Himalaya 2009 climbing season, Karakoram and Himalaya wrap-up /39/ – Week in Review.

Parallel universes create the Himalaya expedition scene where species live by their own rules within their own reality in a nature that appears the same but treats each sort differently. And they seldom mix.

There are the adventure trekkers, the Everest baggers, the big-summit collectors, the alpinists tackling unclimbed faces on lower peaks and the mountaineers attempting 8000ers via new routes and/or during difficult seasons.

This week at ExplorersWeb, focus was on the world of Himalayan sport climbers; bagging several firsts this fall. As for the 8000er mountaineers; word arrived that Urubko and Dedeshko won the Asian Piolet d’Or.

Newsflash: Urubko and Dedeshko win Asian Piolet d’Or ExplorersWeb’s Korea correspondent Kyu Dam Lee reported from the Seoul Garden Hotel Friday that Kazakh Denis Urubko and Boris Dedeshko won the 4th Piolet d’Or Asia for their climb of Cho Oyu’s SE face in Alpine style. Japanese climber Yuji Hirayama got the ‘Golden Climbing Shoes’ award, while further honors went to Young-Seung Park and Oh Eun-Sun for their contribution in mountaineering.

Young guns aiming high: Anthamatten brothers’ first on Jasemba Simon Anthamatten, 26, shot up from nowhere as climbing partner to Ueli Steck in relation to Ochoa’s rescue attempt on Annapurna. Latest, Simon, his brother Samuel and friend Michael Lerjen – all in their twenties – bagged a summit near Nangpa-la, in one of the year’s coolest 7000er climbs: a first ascent in pure alpine style on the 2,200 m south face of Jasemba.

Another alpine-style Himalayan first: Graziani & Trommsdorff climb Nemjung’s south face Skipping their original plan on Manaslu; Yannick Graziani and Christian Trommsdorff instead climbed Nemjung’s 2,400 meters-long south face in alpine style.

The north wall of Chang Himal: check On Alpinist’s to-do-list as one of the great unclimbed faces, last week Chang Himal’s 1,500m north wall was reportedly sent by Andy Houseman and fellow Brit Nick Bullock.

StatCrunch, take 2: 8000er national ranking How many (and which) countries have at least one climber with all 14x8000ers summited? And who’s next up? ExWeb’s regular contributor Rodrigo Granzotto Peron ran the stats.

Summiteers’ Summit in Copenhagen Reinhold Messner and Al Gore are some of the celebs invited to join a global warming march in Copenhagen next month. Launched by Nepal’s Maoist Government, the so-called “Summiteers’ Summit” will take place on December 11th, appointed as International Mountain Day and also coinciding with the 15th Conference of the United Nations Framework for Climate Change.

ExWeb interview with Meagan McGrath This Antarctic season several Everest summiteers will be challenging themselves on the biggest ice cap in the world; Meagan McGrath is one of them. This Canadian woman will ski the 1130 km from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole solo, unsupported and unassisted. She spoke to ExWeb’s Correne Coetzer about how and why she decided to ski to the SP.

ExWeb interview with Felicity Aston, “My greatest challenge as the leader is the people management side” Felicity will be leading a team of 7 women from Commonwealth countries, Brunei Darussalam, Cyprus, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK to ski from the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf to the South Pole. ExWeb’s Correne Coetzer caught up with Felicity while she and the team were busy with the last minute preparations in London and ready to leave for Punta Arenas.

Southern Patagonia Ice Cap update: the windy Windy Pass “I have never experienced such wind yet. It is not even the storm force, it’s its gusts.” Georg and Olaf suffered (see image) but finally got their reward: “Not many people get this view,” they said about Cerro Torre, Torre Eger, Punta Herron and Cerro Standhardt in all their glory before them. Olaf said the exit over Paso del Viento was more difficult than they thought it would be.

Desert wrap-up: Getting to know the Sahara camels; and finishing the Skeleton Coast Christian Bodegren, his local companion, Ibrahim, and the three camels have been out in the Sahara desert for ten days now. Meanwhile, The Skeleton Coast team finished their walk in Walvis Bay, Namibia.

Northwest Passage boats wrap-up: Staying away from Cuba and drinking vodka in Russia with no visas Ocean Watch visited Miami on the way to Puerto Rico. They explained about the primary mission of the voyage and the trade winds while staying clear of Cuba. Perithia ported in Russia with no visas. They dealt with the Russian officials and ended up drinking vodka together.

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

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Himalaya 2009 climbing season, Karakoram and Himalaya wrap-up /38/ – Week in Review.

Last week was all about expedition power and Himalaya stats, rounded off by a Halloween Everest special!

HumanEdgeTech special: expedition power Attempts to generate power have been imaginative among explorers and the military. Last week ExWeb ran a 2-part series featuring some of them, plus the latest and the most efficient. Read all about walk-and-charge, the crank, Solio, generators and more!

StatCrunch: 8000er mountaineers with 6 summits or more Following his Himalaya and Pakistan wraps, ExWeb’s regular stats contributor Rodrigo Granzotto Peron has updated the list of 14, 8000er mountaineers with 6 summits or more.

Haunted Everest and spooky footprints “I wonder if I could maybe try to write a ghost story for Halloween,” proposed our mountain editor, with a caution: “Problem is the scariest stories on Everest are true.” Check ExWeb’s Halloween story for some of the lighter tales fit for the weekend’s events.

Slovenian Bhagirathi jackpot: 3 climbers, 3 summits, 3 routes: Piolet d’Or winner Marko Prezelj with fellow Slovenians Rok Blagus and Luka Lindic opened three new big wall routes on Garhwal Himalaya’s Bhagirati massif last month.

Borge Ousland enroute to the Northern Patagonia Ice Cap Norwegian polar explorer Borge Ousland who previously attempted the Southern Patagonia Ice Cap with Thomas Ulrich is on his way to the Northern Ice Cap. Borge told ExWeb he will be joined by friends Thorleif Nokleby and Bengt Rotmo.

Southern Patagonia Ice Cap update: “Nothing is predictable” Olaf Rieck and Georg Sichelschmidt arrived on the Southern Patagonia Ice Cap plateau after spending days on the “ramp” in white-outs.

Steppe by Steppe update: During their travels in Tajikistan Roger Chao and Megan Kerr said they learned how much importance is placed on religion in these societies, and how hard it can be for someone who chooses to not follow the norm. Due to a misunderstanding the two were deported out of Uzbekistan.

The Atlantic Rowing Race 2009 preview The Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race 2009 starts 6 December. Dave Brooks aims to row the Atlantic and then continue across the Pacific Ocean to Australia, a distance of reportedly 13,000 miles. Tom Lee and Roger Haines who’s Indian Ocean Race was cut short after Roger injured himself will be giving it another try.

Pedal around Vancouver Island: Greg Kolodziejzyk and Jordan Hanssen saw each other for the first time last week. Jordan turned out a 6 ft 5 giant, didn’t fit into the seat and found the pedals too close.

Laura Dekker update The Dutch Judge ruled again over Laura Dekker’s case to sail around the world on her own. He ordered that she still stay under provisional supervision, this time until 1 July 2010. Laura’s security plans are not sufficiently developed, the court ruled, plus she has followed no first aid course and no sleep management course. The new plan of an escort boat was unclear and the court also saw Laura’s emotional development as threatening. According to the Child Protection Council she needs her peers and parents for normal development. Laura turned 14 a few weeks ago. If she wants to break the record for the youngest person who sailed around the world she has to leave on her two year voyage before she is 15.

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

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StatCrunch: 8000er mountaineers with 6 summits or more, updated – October/2009.

(MountEverest.net) Following his Himalaya and Pakistan wraps, ExWeb’s regular stats contributor Rodrigo Granzotto Peron has updated the list of 14, 8000er mountaineers with 6 summits or more. Enjoy!

Updated list of the racers
By Rodrigo Granzotto Peron

GENERAL PERSPECTIVES OF THE RACE

First it is necessary to say that the nomenclature “race” is not entirely correct to designate the act of summiting sequentially all 14x8000ers, but since there is no substitute terminology (“grabbers”, “collectors” and other words are equally controversial) and since “race” and “racers” are consacrated by use, let´s refer to it.

The list of climbers with all 14x8000ers had only two names by the 80´s: Reinhold Messner and Jerzy Kukuczka, considered by many the best climbers ever in High Asia.

The 90´s had four more admissions: Erhard Loretan, Carlos Carsolio, Krzysztof  Wielicki and Juanito Oiarzabal.

In the present decade 12 new names collected all 8000ers: Sergio Martini, Park Young-Seok, Um Hong-Gil, Alberto Iñurrategi, Han Wang-Yong, Ed Viesturs, Silvio Mondinelli, Iván Vallejo, Denis Urubko, Ralf Dujmovits, Veikka Gustafsson and latest Andrew Lock.

The first lady climber almost carved her name on the list this fall. Oh Eun-Sun, currently with 13, just aborted Annapurna, her last 8000er.

With dozens of climbers closing in, we will witness the list to possibly double in the following two to three years. As the count becomes more extensive, every single name loses collective importance. To stand out in a star-crowded sky, one needs to invent different ways to grab all 14, and we are starting to see the first signs of it.

The first steps were taken by visionary Um Hong-Gil. He topped out not only the 14, but added to the mixture two more 8000ers: Yalung Kang and Lhotse Shar.

This year two Spaniards announced new projects involving the 14x8000ers with innovative layers. Juanito Oiarzabal would go for the double 14, summiting each 8000er twice (he needs LH, DH, MN, NP, AN, BP and SH). Carlos Soria will try to be the oldest to finish the list (11 of his summits would be topped out at 60 years plus).

These are only the first moves on new ground. In the future some climber might try to be the youngest to summit all 14, or the fastest, or the first to ski down all of them, or to climb each 8000er via new routes, or to solo all of them, and so forth.

There is also the possibility mentioned by Carlos Carsolio: “An interesting challenge for the generations of the future is to get to complete 21 summits.” (The 14 main summits and plus 7 subsidiary 8000ers).

UPDATED LIST OF COLLECTORS

Climbers who have reached the summit of all 14 eight-thousanders

Field 0₂ lists people who have peaked all 14 without bottled oxygen.

Order accomplished	All without O2 (order)	Name	Period	born	at age	Nationality
1	1	Reinhold Messner	1970-1986	1944	42	Italian
2		Jerzy Kukuczka	1979-1987	1948	39	Polish
3	2	Erhard Loretan	1982-1995	1959	36	Swiss
4		Carlos Carsolio	1985-1996	1962	33	Mexican
5		Krzysztof Wielicki	1980-1996	1950	46	Polish
6	3	Juanito Oiarzabal	1985-1999	1956	43	Spanish
7		Sergio Martini	1983-2000	1949	51	Italian
8		Young Seok Park	1993-2001	1963	38	Korean
9		Hong Gil Um	1988-2001	1960[6]	40	Korean
10	4	Alberto Iñurrategi	1991-2002[7]	1968	33	Spanish
11		Wang Yong Han	1994-2003	1966	37	Korean
12	5[8]	Ed Viesturs	1989-2005	1959	46	American
13	6[9][10][11]	Silvio Mondinelli	1993-2007	1958	49	Italian
14	7[12]	Ivan Vallejo	1997-2008	1959	49	Ecuador
15	8 [13]	Denis Urubko	2000-2009	1973	35	Kazakhstan
16		Ralf Dujmovits	1990-2009	1961[14]	47	German
17	9	Veikka Gustafsson	1993-2009	1968	41	Finnish
18	10	Andrew Lock	1993-2009	1961	48	Australia

* Previous story  : – Andrew Lock completes the 14×8000ers list!

–  Veikka Gustafsson completes the 14×8000ers list!

13 Fausto De Stefani (ITA)
13 Abele Blanc (ITA)
13 Christian Kuntner (ITA) [deceased]
13 Alan Hinkes (UK)
13 Norbert Joos (SWZ)
13 Piotr Pustelnik (POL)
13 Bianba Zaxi (TIB)
13 Cering Doje (TIB)
13 Lodue (TIB)
13 João Garcia (POR)
13 Oh Eun-Sun (S-K)

12 Félix Iñurrategi (SPA) [deceased]
12 Hans Kammerlander (ITA)
12 Vladislav Terzyul (UKR) [deceased]
12 Rena (TIB) [deceased]
12 Serguey Bogomolov (RUS)
12 Iñaki Ochoa de Olza (SPA) [deceased]
12 Maxut Zhumayev (KAZ)
12 Vassili Pivtsov (KAZ)
12 Edurne Pasaban (ESP)
12 Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner (AUT)
12 Hirotaka Takeuchi (JAP)

11 Jean-Christophe Lafaille (FRA) [deceased]
11 Nives Meroi (ITA)
11 Romano Benet (ITA)
11 Serap Jangbu Sherpa (NEP)
11 Go Mi-Sun (S-K) [deceased]

10 Viktor Groselj (SLO)
10 Benoit Chamoux (FRA) [deceased]
10 Oh Hee-Joon (S-K) [deceased]
10 Mario Panzeri (ITA)
10 Kim Jae-Soo (S-K)

09 Marcel Ruedi (GER) [deceased]
09 Michel Dacher (GER) [deceased]
09 Noboru Yamada (JAP) [deceased]
09 Anatoli Boukreev (KAZ) [deceased]
09 Akebu (TIB)
09 Ryszard Pawlowski (POL)
09 Hideji Nazuka (JAP) [deceased]
09 Jyabo (TIB)
09 Mingma I Sherpa (NEP)
09 Osamu Tanabe (JAP)
09 Jean Troillet (JAP)
09 Jorge Egocheaga Rodriguez (SPA)
09 Radek Jaros (CZE)
09 Kim Chang-Ho (S-K)

08 Siegfried Hupfauer (GER)
08 Wanda Rutkiewicz (POL) [deceased]
08 Dachung (TIB)
08 André Georges (SWZ)
08 Taro Tanigawa (JAP)
08 Yoshinobu Kato (JAP)
08 Carlos Pauner (SPA)
08 Zsolt Eross (HUN)
08 Dawa Wangchuk Sherpa (NEP)
08 Carlos Soria (SPA)

07 Marco Bianchi (ITA)
07 Nima Dorje I Sherpa (NEP)
07 Oscar Cadiach (SPA)
07 Atsushi Yamamoto (JAP)
07 Ra Kwan-Ju (S-K)
07 Andrzej Stremfelj (SLO)
07 Park Jung-Hun (S-K)
07 Juan Vallejo (SPA)
07 Alexey Raspopov (KAZ)
07 Serguey Lavrov (KAZ)
07 Mario Vielmo (ITA)
07 Martin Minarik (CZE) [deceased]
07 Fernando Gonzalez-Rubio (COL)
07 Zdenek Hruby (CZE)
07 Waldemar Niclevicz (BRA)
07 Peter Hamor (SLK)
07 Alex Txikón (SPA)
07 Alexey Bolotov (RUS)
07 Alberto Zerain (SPA)
07 Sanu Sherpa (NEP)
07 Pemba Tshering Sherpa (NEP)
07 Mario Merelli (ITA)

06 Kurt Diemberger (AUT)
06 Nima Temba II Sherpa (NEP)
06 Wangyal (TIB)
06 Vladimir Bashkirov (RUS)
06 Carlos Buhler (USA)
06 Chantal Mauduit (FRA) [deceased]
06 Jonathan Pratt (UK)
06 Michael Groom (AUS)
06 Jesus Martinez Novas (SPA)
06 Dan Mazur (USA)
06 Christine Boskoff (USA) [deceased]
06 Takashi Ozaki (JAP)
06 Ilgvars Pauls (LET)
06 Jose Antonio Garcés (SPA)
06 Tsutomu Miyazaki (JAP)
06 Fumiaki Goto (JAP)
06 Toichiro Mitani (JAP)
06 Park Mu-Taek (S-K) [deceased]
06 Kazuhiro Takahashi (JAP)
06 Dieter Albin Porsche (GER)
06 Kazuyoshi Kondo (JAP)
06 Serguey Bershov (UKR)
06 Iosu Bereziartua (SPA)
06 Phurba Chhiri Sherpa (NEP)
06 Dawa Tshering I Sherpa (NEP)
06 Kazuaki Amano (JAP)
06 Anna Czerwinska (POL)
06 Renzo Benedetti (ITA)
06 Evgeny Vinogradski (RUS)
06 José Ramon Koke Lasa (SPA)
06 Uwe Gianni Gotz (SWZ) [deceased]
06 Dodo Kopold (SLK)
06 Piotr Morawski (POL) [deceased]
06 Marco Confortola (ITA)
06 Simone Moro (ITA)
06 Kim Mi-Gon (S-K)
06 Chering Norbu Bodh (IND)
06 Dawa Chhiri Sherpa (NEP)
06 Ferrán Latorre (SPA)
06 Kinga Baranowska (POL)
06 Gleb Sokolov (RUS)
06 Juan Jose (Juanjo) Garra (SPA)
06 Tshering Dorje II Sherpa (NEP)
06 Gerfried Goschl (AUT)
06 Tshering Dorje III Sherpa (NEP)

Notes:
a) the list is updated to October/2009.
b) some sherpa names are similar, but they are different climbers. For example, Tshering Dorje II is the owner of Rolwaling Excursion, while Tshering Dorje III is the sherpa partner of Kim Jae-Soo and Go Mi-Sun this year. Both have 6x8000ers in the curriculum.
c) only confirmed main summits are accepted. Non-proved claims, fore summits (like Shishapangma Central, Broad Peak Rocky Fore Summit, Gasherbrum II Fore Summit, Makalu Fore Summit, Manaslu Fore Summit etc) and disputed summits are disregarded.
d) some summits are still being investigated, so some entries may be revisited in the following months, with possibly a few corrections to be done.

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

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