Winter climbs update: Makalu summit push aborted at 7500 meters "We just couldn't survive there." The Kazakh climbers established a "half-tent" on 7400 meters in a tiny spot. Veteran Himalaya weather man Karl Gabl said forecasts indicated hurricane force (135 km/h average) wind and -36 °C/F at the level at the time. Surviving the night, the climbers covered another 400 meters the next day, but were forced down from 7500 altitude meters in very hard conditions. The Italians, remaining in BC, have had lots of damage caused by the hurricane and might be forced to evacuate. Check in Monday for details.
Broad Peak - C2 set Simone and his Pakistan fellow climbers arrived camp 2 at 6200 meters last weekend in a hard day, climbing the most technical part of the route. The climbers encountered mostly green ice and thus fixed 300 meters thin line on the worst section. The men had fixed 3 camps in only 5 days and are currently weathering a storm in BC, before establishing the last camp at 7200 meters (camp 3).
Winter climbs: Cut cables Thuraya has suffered damage to their cables. 4 fibre-optic cables have been cut (possibly sabotaged) in the Middle East, Quatar, and Oman in the past week. Simone and the Makalu Italians both experienced problems with Thuraya text messages and phone calls in the past ten days. Simone is currently using the more expensive Inmarsat; Leila Meroi equally Vodafone to get in touch with her team, at a steep 5 Euros per minute. The Kazakhs seem to be OK. In a reply to HumanEdgeTech, Thuraya pointed to a global outage due to an International Sub-Marine cable fault, and said that the problem will be fixed Tuesday latest.
2008 HumanEdgeTech Everest Special, part 4: Strategy for high traffic Googling all Everest expedition websites in the history of internet - only 4 make the first 100 listings. In spite of repeated Everest expeditions; commercial outfitters don't fare much better. No outfitter makes the top 50 results and only 5 make the 100 list for keyword "Everest". HET ran a special report on how to push traffic to your expedition website.
2008 HumanEdgeTech Everest Special, final: Tech that saves lives Among the latest 5000 climbers who have attempted to scale Everest, 'only' 40 died, making Everest a relatively safe mountain with a higher than 99% chance of making it back. The bad news is that out of the 5000 attempts; only 38% made the summit and way too many came down with frostbites so severe they forced amputations. This while skilled mountaineers - including repeat Everest summiteers - have their toes and fingers intact. ExWeb closed the 2008 edition of Everest tech week with gear that could win you the summit, save you a toe - and perhaps even your life.
House/Anderson and Marko Prezelj for the West Face of Makalu Vince Anderson and Steve House forged a new route on Nanga Parbat the other year; in a high altitude climb unusual for American mountaineering. One swallow doesn't make a summer though, and now the duo is back to prove they can repeat. In the latest Mugs Stump award, House/Anderson and Marko Prezelj got some cash to attempt an alpine-style bid on the much coveted West Face of Makalu.
Muztagh Ata report: A note reading "HELP" Last year, Swedish climber and researcher Janne Corax compiled a list of the six highest yet unclimbed peaks in the world at ExplorersWeb. Over-wintering in Lhasa, Janne has since been climbing in Tibet but last week he submitted a different story: A debrief from the little known events that took place last year on Muztagh Ata in China. Janne has interviewed a number of climbers involved in a climbing tragedy, their testimony highlighting the heroism and indifference dividing our mountains today.
ExWeb's end of season Antarctica report: Kids of Amundsen 28 people skied to the pole from the coast this year: 9 (30%) were Norwegian. Skiers of all nations showed a remarkable step up in difficulty this year however. Most aimed for unsupported trips; and all started from the coast. Only fly in the ointment: most expeditions were guided this year; some told ExplorersWeb the reason being ALE's unfair pricing structure for unguided trips.
Piolet d'Or update: New prize by Grivel and Montagne magazine to include guides and clients The brand new "St Vincent Award" put together by Grivel and Montagne magazine, will kick off March 7 in a hotel in Grivel's hometown Saint-Vincent in Italian Valle d'Aosta. The various categories will include prizes such as 'the best guide' and the best 'guide-client relationship'.
Call to help clear landmines holding Noshaq (7492m) hostage in Afghanistan John Mock & Kimberley O'Neil from Yosemite National Park, CA are asking climbers to help clear the landmines blocking entrance to Afghanistan's highest peak, Noshaq (7492m), virtually inaccessible because the route to base camp is blocked by landmines.
Correction to ExplorersWeb Himalaya Winter Special: The Weather and the History In the ExWeb special about Himalaya winter climbing, some numbers didn’t add up. The reason being that ascents made outside calendar winter - that is 'near winter' climbs - were mixed in. This has now been corrected.
Arctic Tara touches land for the first time in 500 days Following her drift in Fram strait to exit the Arctic Ocean; on January 24th Tara touched land in Spitsbergen for the first time in more than 500 days. Separating with the two ship dogs there, last week Tara left port for her final leg toward her home port in Lorient, France, where she is expected to reach on February 23. Ahead for Tara now is an ice-free ocean and the sun - which some of the crew members will meet again for the first time since mid-October 2007.
Join Blizzard on 2 month voyage Her crew one man short, last week Hannah McKeand sent out a call for an explorer to join a 2 month voyage of a lifetime - all travel expenses paid - provided you could be in Puntas Friday!
Pimp My Ride Aussie style: Chris and Clark Victoria Island heads-up With the Antarctica season taken care off, time has come to look onwards and upwards. Chris Bray (24) and Clark Carter (23) sent out a press release with a heads-up on their upcoming May expedition to Victoria Island. In brief; they've made further progress on the pacs, and they want more sponsors.
North Pole Winter: Russian Feds drop supplies Matvey Shparo and Boris Smolin, who are approaching the 85-th parallel in total darkness, received an airdrop with food and fuel last week. The AN-26 aircraft crew dropped two cargo parachute containers within 70 meters from the team’s tent. The flight was carried out by the Aviation Department of the Federal Security Service of Russia.
Erden Erduc: Good Boobie, Bad Boobie In the middle of nowhere on the Pacific Ocean; Erden's rowing boat has transformed into a Noah's Ark of sorts. Birds hang out in the crammed spaces, and a faithful flock of various fish trails the boat. If you have read old books with stories of the shipwrecked you're probably amazed to see their tales come alive in pictures like Erden's.
Anasazi Girl update: Auckland to Cape Town in 46 days On December 14, James Burwick left Auckland for an 8300nm crossing to Cape Town via Drake Passage. On January 30th, a Morse code message arrived - James was about to make landfall! Arriving Cape Town after only 46 days, Anasazi outraced even ExWeb's crew.