Posted: Nov 30, 2008 08:12 pm EST
This winter, Polish Artur Hajzer will lead Robert Szymczak and Canadian Don Bowie on Broad Peak. A second Polish team led by Jacek Teler will attempt Nanga Parbat. Last week, news arrived that a Czech trio will attempt Manaslu while Italian Simone Moro will team up with Kazakh Denis Urubko for a Makalu winter attempt.

Three of those ascents (BP, NP and Makalu) would mark the world's first winter climbs of the 8000+ meter peaks. So much history in the making; ExWeb ran Himalaya winter specials all week - with a final nod to Don Pettit (already) back home from Space.

Everest north side: Chinese Sheriff in town Everest north side has resembled the HBO Deadwood series for years and now the high altitude reality version is about to get a Chinese Sheriff to keep after climbers and the gold rush surrounding them. The current advanced watch-post will soon be replaced by a proper police station, built at 5,200 meters to reportedly fight criminal activities such as thefts, fake guides, prostitution and gambling in the region. “Obviously, several patrols will be assigned to watch over the border, in order to prevent Tibetans refugees from fleeing to Nepal,” Commander Zhang Shoucheng told Tibet daily.

Simone Moro for Makalu winter attempt with Denis Urubko Following two straight years of winter attempts on Broad Peak, Simone will attempt Makalu with old time friend Denis Urubko this year: the two did a number of spectacular climbs and humanitarian efforts in the Himalayas together, split up for a while, before joining up again this winter for the upcoming expedition.

Czech Manaslu attempt kicking off Czech trio Pavel Krupièka, Jan Krabec and Milan Wlasák aim to plant the first Czech winter flag on Manaslu. The expedition cargo has already reached Nepal, and the climbers plan to commence the expedition next week.

Up until now only 8 of the 14 eight-thousanders have been winter climbed. Polish climbers are the 8000+ winter kings, and they mean to claim the throne also this season - attempting no less than 2 ascents in Pakistan where all 8000ers still remain unclimbed in winter. As the 2008 winter expeditions kick-off; popular re-runs have been published at ExWeb all week about winter climbing.

Popular rerun: ExWeb series - K2 series: Karakoram and ultimate winter challenges Bagging number 8 of the 14; in 2005 Simone Moro and Piotr Morawski summited Shisha Pangma on January 14. Before this latest addition of Italian Moro; all first winter accents had been made by Polish climbers in Calendar winter, from Everest in 1980 to Lhotse in 1988. Check ExWeb for their story.

Popular rerun: ExWeb series - The meaning of winter in 8000+ climbing What makes a winter expedition a winter expedition? Does it need to snow 9 out of 10 days and be miserably cold? Is a winter ascent in December as good as a winter ascent in February? Classic winter climbs are those made within the “calendar winter,” from December 21 to March 21. In the northern hemisphere, the Winter Solstice is the day of the year (near December 22) when the Sun is farthest south and it's around that day, that classic winter climbs kick-off. Check in at ExWeb for classifications according to the world calendar and mountaineering tradition.

In part 2 we described Himalaya winter or near-winter summits since the Polish winter Marathons 1980-1988.

In the final part of "Meaning-of-winter" we ran a wrap-up and some Everest winter temperature comparisons from AdventureWeather. Check in next week finally for a unique Adventure Weather winter special re-run, "The 'BAD' chart in Himalaya weather," a condition analysis based on years of specialized Himalaya weather data.

Samurai climbers going alpine-style in Garhwal Himalaya Japanese Kazuaki Amano, Fumitaka Ichimura and Yusuke Sato were awarded the Asian Piolet d’Or for the first complete ascent of Kalanka’s north face (6,931m). The nearly 2,000 m route was named “Bushido.” Kazuya Hiraide (29) and Kei Taniguchi (36) reported “Samurai Direct”, a new 1,800 m route on Mount Kamet’s SW face, climbed in alpine style two months ago.

Antarctic wrap-up Several new teams have hit the ice and the speed attempts went well as far as last week. Closing in on 83°, Todd Carmichael traveled a personal best distance of 18.5nm (34.262 km). Solo Finn, Teemu Lakkasuo, hurt his leg and had to be evacuated to Patriot Hills, but considers going on, depending on his injuries and available support flights. Mark Langridge has decided to quit his attempt to return from the South Pole to Hercules Inlet, however he will continue skiing.

ExWeb interview with Kari Poppis Suomela: "Even when you think you are dead tired you can still become much more tired" Polar explorer Poppis Suomela was member and photographer on Finland's Airborne Ranger Club North Pole expedition and now he and mate Pasi Ikonen are attempting the first Finnish unsupported and unguided ski trip to the South Pole. Only a handful of people have skied to both Poles worldwide. If reaching the South Pole, Poppis Suomela will be only the 12th person in the world to reach both poles unsupported. Last week Poppis’ reply to ExWeb's pre-expedition interview questions arrived straight from the ice.

Tommy's icebreaker: back to Mar Del Plata - or not Last weekend, a busted engine forced Tommy to try and sail 500 NM back to the marina at Mar del Plata. However, following 4 days of only 75 NM covered Tommy chose to anchor at Rawson instead. "The people of Rawson are very helpful and I’m sure there will be a solution to my motor troubles," he dispatched.

Don Pettit, "once normal breathing resumes, we will have this warm sensation inside that we are home" Not Kazakhstan but also this time Don failed to arrive where he was supposed to. Due to weather issues, Endeavour and its crew landed at 1:25 p.m. PST Sunday at Edwards Air Force Base in California instead of Florida as initially planned. So what is it like to come home from Space? Go to ExWeb and check Don's dispatch.

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

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