Broad Peak and GI, winter ascents abandoned

After the exceptional and historic first winter ascent of Gasherbrum II by Simone Moro, Denis Urubko and Cory Richards at the start of February, the winter 2010/2011 decided gave nothing more away, the intense cold and above all the strong gusts of wind destroyed not only the camps, they also blew away all remaining hope of success.

The motto of the Polish expedition led by Artur Hajzer was the hope would be the last thing to freeze, and after a long battle on Broad Peak the ten mountaineers have proven amply that they are capable of suffering and waiting, waiting for that shortest of weather windows. Unfortunaly though their stoic battle against the cold and that long two-month wait to reach the 8047m high summit of Broad Peak proved useless, even after a final desperate attempt by Robert Szymczak, Krzysztof Starek, Ali Sadpara and Marcin Kaczkan who, after having set off from Camp 3 at 7150m on 16 March, were forced to accept the impossible. Szymczak and Sadpara had even reached 7830m but an enormous crevasse, the intense cold down to -30°C and zero visibility barred their way to the summit definitively.

Similar story for Alex Txikon, Louis Rousseau and Gerfried Göschl, or rather the Spanish, Canadian and Austria team which hoped to be the first to break a trail to the summit of G1 in winter. In the end "The mountain was stronger..." and "there is no chance, an attempt would be Hara-kiri. " was their conclusion. After almost 50 days on G1 - or Hidden Peak - the three had bivied at 7050m and were poised for the final 1000m push, but the weather didn't provide them with this opportunity, on the contrary "the wind was simply too strong." As a result the trio took the bitter decision to descend.

With spring - at least according to the calendar - in the air, we won't hear much talk about winter ascents in the near future. But Gasherbrum 1 and Broad Peak, along with Nanga Parbat and naturally K2 are still there, in the Karakorum, waiting for those who know how to seize the right moment. We're certain that this fascinating and freezing game will commence once again at the start of next winter because the Poles are right: at the end of the day, hope never freezes


EIGHTTHOUSANDERS - THE FIRST WINTER ASCENTS
1980: Mount Everest (8848m) - Krzysztof Wielicki & Leszek Cichy. Polish expedition led by Andrzej Zawada. Summit date: 17/02/1980.
1984: Manaslu (8156m) - Maciej Berbeka & Ryszard Gajewski. Polish expedition led by Lech Korniszewski. Summit date: 12/01/1984
1985: Dhaulagiri (8167m) - Andrzej Czok & Jerzy Kukuczka. Polish expedition led by Adam Bilczewski. Summit date: 21/01/1985
1985: Cho Oyu (8153m ) - Maciej Berbeka & Maciej Pawlikowski, 12/02/1985. Polish - Canadian expedition led by Andrzej Zawada. Three days later Zygmunt Heinrich & Jerzy Kukuczka reached the summit via the same route.
1986: Kangchenjunga (8598m) - Krzysztof Wielicki & Jerzy Kukuczka. Polish expedition led by Andrzej Machnik. Summit date: 11/01/1986.
1987: Annapurna (8091m) - Artur Hajzer & Jerzy Kukuczka (leader of the Polish expedition). Summit date: 03/02/1987
1988 Lhotse (8511m) - Krzysztof Wielicki. Polish - Belgian expedition led by Andrzej Zawada. Summit date: 31/12/1988
2005: Shisha Pangma (8027m) - Piotr Morawski & Simone Moro (Italy), expedition led by Jan Szulc. Summit date: 14/01/2005
2009: Makalu (8463m) – Simone Moro (Italy) & Denis Urubko (Kazakhstan). Summit date: 09/02/2009
2011: Gasherbrum II (8035m) - Simone Moro (Italy), Cory Richards (USA), Denis Urubko (Kazakhstan). Summit date: 02/02/2011

The following still await their first winter ascent: Gasherbrum 1 (8068m), Broad Peak (8047m), Nanga Parbat (8125m) and K2 (8610m), all located in the Karakorum