Nepal made headlines when the living goddess Kumari for the first time in hundreds of years received tribute not from the king of Nepal but the Prime Minister instead.

In other news - ExWeb ran a number of interesting stats and on K2, Denis and Serguey have started their lonely summit push up the dreaded north side.

AdventureStats Special: What is Solo? Back in 1997, over a cup of tea at Yak and Yeti hotel, we had a debate with famous mountaineering chronologist Liz Hawley about the definition of solo. Readers Digest had just called, to fact check a 1996 Everest solo claim and Liz was pretty impatient with their inquiry; the climber in question had used fixed ropes, climbed with a Sherpa and had the company of some 200 people on the route. "What is a true Solo, then?" we asked. Check the ExWeb special on the true meaning of Solo.

Himalaya heads up: First summits of the season Christine Boskoff would have been proud: "The first Cho Oyu summit of the season belongs to the Mountain Madness team! Brad, Ziggy, Thumba, Gonga and myself topped out on Cho Oyu at 8201meters on September 23 at 11:00 a.m. Chinese time," reported British Phil Crampton, fresh from a summer attempt on GII where he was one of the key people in the rescues of Amical's climbers hit by an avalanche. Also the Singapore Women's Everest Team reported that they summited the peak that day.

AdventureStats Special: The twelve truths of Everest. ExplorersWeb predicts that the Olympic year will bring more Everest hype, half truths and false claims than ever before. Arm yourself with 12 solid Everest facts analyzed and prepared by ExplorersWeb and Adventurestats. The statistics in part 1 showed that close to half of the climbers who try, reach the summit of Mount Everest. Two thirds are not part of commercial outfits, and independent climbers don't die more often than guided climbers. In part 2, a closer look showed that while independent climbers fare very well on the south side an on the off-normal routes - the north ridge is another matter...

K2 North Face update: And so it begins... The only people left on the Karakoram peaks, last week Denis grew tired of staring at his buddy "sewing, eating, and sleeping" in their lonely and damp BC. "Cold, rain, boredom... I feel like a caged animal," Denis said: "Burn down the fires, we're going up!" A short SMS to RussianClimb Thursday read: "We will start tomorrow. There will be no messages or SMS from us during the next 10 days. We'll leave our Thuraya phone here, on the glacier. We feel well." The message followed only a few hours after the previous, at 2.40 pm Moscow time today: "We are below the start of our route. Hoping for affordable weather, but... here's real winter."

Cho Oyu - Tennis star Marat Safin out Marat Safin took a decision to return to Moscow to support the Russian Team's Davis Cup semi-finals. "It was not easy, but a correct decision," Alex reported. The acclimatization climbs on the trek were reportedly enough for the tennis player, "It was a surprising travel to Tibet. I was restored, gained strength and confidence. Now I am ready to new victories on courts," Marat said.

Canadian/International Manaslu expedition's summit push The climbers got as high as 7200 meters but were halted by huge amounts of snow. They had a harrowing journey back to base camp through white-out blizzard conditions (falling into crevasses etc.)

Dhaulagiri - New kids on the hill - Kinga and Dodo! 35 hours of non-stop climbing and dangerous conditions at the Bottleneck forced Dodo and the Peters back from 8000+ meters on K2 last month. Slovak Dodo Kopold returned home with a remarkable score - he had bagged three (his first) 8000er summits in one year: Cho Oyu, Shisha Pangma and Nanga Parbat. Kinga Baranowska summited Cho Oyu in 2003, became the second Polish female climber to reach the summit of Broad Peak last year and topped out Nanga Parbat this summer. With only three weeks to organize the expedition, last week Dodo and Kinga arrived Dhaulagiri BC to attempt the NE ridge.

Makalu - Nives & Romano Indra, the expedition cook, is not well and although the two climbers try to treat him with the aid of doctors over the sat phone, the couple might end up totally alone on the mountain.

Shisha Pangma - Emilio Previtali Emilio is on his second attempt to snowboard Shisha. He hopes to ascend without oxygen and, if possible, - snowboard & ski down along a direct and pure line either inside the “Hinks Couloir” or the legendary “Couloir Chamoux”, one of the most challenging lines of extreme skiing in the world. "The descent is really steep, and there’s a 55°degrees inclined face, with an impressive continuity. This is a step into the future of extreme skiing in Himalaya," Emilio told ExWeb.

An American Scientist article revealed that a recent study using brain scans to examine both the effects of one-time and cumulative high-altitude climbing showed that no one gets down intact. Of thirteen climbers in the study who attempted Mount Everest, just one returned without brain damage. While a comparative study is needed - on the effects of drugs, alcohol, fast food, monotony, lack of exercise and a dumbing lifestyle in general such as watching Paris Hilton on TV for days at end - it's clear though that reading up on prevention could not only save you, but even gain you, a few brain cells.

Prezelj, House, and Anderson no luck on K6 West Early September, Slovenian Marko Prezelj and Americans Vince Anderson and Steve House bagged the first ascent of K7 West (6842 m) but the team's primary objective - K6 West - remains unclimbed. "Bad weather wrecked our summit attempt," Steve House told ExplorersWeb in Islamabad.

Tontine reality show offers $10 million to adventurers willing to "do anything to win" Over the past year, 'adventure' reality shows have spanned everything from a commercial expedition walking over a dying Everest climber to Bear Grylls not-so-real 'survival' escapades around the world. The latest is Tontine, named after an outlawed money scheme named after Neapolitan banker Lorenzo de Tonti. Tontines have been banned in Britain and the United States due to the incentive for investors to kill one another.

It's that time again! TAOS Mountain Film Festival October 5-7 featuring Felix, the Top Dog Climber Chris Bonington will be there, and writer/docu maker Jon Bowermaster is a returning guest. Eco activist and author of Grizzly Years Doug Peacock will participate in a slide show of the location scouting done for a movie of the Monkey Wrench Gang by TMFF executive director Jonathan Slator. Steph Davis will show film of her recent free climb of the Salathe Wall on El Capitan and sign copies of her recently published book, High Infatuation. Kayaker Seth Warren will explain what it was like to drive from Alaska to Argentina without a single drop of petroleum, using canola, soy, palm, fish, pig and chicken oils to fuel his vehicle. ExWeb's favorite special guest - Felix - was chosen for being the dominant pup in the litter; his nimble technique allows him to dash up lines speedily, performing amazing quadrapedal feats. When not climbing, Felix can be found enjoying walks in the park or rearranging his owner’s house.

Journey south turning ship north for 2008 Greenland-NP attempt When Everest throws boulders and you still want the summit there's just one thing to do - climb above the gravel line. After their funding fell through, the journey south team announced they now plan to go higher; that is north to attempt an unsupported North Pole crossing against the wicked drift from Greenland.

Tim's and Tigon's three-year Genghis Khan ride ends under the stars of the Hungarian steppe Last Saturday, Tim rode the final moments of his magical journey with his three horses and dog Tigon into the most sacred and important historical site in Hungary (Opusztaszer), where he paid tribute to the original nomads of Hungary (known as ‘Magyars’) who came from the east by horse, and the many other steppe peoples who have migrated across Eurasia for millennia, including the Mongols. Under the stars of the Hungarian steppe on the day after equinox, Tim’s journey was laid to rest at a nearby yourt camp.

Henk de Velde to sail off on never-ending voyage Future space explorers will have to be ready to leave Earth and never return. Who would do something like that? Folks like Henk de Velde would. Henk is setting out for a truly different expedition. "The never-ending voyage" will do exactly that - never end. Imagine leaving your home, country, friends and family for ever - that's what Henk has decided to do. Stay tuned for ExWeb's interview with the great explorer.