“Maybe I overreacted,” Oiarzabal told Diario Vasco yesterday. “The bad food, the cold… I felt out of place, suffering in a place that had been a pleasure for me in previous years. It was not just the heat of the moment – I meant it when I said I was quitting. But now, well, I can’t discard the possibility of climbing up to 8000m again.” Image courtesy of Juanito's website (click to enlarge).
Horia Colibasanu became the first Romanian to summit Manaslu last Saturday. He reached the top about one hour after Spaniards Inaki and Jorge. Image of Horia on the summit courtesy of The Alternative Timisoara Climbing & Mountaineering club (click to enlarge).
The young Kazakh guns Maxut and Vassiliy are safely back in BC after leading a remarkable climb on Dhaulagiri in full-storm conditions as well as fixing the entire route for all other teams on the mountain. The pair’s next stop is Annapurna BC. Image of Maxut on the summit, courtesy of Russian Climb (click to enlarge).
“Yesterday Ricardo Valencia, Nacho Orviz and I reached 7800m,"said Spaniard Carlos Pauner. "At that altitude increasing wind and bitter cold forced us back - we could even see the summit, but we also knew that going forward could have cost us our lives. We returned to BC morally destroyed.” Image of climbers enduring the storm (Pauner on the left) courtesy of Carlos Pauner (click to enlarge).
09:45 am CDT May 04, 2006
(MountEverest.net) What makes a man enter the death zone just to reach a summit? What drives him (or her) to return to the Himalayas time and again, despite the suffering, despite the risks?
In today’s wrap-up, we’ve covered a bunch of natural-born high altitude climbers. Whatever their answer, whatever they may say or do during their emotional lows, these men (and women) will always come back for more - into thin air as long as their legs hold out.
Juan Oiarzabal is one of those men. The Spaniard, whose amputated toes forced him to abandon his bid for Yalung Kang earlier this week, has softened his previous statements about quitting 8000ers for good. The 21 time 8000+meter summiteer told Spanish media yesterday that he may have overreacted when he announced his definitive retirement. Now, says Oiarzabal, he will let his wounded feet – never recovered from frostbite suffered on K2 in 2004 – heal once and for all, then he'll see what happens.
The young Kazakh guns Maxut and Vassiliy are safely back in BC after leading a remarkable climb on Dhaulagiri in full-storm conditions. The two climbers also fixed the entire route for all other teams on the mountain. Their next stop is Annapurna's BC. Carlos Pauner and two other Spanish tried their luck one day after the Kazaks, but the storm pushed them back.
On Manaslu, we’ve got confirmation of Romanian Horia Colibasanu also reaching the summit last Saturday; he was about one hour behind Inaki Ochoa and Jorge Egocheaga. Meanwhile, Denis Urubko and Serguey Samoilov have departed BC today for a new undisclosed route.
Manaslu
Denis & Serguey: Off on a new route
Denis Urubko and Serguey Samoilov returned to BC after resting for some days in Samagaon. Today they started their second ascent on Manaslu.
“We are at 6000m, camped in a safe place,” reported Denis via SMS. “The route looks better in its higher sections. Tomorrow we'll try to reach 7000 – by there we will be ‘enclosed’ by the mountain, thus we will have no connection with the outside world.”
The pair has not revealed the exact location of the route they’re climbing.
Romanian Horia Colibasanu: Another Saturday summit
The Alternative Timisoara Climbing & Mountaineering club has confirmed the summit of its member Horia Colibasanu on Manaslu last Saturday. Horia was climbing about one hour behind Spaniards Inaki Ochoa and Jorge Egocheaga. The three men met on the summit and shared a few snapshots. Horia was teamed up with Romeo Dunca, who turned around above 7800m. Now they are both in Kathmandu on their way home.
Manaslu is Horia's second 8000er. He summited K2 in 2004 – along with Inaki. Horia is also the first Romanian to reach Manaslu's summit.
Dhaulagiri
Kazakhs: Back in BC – the route is fixed
“We descended to the Base Camp yesterday evening, very tired,” reported the Kazakh pair. “Our backpacks weighed 25 kg, and we had to fix all ropes from Camp 2 till the top.” Check the complete story and pictures in a debrief published earlier today on MountEverest.net.
Carlos Pauner and team: Dream over at 7800m
“Yesterday Ricardo Valencia, Nacho Orviz and I reached 7800m. At that altitude increasing wind and bitter cold forced us back - we could even see the summit, but we also knew that going forward could have cost us our lives. We returned to BC morally destroyed.”
Carlos reported they reached C2 last Monday, and tried to move their tent up to C3 on Tuesday. They were one day behind the Kazakh team, and thus were surprised by the same storm, but lower down.
“At 1:00pm on Tuesday, a wind storm literally froze us – we had no other choice but to dig a small platform and pitch the tent right there to find some shelter. We endured there for hours, but conditions didn’t improve. Despite everything, at midnight we got out and resumed the climb, fighting our way up to those 7800m, where we assumed our struggle was useless.”
The team is suffering from some aches due to cold and exposure. They will wait one day before making a decision on what to do next.
Kangchenjunga
Oiarzabal: Never say never
“What on Earth is a veteran with destroyed feet like me, doing inside a tent?” Juan Oiarzabal thought.
He had been okay during the approaching trek to Kangchenjunga BC. But the moment his feet touched ice, he couldn’t stand the pain. His dream of climbing Yalung Kang – his first 8000+ meter peak since he got all toes amputated after a close call on K2 two years ago – was over. Juan “Juanito” Oiarzabal, the man with the most 8000ers summited, retreated to town and announced he was done with 8000m climbing.
“Messner quit after summiting the 14 8000ers,” he told the media that day. “I’ve enlarged it some more, up to 21 – and I would have continued with my passion if things would have turned out differently on K2. That was the turning point in my career.”
But things look different in a cozy hotel in Kathmandu. “Maybe I overreacted,” he told Diario Vasco yesterday.
“The bad food, the cold… I felt out of place, suffering in a situation that had been a pleasure for me in previous years. It was not just the heat of the moment – I meant it when I said I was quitting. But now, well, I can’t discard the possibility of climbing up to 8000m again.”
What Juan probably can’t see, is a life without mountains – but he has learned his lesson. “I’ll stop for now. I will let my wounds heal for once, whatever it takes, a year or two. Then, afterwards, let’s see if I can climb 8000ers again, or 7000ers, or 6000ers, or whatever – there are heaps of mountains, from Everest to my dear Mount Gorbea right outside my home town.”
Lhotse
Mario Merelli: C2
The Italian team, without Walter (injured in the icefall over the weekend and already on his way back to Italy) reached C2 yesterday.
Chileans: C3
The Chilean team started the week by climbing up to C2. After two nights there, they hoped to reach C3 yesterday.
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