In addition to this extraordinary Pakistan climbing season, an ethical shakedown seems to be taking place in the world of adventure this year. "It [false and inflated claims] has to stop now," people say and even ghosts chime in: Over at Cape Flora - in a two week-long special - Jackson's diaries and ExWeb's interviews with Borge and Thomas spoke not so much of gear and distances this time; but courtesy, honesty, the aim for excellence and the spirit of adventure.

K2 west face special: Jannu legends in final battle for the impossible side of Savage mountain Nickolay Totmjanin, Gennady Kirievsky and Alexey Bolotov are no newbies. They did Jannu's north face and Everest north ridge without oxygen together - among other things. But they are still human. After 5 nights in the deathzone without oxygen, their war was over at a rock wall 100 meters below K2's top. "They won't leave until they're done" commented Dodo Kopold, and the expedition certainly showcases a grim battle of endurance: The Jannu climbers retreated to C6 for another night at 8000 meters, while a second star gang headed up. Everest North Wall summiteers Gleb Sokolov and Eugeny Vinogradsky, along with Vitaly Gorelik aimed for C4 or C5 Saturday - straight into the forecasted Sunday storm.

K2 Cesen route summit push - it's over Dangerous conditions right below the Bottleneck, following 35 hours of an exhausting climb, finally proved too much for Gerlinde and David, Dodo and the Peters. A bold non-stop push on K2’s Cesen route was over on Saturday. The climbers had gained 3000 vertical meters, with Gerlinde and David breaking trail in fresh snow and spending a horrible night without sleeping bags just below the shoulder. Fabrizio Zangrilli and Daniel Bartsch were first to retreat, after crashing straight in the snow at 7800 meters.

One more climber evacuated from K2 West Face Alexander Korobkov was airlifted from BC Saturday and brought to hospital in Skardu with altitude-induced thrombosis. The rest of the team continued with the summit push.

GII summit at last - Jean Troillet does it again! Funny enough - the 'easier' of the Gasherbrums was left without the summit from the normal route this year, while G1 had quite a few successes compared to other years. But in the only second G2 summit this year (following the Italian's climb via its north face earlier this season) - Jean Troillet, Olivier Roduit, Fred Roux and newbie climber Mike Horn bagged their second out of four targeted peaks in Pakistan this year. Now, the heat is really up - with Broad Peak and K2 left!

Only veterans still in Pakistan Save for a few exceptions; only hard-core climbers were still left in Karakoram by the end of last week. Jean Troillet, who first became known as Erhard Loretan´s climbing partner, is one of them: He has now climbed nine 8,000ers, all in light style and without O2: K2 (South ridge, plus two attempts on the West face), Dhaulagiri (near winter, alpine style), Everest (ABC-summit-ABC in 43 hours), Cho Oyu (West face), Shisha Pangma (new route on the South side to Central-Peak), Makalu (West Pillar), Lhotse, Kangchenjunga, and now GI and G2. In 1997 he snowboarded down the north face of Everest from 8,400m. In summer 2005 Troillet also attempted the first complete ascent of Nanga Parbat via the Mazeno ridge.

GI: It's over for 'Marios' Merelli and Panzieri “We are back in BC - there was nothing we could do,” a rather disappointed Mario Merelli told his home team Saturday. High avalanche risk on the Japanese Couloir forced the Italian climbers down.

K2 Abruzzi Spur: It’s over for Gerfried's team Gerfried Goeschl, Kilian Volken, Günter Unterberger and Ronald Newerkla aborted their summit push on K2’s Abruzzi Spur. The four climbers had spent Friday’s night in C3, but on the following morning they retreated due to deep snow on the route. All four team members had summited Broad Peak some weeks before.

Kids' turn! Adam Pustelnik opens a new route on K7 Poland’s Piotr Pustelnik got a message from his son Adam (25) on August 1, which read: “We did it. Now we are going to bed, because till Sunday we didn’t sleep even one minute.” Together with three Belgian mates, Adam had opened a new route on K7, in Pakistan’s Charakusa valley. Hang on for the details though - setting the record straight in an email to ExWeb Sunday - Adam clarified: "In fact we were climbing on the rocky pillar just left of the central pillar of K7 and left on the couloir that Steve House was climbing. We climbed this pillar which was 5600m - not the central pillar of K7! Soon I will give full description of the expedition - I just have to wait for my friends to come back from Islamabad."

House, Anderson and Prezelj back in town - ready for K6 Speaking of which - the three 'bad boys' of Piolet d'Or landed in Islamabad ready for another round - with K6 this time.

Nangpa La aftermath: General punished When a nun got shot in her back, two unknown East-European free climbers and an American mountain guide blew the whistle, right here at ExplorersWeb. Their action would spur an international outcry, and cost a Chinese general his job: Forbes reports that the top Chinese general in Tibet is being forced into early retirement over the shooting.

Noah, 15: "I want to climb the 14 8,000ers - nothing will stop me from getting there" Hi, my name is Noah and I am 15. I would like to write an article for you guys about my dream when I get older to tackle many of the world's largest peaks." Some parents state that their kids don't mind 'fake' adventures. As long as the show/story is fun and gets them outdoors - it's all good, they say. But is it, really? Some young folks don't buy that. These kids want more, and one such is Noah - already training for a winter ascent of K2 - among other targets!

G1 fatal fall confirmed: Czech climber lost on July 29 Rumors were flying for a while, that on July 29, a Czech climber lost his life on Hidden Peak. In their expedition debrief at ACP, the team members confirmed that the deceased was Jiri Danek, 46.

112 years after: Gentlemen explorers - ExWeb interview with Borge Ousland and Thomas Ulrich Last week, ExplorersWeb ran a Nansen and Jackson special, complete with diaries from the pioneers' first meeting. Appropriately this week, an interview with Thomas and Borge, who just retraced their steps, ended the series. "If it's not from BC to the top, then it's not done. It's simple as that," said Thomas Ulrich last week and Borge chimed in. In a series of voice messages for ExWeb, Borge Ousland spoke of 'PR-stunts' and airlifts to the ice, but also about global warming, polar outfitters, the future of exploration, Everest, The Lancet psychological study, Jackson, Nansen and future projects.

Jason Lewis: 60 days to the end - but don't expect a welcome party All the loud adventure claims make it hard to know real from fake: After 13 years, Jason is finally coming home and the first human-powered world circumnavigation will be a fact. A fixed arrival date is set – it’s just too bad his fellow-Brits don’t seem so excited to provide the self-propelled adventurer and his pedal-boat with a proper welcome.

Abora III: Not moving Everest extreme skier Tormod Granheim is out to prove that intercontinental journeys happened thousands of years before both Columbus and the Vikings. So far, the voyage has been... painfully slow. Tormod reported July 20, "Abora often feels more like a floating island than a boat. I'm glad I brought 15 books..."