Winter makes itself felt in the eight-thousanders

«After 21 winter expeditions, this one too is proving to be especially tough. The last week it made almost 10 feet of snow, so we decided to go down everyone in Samagaon, all the Sherpas, all the mountaineers, the whole group. Today Alex and I made the decision to take a helicopter from Seven Summits to come to Kathmandu and now we are organizing all the material again and we will go back up to continue with the expedition. At the moment it is not possible to do so, we will understand. «

This is how Simone Moro announced today the decision to take a break from the challenge and go out and «stretch our legs» for a time in Kathmandu, in order to recharge batteries, and prepare for the next assault, which, surely , will be the decisive one.

But everything, absolutely everything in this type of winter, will depend on the weather. There is no way to do without it, much less in winter.

According to what has been announced in the different projects, just as summer is strong in the southern hemisphere, in the same way, winter develops in the same direction. I would even say, if I remember correctly, that a little more severe than the previous year.

I remember anyway, that massive K2 base camp, with everyone warm to the teeth, and -in many cases- without being able to understand the extreme of the situation.

For his part, Alex is not far behind in his manifestations. Yesterday he posted: «Since yesterday, including at night, we have been shoveling snow in shifts. It does not stop falling. It would be impossible to try to get out of BC now, neither up nor down. The situation is critical. We dig holes in the entrances to our tents to allow us to get in and out. The roar of the avalanches is continuous and the temperature does not exceed -10. Luckily we arrived prepared: shovels, snowshoes and ice cream boxes (to build retaining walls around the tents. Luengas) and above all a lot of motivation and patience. This is winter in the Himalayas and the ship is ruled by nature, not by us. «

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Finally, as Simone said earlier, they were able to get out. We will then see what the next few days hold, but as Alex said, there is still a long time to go. The winter has not yet matured.

 

Jost Kobusch on Everest

The situation of Jost Kobusch on Everest is at the moment somewhat uncertain. Two days ago he returned to Base Camp, having been above Lho La, on the route of the western spur of Mount Everest. But beyond what is shown through the tracker, there has been no official communication. It is not known if he will return to the road, or this is a definitive withdrawal. We will then wait to see how this challenge continues.

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Nanga Parbat

The eight thousand Pakistani, through the Rupal route, is undoubtedly the great star of the season. There Hervé Barmasse and David Gottler enthusiastically follow their project, although they are not strangers to the climate issue, as he tells us in Italian, in a very complete part supplied a few hours ago:

«The main characteristic of an expedition is waiting for good weather. In winter, sometimes things get complicated. Since we arrived at the base camp we have only had two sunny days without wind, the only ones that we have been able to go up to take a look at the Schell road. After that, only bad weather except yesterday (it was snowing again today). You will get up and see the sky in blue spots and receiving a ray of sunlight brought joy and desire to stretch your legs. Obviously, the thought of climbing the Shell in a single day, both due to the weather and the danger of avalanches, was unthinkable. So we took a little tour of the mountain that is in front of the base camp with the hope that the clouds would let us see the majestic Rupal in all its beauty. Unfortunately, there is nothing to do … Nanga is still hiding but sooner or later the sun will shine for days and thus, we will have the opportunity to introduce ourselves and get to know each other better. «

 

Same panorama as in the rest of the eight thousand. You just have to wait. We will see next week if the weather opens up a bit and at least allows them to evolve towards the high fields. And of course, see how the Jost Kobusch theme continues.

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