Posted: Dec 21, 2008 11:28 pm EST
One was checking his sms, the other was having a smoke. Canuck Don Bowie shot a great image last week of what it's like to climb winter 8000ers in Polish style.

South Pole might, or might not, have a brand new speed record. It's close, very close, between Todd and leggy blonde Hannah McKeand. Also last week, Himalaya's own 'Dostoyevsky' Denis Urubko submitted a wild Makalu winter debrief.

Final word - are you ready? 2008 ExWeb awards kick off December 23!

Polish HiMountain Winter BP expedition: Artur Hajzer’s team hoped to be airlifted to BC December 18th: this means that the guys are set for a true winter climb, starting at winter solstice Dec 21. Waiting for the flight, the climbers fled Skardu for some team-work drills at 4000 meters - where Don shot the above mentioned image.

Polish Nanga Parbat climbers Jacek Teler, for some reason nick-named "Blue Taliban" by locals, and his team cleared the trail for porters in three feet of snow, in order to establish BC as close as possible to the mountain foot. Still the caravan reached only 5km away from Nanga Parbat’s Diamir face, with BC set at 4,065m. To shelter from the wind, staff spent the night inside the mess-tent.

Czechs on Manaslu The Czech team is in Manaslu BC.

Pustelnik juniors awarded at Bansko A documentary about Piotr Pustelnik’s sons was awarded first prize on the 8th International Mountain Film Festival held in Bansko (Bulgaria) on November 27-30th. Polish Krzysztow Wielicki, Norwegian Borge Ousland and Italian Gustav Thoeni were among festival guests.

Himalayan climbing history for auction on eBay – for Tibet Bob A. Schelfhout Aubertijn is a funny guy and you might remember his satire "First on Everest" published at ExWeb shortly after the past controversial season. There is a serious side to the former climber and it's about democracy. Bob has been collecting some cool pieces of mountain memorabilia, which he now plans to sell to the highest bidder on eBay with all profits to go to Savetibet. Also offered are signed copies of "Tomaz Humar" the latest book by Bernadette McDonald.

Kite on a rope: Makalu's winter rules by Denis Urubko "She sings mad tunes; she cries out, 'poor suckers,' at us for not braving her slopes. She mourns and she threats, a mute question of 'when?' sounding in each high pitch." Preparing for a second round against the 'Great Black,' Urubko compiled a must-read debrief from his past winter attempt on Makalu.

Karakoram 2008 season's end report Himalaya statisticians - what a mess mountaineering would be without them. Reuters correspondent Liz Hawley has had first dibs on most climbing news in Nepal and China for the last five decades making a name for herself over time. Less known is 'Santa of Karakoram' Saad Tariq Siddiqi, who just compiled the results for the 2008 climbing year in Pakistan.

Chasing Hannah: South Pole speed record attempt update Todd Carmichael reached the South Pole today, as the first American to cross Antarctica to the South Pole alone, on foot and with no assistance. But was he in time to catch Hannah McKeand? Check in next week for the final result - only an hour differs each way! And watch out also for Veteran Arctic explorer Richard Weber leading fellow Canadians and long distant runners Ray Zahab and Kevin Vallely on an equally unsupported attempt from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole.

Alex Bellini rescued to shore: "summit" in the world of ocean rowing? Ocean rower Alex Bellini was picked up by a tug boat and claimed new world record, "In 295 days crossing, Alex has completed the longest successful solo row in history," stated his website. Yet earlier this year, Erden Eruc took the record for the longest time by an ocean rower (310 days), used to belong to Peter Bird who had been out for 304 days. Like Alex both were towed; unlike Alex neither claimed victory. So how come Alex is considered successful while Peter and Erden are not? ExWeb called on rowers to set their records straight.

Ocean kiter Anne Quéméré rescued All a kiter needs is wind and that was the one thing Anne didn't get. The infamous low-pressure area around the equator called "the Doldrums" created a dead calm forcing Anne to surrender. Anne Quéméré was rescued by a container ship enroute to Panama. Conditions did not allow to pick-up the small vessel which was ultimately abandoned.

Somalia update - Chinese warships join piracy battle Pirates in Somalian waters are about to get a bucket full. A Russian warship, enroute "to cooperate with unspecified countries in anti-piracy efforts" was redirected to Somalia in September and last week China - supporter of nearby Darfur - announced it too is preparing to send warships to the area. This in addition to Indian naval ship INS Mysore, which caught 23 Yemeni and Somali pirates there recently. Maritime laws are however blurry when it comes to warships capturing pirates while the good old plank-walk is illegal these days giving India trouble of where to unload their unwanted guests.

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

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