Posted: Mar 08, 2009 10:39 pm EDT
The list of Himalaya expeditions, published last Sunday, is still being updated, and last week also offered a sneak peak of the upcoming Karakoram season. The North Pole season has kicked off in brutal temperatures and one aborted expedition already.

All eyes are however on Tibet, where Tuesday (March 10), will mark 50 years of the 1959 Tibetan national uprising against China.

Winter Broad Peak: Getting out is not so easy Defeated by relentless stormy weather, the Broad Peak winter expedition left BC and walked for 11 hours down Baltoro Glacier, passing by Concordia and finally setting camp at Gore 2. Don carried 60-70 lb packs often through waist-deep snow with a knee injury.

Everest no O2 status As in previous years, few climbers plan Everest ascents without supplementary oxygen. At this time, the only confirmed are Peruvian Richard Hidalgo, Pemba Dorje Sherpa, British David Tait (climbing with HiMex), and Australian Andrew Lock, who still hopes to attempt the feat from the north side, after climbing Shisha Pangma.

Everest traverse preview As for Everest traverses, Mexican David Liaño planned (tentative of permits) to climb from the south side, traverse to Tibet, and then climb back across the summit a few days later. David has previously summited Everest twice, Cho Oyu and Lhotse. American Bill Burke, 67, hopes to complete a south-north Everest traverse. He has previously attempted the peak twice. Kazakhstan's National team is aiming for a world's first: the Lhotse-Everest traverse, considered as one of the main unsolved climbing problems in the Himalayas.

Kangchenjunga: Zerain’s next goal Remember Spaniard Alberto Zerain, who sped-climbed K2 last year and thus avoided the tragedy that followed hours later? The Basque climber had previously also summited Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Hidden Peak and Gasherbrum II. Next is Kangchenjunga, according to El Correo Digital. The expedition kicks off in April.

Makalu: British Roland Hunter is teaming up with Mick Parker for a non-commercial, private expedition to Makalu. Also American Fabrizio Zangrilli will be leading an expedition to Makalu this spring. Before the “Great Black” the American mountain guide is ice-climbing in Colorado.

Karakoram sneak preview of 2009 expeditions Some interesting summer projects in Pakistan were announced last week. Among them Austrian Gerfried Göschl who will lead a strong group for Nanga Parbat and K2.Gerfried hopes to climb a new route on Nanga's North-West face together with friends Günther Unterberger, Hans Goger and Louis Rousseau. Also K2 will hopefully get a new line; Gerfried, Louis Rousseau and Jorge Egocheaga will give it a shot if conditions allow.

Ladies turn! The 14, 8000ers status of Nives, Gerlinde and Edurne Edurne Pasaban, Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Nives Meroi are all even with 11x8000ers, closing in on the Big 14 list not yet crowned by a woman. With the upcoming climbing season kicking off, ExWeb's regular contributor Brazilian writer and chronicler Rodrigo Granzotto Peron compiled an update on the women’s' plans.

Ryan Waters connecting the world American Ryan Waters is running a cross-cultural and educational Everest project. Ambassadors led by Doug Sandok are traveling to Nepal, in order to trek to BC and donate supplies to kids in the country. The project will provide a school in Kathmandu with computers. “This way, these children in Nepal will be able to talk with kids around the world to share information,” Waters told ExplorersWeb.

ACP's call to 2009 Baltoro expeditions: leave only footprints Over the years, mountaineers, trekkers and their porters have piled up a massive amount of garbage on the Baltoro glacier. Last year the Alpine Club of Pakistan launched a Baltoro Clean Up Expedition in collaboration with K2-CNR, Italy. With the next climbing- and trekking season coming up, it is requested by ACP that all mountaineers and trekkers leave the area as clean as they find it.

ExWeb interview with Max Chaya: “How much outcome is won or lost in the mind rather in the body…” Guide Lonnie Dupre together with Max Chaya and Stuart Smith have just commenced their North Pole expedition. Both Stuart and Max climbed Everest and skied to the South Pole from Hercules Inlet. Last week ExWeb’s Correne Coetzer caught up with Max in Beirut for an interview.

Arctic shock The two men who want to become the first Americans to ski unsupported, unassisted to the North Pole, John Huston and Tyler Fish have hit the ice. So did Lonnie Dupre, Max Chaya and Stuart Smith mid week. The expeditions landed to a shock: extremely cold temperatures (-50 in the evening) immediately killed the stoves, pressure ridges and screw ice didn't help either.

It's over: Christina Franco off the Arctic ice Christina Franco was airlifted to the Arctic ice on Tuesday and aborted her attempt on Thursday. Stove failure made it impossible to heat her tent in the brutal cold.

Lake Baikal update: Big, open water Belgium Hogan Beernaert who is attempting a Lake Baikal crossing in Siberia reported weak areas in the ice since the start of his expedition. The further he walked, the more open waters he encountered; so much so that he was considering turning back to his starting point at Koultouk.

20,000 polar pictures on display online Over 20,000 photographic negatives from 1845-1960, representing some of the most important visual resources for research into international polar exploration have been digitized and went on display online this week. The Freeze Frame website with the pictures was launched on 4 March. The collection contains images particularly of the expeditions led by Scott and Shackleton. All images and text on the web pages are the copyright of The University of Cambridge and respective authors. Special permission has to be obtained for the use of text and images.

“Three Poles” Adrian Hayes to cross Greenland on new route In May, Adrian Hayes and his two team-mates, Devon McDiarmid and Derek Crowe plan to traverse Greenland, the full length from the Atlantic to the Arctic and then turn southwest, diagonal towards the coast again.

Shaun Quincey solo row across the Tasman Sea Adventurer Shaun Quincey, 24, plans to row solo from Australia to New Zealand. If successful, Shaun will make the only solo crossing of the Tasman, other than his father, Colin Quincey, who made history in 1977 by completing the first ever and only solo Tasman crossing from New Zealand to Australia. Shaun hopes that his expedition will be as successful as his father’s after a recent series of failed bids. Perhaps the most tragic occurred in February 2007, when 39-year-old Australian Andrew McAuley was lost very close the target of the crossing.

Olly Higgs update: Confused cross-seas Out on an Antarctica (not global) circumnavigation attempt, after days of negative drift and moving in circles Olly gained some miles again, though not fast and not without frustration. He said he was frustrated with the “confused cross seas”, with waves coming from different angles.

The quest for the first female row across the Indian Ocean - ExWeb's interview with Sarah Outen Crossing the Indian ocean means covering a distance about twice that of the Atlantic. Less than a handful of rowers have managed it: should Briton Sarah Outen succeed, she would become the first woman to do so. Sarah plans to take on the challenge solo and unsupported, rowing independently (not part of a race) from Australia to Mauritius, starting mid-March. ExWeb’s Correne Coetzer caught up with her in Australia for an interview.

Human Space Exploration update: Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin With Blue Origin, founded in 2000, Jeff Bezos hopes to succeed in private space exploration as he did on internet with his Amazon.com. On the morning of November 13, 2006, he launched and landed Goddard – a first development vehicle in his New Shepard program - from a 165,000 acre estate in Van Horn, West Texas. There has been little news on the project since the 2006 success. Money should not be a problem; time could be a bigger issue. Check ExWeb's update.

Internet communities organize to take on global economic crisis In his book "What we believe but cannot prove," Ian McEwan invites a big number of the nation's foremost thinkers and scientists to answer exactly that, in as few words as possible. One of them - Ray Kurzweil, author of "The Singularity is near," - proposes that data speed faster than light should be possible utilizing worm holes which provide abundant, natural high-speed wiring through our entire Universe. Kurzweil is also one of the inspirations behind a brand new site that calls on intelligent people from all walks of life to help solve the current Global economic crisis.

Vigil for Tibet Each year on the so called Tibetan Uprising Day (March 10), Tibetans walk to commemorate the 1959 Tibetan national revolt against China. Coming Tuesday, March 10, marks the 50th anniversary of the uprising that led to the Dalai Lama exile. The region has been mostly sealed off to journalists and foreigners for at least a month, according to AP. Last year, the Lhasa events were widely covered by international media. The question is what will happen this year: Hillary Clinton recently remarked en route to China that contentious issues such as human rights 'can’t interfere with the global economic crisis [...]" Check ExWeb's heads-up on the current situation in Tibet.

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

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