Posted: Feb 09, 2009 12:52 pm EST
(MountEverest.net) Italian Simone Moro and Kazakh Denis Urubko summited Makalu today at around 2 pm local time. It's hard to miss Simone's triumph in his remarkable voice dispatch:

"Tina, we closed the games! Makalu is not more virgin in winter, after 29 years, I and Denis we climbed to the summit - to the last centimeter. It was incredibly hard, very cold and very windy. 7 minutes before 2 pm."

"We started a few minutes after 6 o'clock in the morning. We climbed very well, very regularly but the last three hours... it was really...we fight with the jet stream. Makalu don't wan't to let us to stand on the summit...but sorry we did it!"

"So we summited Makalu in winter: Denis Urubko, Simone Moro 9th February around 2 o'clock... Another small page in history is written...Now remains only the 5 peaks of Karakorum. Ciao, thank you for the support."

Listen to Simone's voice dispatch here:

Summit dispatch Feb 09 (click or save to desktop and play)

Recap

Simone followed his set strategy from the start. The two climbed in Khumbu for acclimatization. Once on Makalu, they worked the mountain fast. In the last week's spell of bad weather Simone and Denis practiced climbing in hard conditions in the narrow gully towards Makalu La, adding altitude to their acclimatization with a climb to 1000 meters below Makalu’s summit and speed climbing to C1 and back.

A favorable weather forecast made the men start a summit push Saturday, reaching 7700 meters on Sunday local time. Listen to the voice dispatches here:

Voice dispatch Simone Camp 2, 6800 meter Saturday Feb 07 (click or save to desktop and play)

Voice dispatch Simone Camp 3, 7700 meter Sunday Feb 08 (click or save to desktop and play)

Then this morning at 5 am US Mountain Time - the summit message arrived at ExplorersWeb. Simone's wife Barbara was abroad for a climbing competition and Lena from RussianClimb was traveling in the US (in fact meeting with ExWeb today); making Tina at ExWeb temporarily HQ for Makalu summit push reports. (Go also to Montagna.org for more news this morning).

A sweet success

This is a very sweet success for the two climbers, who haven't always got the credit they deserve from the mountaineering community. The two men have shared spectacular climbs together in the past before splitting up for a while, and then joining forces again on Makalu this season.

With few other takers, modern winter climbs became somewhat of a Simone Moro specialty in the past five years. Up until today, only 8 out of all 14 eight-thousanders had been winter climbed. In Nepal, only Makalu remained while in Pakistan, all five 8000er summits are yet untouched by man in winter.

In an eight-year marathon during the eighties; Polish climbers had grabbed all the seven winter firsts and revolutionized Himalayan climbing. A void followed the Polish grand-slams until 2005 when two men bagged number 8, Shisha Pangma, on January 14. They were Polish Piotr Morawski and Simone Moro - who became the first non-Polish climber to bag a winter virgin in Himalaya.

The Shisha climb suffered a controvery when French Jean Christophe Lafaille summited the peak off winter, claiming a first. The mountaineer later perished in a solo attempt for the first winter climb of Makalu - Simone's triumph today. "For sure I’m not going to Makalu to prove anything," Simone told ExWeb prior to the climb, "least of all a search for revenge."

Simone in fact went for Makalu following two straight years of winter attempts on Broad Peak. When he heard that a Polish/Canadian combo would attempt the peak this season, Simone rerouted to avoid competition.

"I like to climb in very small teams and I am strict about not starting before the 21st of December (calendar winter)," he told ExWeb. "So I decided to switch goals and go for Makalu instead. A part of me is sad because, after two seasons, I would have liked to finish my game on Broad - but otherwise it’s time to let someone else take their chances."

To the last bullet

The first winter attempt on Makalu was done in 1980 by Renato Casarotto and Mario Curnis who reached 7400 meters. More attempts followed, including Reinhold Messner in 1985/86, who managed to get to the couloir leading to Makalu La pass in a controversial climb where a French mountaineer lost his life.

"Simone and I are ready to fight to the last bullet," Denis told Lena at RussianClimb a few weeks back. "All we need is two or three days of good weather, without wind on descent. And then we will win." Denis had tried a winter ascent of the peak as late as last winter season, together with regular climbing partner Serguey Samoilov. They survived the night on a rocky ledge, but at 7500 meters hard winds finally forced the climbers back.

This time, Denis and Simone questioned if their acclimatization would prove to be enough. In his last dispatch posted Friday, Simone reported the plan was to climb for 3 days and then see how they felt above 7400 meters, in the men's first night and only second stay at this altitude in a week.

The climbers reached C2 in only 3,5 hours from BC and then continued to 7700 meters the next day. They were very tired but felt well. A forecasted increase in winds for the morning proved the last obstacle but on Monday at 6 am local time the two worn men set off for the summit. At 2 pm victory arrived - with the last Himalaya giant summited in winter - by Italian Simone Moro breaking the Polish spell for the second time with old friend Kazakh Denis Urubko by his side.

Rodrigo Granzotto Peron reports today that Simone Moro and Jerzy Kukuczka are the only climbers ever to do two true first winter ascents of 8000ers (a definition where the climb starts and ends within calendar winter).

"While Kukuckza is the 'King of the 80s', with firsts on Cho Oyu (1985) and Annapurna (1987), Simone Moro is the current 'Mr. Winter', with firsts on Shishapangma (2005) and Makalu (2008)," the statistician notes. Simone Moro will be very pleased to hear that.

Simone Moro, 41, has done a total of 40 expeditions during the last 16 years. Some of his high altitude achievements include the first winter ascent of Shisha Pangma (8027m); a traverse of Everest (8848m) south-to-north side, with summit at 3.15 am and descent to base camp in only 5 hours; a number of new lines such as on the north face of Baruntse; a number of winter ascents and speed climbs on major mountaineering peaks. A difficult attempt on an Everest-Lhotse traverse together with Denis Urubko ended in the successful rescue of a young climber gaining Simone a number of awards for true, climbing spirit.

Simone last did the first ascent of Beka Brakai Chhok 6940 m (Pakistan) this past summer, in pure alpine style and a 43 hours roundtrip.

Urubko's climbs are legendary; over only the past few years Denis and twice-divorced, ever-loyal climbing buddy Serguey planted new routes on Manaslu and an unclimbed face of Broad Peak. In 2007 the two made the latest K2 summit ever in the first K2 north side ascent in 11 years.

Denis Urubko is considered one of the top climbers today. He has summited most of the 8000ers and many other major peaks in the Himalayas and Central Asia. He has also sacrificed summits to help climbers in trouble, some of whom he had never met before.

Links to news about the expedition:

Simone's Blog

Info on Denis - RussianClimb.com

Info on Simone/Manfrotto.com

Montagna

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