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Annapurna anno 2004 - live from the Face
Apr 28, 2004 17: 46 EST
We expected a quiet weekend. It turned out anything but. The minute we turned on our computers, action images and snowstorm/rescue reports rushed into our mailbox straight from the suffering Himalayan giants.
There we pics of climbers with HAPE carried out of Base Camps on the backs of Sherpas and Tibetans (Everest South and Cho Oyu), there were the Baruntse climbers traverse in a bad snow storm, and then came these Annapurna shots...
We had a hard time even to choose a top story. But here it is - Annapurna anno 2004. Live, courtesy of her climbers.
Check all the images in the full story, and also the weekend's stories and pics in today's links. Baruntse has several pictures describing the recent route and Everest South has an inside report by Luanne Freer from the weekend HAPE evacuation.
Find also Piotr's Annapurna dispatch earlier today; about the heavy snow fall in Base Camp, Piotr's concerns, and the next plan of action.
Annapurna Images:
Home page:
Martin Gablik reaching the Camp I
Image this page
Image 1: Piotr Pustelnik on the lower glacier on the way to ABC
Image 2: View of Camp I from the way, during reconnaissance, to Camp II
Image 3: Camp I
Piotr Pustelnik is on Annapurna this spring and might also be going for Broad peak. After his ascent of Manaslu last spring, Annapurna and Broad are the only two he has left in his quest to complete all 14 8000m peaks.
Annapurna (8,091 m) is statistically the top most dangerous peak of all the eight thousanders. The overall summit/fatality rate is 41% (although not all climbers summit of course).
Annapurna was the very first 8,000m peak ever summited. In 1950, French climbers Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal used only a rough map as a guide, and picked their way up an untried route to the summit. Their descent turned into a hellish nightmare, leaving them near death, with their extremities completely deadened by frostbite. Herzog and Lachenal survived their ordeal, but too many others have tragically lost their lives over the years.
On Christmas Day 1997, Anatoli Boukreev was killed in an avalanche, an event that shocked the mountaineering community. In total, only 130 climbers have summited Annapurna.
Piotr's team is going to climb Annapurna South Face via the classic Bonnington route. "We want to establish ABC near the wall and three camps up above. We need to put fix ropes in the most dangerous places on the wall." Serguey Bogomolov, 43, is joining the team. For Serguey this will be his 12th 8,000er. In July 2002 he climbed Shisha Pangma by a new route, crossing to the formerly unclimbed North-East ridge. Serguey is a member of the Kazakhstan National team’s Mountain Peaks project, who are climbing Makalu this spring.
Year after year, climbers return to Annapurna despite its reputation as a difficult, dangerous mountain (a reputation earned in large part due to the high risk of avalanche.) In autumn 2002, an International Expedition team including Carlos Pauner and Silvio Mondinelli called off their attempt after heavy snows rendered the route too dangerous to continue.
Avalanche risk also prevented Ed Viesturs from summiting the peak in spring that year, his second attempt in two years. For Viesturs, whose own climbing career was inspired by reading Herzog’s book when he was 16, Annapurna remains his final 8,000m summit in his Endeavor 8000 quest to scale the fourteen 8,000m peaks. Ed is returning to Annapurna this year.
Other climbers this year are the Italian/Kazakh combo of Simone Moro and Denis Urubko, who will first be attempting the North Wall on Baruntse, 7129m. After getting acclimatized, Simone and Denis will move onto Annapurna’s North Face, possibly attempting a new line. Both climbs will be in Alpine style.
The most recent addition to the who’s who on Annapurna is the trio of Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Ralf Dujmovits of Amical Alpin, and Hirotaka Takeuchi. The trio were all on Kangchenjunga together last year, but were thwarted by poor weather.
Japanese climber Hirotaka has summited Makalu, Everest, K2, and most recently Nanga Parbat in 2001. He summited Everest and K2 back to back in 1996 and became the youngest ever to summit the world's two highest mountains at the age of 25. Ralf Dujmovits is the owner of Amical Alpin and has summited Dhaulagiri, Everest, K2, Cho Oyu twice, Shisha Pangma, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum II, and most recently Nanga Parbat in 2001.
Gerlinde, an Austrian woman, has summited Cho Oyu, Makalu, Manaslu, and most recently Nanga Parbat this past summer. Before Annapurna, the trio will get their feet wet on Xifeng Peak and then Shisha Pangma’s South Face.
Image description: Se above.
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| Andrew Lock on Annapurna tragedy: "I wanted to keep on climbing" Jun 6, 2005 | | Gabriel Filippi and Sean Egan's soul, together on the summit of Everest Jun 6, 2005 | | "Supermom" Monica Kalozdi update: Everest Summit and hard descent Jun 5, 2005 | | Robert Milne dies during summit push Everest South Jun 5, 2005 | | Grania Willis summits Everest this morning Jun 5, 2005 | | ExplorersWeb Week-In-Review Jun 5, 2005 | | Himex summit - Update from climber Jun 4, 2005 | | No Mountain top too high, my Love Jun 4, 2005 | | Jagged Globe team summits again! Jun 4, 2005 | | More summits for DCXP/Project Himalaya this morning Jun 4, 2005 |
| | End of season... Jun 4, 2005 | | Ranulph Fiennes turns back on Everest Jun 3, 2005 |
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2004
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