Denis and Serguey reached 8400 meters on K2 north ridge With 4 days of food and a cache in C2, Serguey Samoilov and Denis Urubko reached 8300 on K2's north ridge last week. Back in BC right now, they are weathering a current storm forecasted to last until September 27 (!) before starting the "real climb" - an attempt for a new route up K2's north face.

American climber Ray Yeritsian lost en route to Shisha Pangma American climber Ray Yeritsian died in while traveling to Shisha Pangma base camp. Due to landslide, the expedition was delayed and planned to reach base camp on September 15. But according to Doctors, Ray suffered a ruptured artery in Nyalam (3750m).

Everest skier's adventure over - Abora III abandoned at sea The experiment finished 550 miles away from the Azores; days after the sailors had attempted to patch the boat out at sea. The crew dismantled the boat, and boarded a sailboat originally chartered to bring a ZDF camera crew to film the expedition. Designs for a new rudder and a different trim of the mast, both based on ancient Egyptian rock drawings, were made in hopes that these modifications would allow a continuation of the journey to the Azores. The ship sailed for a few days afterwards, but was finally abandoned at the arrival of the film crew.

Antarctica 2007 kick-off - list of expeditions is up! The first list of expeditions for the 2007 Antarctica season is up. A number of Everest climbers are headed south - and several larger crossing without support could be up as well.

Siachen: Trekking trips to the highest battlefield on Earth arranged by Indian Army Late May this year, Nazir Sabir told ExplorersWeb that he hopes for the development of a Peace Park on Siachen Glacier as a joint effort with mountaineers from India. This Peace Park would be accessible to both sides. Now, India's Army is organizing mountaineering expeditions to the spot - from the Indian side. The Army reportedly also plans "trekking and adventure trips" to the area. Not so fast, says Pakistan, fearing that India tries to sneak up on 'their' part of Siachen ahead of the ongoing peace process.

Nepal: Maoists quit interim government The Maoists quit the interim Nepal government Tuesday, sparking a political crisis that threatened to undermine this Himalayan nation's peace process. The former rebels said they were unhappy with the slow process to declare Nepal a republic but that they have no plans to renew their armed revolt.

Jannu update: Serg and Valery moving with police, through the jungle Recently, rioting and clashes have killed at least 22 people in the southern parts of Nepal while an emergency meeting failed to lure the Maoists back to the government. As if an attempt of Jannu's north face in alpine style was not enough for a challenge; an SMS from Sergey said that the two climbers finally have passed the areas of unrest and strikes, moving at nights together with the local police. "Now it will take us 7 days to reach Jannu Base camp, through the jungles," Sergey Kofanov said.

Peak Lenin speed ascent debrief In 2005, he did a speed ascent on G2 followed by a complete ski descent, investing a total of 17 hours from ABC to ABC. Late August this year, Luis Stitzinger did the top of Peak Lenin in less then 10 hours and skied down its north face. The next great objective the 38 year German is dreaming about is an 8000 m (26.000+ ft) peak in the Karakoram Mountains of Pakistan. “Speed is not the main thing”, he says, “it is more a means to an end. If you are fast, you spend less time in the danger zone. Short breaks of good weather can be utilized, whereas in regular style you have not even made up your mind to leave before it´s over. [But] Don´t believe those guys who pretend to approach the mountain, run up and go back home within a week. They need to work on their acclimatization as everyone else, in conventional, slow step-by-step technique. Everything else is Russian Roulette or just a big lie!”

September 12, also the 2007 Elbrus Race organized by Russianclimb.com and Top Sport Travel took place with the following results: "Extreme" class winner - Semjon Dvornichenko (Kyrgyzstan) in 4 hours 18 minutes. Serguey Surmonin (Russia) in 6 hours 14 minutes (he did it in 6 hours 22 minutes last year). "Classics" class winner Roman Gubanov (Russia) 2 hours 51 min (1), Seliverstov Serguey (Kyrguzstan) 2 hours 53 min (2), Fursov Serguey 3 hours 14 min (3).

Himalaya wrap-up: Summit fever on Cho Oyu, Edurne's blues Edurne Pasaban has reached Shisha Pangma but is a bit down from all the intense climbing this year (and not being able to be there for the birth of her first nephew). The Singapore ladies on Cho Oyu have summit fever: "Wish us luck, fair weather and strong lungs as we strive to be the first women's team from Singapore to summit an 8000er!" they report - ready to head up on Thursday and hoping for summit by Sunday!

At the Yak and Yeti award event last Wednesday, Liz Hawley received a medal. NMA President Ang Tshering Sherpa also announced the "Kumar Khadga Bikram Adventurous Award 2007" - a Golden Ice Axe this year awarded to Meagan McGrath, for helping to rescue female Nepali climber Usha Bista on an Everest summit push May 21 this year. Ang Tshering Sherpa also thanked Dave Hahn and Nepali Lhakpa Rita Sherpa.

Help Colin to find out the true height of each Step on Everest north side Colin wants your help to determine the exact height of each step on Everest's north ridge: "We have all read and heard about these Steps, how hard or easy they are to climb, the height that they are situated at and whether George Mallory could have climbed the Second Step or not etc, but I am trying to find out the true height of each Step."

The toast of Namche: UK Girlguiding team breaks unofficial Tether hot air balloon record? Sunday, September 9, the Girlguiding UK team succeeded to inflate and display Tether - its new hot air balloon above Syangboche. "We think 3858m is an unofficial record for a full display tether of a hot air balloon and it's certainly a first for the area," Mark Warne from the team wrote to ExplorersWeb.

Everest debrief: "4:20am, we are above the second step, note the curvature of the Earth" French Philippe Gatta's pictures tell a story rarely shown in images from Everest. Sunny shots from the summit and stormy pictures from camps leave out the scariest part of the climb - the night.

First ever high altitude Pakistan Marathon: Kawai - Muzaffarabad Why not add Pakistan to your collection of cool marathons to run? The very first mountain Marathon there, organized by ACP, kicked off Sept 10-12 and is expected to become a yearly event. Nazir Sabir said the efforts were made by the Alpine Club to promote tourism in the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir.

Canoe accident update: 3 bodies of missing Russians found in China Two weeks back, six Russian adventurers went missing during a canoeing trip in China's Xinjiang-Uigur Autonomous Region. A massive rescue search resulted in a third body found on Sunday, following a Saturday find of two of the adventurers dead under a canoe along a riverbank.

ExWeb interview with Lonnie Dupre In a 3-part interview, ExWeb checked in with the Minnesota polar Explorer to discuss global warming, past and next projects - and adventure ethics. "Though definitions [...] vary among the explorers, I think it’s good to have an organization like Explorers Web to keep folks in the realm of honest," Lonnie said. "There are also misleading claims like 'we crossed the Antarctic continent' - this leaves most folks believing they went from sea to sea. I believe one needs to cross the ice shelves as well. This has also happened with Magnetic North Pole and Geographic as well as one degree North Pole trips. Some guides and adventures purposely being vague and not being specific or clear on where they went and how they got there. We do not want this to water down the great jobs done by past explorers."

"A wing over the Pacific" - Anne Quéméré’s next challenge The only woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean in both directions on the Southern and Northern routes and on a third occasion, kiting the Atlantic from New York to France. This time, Anne Quéméré and her Oceankite will challenge the Pacific Ocean over 7000 kilometers.

Jason Lewis update - Europe Rules After riding across the troubled horn of Africa and crossing illegally from Sudan to Egypt by paddling in the night along lake Nasser, Jason's latest dispatch reflects well the thrills of his latest ride - through the industrial region of Germany south of Frankfurt. "It has been somewhat of a drag," he reports.

Tomek and Wacek's voyage: "I’m beginning to doubt if sailing around the world against the wind is a good idea" "Searching for gold is a God's trick to make us travel" says Tomek. The sailor and his Jack Russell first mate have been doing exactly that, for 198 days now. March 6th 2007 at 12:28 (GMT-08:00), Tomek kicked off his single-handed, non stop global voyage against the prevailing winds. The mega sail is a lifelong dream come true, following a wrecked marriage, emigration to America, and then fishing for money in New Bedford, the Kodiak Island, and the Bering Sea.