Himalayan objectives: Dhaulagiri and Annapurna

On 30/03 Romano Benet, Nives Meroi, Luca Vuerich, Inaki Ochoa, Erri De Luca, Cesare Giuliani, Roberto Alloi, Mario Cedolin, Klemen Gricar, Christan Stangl, Peter Guggemos and Ivan Vallejo depart for Dhaulagiri., then Annapurna.

PlanetMountain.com

March 2005

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Himalaya, Luca Vuerich, Nives Meroi, Romano Benet

The pre-monsoon season is coming into full swing in the Himalaya. This classic "first round" for the highest peaks in the world sees more and more departures every year, including the classic Italian trio Romano Benet, Nives Meroi and Luca Vuerich. The three are heading for the difficult pyramid, Dhaulagiri, (8167m, seventh highest peak in the world) after which a helicopter will transfer them to the base Camp of Annapurna where they hope to make a fast ascent of the first ever 8000m peak to be summited.

The three form part of a larger Dhaulagiri group comprised of Mario Cedolin, Erri De Luca, Cesare Giuliani, Roberto Alloi, and Klemen Gricar, while Christan Stangl, Peter Guggemos, Inaki Ochoa and Ivan Vallejo form part of the international Dhaulagiri + Annapurna expeditions. Ed Vierstus has his sights set on Annapurna this season, as do Silvio Mondinelli, Mario Merelli, Mario Panzeri, Daniele Bernasconi and Christian Gobbi, currently engaged on the mountain.

For those into the big numbers game, this group is impressive to say the least: Meroi and Benet each have 7 eightthousanders to their name, Vuerich 4, Guggemos 9, Vierstus 13, Vallejo 11 (Everest from N and S), Ochoa 10, Stangl and Gricar 2... more than 60 big mountain ascents! But, as they know all too well, numbers mean little up there. Good luck to all concerned!