Autumn 2007 newsletter
| Autumn 2007 newsletter |
|
The Mountain Company Autumn 2007 Newsletter It has been a busy summer for The Mountain Company with three treks to K2 base camp in northern Pakistan. Roland led two of these and Phil Coates led the third one. As ever, in spite of the general media portrayal of Pakistan, we had no problems travelling in the country and the people from Baltistan (K2 region) were as friendly as ever. Roland is planning to return to Pakistan next summer to lead the Biafo and Hispar Snow Lake traverse in July and then the K2 base camp trek in August. Please get in touch if you would like to find out more about these treks. The Mountain Company is delighted to announce that we have recently been selected to become a Partner for Responsible Travel with International Mountain Explorers Connection (IMEC). IMEC was set up to promote responsible and sustainable connections between travellers and the people of developing mountain regions of the world. They provide and coordinate education, assistance, and cross-cultural experiences for members, volunteers, trekkers, and local communities. For more information take a look at their website at http://www.hec.org/ In October, The Mountain Company is looking forward to organising an Everest base camp trek for the Love Hope Strength Foundation in aid of The Nepal Cancer Relief Society. Mike Peters from The Alarm and James Chippendale from will lead forty musicians, cancer survivors and mountaineers to Everest Base Camp. They will also perform an acoustic concert to help the Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital build the infrastructure of its clinic. For more information take a look at their website at www.lovehopestrength/everest Throughout 2008 The Mountain Company is running a series of western leader trips. In January we have the Frozen Zanskar river trek (India); in April Everest North Col (Tibet); in July the Biafo and Hispar glacier with Snow Lake (Pakistan) and K2 & Gondogoro la (Pakistan); in August our second K2 & Gondogoro la trek and also the Everest Kangshung Face with North base camp (Tibet); in October the epic Snowman trek (Bhutan), Kanchenjunga Goecha La (India), Mera Peak (Nepal) and Manaslu Circuit (Nepal). If you are interested in our program of western led treks for 2008 please see the last section of this newsletter for more details. We encourage you to book international flights early if you are planning to visit Nepal in 2008, there are many people returning to the country and there is still only limited flight capacity to Kathmandu. Roland will be in the UK until the last week of September so please call any time to chat about a trip to the Himalayas or Kilimanjaro. Our office telephone number is 0207 4980953. We look forward to hearing from you! The Mountain Company team
Latest mountaineering news from the Karakoram (Pakistan) K2 The Russian K2 West Face expedition climbed the first new route on K2 in 10 years. This now leaves just two unclimbed faces on K2 on the East and North side of the mountain. The West Face is a very technical route done by the same Russian team that climbed the North face of Everest and Jannu. The Russians arrived to base camp in early June to start fixing the route. They worked on the route regardless of weather, technical difficulties and spent many nights in the death zone (resulting in two members being evacuated due to altitude thrombosis). At 1pm on August 21 Andrew Mariev and Vadim Popovich stepped on to the summit of K2 and onthe next day a further nine climbers also reached the summit! The Mountain Company August K2 base camp group met most of the Russian West Face team when we were kindly invited on for a cup of tea at their base camp. For more information on the Russian West Face expedition take a look at their website http://www.k2-8611.ru/en A team from the Central Kazakh Army Sport Club (CSKA) is currently attempting K2's NW ridge, on the mountain's Chinese side. On August 31 two of the strongest climbers, Maxut Zhumayev and Vassily Pivtsov (each summitted eleven 8000ers) climbed 200m above their 8300m high camp. There is only a 100m steep section separating them from the summit of K2 (8611 m). On July 20 there were sixteen confirmed summits on the Abruzzi (SE) Spur and one further summit by Libor Uher (Czech) on the SSE Spur or Cesen route. Two climbers were lost during these summits: Italian Stefano Zavka and Nepalese Nima Nurbu on the Korean expedition. Broad Peak There were many expeditions on Broad Peak including a 50th anniversary team of 35 people from the Austrian Alpine Club led by Gerfried Goeschl. Gerfried himself summitted Broad Peak on July 20 together with five other climbers. On July 31 Günther Unterberger and Louis Rousseau also reached the summit of Broad Peak. All three of The Mountain Company K2 treks stopped off at the Austrian's base camp at Broad Peak for lunch on the way back from K2 base camp (as their expedition was organized by the same local operator). It was very interesting to meet several members of their team and hear more about their climb. There were numerous other summits of Broad Peak including Silvio Mondinelli who has now completed his climb of all fourteen 8000m peaks. He is the thirteenth climber to complete this quest and sixth to do so without supplementary oxygen. Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner also made the summit of Broad Peak which brings her tally to ten 8000m peaks (highest number for any woman). Spanish Edurne Pasaban summitted Broad Peak a few days later so claiming her ninth 8000er.
GI After summitting GI, the Hungarian team of Zsolt Eross and three female climbers Hilda Sterczer, Katalin Csollány and Anita Ugyan went to Broad Peak where all four made it to the summit to complete the double header. G2 Italians Karl Unterkircher, Daniele Bernasconi, and Michele Compagnoni completed the first traverse of G2 by climbing the north spur from China and descending the south side in Pakistan. On July 18 an avalanche released above Camp 2 and hitting four climbers from the German Amical expedition. Other expeditions on the mountain hurried up to help Amical's climbers and rescued two of them. Unfortunately one climber died from his injuries whereas Japanese Hirotaka survived and was later evacuated by helicopter. On August 12 Jean Troillet, Mike Horn, Fred Roux and Olivier Roduit made the first summit of G2 from the south side. Bad weather and a dangerous snow conditions put off all other expeditions. Nanga Parbat Chileans Luis Álvarez, Ernesto Olivares, Andrés Jonquera, Pablo Gutierrez and Cristian García-Huidobro; Polish female climber Kinga Baranowska and her Spanish mate Roberto Rojo; and Slovak climbers Martin Gablik and Anton Suchy all summitted Nanga Parbat on July 18.
** Frozen Zanskar river (Chadar) trek, Ladakh ** January 3rd to 26th 2008, £1,595, led by Roland Hunter A trek on the frozen River Zanskar, traditionally called the Chadar, is an unforgettable journey. You will be exploring a remote area that is cut off from the outside world for the winter and can only be visited by following the old trade route along the frozen Zanskar river. This is a truly adventurous trek graded as an expedition grade 5 due to the unpredictability of the conditions encountered and the remoteness of the area visited. The amount and condition of the ice on the Zanskar river varies year on year and day by day so a flexible attitude to the trek is essential! We need a few more people to run this departure, if you are interested please get in touch. For more information on the Frozen Zanskar river trek
** Everest north col expedition, Tibet ** April 27th to May 22nd 2008, £3950, led by Roland Hunter This is an opportunity to climb up to 7000m on Mt Everest, the highest mountain in the world! It will be led by Roland Hunter, who reached the summit of Everest via the North East ridge in 2001. This trip will suit someone who has some previous climbing experience and is fit and determined. We would encourage anyone who is interested in joining this expedition to get in touch with us as soon as possible. It is going to be a busy year on Everest in 2008 with the Chinese organising a large expedition to take the Olympic flame to the summit. We will need to apply early to get the permits. For more information on the Everest north col expedition
** Biafo and Hispar glacier Snow Lake, Pakistan ** July 11th to August 3rd 2008, £1,695, led by Roland Hunter Roland is looking forward to returning to Pakistan in 2008 to lead the Snow Lake trek. This unique journey crosses traversing the Biafo and Hispar glaciers that connects Baltistan with the Hunza valley. This is a challenging trek in a remote mountain environment. The route passes over moraine and boulders and there will be several days where roped glacier travel is necessary. For more information on the Snow Lake trek
** K2 & Gondogoro la, Pakistan ** July 12th to August 3rd & August 9th to 31st 2008 led by Roland Hunter, £1,695 incl. flight from Skardu to Islamabad. This trek has rightly been named as one of the Top 5 mountain walks in the world with breathtaking scenery unsurpassed anywhere else. On our walk up the Baltoro glacier we will see the Trango Towers, Masherbrum, K2 and Broad Peak among many others. Concordia has been described as the "Throne Room of the Gods" for its unique 360˚ panorama of 7,000m mountains and impressive views of K2. After our successful K2 base camp treks throughout the summer of 2007 we are organising two fixed date departures for 2008. Roland will lead the August K2 base camp trek. For more information on the K2 & Gondogoro la trek
** HELP Sikkim Goecha la with Gangtok and Kalimpong, India ** October 11th to 25th 2008, £1250 plus £350 sponsorship to HELP Come and join this trek to raise funds for the charity Himalayan Education Lifeline Project ("HELP")! This Charity Challenge is open to everyone. Jim Coleman, the founder of HELP, will also join the group on this trek in October 2008. For more information on HELP take a look at their website http://www.help-education.org This beautiful trek starts in sub-tropical forests, passes through pasturelands of grazing yaks and reaches the Goecha la, at just under 5,000m, opposite the eastern flank of Mt Kanchenjunga. There are many other impressive mountains seen on this trek including Kabru, Rathong and Pandim. Roland led a group on this trek in October 2007 so knows the route well, please get in touch if you have any questions. For more information on the HELP Goecha la trek
** Everest Kangshung Face & North base camp, Tibet ** August 28th to September 21st 2008, £1,950, led by Alan Ward Alan Ward will lead the August 2008 Kangshung face and North basecamp trek, In 2006, Alan was one of 11 worldwide finalists in the Wanderlust Top Guide Awards competition following recommendations from clients. The trek to the east face of Everest, or the Kangshung Face, is one of the most spectacular in the world. This trek is relatively unknown and it passes through pristine, untouched valleys and lakes. Kharta and the Kama Valley are characterized by magnificent alpine scenery and rich flora containing the highest known forests in the world. For more information on the Everest Kangshung Face trek
** Lunana Snowman trek, Bhutan ** September 29th to November 2nd 2008, £3850, led by Roland Hunter The Lunana Snowman is a very special trek that crosses the full length of the mountains in the remote region in the north of Bhutan. More people have climbed Everest than successfully complete this trek! Factors such as the high altitude, long distances, climate, remoteness and logistical organisation that makes this into a challenging trek. For more information on the Lunana Snowman trek
** Manaslu Circuit, Nepal ** October 14th to November 7th 2008, £1695 The Manaslu Circuit is a superb trek around the huge massif of Manaslu and crossing a high pass. It is similar to the Annapurna Circuit but without the crowds and the road construction that is currently going on there! For more information on the Manaslu Circuit
**Mera Peak expedition, Nepal** October 16th to November 8th 2008, £1545 Mera Peak is the highest trekking peak in Nepal at 6,476m. This expedition offers you the chance to climb a Himalayan peak at high altitude while following a non technical route to the summit. This itinerary has been carefully designed to allow for gradual acclimatisation. We believe that by using this itinerary you will have a higher chance of safely summitting Mera Peak and enjoying it as much as possible along the way! For more information on the Mera Peak expedition If you enjoyed reading this newsletter and are not currently signed up to receive the newsletters to your email address, you can register by clicking here |