Monday, September 17, 2007

Himalayan Update: Teams On The Move!


It's Monday, so time for a Himalayan Update courtesy of MountEverest.net. It seems like their has been activity all over the mountain range this past weekend.

The Dutch Team on Dhaulagiri reports that they moved up the mountain, and found the Japanese intermediate camp before proceeding further, but unable to reach C1 in one push, the elected to turn around and return to ABC, but slow going on the glacier had them returning in the dark, but still happy with the days progress. They also report that two members of the Austrian team didn't even make it to the mountain. The climbers succumbed to flu like symptoms on the trek in and have returned to Kathmandu. The Japanese team, meanwhile, has done a good job of setting down fixed lines, and have already cleared the ice falls. Extreme skier Fredrik Eriksson has also made it into BC after a long trek, with a team of donkeys packing in his gear, He'll be attempting to ski down the mountain in a month's time.

On Shisha Pangma, Alan Arnette wasn't the only one undergoing the Puja Ceremony, as the Project Himalaya Team also performed the ceremony yesterday, having their gear blessed to as forgiveness of the mountain for the wounds it will inflict. With the Puja out of the way, the teams can now get down to climbing.

The girls from Singapore who are climbing Cho Oyu are making steady progress. They reached C2 and spent the night last week, before continuing up the next day towards C3, but satisfied with their acclimatization process, they turned back and returned to ABC for a rest. A number of other teams, including Adventure Consultants, The 7 Summits Club, and Alpine Ascents are in BC and prepping for their climbs as well.

Finally, last week I noted that Russian tennis star Marat Safin had arrived in Nepal with the intention of climbing Cho Oyu himself. At the time I wondered what his climbing background was, and it seems he's fairly new to mountaineering. The article reports that his team did an acclimatization climb on the 4100m peak Murat this past weekend, with Safin claiming his first summit!! Congrats Marat! Good show!

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