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

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

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

“Ice Warriors” not give up.
HiMountain winter expedition to Broad Peak - 2008/09.

The eighties are long gone but a warrior’s soul never dies: The tough bunch of climbers who wrote the coolest pages of mountaineering history 20 years back are still kicking - and more. In only a few weeks, they will take on any mountaineer’s ultimate nightmare: A winter climb on a Pakistan 8000er.
Not even Messner could beat them: Polish climbers have all the first winter ascents on Himalayan 8000ers.

Winter Manifesto of Krzysztof Wielicki :

The golden decade of Polish Himalayan mountaineering, besides the unquestionable personal accomplishments of Jurek Kukuczka, Wanda Rutkiewicz, Wojtek Kurtyka and others, also saw winter achievements that were a team rather than individual success. It was particularly noticeable during the winter expeditions how the whole team worked for the result. In Winter it is difficult to achieve success without teamwork. Climbing in the Alps or the Tatras in wintertime is no longer surprising to anyone: it was the natural course of things, an attempt to raise the challenge without raising the altitude. The same had to occur in high mountains too.And it’s great that it was achieved by Poles. Jurek Werteresiewicz drew up a programme, Andrzej Zawada implemented it and many of us put it into practice, often successfully but there were failures as well.In recent years a total withdrawal from wintertime climbing could be observed in the Tatras, the Alps as well as the Himalayas…..

… We were successful in high mountain winter explorations. After all, half of fourteen 8000-metre peaks were climbed by Poles, with in just eight years (1980-1988) to boot. Six unconquered peaks are waiting for us, but volunteers are nowhere to be seen. Let the nickname “Ice Warriors”, given us by Englishmen, be inscribed in the history of Himalayan climbing for ever.

Today started next winter expedition -

HiMountain winter expedition to Broad Peak - 2008/09.

HiMountain winter expedition to Broad Peak led by Artur Hajzer , the team : Robert Szymczak and Don Bowie from Canada.

Artur Hajzer is a Polish mountaineer best known for the first winter ascent of Annapurna on February 3, 1987 together with Jerzy Kukuczka. He was member of latest winter expedition - 2006/07 Winter Nanga Parbat!

Upcoming winter expeditions on 8000es

Artur Hajzer will lead Robert Szymczak and Don Bowie for a winter attempton Broad Peak; Jacek Teler will lead a team on Nanga Parbat. Simone Moro will attempt Makalu, teaming up with Denis Urubko. Pavel Krupièka, Jan Krabec and Milan Wlasák will atempt Manaslu.

* see :

- 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

Lodowi wojownicy nie dają za wygraną.

HiMountain wyprawa zimowa Broad Peak — 2008/09

Rusza kolejna polska zimowa wyprawa na ośmiotysięcznik — „HiMountain wyprawa zimowa Broad Peak — 2008/09”. Celem wyprawy jest pierwsze w historii zimowe wejście na 12-ty szczyt świata Broad Peak (8051 m) w Karakorum (Pakistan).

Himalaizm zimowy to iście polska specjalizacja. Mimo dużej ilości prób podejmowanych przez najlepszych alpinistów z całego świata, tylko Polacy (wyjątkiem jest Włoch Simone Moro, który zdobył Shisha Pangma razem z Piotrem Morawskim - Polish-Italian winter expedition to Shisha Pangma (8027m), 2005 /Version polish and english/) stawali do tej pory na ośmiotysięcznikach zimą (zdobyli już osiem). Jak pisał Krzysztof Wielicki w swoim słynnym Manifeście… “Niech przydomek ” Ice Warriors”, nadany nam przez Anglików, na stałe zapisze się w historii himalaizmu.” Ostatnia zimowa próba to Winter Nanga Parbat - zimowa wyprawa Wielickiego z 2007r ; niestety wyprawa nie zakończyła się sukcesem , himalaistów pokonała pogoda.

Sześć spośród czternastu ośmiotysięczników pozostaje niezdobytych, z tego pięć w Pakistanie i jeden w Nepalu.

Trasa wyprawy zimowej na Broad Peak 2008/09

Wspomniany Simone Moro dwukrotnie próbował zmierzyć się zimą z Broad Peakiem, za każdym razem bezskutecznie. Co znamienne, żaden spośród pięciu pakistańskich ośmiotysięczników (cztery w Karakorum oraz Nanga Parbat) nie został do tej pory zdobyty zimą. O krok od wejścia na główny wierzchołek Broad Peaku zimą był Maciej Berbeka. Osiągnął on przedwierzchołek, tzw. Rocky Summit (8035 m), który jest niższy od wierzchołka głównego zaledwie o 16 metrów, ale oddalony od niego o godzinę wspinaczki.

W przeddzień odlotu wyprawy, 8 grudnia 2008, w warszawskim Centrum Olimpijskim odbyła się konferencja prasowa uczestników wyprawy, którą prowadziła zdobywczyni Everestu, redaktor naczelna National Geographic Polska, Martyna Wojciechowska.

W wyprawie uczestniczy trzech himalaistów: Artur Hajzer — kierownik, Robert Szymczak i Don Bowie z Kanady. Wspomagani będą przez dwu tragarzy wysokościowych.

Don Bowie.

Sprzęt i żywność wyprawy, w sumie 86 ładunków, zostały już dostarczone do podnóża góry na lodowcu Godwin Austen i oczekują w miejscu, gdzie stanie baza wyprawy. Ładunki przetransportowano już 15 października, ponieważ — jeżeli wierzyć zapewnieniom pakistańskiej agencji — w okresie zimowym nie jest możliwe, aby w tamtym rejonie przeszła karawana tragarzy. Uczestnicy wraz ze sprzętem osobistym i ładunkami uzupełniającymi mają dolecieć do bazy helikopterem między 19 a 21 grudnia 2008 roku.

* strony o wyprawach zimowych :

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

- 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/

** zapraszam na relacje z wypraw polskich himalaistów.

*** Źródła : - wiadomośći PZA - http://himalman.wordpress.com/

The golden decade of Polish Himalayan mountaineering, besides the unquestionable personal accomplishments of Jurek Kukuczka, Wanda Rutkiewicz, Wojtek Kurtyka and others, also saw winter achievements that were a team rather than individual success. It was particularly noticeable during the winter expeditions how the whole team worked for the result. In Winter it is difficult to achieve success without teamwork. Climbing in the Alps or the Tatras in wintertime is no longer surprising to anyone: it was the natural course of things, an attempt to raise the challenge without raising the altitude. The same had to occur in high mountains too.

And it’s great that it was achieved by Poles. Jurek Werteresiewicz drew up a programme, Andrzej Zawada implemented it and many of us put it into practice, often successfully but there were failures as well.

In recent years a total withdrawal from wintertime climbing could be observed in the Tatras, the Alps as well as the Himalayas. The late Andrzej Zawada would remark: “Tell me what you’ve done and I’ll tell you who you are (that is to say, what you're worth). Winter experiences were valuable, however. Meanwhile the standards have been lowered by the rat-race to easy and quick successes (which actually has been the case in every field).

No-one dreams of climbing the great walls of the Himalayas, of new routes, traverses… The attitude is to climb Mt. Everest if you have cash and if not, another easy 8000-metre mountain, as long as it’s fast and easy. When, after many years, I met Elisabeth Hawley in Katmandu in January this year, we began reminiscing the 1970s and 1980s, when the Japanese, Poles, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Russians and the Slovenians would come with sports programmes, in order to compete with the others, to reach places that had not been reached so far, to go down in the history of conquests of the highest mountains. There is the same number of expeditions as before but they lack ambitions goals. The ambitious ones can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Generally, there is a fad for easy and pleasant climbing, preferably at weekends because it does not require sacrificing your time or career. It has to be fun. It has to be cool.

As for our Polish scene, the Sports Committees, if they exist at all, lack creativity. Committees and boards tend to accept programmes aimed at a quick, usually personal success of the Himalayan climbers that God still keeps alive. I realize that we live in times when each success has to be associated with a name, with individuals who easily lend themselves to the requirements of the media. But why is it a problem to proclaim: “Poles have climbed Sisha Pangma or K-2 in winter"?

According to the old rule, you should do what you do best. We were successful in high mountain winter explorations. After all, half of fourteen 8000-metre peaks were climbed by Poles, within just eight years (1980-1988) to boot. Six unconquered peaks are waiting for us, but volunteers are nowhere to be seen.

Let the nickname “Ice Warriors”, given us by Englishmen, be inscribed in the history of Himalayan climbing for ever.

We missed out on the great exploration of the Himalayas irreversibly, and it is more and more difficult to find new (logical) routes. We could still improve our style, and we could revive the best moments of wintertime experiences. I know that for some people wintertime climbing is “the art of suffering” but I also know that for others it is a male adventure, with teamwork, the rule "one for all and all for one", brotherhood and common goals. Those who have experienced that do not need to be convinced, whereas the majority of adversaries of wintertime Himalayan climbing can be found among those who simply have not tried it or are unable to work in a team, are afraid to lose their “libero” position, afraid of a violation of their individuality. We are going separate ways! We have done one half of the job. Now it’s your turn to finish it: you the young, angry and ambitious. We are giving you eight years, the same time as we needed. It’s fair enough, isn’t it? If you could pull it off, wouldn’t it be great? Can you imagine that? All 8000-metre peaks conquered for the first time in Winter, all by Poles. There is a chance for success. It is a game worth devoting time, money and efforts. Now is the time to make decisions. This proposal is addressed to the Polish Mountaineering Association: how to create the right environment, how to make “the young” interested in this idea? You may count on my generation, on our help, our experience, even our active participation. The choice is yours! If you do not take up the challenge, we shall have to take it on our old shoulders, without a guarantee of success. K-2, Makalu, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II, Broad Peak are waiting for you (or us).

Let’s join Europe, with our head held high and with self-esteem. There is little time left!

*Manifesto on 2002 r - Polski Związk Alpinizmu

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

Pierwsze wejścia

Lp.	Nazwa	Wysokość m n.p.m.	Data zdobycia	Pierwsi zdobywcy	Data zdobycia zimą	Pierwsi zdobywcy
1	Mount Everest	ok. 8850	29 maja 1953	Edmund Hillary (Nowa Zelandia), Norgay Tenzing (Nepal)	17 lutego 1980	Krzysztof Wielicki i Leszek Cichy (Polska)
2	K2	8611	31 lipca 1954	Achille Compagnoni i Lino Lacedelli (Włochy)		niezdobyty zimą
3	Kanczendzonga	8586	25 maja 1955	George Band i Joe Brown (Anglia)	11 stycznia 1986	Jerzy Kukuczka i Krzysztof Wielicki (Polska)
4	Lhotse	8516	18 maja 1956	Fritz Luchsinger i Ernst Reiss (Szwajcaria)	31 grudnia 1988	Krzysztof Wielicki (Polska)
5	Makalu	8463	15 maja 1955	Lionel Terray i Jean Couzy (Francja)		niezdobyty zimą
6	Cho Oyu	8201	19 października 1954	Sepp Joechler i Herbert Tichy (Austria), Psan Dawa Lama (Nepal)	12 lutego 1985	Maciej Berbeka i Maciej Pawlikowski (Polska)
7	Dhaulagiri	8167	13 maja 1960	Kurt Diemberger i Albin Schelbert (Austria), Nawang Dorje (Nepal)	21 stycznia 1985	Andrzej Czok i Jerzy Kukuczka (Polska)
8	Manaslu	8156	9 maja 1956	Toshio Imanishi (Japonia), Gyaltsen Norbu (Nepal)	12 stycznia 1984	Maciej Berbeka i Ryszard Gajewski (Polska)
9	Nanga Parbat	8126	3 lipca 1953	Hermann Buhl (Austria)		niezdobyty zimą
10	Annapurna I	8091	3 czerwca 1950	Maurice Herzog i Louis Lachenal (Francja)	3 lutego 1987	Artur Hajzer i Jerzy Kukuczka (Polska)
11	Gasherbrum I	8068	4 lipca 1958	Andy Kauffman i Pete Schoening (USA)		niezdobyty zimą
12	Broad Peak	8047	9 czerwca 1957	Hermann Buhl, Kurt Diemberger, Markus Schmuck i Fritz Wintersteller (Austria)		niezdobyty zimą
13	Gasherbrum II	8035	7 lipca 1956	Sepp Larch, Fritz Moravec i Hans Willenpart (Austria)		niezdobyty zimą
14	Shisha Pangma	8013	2 maja 1964	Hsu Ching (Chiny)	14 stycznia 2005	Piotr Morawski (Polska) i Simone Moro (Włochy)

Winter Nanga Parbat - zimowa wyprawa Wielickiego z 2007r ; niestety wyprawa nie zakończyła sie sukcesem , himalaistów pokonała pogoda o czym napisze już niebawem....