitute of about 7,650 meters, 300 meters below the South Col. However, according to Alex’ press team, the GPS tracker had not shown the correct height in the days before. Today it seemed to work again.

Stormy days

I therefore recommend to wait until Alex himself tells us how far up they have climbed. After the hardships of the ascent without bottled oxygen, he should sleep a bit longer. Txikon will also have time to recover during the next days. The weather forecast predicts heavy storms at least until Thursday. A first summit attempt is out of question until then.

Update 5. Feb., 1 a.m.: “I’m back at the BC! We went up to C4 to equip it, and after we came back to C2, they stayed there and I decided to go down to the Base Camp,” Alex wrote on Twitter.

The Lhotse flank

Strange. Since yesterday, Alex Txikon‘s GPS tracker, which is to document his ascent on Mount Everest, has not shown any movement. Lastly, an altitude of more than 6200 meters was displayed. Afterwards nothing. I’ve asked. “Yesterday they [Alex and the Sherpas who accompany him] went up to Camp 2 (6,400 meters), where they have slept,” Gontzal Saenz from the press team of the Basque climber writes to me. According to him, the GPS tracker has not been working correctly and is showing the wrong altitude. “I think they were going to keep climbing up today.” The goal was to prepare the route from Camp 3 at 7,400 meters to Camp 4 on the South Col at 7,950 meters by tomorrow. “The weather forecasts are very bad, with very strong winds, for the next few days,” writes Gontzal. “The plan is to return to the base camp tomorrow [Saturday] and wait there for the weather to improve again.”

Up to 190 kilometers per hour

Alex in the tent

That sounds reasonable. On Saturday morning, according to the weather forecast, the wind in the summit area is supposed to calm down to 25 km/h, but from Sunday onwards the weather will most probably turn really bad. Storms reaching hurricane strength with speeds of up to 190 m/h are expected during the next week. Alex and Co. should really sit out this weather in Base Camp. Due to the fact, that Txikon does not use bottled oxygen, he must be double-cautious. The lack of oxygen leads to increased breathing. This causes dehydration, the metabolism hardly works, the extremities are supplied only insufficiently. This increases the risk of frostbite on fingers and toes. If in addition strong wind cools your body, it can be quickly over with your extremities.

Txikon (with a stray dog) in Base Camp

Alex Txikon has set off again. At 4.30 a.m. local time, the Basque and his Sherpa team left Everest Base Camp. Their declared destination today: Camp 2 at 6,400 meters. The last entry of his GPS tracker shows a position above Camp 1 in the “Western Cwm” at 6,216 meters. There has as yet been no confirmation that Alex and Co. have reached Camp 2. The 35-year-old wants to scale Mount Everest without bottled oxygen – a feat that before him only Ang Rita Sherpa had succeeded on 22 December 1987, on the very first day of calendrical winter. The Nepalese was then climbing Everest much earlier in the cold season than Txikon now.

Mini weather window

Will Alex try to reach the top? He should be well recovered after over a week in Base Camp and also quite well acclimatized. Finally, on his previous ascent, which had led him up to an altitude of 7,800 meters on the Lhotse flank, he had already spent one night at about 7,300 meters. If Txikon really wants to reach the highest point at 8,850 meters by now, he has no time to waste.

Mount Everest

For the next days sunny winter weather is predicted, but latest on Sunday, the wind in the summit are is to swell to storm strength. An ascent, even with bottled oxygen,would then be impossible. Previously, however, a mini good weather window with little wind is expected on Saturday. That could workt. On Friday to the South Col, on Saturday to the summit. If the meteorologists are right – and all, really all fits together perfectly. Wait and see, and keep your fingers crossed!

“Swimming time on Manaslu”, Elisabeth writes on Facebook: “Snow, snow, snow…”

And again snow wins. French climber Elisabeth Revol and her companion Ludovic Giambiasi have abandoned their winter expedition at Manaslu. This is reported by the Kathmandu-based newspaper “The Himalayan Times”. Heavy snowfall and strong winds in the high camp forced Elisabeth Revol to give up, Rishi Bhandari, head of the Nepalese expedition operator Satori Adventures, told the newspaper. The French team has already broken off their base camp and descended to the village of Samagaon. According to Bhandari, Revol had reached an altitude of 7,300 meters at Manaslu and had planned a summit attempt for Tuesday.

Heavy snow is not uncommon

In case of success Elisabeth Revol would have been the first woman to have reached the 8,163-meter-high summit in Nepal in winter. Heavy snow is not uncommon on Manaslu. An attempt by the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger and the Italian Simone Moro in winter 2015 had also failed due to the snowmasses on the mountain. In January 1984, the Polish climbers Maciej Berbeka and Ryszard Gajewski had succeeded the first winter ascent of the eighth-highest mountain on earth.

Rescue flight for Carlos Rubio

Alex Txikon has to re-plan. On Sunday his climbing partner on Mount Everest, Carlos Rubio, had to be evacuated by rescue helicopter to Kathmandu due to a lung inflammation. The 28-year-old Spaniard has meanwhile sent a video message from the hospital. His condition is not serious, but he has to recover for a few days at the clinic. “I know he is fine”, Alex Txikon wrote from Camp 3 at 7,400 meters, “but from here we miss him a lot, since he has worked like a champion and I am really proud of him.” Today Txikon and the Sherpas who accompany him want to pitch up Camp 4 at the South Col at almost 8,000 meters, “for all the force he has transmitted to us”, as Alex writes: “In short, this dream would not be possible without you, Carlos.”

Bitter first experience

Carlos on Everest

For Rubio, the dream of a successful winter ascent of Everest without bottled oxygen is over now. Prior to the expedition, Carlos had been rather new to this game. He had made more headlines as an extreme skier. But Txikon had praised him as representative of the new generation of Spanish climbers, he wanted to give him a chance: “I can not say that Carlos has experience in the Himalayas. But he is super strong, a really good climber.” It’s a pity that Carlos’ first experience on an eight-thousander resulted in a helicopter rescue.

No GPS tracker

Just like the fact that Carlos Rubio, according to Txikon, in the haste unintentionally took the GPS tracker in a bag. We will therefore have to forego information in real time, where exactly Alex and Co. are on the mountain. That’s no big deal, if you keep in mind that before satellite communication and internet were introduced, news from Everest had to be taken by post runners to Kathmandu first and thus had been sent out into the world only a couple of days later. We will not have to wait for news from Alex Txikon for such a long time – even without GPS tracker.

Alex Txikon (at Camp 1)

Sunny, but extremely cold. This is what the weather forecast predicts for the next days on Mount Everest. In addition, the wind is to refresh. Temperatures between minus 20 and minus 30 degrees Celsius are expected, Alex Txikon informs. In addition, the wind is to refresh. Nevertheless, the team set off from Base Camp today and reached after seven hours the site of Camp 2 at 6,400 meters. Alex, his Spanish countryman Carlos Rubio and nine Sherpas had previously secured the way through the Khumbu Icefall and pitched up Camp 1 at 6,050 meters, at the entrance of the Western Qwm. It was said, that the team might climb up even to Camp 3 at 7,400 meters within the next days. The climbers are expected back in Base Camp on next Sunday or Monday.

Everything has to fit

Because of the dry winter weather, Txikon and Co. have so far made good progress on the highest mountain on earth. The Basque wants to reach the 8850-meter-high summit if possible in February, but is aware that “a lot of patience, a lot of commitment and luck will be needed” to reach his goal. The great cold in winter normally causes the air pressure in the summit area to fall even further. An ascent without bottled oxygen is then in the absolute limit of the possible. So far, only the legendary Ang Rita Sherpa has managed to get to the top without bottled oxygen. He reached the summit on 22 December 1987, on the first day of calendrical winter, thus much earlier in the season than Alex Txikon is climbing now.

P.S.: My blog was just included in the list of the „Best 100 Adventure Blogs on the planet“ – whatever that means.

Alex Txikon at the entrance of Western Qwm

Winter expeditions are not for wimps. “Today we have climbed up to 6,050 meters to build Camp 1”, the Basque Alex Txikon wrote in his blog from Everest on the weekend. “At the moment, we have less than minus 30 degrees Celsius.” After all, the team of eleven – Alex, his Spanish countryman Carlos Rubio and nine Sherpas, including two “Icefall doctors” experienced in dealing with the dangerous Khumbu Icefall – are quicker than expected. At the beginning of last week, Txikon had assumed that it would take four weeks to reach Camp 2 at 6,400 meters.

“Runner of death”

Steadily threatening Seracs

This could happen earlier because the most dangerous part of the route, the Icefall, is already behind the team. Alex called a passage of about 150 meters, flanked on both sides by ice blocks, “the runner of death”. “An area that makes the breath freeze and our hearts beat even faster,” the 35-year-old wrote. “The truth is that it impresses a lot, since on both sides seracs do not leave anyone indifferent. Undoubtedly, we have made the effort to control and confront our fears.” Txikon and Rubio want to climb Everest without bottled oxygen. This feat has been achieved in winter only by Ang Rita Sherpa, on 22 December 1987, under particularly favorable weather conditions and on the very first day of the calendrical winter. Since 1993 nobody has been on the summit of Everest in the cold season.

Heavy snow on Manaslu

Elisabeth Revol on Manaslu

Snow digging and trudging is necessary on Manaslu. Since the beginning of the year two and a half meters of fresh snow has fallen, wrote the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol on the weekend on Facebook. “Each afternoon it’s snowing in Base Camp, so it’s not simple for acclimatization.” Her team mate and compatriot Ludovician Giambiasi “fights with the coldness and discovers what winter means. But anyway it’s hard, but great time on then mountain … alone.” In the past years Revol had tried three times in vain to climb Nanga Parbat in Pakistan in winter. In case she now succeeds, Revol would be the first woman in winter on the 8,163-meter-high summit in the west of Nepal. In winter 2015, the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger and the Italian Simone Moro had fought in vain against the snow masses on Manaslu.