Image of climber trying to reach C2 in blizzard conditions, courtesy of the Polish team/HiMountain (click to enlarge).
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Winter Nanga Parbat: C3 set but blizzard forces climbers back, "decision to be made shortly"
Posted: Jan 16, 2007 10:30 am EST
(MountEverest.net/K2Climb.net) “The fifth attempt to go up has failed for all teams involved,” reported the Polish climbers from Nanga Parbat’s BC.
“It all started optimistically after Robert and Przemek set up Camp 3 at 6800m – but they couldn’t get any higher.” Two following waves of climbers were also turned back by hurricane-force winds.
Tent lost to wind - young guns frostbitten
The team lost one tent in C2; Robert and Przemek - the front line climbers - got frostbite.
“On January 14 all team members are back in BC. The route above Camp 3 is not yet fixed. The expedition is thus not ready for a summit push."
Is this the end?
"Participants are tired both physically and mentally due to prolonged mountain action in extreme conditions. The decision concerning the fate of the expedition should be made in the coming hours or days. We need to analyze the situation, calculate our strength, chances and dangers. And most of all, we need to check the weather forecasts.”
Krzysztof Wielicki leads the current Fifth Polish expedition to winter Nanga Parbat. The team members add up not only many years of experience - but also an amazing number of 8000ers summited - including winter first ascents:
Wielicki was the fifth climber to summit all 14 8000ers. Among his climbs; the first winter ascents of Everest, Lhotse and Kangchenjunga. Artur Hajzer, has 4, 8000ers summited and the first winter climb of Annapurna. Dariusz Zaluski, has 4, 8000ers summited and winter attempts on K2, Makalu, Nanga and Shisha. Jan Szulc led the team who first climbed Shisha Pangma in winter, and has a K2 winter attempt.
Krzysztof Tarasewicz, is summiteer on 3 8000ers; Jacek Jawien has been a member in K2 and Shisha winter expeditions. Only Przemyslaw Lozinski will experience an 8000+ meter peak for the first time.
Polish climbers have all the first winter ascents on Himalayan 8000ers, most achieved in the eighties. All their ascents took place in January and February - except for Lhotse on December 31, 1988 by Krzysztof Wielicki.
17 years went by before a new first winter ascent was a fact: On January 14, 2005, Polish Piotr Morawski and Italian Simone Moro summited Shisha Pangma. The expedition leader was Jan Szulc (current member of the Nanga Parbat winter expedition).
The latest attempt for a first winter ascent on a 8000er was done last year by Jean-Christophe Lafaille. Lafaille attempted Makalu solo, but disappeared on his summit push, apparently without reaching the summit.
None of the Pakistan’s 8000ers (K2, Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak, GI, and GII) have been summited in winter. In Nepal, only Makalu still remains unclimbed in winter. This year, Pakistan’s government has reduced the winter climbing fee to a nominal 5%.
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