Week-In-Review

By mountaintravel • June 30th, 2009

K2 claimed a first victim last week; highly skilled ski-mountaineer Michele Fait slipped and fell while skiing down the Cesen route.
Iran, Afghanistan and Somalia; adventure news arrived from unusual places while a historic meet was held in Nepal, a call went out for Mongolian horses, a last word was posted on Everest spring 2009 and [...]

Bad weather has been punishing climbers in Baltoro valley. Nanga images show serious avalanches on the peak and conditions on K2 are even worse than on Broad Peak according to the French climbers, currently on yet another summit push.
Last week ExWeb ran a number of interviews and climbers paid tributes to lost friends. Only [...]

American climbers Micah Dash and Wade Johnson are missing in Sichuan while Jonathan Copp’s remains have been found. Read more in a Monday update at ExWeb.
In other news: Pakistan is gearing up although in lesser numbers. Last-word debriefs still trickle in from the past Nepal/Tibet-Himalaya season; with reportedly also Cho Oyu claiming a victim [...]

The last wave of climbers topped-out Everest last Saturday – as the weather window closed and conditions rapidly turned for the worse. Descending climbers performed several rescues on both sides of the mountain in a sudden storm.
Three climbers were lost – among them 3-time ExWeb award winner Sergei Samoilov; Denis Urubko’s free-spirited and courageous climbing [...]

Last week was all about Himalaya. Following an extended storm, the peaks were summitted one after the other in improving weather. Everest (both sides), Lhotse, Manaslu, Dhaula, and Kang all had success – Everest south side in very large numbers.
The most remarkable of them all became Mr Park’s summit of the highly technical Everest SW [...]

A big storm sent down most climbers early in the week except for Denis Urubko who incredibly bagged the summit of Cho Oyu via a new line on the SE face in alpine style. 
Huge summit pushes are underway again however, with most climbers – including on Everest – gunning for a May 18-19 weather [...]

Everest was summited for the first time this season on May 5th but the joy was clouded by serious avalanches claiming one life.
Also Kang and Dhaula got summits, with a near-complete ski descent on Kangchenjunga, but sadly the peak claimed another mountaineer last week. Two major climbs have kicked off: Makalu West Pillar and [...]

Celebrations and terror both took place on Manaslu last week. Closing April 2009; high Himalayas have already claimed the lives of three mountaineers.
There was triumph at the North Pole, with both full length teams, one unsupported and one guided/supported, breaking a number of records. ExWeb ran an interview with Simone Moro, Henk de Velde reached [...]

A century after Cook and Peary; this weekend John Huston and Tyler Fish became the first American team to reach the North Pole without assistance.
Concerns are grave for Martin Minarik, missing on Annapurna.
In other news: several major new route attempts were announced last week. A climber brought news from the Piolet d’Or award. ExWeb ran [...]

Investigating all clues, American historian Tom Holzel pin-pointed Irvine’s possible location in a 3-part series at ExWeb last week. Another special was a story about Himalaya ski/board-mountaineers.
In other news: the first Everest climbers have crossed over to Tibet, Australian Andrew Lock is postponing both climbs, two teams bumped into each other on the Arctic ice, [...]

They won an ExWeb award for their great 2006 Himalayan Trilogy; last week “The Peters’” Himalayan saga was tragically ended when Piotr Morawski perished in a crevasse on Dhaulagiri.
In other news: the first climbing permits have reportedly been granted for Everest north side, Annapurna normal route sports a dangerous serac; and a big avalanche buried [...]

Posted on April 6, 2009
Himalaya is filling up with hopeful mountaineers. It was a different story a few months ago, with only four 8000-er winter attempts in Himalaya and Karakoram combined. Two teams truly stuck it out, and last week ExWeb checked in with both for debrief interviews.
In other news; as rare as Himalaya winter [...]

Posted on March 30, 2009
Only to reach the foot of their mountains; international climbers are dodging strikes and unrest in several areas of Nepal. Some, facing house-odds worse than a Monte Carlo casino, are still gambling on China’s whimsical politics.
While waiting for the actual climbs to kick off; last week ExWeb ran a couple of [...]

Posted on March 23, 2009
The adventure spring season is full throttle around the world. Last week was packed at ExWeb with interviews, announcements of amazing new routes in Himalaya, along with the usual politics on Everest north side.
Enroute to the North Pole; the two polar expeditions have been going well; except for a team [...]

Posted on March 16, 2009
Arctic expeditions are shivering, Babanov announced a very cool new route attempt on Annapurna’s west face, and Simone Moro sounded off.
Yet last week was all about Tibet – with a full story of the 50 years-long battle published at ExplorersWeb by an explorer who was there.
MountEverest.net March 10 special: George Patterson’s [...]

Posted on March 10, 2009
The list of Himalaya expeditions, published last Sunday, is still being updated, and last week also offered a sneak peak of the upcoming Karakoram season. The North Pole season has kicked off in brutal temperatures and one aborted expedition already.
All eyes are however on Tibet, where Tuesday (March 10), will mark [...]

Posted on March 2, 2009
Two traverses, one sleep-over, close to 40 expeditions on the south side and at least 8 on the north side – the list of 2009 spring Everest expeditions is up! Add to those 26 expeditions so far on the surrounding 8000ers. And that’s not all. 
Also this weekend the brand new [...]

Posted on February 18, 2009
They did it! Winter Makalu is no longer virgin and history could be made also on Broad Peak where a summit push has been ongoing this Valentine’s/President Day weekend.
The action packed week also brought the last entries from HumanEdgeTech – with product testimonies from users and a big interview with HET [...]

Posted on February 9, 2009
While in Karakoram none of the 8000ers have been winter climbed, only one remains in Nepal Himalaya – Makalu – where history could be made within the next 12 hours.
Only 8 hours ago (3 am US Mountain Time), Simone called in a voice dispatch stating the men were at 7700 meters, [...]

Posted on February 3, 2009
Antarctica is closing; and with that all eyes are on Himalaya where two expeditions hope to make history any time now.
Also Aconcagua has more or less folded; following a season deadlier than usual but not without a number of triumphs. Over in Europe, Swiss Ueli Steck broke another classic North face [...]

Posted on January 26, 2009
“It was one of the best stories I ever read at ExplorersWeb,” wrote a climber about the Vlado Plulik special last week.
Other news: Antarctica is closing, Erden is back out at sea; Piolet d’Or is due for a comeback; there is fast going on Makalu; and a summit push on Broad [...]

Posted on January 19, 2009
It has been a very busy month at ExWeb. Irish/Alaskan Gerard McDonnell (K2, post-mortem) was awarded Best of ExplorersWeb 2008 for one of the most heroic rescue attempts in the history of Himalaya mountaineering.
Other winners were (2 – 8 ) Inaki’s rescue team (Annapurna), Tomek and Wacek (solo sail around the [...]

Posted on December 30, 2008
ExplorersWeb 2008 Year in Review Special:
Everest, Tibet and China.
Influence of politics was so massive on mountaineering this year we had to lift Everest out of the regular Year in Review. Yet the events were so remarkable they should not fall into oblivion. Here thus an ExWeb 2008 YIR second edition, with [...]

Posted on December 29, 2008
In August 1999, MountEverest.net was reconstructed from an expedition website to a mountaineering news source. The guide was added and daily stories – mainly from the 8000ers – went up.
Following founders’ and friends’ expeditions, other adventure websites were added in fast pace: ThePoles, TheOceans, K2Climb, AdventureStats, BaseCampMD, AdventureWeather, HumanEdgeTech and [...]

Posted on December 22, 2008
One was checking his sms, the other was having a smoke. Canuck Don Bowie shot a great image last week of what it’s like to climb winter 8000ers in Polish style.
South Pole might, or might not, have a brand new speed record. It’s close, very close, between Todd and leggy blonde [...]

Posted on December 15, 2008
It’s mid-December and you know what that means: ExWeb is gearing up for the 2008 Best of ExplorersWeb Awards and Year in Review. But there will be more: check out this sneak preview on what’s up in the coming weeks:
Following a somewhat slow fall; we expect a very interesting winter. [...]

Posted on October 27, 2008
The Polish are at it again – cool climbs are coming up in winter Himalaya. A couple of fatalities have taken place on Ama Dablam, with details sketchy at least regarding one of them. There were debriefs from Nuptse and Anna II; and plans emerging for Everest 2009.
Flattened tents, broken bindings [...]