Posted: Jan 29, 2006 12:29 pm EST
Makalu winter update: Concerns grow for Jean Christophe Lafaille News broke Sunday morning in French media and Kairn.com that French Jean Christophe Lafaille ('JCL') is reported missing. Relatives of the climber have asked for a recognition search of the mountain by air.

Katia Lafaille had last contact with the climber on Thursday, over satellite telephone. Jean Christophe was at 7600 meters, and planned to leave for the final summit push on Thursday night, hoping to reach the summit on Friday. The climber has not been heard from since. According to Katia, JCL had low batteries when she spoke to him last.

Nepal’s crisis increases as climbing season approaches Thursday, Nepal went quiet; army patrolled the silent roads. Seven off-parliament political parties of the country have called to a bahnd – a general strike – as a protest against upcoming municipal elections, which they consider a fraud. The Maoists have gone further: Threatening to kill anyone joining the polls. A cease-fire declared by the Maoist guerrilla three months earlier ended by the New Year. In the last weeks, curfews have been intermittently declared in Kathmandu and Pokhara, cell-phone services suspended time after time. It's not clear how the upcoming climbing season will be affected by the unrest.

ExWeb tech special: The scoop on Thuraya coverage Himalaya season just around the corner, climbers are renting and buying Thuraya sat phones. The light handhelds combined with relatively fast data and cheap air time has made the system very popular in only a few short years. The only question however - where will it work? The confusion is sprung from two different coverage maps. One published on numerous websites, the other published on Thuraya's own homepage. The 2 maps show considerably disparate coverage - mainly in the area of biggest interest to climbers: Asia. ExWeb contacted Thuraya to sort out the issue. Check the do's and don'ts for Thuraya coverage this season.

Grandes Jorasses, Eiger, Matterhorn: The Alps' greatest North Faces, the Russian way Three teams for three legendary North faces; three winter climbs in the Alps, and three groups of young climbers going for it all - at the same time. Once again, Russian alpinists are pushing the limits and strength of their younger generation of climbers. Yesterday a group of Russian climbers departed Krasnoyarsk, bound for the central Alps. They will simultaneously attempt the north faces of Eiger (3970m), Grandes Jorasses (4208m) and Matterhorn (4478m), graded “ED”(extremely difficult), the highest tag in alpine graduation. The North faces continue to claim many failed attempts and deaths - climbing them in winter, however, as the Russians intend, is an entirely different ball game.

ExWeb interview with Tarka L'Herpiniere: Poles will have to wait - it's time for Everest At 23 years old, Tarka wants to be the youngest person to ski to both Poles back to back, solo and unsupported. But first, Tarka will give Everest a shot - this upcoming spring season.

Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2006 kicks off in Salt Lake City Thousands of people from the outdoor industry have made their way to Salt Lake City, Utah for the 17th annual Outdoor Retailer Winter Market. The show began this Saturday, January 28th and lasts for 4 days. Organizers say the show promises to be an action-packed adventure for all attendees, with ongoing product demonstrations, industry events, seminars and more exhibitors than ever before.
Ice climbing World Cup: The Ice-masters claim their crowns at Valle de Daone Last weekend, Valle de Daone was 'the' hotspot as sparks from clinching crampons and ice-axes kept the heat up during the first stage of the Ice Climbing World Cup, 2006. None of the 12 finalists in each category was capable of beating last year's world champions. Austrian Harald Berger and German Ines Papert reclaimed their first places at the Valle de Daone Ice Master competition, also part of the Ice Climbing World Cup.

Pakistan 2006 expedition list: Steve House rejected, Nanga crowded, Edurne for BP, teams on the Bride and Ogre Pakistan's Ministry of Tourism submitted a new draft of applications for this year's climbing teams. Some climbers have been forced to look for alternative plans; Steve House and four other climbers’ application for K6 were rejected by local authorities, since the peak is located in a restricted area.

Solidarité Cachemire: French climbing community donates €85,000 for quake-affected areas The French climbing community has heartedly committed to helping Kashmir and its people since the October 8 earthquake struck the region. A number of French climbers and Pakistani mountain guides have set up “Solidarité Cachemire”, a funding campaign through The French Federation of Alpine Clubs (FFCAM). French mountaineers have donated a total of €85,000, of which €45, 000 have been already utilized for getting relief efforts up and running. The remaining 40,000 will be invested in keeping these efforts ongoing; but priority will be given to emergency situations.

Ice man Lewis Gordon Pugh one stroke closer to 'Holy Grail' On Monday January 16th, Lewis Gordon Pugh completed a 12km swim across Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth - this latest swim brings him one stroke closer to completing what they call the 'Holy Grail' - a long distance swim in all five oceans. "I thought it would be a piece of cake," Lewis told his support team. "The wind picked up during the swim and I got hammered." Less than a month ago Lewis plunged into the icy waters off the Antarctic Peninsula to smash the world record for the most southern long distance swim ever undertaken.

Adrian Flanagan's Friday the 13th: The Storm, the whole story... Adrian came close to abandoning ship since he began his solo non-stop sail (a longitudinal circumnavigation via the Bering Strait) last weekend. The British sailor lost control of his ship Barrabas in 50 knot winds and 25 foot waves.

Independent Rowers Update: Countdown for Erden and it's 'that way' to Brazil for Alex Erden Eruç is approaching the end of the line. Soon he’ll be picking up where he left off on his 8000 km/5000 mile from Lisbon to Limon. With his boat fully repaired and one rower lighter, the former technical consultant will row clockwise around Gran Canaria and then Southwest towards the open seas of the Atlantic. Alex Bellini on the other hand is slowly making his way in ‘Spanish’ seas. This week the Italian rower stopped for directions, albeit involuntarily, and got an earful from local fisherman: “At a certain point the guy who looked like the boss asked me what direction I was headed. I yelled back: Brazil! At which point he looked at me with all the certainty of this world in his voice and yelled that Brazil was West and I was going South – so I was going the wrong way." For a minute Alex thought the captain was just poking fun at him, then he realized that he was serious. “And that left me stone cold," Alex said.

Colin and Julie's Caribbean Pit stop: A rough approach but soft landing “Land!” cried an exhilarated Colin and Julie as they spotted the Island of St. Lucia. After an eventful 121 days at sea the Canadian rowers set foot on the shores of the Caribbean island at 4pm local time on January 19th. While this just a pit stop along the team's expedition, Julie Wafaei became the first Canadian woman to row an ocean. They arrived there unassisted aboard their vessel ‘Ondine’ which according to the team has been holding out ‘flawlessly’.

North Pole season is ON: Borge and Mike on the ice – and back "Borge and Mike are on the move,” reported Borge Ousland’s home team January 20. “The helicopter was able to lift off from Sredny and dropped the team on the western side of Cape Arktichevsky, just 1 km from its northern point.” Fortunately, the ice was touching the shore, but it was unstable, slushy, and moving too fast. The skiers returned safely to land and set up camp on the Cape, when they received an unexpected visitor – a polar bear! He broke the zipper with his foot trying to enter the tent, before turning around to explore their sleds. A surprised Borge and Mike got out of their tent as the polar bear was walking away with a packet of their food. As they reacted quickly and lit a flare gun, the bear dropped the food and ran onto the sea ice. After waiting two days for ice conditions to improve, the two explorers set off for the Pole over the weekend. The going has been tough since, with a weird negative drift, large sections of open water, and temperatures ranging only around -15C.

In some ways, Rune has already made it. He has achieved the longest polar traverse to date: 4600km, solo. Another 160km, and he will be at the shore of the Antarctic Ocean at Terra Nova Bay. However, before he hits the water, Rune needs to safely find his way among a crevassed glacier. “Rune has literally been walking on the edge,” reported his home team. The area is nothing but snow-covered crevasses. He had to cross a snow river in the middle of the Priestley Glacier to get away from all the crevasses. Each step is nerve-wrecking.

The Venezuelans at the South Pole It took 68 fighting days, but Friday Carlos Calderas, Marcus Tobías, Martín Echevarría, and Marco Cayuso became the first Venezuelans to ski all the way from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole.

Airborne Ranger Club of Finland: Getting ready to the Arctic The seven members of Finnish Airborne Ranger Club are busy preparing their upcoming North Pole trip. The guys are currently sorting out supplies and gear, and packing everything before they travel to Canada. The team will set off from Ward Hunt Island by early March, and hopes to reach the Pole unsupported.

Ario alone across Alaska: Fairbanks Ario has reached the town of Fairbanks, at 65° North. The Italian mountain guide departed the settlement of Cantwell on January 3rd – since then he has walked alone, crossing a number of mountain passes and enduring temperatures down to -40ºC. Ario is traversing Alaska from South to North.

New Horizons Update: Full speed ahead towards Pluto After a successful launch on Thursday at 2:00 pm EST from Cape Canaveral, New Horizons is on its way to the farthest ends of the solar system. Having already passed the moon late Thursday night, it’s full speed ahead for the spacecraft traveling up to 47,000 miles per hour (around 21 Kilometers per second). Arrival date expected a decade from now.

Rocks, ice and an atmosphere: The most Earth like planet yet discovered Using a network of telescopes scattered across the globe, astronomers discovered a new extra solar planet significantly more Earth-like than any other planet found so far. The planet, which is only about 5 times as massive as the Earth, circles its parent star in about 10 years. It is the least massive exoplanet around an ordinary star detected so far and also the coolest. The planet most certainly has a rocky/icy surface, and a thin atmosphere. Its discovery marks a groundbreaking result in the search for planets that support life.

2020: Closing in on Universe in our lifetime - building the biggest eye Within 5 years, we should have detected the first earth like planets circling other stars. In 2020, the world’s largest radio telescope should be finished - 200 times bigger than the current radio telescopes. And in 2016, the world's largest optical observatory could be up, 4.5 times the collecting power of any telescope on Earth. All you have to do is stay alive for another ten years, save 5 more for wrecked deadlines, and you'll experience the Universe like never before. The telescopes will map 96% of our visible Universe, down to exact locations, chemical setup and mass. We'll be able not only to calculate the presence of other Earths' - but actually see them with our own eyes. After that, we'll know exactly where to sail our ships - propelled perhaps by the black energy we discover on the way. “The upcoming decade promises to be a very exciting one for astronomy," says a Carnegie News Release. In fact, mankind is on the verge of a new exploration that will amaze most of us.

Read these stories - and more! - at ExplorersWeb.com

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