Should we turn back? No, there's 150 m rope left in my pack
10:56 pm CDT Apr 16, 2004
Denis Urubko sent over a dispatch from last nights rough ride on Baruntse:
I can't predict the outcome of our plans, only report what happened in the last day. Early morning yesterday Boris and I were heading up the wall, in spite of the hurricane in Himalaya.
Throughout all night we had heard terrible rumble from Lhotse. Then the wind descended at Baruntse too. Continuing from where we had stopped last time, at 5650 m, we climbed up through the snow-icy couloirs. Snow avalanches dusted from above down to the bottom of the mountain, then rising in clouds back up to the sky again. Occasionally rocks fell down through the mist.
Korshunov's calm and persistence impressed me. On an icy part, where the steepness reached 75-80 degrees, I was shaken up and asked him: "Are you tired? Should we go down?" But he only smiled and answered me, that there're still 150 m of rope left in his backpack. I said to him: "All Russia look at you".
At about 5900 m we reached a small ridge, and fixed more rope before 5 p.m. All in all we fixed 400 m and climbed till 5950 m. In the evening we returned to ABC on wobbly legs, dead tired. "Good work today" said Boris to my big surprise. And two hours ago we finally returned to BC. Tomorrow, Simone and Bruno will go up. We hope the wind will cease.
First off, the Italian/Kazakh combo Denis Urubko and Simone Moro along with friends, will be attempting the North Wall on Baruntse, 7129m. After getting acclimatized, Simone and Denis will then move onto Annapurna’s North Face, attempting a new line on it.
Speaking about the route on Baruntse, Denis said; "There will be 2000 meters of vertical ice and rock face that we’ll try to climb in light style (alpine). The top of our face is not the real summit and for that reason we will have to continue our climb on the final ridge till the very top at 7129 meters. Our idea is to then make the descent via the North ridge." But April 15, Denis reported: “Our plans have changed. Not about the route but about the process. After a detailed check of the Face we decided to abort our daring dream to do it alpine style. In short, we are not acclimatized enough, so we'll work safe and not so fast."
Image of dust avalanches rising in clouds over Baruntse BC, courtesy www.baruntse.co.uk.
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