Not over. There's still hope for a chance to attempt Makalu's West face - wind allowing. Image courtesy of the expedition blog (click to enlarge).
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Himalaya wrap-up: Battle lost - but not the war - on Makalu
Posted: Nov 03, 2008 11:45 am EST
(MountEverest.net) House, Anderson and Prezelj were blown off the west face – but the climbers seem ready for another round, weather permitting.
A summit push is also brewing on Kang Guru, while Ama Dablam teams reported several more summits through the weekend.
Hostile Makalu west face greeting
Makalu west face greeted Steve, Vince and Marko with a crossfire of ice. “We pitched our tent at about 21,000 feet for the night,” Steve reported.
“On Friday morning, the wind was raging and we were hanging around in the tent. Soon, pieces of ice blown off from the face started hitting our tent – piercing the canvas and damaging poles. Then one hit Marko’s pot as he was having breakfast. We took that as a sing that clearly showed we were not at the right point at the right time, so we packed up and returned to BC, which we reached in the afternoon.”
According to Steve, the climbers are considering to extend their climbing permit in case the weather improves. In his latest update, Steve said they were investigating the weather forecasts before making a decision, although at the time of reporting he could still hear the wind blowing on the ridge like a freight-train.
Ama Dablam: Weekend summits – and one accident?
Alpenglow, IMG, Adventure Consultants reported summits but rumors are that there was an accident involving one climber on Ama Dablam Saturday. ExWeb will be checking for confirmations.
Mess at Pumori: “We know who you are”
In a deja-vu from Makalu, another report has arrived about some climbers leaving trash behind. Peak Freaks warn someone who apparently left Pumori’s BC in a mess – leaving to Tim Rippel’s team to do the clean-up. “(The mess in BC) has your name on it so we know who you are and we have pictures too! You may want to consider reimbursing us for our expenses to clean it up, carry it out and disposal fees,” they wrote.
Kang Guru: ready for a summit push
Altitude Junkies/Project-Himalaya are ready for the summit.
“The team members will climb directly to Camp 2 for the evening from base camp, skipping Camp 1, and the climb to Camp 3 is going to be a long day as we have a long linear distance to cover as well as 900 vertical meters to ascend to reach the campsite,” leader Phil Crampton reported. “Summit day will also be a 900 vertical meter day, so we have 3 big days of climbing ahead and one long day descending from high camp back to base camp.”
The chosen route goes up the SW face to the west ridge.
Links to Himalaya fall 2008 teams:
Everest
News on Korean Park’s SW face expedition on Donga
Skydive Everest
Kangchenjunga
Fredrik Eriksson’s dispatches
Annapurna
American Dare to Dream expedition’s updates
Makalu
House's posts on Patagonia's blog
Vince Anderson's blog
Bachinepally Shekhar Babu's website
Pumori
PeakFreaks' updates
Fabrizio Zangrilli's blog
Annapurna II
Croatian expedition's blog
Kang Guru
Altitude Junkies/Project Himalaya expedition's blog
Ama Dablam
Alpine Ascents' cybercasts
FTA's Ama Dablam dispatches
Adventure Consultants' Ama Dablam dispatches
IMG's updates from Ama Dablam
Jagged-Globe's latest news
Adrian Ballinger's AlpenGlow expedition blog
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