Updated information on the two major climbs taking place currently in the Himalaya and Karakorum courtesy of ExWeb.
We'll start on Makalu, where Simone and Denis have their camps established all the way up to C3, but have been stuck in base camp while they wait for the winds above 7400 meters to die down. To pass the time and to continue to acclimatize, they've been speed climbing up to C1 and then descending back to BC. Simone reports it took them 1 hour and 10 minutes to go up and 28 minutes to go back down.
There is good news in the forecast though, as the winds are predicted to subside some this weekend, dropping from their 120 km/h (75 mph) down to just 90 km/h (55 mph), which for the Himalaya in winter is considered a "weather window". If the winds drop as expected, they'll climb up to C2 tomorrow, then C3 on Saturday, with a possible summit bid coming on Sunday. Good luck boys!
Meanwhile, over on Broad Peak, the news isn't quite so rosy. The team has been stuck in BC for days, and the weather forecast for the next two weeks does not look good. Last Sunday, Don Bowie and four of the Pakistani guides climbed up to 7000m to drop a supply cache. You can see some of that climb for yourself in the video posted below. ExWeb reports that on Monday the weather cleared some, and the team was hoping for a supply drop, but the helicopter never came, and they are now faced with the very real issue of having to leave the mountain because of a lack of fuel and food. Lets hope it doesn't come down to that. I'd at least like to see them have a chance at the summit, although the weather may rob them of the opportunity.
Don, Qadrat, Amin, Ali and Taqi try to push camp 3 higher from Calpinist.com on Vimeo.
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