News from Nanga: The Polish/Slovak combo back in BC Dodo Kopold, Peter Hamor and Polish Piotr Morawski went straight for Nanga’s summit only days after arriving in BC. A note on Hamor's website states the guys returned to BC on Saturday, turned back by bad weather and loads of snow only 400 meters short of summit. They will now rest up and wait for improving conditions.

Nothing but the simple facts: Happy Independence day! Names and dates change, yet principles remain the same. On Wednesday we celebrated the Declaration of Independence inspired by Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common sense. "A long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT," he wrote already 200 years back.

US outdoor press folks often state they can't print the truth for fear of lawsuits: That's too bad as they enjoy the unique First Amendment prohibiting the federal legislature from making laws that infringe the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press. These freedoms were in fact intended not only as rights, but also as an obligation for the press to serve "people's right to know." Time perhaps, guys, to toss those lazy press release reprints and expedition pet reporters for some real journalism; and to remember that US left the British Empire a long time ago ;)

Americans’ K2 summit push aborted By the beginning of the week, Chris Warner’s team and a Korean expedition launched a summit push on K2’s Abruzzi Spur. The Americans were forced back on Friday, unable to reach C4 in loads of snow and high avalanche danger. News is still expected from the Koreans, in C2 on Friday morning.

Explorers striking back: The Rules of Adventure (adapted for modern space travel) For years now, Explorers endured AdventureStats busting their chops. So when ExWeb's founders announced their own expedition; they jumped at the chance for retaliation. British polar skier John Wilton-Davies compiled a brand new set of Adventure Rules, adapted for modern space travel.

Urgent BGAN firmware update Inmarsat has released an urgent firmware update for the BGAN high-speed data terminals used by several of this year’s Karakoram expeditions. The update is mandatory for most terminal models, and has to be done before July 12, 2007. Users of Hughes, Thrane or Nera BGAN terminals should visit the Inmarsat Support site for update files and instructions.

Islamabad: Violent clash at the Red Mosque: Curfew over - Taliban leader caught wearing burqa; Pakistan woman scales Minglig Sar Tuesday, security forces fought fierce gun battles with students at Lal mosque (Red Mosque) in Islamabad. ExplorersWeb's sources reported 9 deaths confirmed and more than 140 wounded. Pakistani troops imposed a 24-hour curfew. Thursday, the battle was coming to an end. Wearing a burqa; leader of the 'Taliban-style' uprise Maulana Abdul Aziz came out of Lal Masjid among 400 female students but was caught in a search. Incidentally, the day also brought news that last month - Pakistani woman climber Dur Begum from Shimshal - summited Minglig Sar together with Spanish female climber Esther Sabadell (Nanga Parbat summit in 2005). A team of American guides are enroute this month to teach more Pakistan women climbing skills.

K2’s Cesen route teams: Maybe on Monday French Hugues d’Aubarede and his two high-altitude porters, Leopold Sulovski’s Czech team, and the Americans led by Fabrizio Zangrilli may go up on Monday, conditions permitting. “The plan would be to reach C1 on July 9th, Camp 2 on July 10th, Camp 3 on July 11th – and then time will tell,” Hugues reported.

Russian West Face team: Brave men go up While a storm hit K2’s slopes, Victor Kozlov’s Russian expedition stuck to working the new route up K2’s west face. “In addition to excellent climbing skills, the climbers must also endure altitude and bitter cold. The rocky middle sections are tough; there are many long, vertical cracks and dihedrals covered in ice. All [our men] are brave,” BC proudly reported.

Amical’s GII team: First climbing fatality in Karakoram this season Amical lost a female mountaineer to AMS in BC last week. The rest of the team, including Japanese Hirotaka Takeuchi, have not yet decided whether they'll continue the climb or abort the expedition.

FTA’s GII team: Summit push is on – proceed with caution Divided into two groups, members of the International team departed GII’s BC on Thursday and Friday. “The weather was clear at departure, but the forecast shows increasing winds above 7,000 m,” reported leader Ryan Waters. “We’re aware of this and will proceed with caution on an attempt to push through to the summit between now and roughly the 10th of July.”

Broad Peak: Hoping for a window next week Teams currently attempting Broad Peak, such as Silvio Mondinelli’s and Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, have set higher camps and acclimatized on the mountain. They hope for a summit chance next week, taking advantage of a forecasted weather window.

"Proud to be Irish!" 7 Summits in 156 days He started to climb only last year, and Saturday he became the fastest seven summiteer yet. Topping out Denali on June 30 with Adventure Peaks’ Dave Pritt and John Whittle, Irish climber Ian Mc Keever completed the quest in 156 days - one month less than the previous record-holder (Carstensz version), Canadian Daniel Griffith.

Thomas and Borge reach Nansen's winter hut "We found polar bear and walrus bones around; the two ate a lot of meat. That’s the place where they wintered for seven months, it’s incredible to see it and to realize they hadn’t lost courage and didn’t get mad here!" Borge Ousland & Thomas Ulrich are currently traveling in he footsteps of Fridtjof Nansen - and Nanuk the dog who was to pull and protect an expedition in the area two years back. But Nanuk made a bad rep for himself for being chased around camp by polar bears and hitching rides on the expedition sleds. Perhaps some of the bones Borge and Thomas found at Nansen's hut could be remains left by Nanuk rather than the ancient explorers? Only Nanuk knows and he won't bark.

Kids' crossing in final days Eric, Sarah and their friend Curtis are closing in on the final days of their south to north kit-skiing crossing of Greenland’s Icecap.

Jolanda Linschooten: Memories of Greenland, plans for Antarctica Jolanda Linschooten is back home from crossing Greenland with husband Frank. Next she hopes to ski to the South Pole – alone!

The coolest gig in the world: Antarctic rock band Nunatak debut Saturday in Live Earth concert July 7, British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Rothera Research Station Antarctic rock band Nunatak performed in Live Earth, the global event that featured over 100 of the world’s top musical acts. Concerts from all 7 continents were held in order to raise awareness of climate change world-wide.

Anasazi girl to Tauranga "Leaving Sunday 2 hours before low tide,” American climber and sailor James Burwick reported. “Then will have a current push around the bottom. Running up will have SW flow. Strong wind and seas. 525nm miles to Tauranga."

Ralph Tuijn midway across the Pacific Ocean Dutch rower Ralph Tuijn is about to pass the Marquesas Archipelago, which means he has reached the first part of the Australian continent – and the landmark needed for this voyage to be entered into the Ocean Rowing Society’s records as a 'successful Mid-Pacific crossing’.

Roz Savage to fly alone in a 3 stage Pacific row Next week, the female British ocean rower will set off from San Francisco towards Hawaii – the first stopover in a three-stage Pacific row.

Elon Musk: "Congrats Bigelow!" "Congratulations to Robert Bigelow and the entire team at Bigelow Aerospace for the successful launch and deployment of their Genesis II space station module!" This message was sent out by Elon Musk last week. The young South African hopes to build the rockets that will shuttle space tourists to the Las Vegas entrepreneur's space hotel, and he is thrilled at Bigelow's latest success: Genesis 2 went up, inflating neatly complete with a table, chair and a bottle of champagne waiting for the first guest!