Asia - Page 100

Today, a group of Dmitry Ermakov flew fromKathmanduto Lukla. The flight was fine. After a short break, our trekkers started a walking part of teh route. They are now stopped for overnight in thevillageofPhakding. All is OK.

A long cherished dream of Benedikt Böhm’s came true on September 30th. After 15 hours and 3,300 metres of climbing without oxygen, he stood on the summit of Manaslu (8,163 m), the eighth highest mountain in the world . After equally exceptional climbs, his partners, Sebastian Haag and Constantin Pade, were stopped just short of the summit.

The ascent took place in the aftermath of the avalanche that claimed several lives a week before. Although over-shadowed by this tragedy, the climbers decided to make one last attempt to climb the peak because of the years of preparation and mental commitment. The fact that they had done everything possible to help the victims of the accident helped them make the decision. "The decision to try for the summit after such a tragedy was a difficult one, but ultimately I decided to climb in their honour and it also helped me cope with the emotional challenges I was also going through from being first on-scene to such a tragedy,” said Benedikt Böhm.

For Böhm and Haag, the journey up Manaslu began five years earlier. In 2007 they travelled to Manaslu with the same goal in mind, but had to turn back at 7,300 metres due to the danger of avalanches. This time around, after acclimatizing for weeks and a whole day of decision-making in base camp, the team had a stroke of luck: a weather window and stable snowpack.

Setting off at 6pm from base camp at 5,000 m and without oxygen, Benedikt and Sebastian had almost 3,300 vertical metres of climbing ahead of them to reach the summit. Conditions deteriorated at 7,400 metres and the three climbers were battling fierce storms and icy cold. Böhm, who went on ahead of the team, waited for Haag in an unoccupied tent at camp two. After an hour it was time to get underway again, and they considered abandoning the attempt, but mustered the effort to continue the ascent as a group. The wind eased off as the sun went down. Benedikt Böhm went the final 150 metres alone to reach the summit at 9 in the morning, after five hours of climbing from camp two.

Happy, but humbled in remembrance of the accident a few days previously, he did not pose for the usual victory shot on the summit. Instead he dedicated the ascent to the climbers who had died in the accident. After waiting for an hour he went back to meet with Sebastian Haag and Constantin Pade who chose to turn back 150 meters short of the summit to save their energy for a safe ski descent. “The most important thing of any expedition is first and foremost to come home safely,” commented Sebastian Haag. “The events of the past few weeks have given me even more respect for the power of these mountains and my first goal is to see my family again.” Skiing together, the group reached base camp after 8 hours of descent. The total climb, including speed ascent and ski descent, took 23.5 hours. Typical climbs up Manaslu using oxygen take four days.

It was an unbelievable achievement, not just for Benedikt Böhm, but for the whole team on Manaslu. According to official records, it is the first ever speed ascent of Manaslu coupled with a subsequent ski descent.

8 October, 2012 Annapurna. The avalanche...ILjas Tukhvatullin group was climbing from C1 to C2 yesterday, when the huge avalanche headed down... It happened on 3 p.m. Iljas and Ivan Lobanov have been burried, only one climber was not caught. He tried to find his friends, but it was impossible... He ascended the rest 150 m to C2 - there was the safety place, the air wave only broke the tent... Then he descended to C1 and radioed to BC. Today Gleb Sokolov and his group are asceding from BC to the tragedy place to try to find somebody... It was not the serac crash, the whole icy slope fell down, perhaps as a result of earthquake...

http://www.russianclimb.com/

Mountain Professionals team: 100 Percent Summit Success
1 Oct, 12 - 12:02

From camp four, with our boots still on and probably looking a bit rough at this point with crazy things still frozen to our beards, noses and who knows where else. We are vey happy to announce that our entire Mountain Professionals team, Tone, Leif, Vibeke, Fredrik, Ryan, Chhirring, Pema, and Lhakpa, reached the summit of Manaslu 8163m this morning!

A big congratulations to our climbers, they enjoyed mostly blue bird skies and some mild winds at the tip top that basically blew a little spindrift around but we could still enjoy the very narrow and steep summit pyramid.

We owe a tremendous thanks to our Sherpa guide staff, who work tirelessly from fixing line for our team in exposed sections to brewing up hot tea when they know we need it most... like right now, Lhakpa is at our tent door!

We will descend in a short time to camp two for the relative comforts there and keep continuing down with caution until the safety of base camp and send more details and photos. Thanks a lot for following, from a tired but elated group up here in the clouds.

---

Altitude Junkies: Manaslu 2012 Expedition Dispatches

Update - October 1, 2012
We have had 15 successful summits! Two of our Sherpas and one team member did not go to the summit. The team is now in the process of descending to Camp 2. Everyone is safe and doing well. A more detailed dispatch will be posted as soon as they return to base camp.

Update - September 30, 2012
The team, including Sherpas and members, are at Camp 4 and doing well. They will be heading for the summit tomorrow.

The government has confirmed that at least 12 trekkers lost their life in Sunday’s avalanche, and the search for the rest of the missing persons is still on. The rescue operation is being jointly conducted by theNepalarmy, the police and the civil administration near base camps two and three of Mt Manasulu, the worst affected points by the avalanche, some 300km west from here.

The rescue operation that had been aborted around 3pm — 11 hours after the disaster — on Sunday due to bad weather , was resumed early on Monday.

Of the dead, nine have been identified — Ludo Challeat, Fabrice Priez, Cathrine Ricard and Philippe Bos (French), Domique Ouimet (Canadian), Marti Gasull and Cristine Mittermeyer (Spanish), Alberto Magliano (Italian) and Dawa Sherpa (Nepalese).

“Their bodies are being brought toKathmanduand their families will be notified,” a Home Ministry official told this correspondent.

According to official information, six bodies have been brought toKathmanduand their bodies kept in the mortuary on the German embassy premises.

Altogether, 18 others are getting treatment in local hospitals “and the search mission is on” to locate the other “missing”, the official said.

Bad weather and poor accessibility have been hampering the search mission.

September, 8 a group of the mountaineering club “Vladimir Ratsek” from Uzbekistanheaded by Ilyas Tukhvatullin flies to the capital of Nepal Kathmandu. Their goal is Mount Annapurna, from the North (French route or Dutch Rib).

Members of the expedition: Alexander Bykov (born 1988), Yevgeny Yegorov (1956), Sergei Ilyasov (1957), Andrew Kutsy (1959), Ivan Lobanov (1961), Dmitry Serebryakov (1964), Gregory Yudin (1955).

Ilyas Tukhvatullin - one of the strongest climbers bothRussiaandUzbekistan. With a team of Russia, he was on the record routes on the North Face of Mount Everest and K2 West Face. To his credit there are many ascents of peaks above 7,000 meters, the climb of the North Face of Khan Tengri in duo with Pavel Shabalin, winter first ascent of the North Face of Aksu etc….

This season, the famous mountaineer Gleb Sokolov also goes to the Annapurna, and some climber from Moscow.

http://racek-club.climberca.com/

Autumn in the Himalayas...

Manaslu became the most popular autumn mountain in recent years. Once Chinahas restricted access to the peaks of Tibet (Cho Oyuand Shisha Pangma) an expedition Alpine Ascents International went to Manaslu (guide Garrett Madison). AsGermany's commercial expedition Amical (guide Herbert Wolf) and a team fromIndia, including a young climber Arjun who aim to go all 14 eight-thousanders. And a small commercial group gathered by American guide Ryan Water.

For the media, perhaps the most interesting event is an attempt of 73-year-old Spaniard Carlos Soria to climb his 12th eightthousander -Dhaulagiri. Almost no one would bother Everest this season. Polish expedition led by the indefatigable Arthur Haizer will run on its southern slopes. But its aim isLhotseby the normal route. Elbrus record holder Andrew Bargiel from Zakopane is one of its members. His goal - speed record ascent ofLhotse. From the base camp to the top a record holder is Mexican Carlos Carsolio climbed 23 hours 50 minutes. Autumn is a lot of snow, but it will not be the crowd on the railing.

The Polish team. On the left is 49-year-old leader, and near him 24 years old Elbrus record-holder

Mexican couple "Yuri - Laura" Yuri Contreras and Laura Gonzalez are now he trail through jungles to the foot ofMakalu, their next eight-thousanders.

Well, one more note. Declared Sophie Denis French expedition on Shisha Pangma will not take place. Do not blame the Chinese, just Sofia decided to become a mother. So her plan to complete the collection of 14 eight postponed or canceled. Time will tell.

Members of the 7 Summits Club, Sergei Dudko and Dmitry Krasnov managed to get to the top of the legendary mountain, despite the strong wind. Georgian Guide Nukri Gvelebiani was a leader of their assault ofMount Kazbek. The group went down to the starting point, to the meteostation. Tomorrow - down to Kazbegi and continuation of the program. Congratulations!

Today, August 22, the group of the 7 Summits Club, eight climbers + one guide, reached the summit of Mount Ararat. All are healthy, all went down on the same day to the camp 4200 m. The next day, the team went down to the city of Dogubayazit and continues the program….

The team:

1. Oleg Wightman

2. Luba Ivanova

3. Vitali Kareev

4. Igor Kareev

5. Vasily Kolesnikov

6. Svetlana Kolesnikova

7. Artem Romanov

8. Vyacheslav Romanov

9. Alexey Soloviev.

The famous Austrian skyrunner Christian Stangl returned home from the Karakoram. After successfully climbing the second highest peak of the world - K2, he completed a program of "seven second summits of all continents." Now the 46-year-old athlete is committed to complete the program, "21 century - 21 summits", that is to climb the three highest peaks of all continents. Next year Stangl should climb up to the third highest peak in the Caucasus Shkhara. This is a rather complicated and dangerous peak, the official height of 5193 meters. It can be climbed both from Russia and from Georgia- Shkhara is the highest peak in this country.

After attempting to false an ascent in 2010, Stangl shared attention to the proof of the fact of reaching the top. Among other things, he made a panorama.

Photos published by Adam Bielecki.

7 Summits, hello! This is Dmitry Ermakov from the slopes of Peak Communism. Yesterday, August 19, all the remaining group in the amount of four people climbed to the top ofCommunism Peak. These were Andrey Podolyan, Sergei Shchekoldin, Dmitry Ermakov and our local guide Misha. Now we go down to the base camp. The weather is beautiful, a mood is great . So, all is well. Hello!

On August 18, a new group of 7 Summits Club flew toTurkeyto climb Ararat. They are our friends fromNizhny Novgorod, from the club of travelers "Parallel". 6 people from Nizhny Novgorod and two participants fromMoscowandSt. Petersburg. And our guide Luba Pershina.

Now the group is in a camp at 3200 meters. The team is trying to acclimatize before storming the biblical mountain.

The group led by Victor Bobok successfully reached the summit of Lenin Peak. Here are some photos from this expedition. Summiters: Andrew Filkov, Alexander Morozov, Lilia Boguchara and Victor Bobok.

Greetings from Tokyo! Yesterday, the entire group gathered in Tokyo. And today we went to the foot of Mount Fuji. Yesterday, we went sightseeing in Tokyo. It is very hot, the temperature 32, humidity 95%. Tonight we're going to go to the top of Mount Fuji. Hello from Japan from Marina ! Good-bye!

Our guide Victor Bobok reports from the slopes of Lenin Peak. Today at 2:00 p.m. the full group reached the summit of Lenin Peak. Now they go down. Everything is OK!

Dima Ermakov from Moskvin's glade:  Today we went down from a height of 5800 to rest. Under the plan, we will have three days off, that is, today, tomorrow and after tomorrow. I think our choice is very good. Now it snows, even in base camp. The bad weather. We are pleased that we fulfilled the plan of acclimatization. And we can rest and in bad weather.

 Today we celebrate the birthday of Vladimir Danilov, who turned 50 yesterday. So we are fine, everybody feels fine. We went to sauna, now we are clean as a pig. Hello!

The group of Igor Kaliayev had made a trip from Ararat mountains to Istambul

After breakfast we went out on the slopes of the peak Petrovsky, past the cemetery of climbers and paragliders, and paying tribute to thos brave and selfless people. Ahead was a steep grassy slopes and talus. We were able to gain a height of 400 meters in 2 hours, in a good pace without shortness of breath and other signs of lack of acclimatization. We went up into several smaller peaks in a scree ridge. Above 4000m the weather turned bad. The descent took place without incident under the falling snow, but at an acceptable visibility. Everything goes according to plans and with absolutely right acclimatization.

With regards to our family and friends!

Igor Pohvalin, Andrew Filkov, Alexander Morozov, Lilia Boguchara and Victor Bobok.(guide of the 7 Summits Club)

Weather just not allowed to do that. We returned to Tbilisi. Everebody feels normal. The weather, unfortunately, is bad again. All, I think, we are pleased with the results, everyone understands that it was impossible to climb in those weather conditions. See you in Moscow ! Hello! Dmitry Ermakov.

Here Olga Rumyantseva from Iran. Today, all members of our team climbed Mount Damavend. The ascent took place in very difficult weather conditions. We tread the road to his knees in the snow all the way. So we walked as much as 8 hours, instead of the usual 5. But that did not stop us.

Here Olga Rumyantseva from Iran. Today, all members of our team climbed Mount Demavend. The ascent took place in very difficult weather conditions. We tread the road to his knees in the snow all the way. So we walked as much as 8 hours, instead of the usual 5. But that did not stop us. We have dedicated our ascent to Ernesto Che Guevara, whose birthday is today.