ExWeb special - Winter Broad Peak timeline:
No winners yet in a tough game

(K2Climb.net/MountEverest.net) Up until now only 8 out of all 14 eight-thousanders have been winter climbed. Over the previous weeks ExWeb have run debriefs on all the first winter ascents, and also all winter, or near winter, summits in Himalaya.

But what about winter attempts on the peaks ahead? Last week Simone Moro offered winter history for Makalu; while ExWeb’s contributor Rodrigo Granzotto Peron dodged flooding and power outages in his home town of Brazil for a skinny on the remarkably few winter attempts on Broad Peak and Nanga Parbat (check in for NP tomorrow).

HiMountain winter expedition to Broad Peak - 2008/09 - route

Broad Peak Winter History
By Rodrigo Granzotto Peron

For two weeks in the winter of 1983, Andrzej Zawada and Jacques Olek researched the Baltoro Glacier; checking the weather and routes on Broad Peak and both Gasherbrums for future expeditions. Their conclusion was that “winter conditions were much more severe than in the Everest region.”

Polish climbers breaking trail

Five years later, in February 1988 Polish Maciej Berbeka (Manaslu winter 84, Cho Oyu winter 85) arrived for the first winter attempt on Broad Peak. It became the most successful winter climb on Falchan Kangri yet.

Berbeka reached the Foresummit by the normal route one month later. Very strong winds blowing from the real summit prevented him to do the first winter ascent of an 8000er in Pakistan.

Here come the Spaniards

In 2003 Spanish Juanito Oiarzabal arrived with a strong team: Juan Vallejo, Mikel Zabalza, Losu Bereziartu and Italian Silvio Mondinelli. They reached 6500m on the normal route, but after the destruction of Camp II (February 9th) and Camp I (February 20th), they headed home without summit.

(Ed note: the Spanish team reportedly said that just to get to BC was a long, frozen walk from hell.)

Latest attempts: another Italian against all odds

Four years later, in 2007 Simone Moro decided to try his luck, teaming up with Pakistan Shaheen Baig, again on the normal route. Progress was very slow as a result of high winds and incredible amount of snow on the route. The expedition was called off after reaching 6800 meters.

With valuable experience bagged, Simone Moro was back already the next year, in 2008 with Pakistan climbers Shaheen Baig and Quadrat Ali. But logistics wrecked the schedule right from the start.

The three climbers arrived BC very late (February 2nd). According to Simone, “this expedition is a charade of inefficiency, bad luck and unhelpful people.” Still, the mountaineers climbed the normal route until 7800 meters before calling the expedition off due to high winds in early March.

* see :

- Ice Warriors not give up - HiMountain winter expedition to Broad Peak - 2008/09. HiMountain wyprawa zimowa Broad Peak - 2008/09. /Version english and polish/

- Don Bowie’s website

- Polish winter expedition to K2, 2002/3 /Version polish and english/

- Polish-Italian winter expedition to Shisha Pangma (8027m), 2005 /Version polish and english/

- Winter Manifesto of Krzysztof Wielicki - Manifest zimowy Krzysztofa Wielickiego /Version polish and english/

- 2007 Winter Nanga Parbat: It’s over - http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=15523

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

*** oryginal post by : - http://himalman.wordpress.com/