It's not easy to keep track of Simone Moro these days. Simone is out on a Himalayan stroll, switching mountain and countries on his lonely hike in the death zone. Image courtesy of Simone Moro.
Originally, Simone intended to do a new route on the West face of Lhotse. Last night, Simone started out from camp 4, but found the couloir he had wanted to climb too packed with snow. So he traversed over to Everest, and showed up on South Col. He summited and continued down to the North side. Image of Everest (left), Lhotse (middle) and Nuptse courtesy of Simone.
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Simone Moro traverses from Lhotse's wall to Everest summit, continues down into Tibet
Posted: May 19, 2006 09:49 pm EDT
(Check below for update of story) It's not easy to keep track of Simone Moro these days. The Italian is out on some kind of a Himalayan stroll, switching mountains and countries on a lonely hike in the death zone.
Originally, Simone intended to do a new route on the West face of Lhotse. Last night, he started out from camp 4 on the peak, but found the couloir he had wanted to climb too packed with snow.
So he traversed over to Everest, and showed up on South Col. "I feel good and will try to make Everest without oxygen tonight," he dispatched from there. Fast forward one day and we find Simone in...Tibet! Currently in camp 3, Simone is descending to lower camps, and new plans: "A new adventure will begin once I reach BC now that I'm in Tibet," he reports.
Lonely summit at 3 am
Simone called over to Everest south side camp 2. He told his Polish team mates in the Falvit expedition that he summited at around 3 am, and didn't meet a soul until he reached 7000 meters.
With his traverse, Simone is the 7th Everest summiteer from his expedition. May 18, Martyna Wojciechowska, Boguslaw Ogrodnik, Janusz Adamski, Tomasz Kobielski, Dariusz Zaluski, and Yuri Ermachek (Russia) made the summit with three Sherpas. The climbers expect to be back in BC tomorrow.
The first report
Now, Simone's team mates might have to Fedex his BC gear to Italy. Simone called his wife as well, and here's his climbing report, sent to Barbara 1 am Italian time:
“Hi, I used oxygen for some hours. I started at 10 p.m. Nepal time and I was fast. I reached the summit of Everest. This is the 3rd time that I summit Everest. Now I’m descending on Tibetan side and in this moment I’m at camp 3. I traversed Everest from South to North…. I’m feeling well and now I will continue my descent. I'll talk to you later. When I reach basecamp another adventure will begin, now that I’m in Tibet…..
Ciao till later
Simone”
The second report: BC at 8.25 am
About 5 hours after this story was published - another report from Simone arrived:
"Ciao. I’m really happy, because the conditions on the mountain were not so good this year. I trust in Karl Gabl's weather forecast and he was right as usual. I started out at 11 (Nepal time) from South Col at 8000 meters and reached the summit at 3.15. I didn’t meet any other people after that. Because there where no summiteers from the North side in the last days, the fixed ropes were covered by snow and it was hard to pull them out.
I traversed alone: I met the first people between camp 2 and camp 1. I got my first compliments from the Sherpas, and they continue to visit with me. I was fast. I reached the summit in 5 hours and arrived at base camp 8:25 in the morning. I'm not sure what I'll do next, now that I’m perfectly acclimatised and very fit….Check in with me later, Simone."
January last year, Simone Moro summited Shisha Pangma after a fast 5 hour summit push in very strong winds. It was the first calendar winter ascent on a 8000er since 1988, and the first winter climb on Shisha Pangma. The climb was awarded among the Best of ExplorersWeb 2005.
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