Posted: Apr 12, 2009 10:33 pm EDT
They won an ExWeb award for their great 2006 Himalayan Trilogy; last week “The Peters'" Himalayan saga was tragically ended when Piotr Morawski perished in a crevasse on Dhaulagiri.

In other news: the first climbing permits have reportedly been granted for Everest north side, Annapurna normal route sports a dangerous serac; and a big avalanche buried Manaslu BC.

The repositioning of Inmarsat satellites has caused a lower BGAN aiming angle in Himalaya; a diving scientist reported a record underwater ice-ridge in the Arctic Ocean, and pirates in the Gulf of Aden are facing tougher times ahead.

Polish Piotr Morawski perished in a crevasse on Dhaulagiri April 8 at 8.40 am local time, while returning from C2. At only 33, Piotr had summited six 8000ers, and made the first winter summit on Shisha Pangma (together with Simone Moro in January, 2005). Part of Piotr Pustelnik's Himalayan Trilogy team and teaming up with regular mate Peter Hamor; Piotr Morawski was climbing Dhaulagiri as a preparatory ascent before attempting to open a new route on Manaslu’s west face.

Everest North side climbing permit granted SummitClimb got news from Lhasa last week that their Everest permit has been approved, Arnold Coster reported.

Serbian Jacimovic back to Everest - North side Serbian Dragan Jacimovic is also launching a commercial expedition on Everest north side this spring. The team this year comprises 18 climbers from ex Yugoslavian republics of Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and from Italy. Should they succeed, the Montenegro flag (the youngest state in the former Yugoslavia) will flap on top of the world.

Everest’s First Ascent team: RMI Guides, Hahn and Viesturs Rainier Mountain Guides have launched an American all-star expedition aiming for Everest south side: The “First Ascent team” led by Peter Whittaker also features Ed Viesturs (14x8000ers w/o 02), Everest multi-summiteer Dave Hahn, Melissa Arnot and Seth Waterfall. Accompanying the climbers is a filming crew headed by Gerry Moffatt, with Jake Norton as photographer.

More Americans on Everest Johnny Strange, 17, hopes to become the youngest American to climb Mount Everest (joining Scott Woolums' expedition), and the youngest 7Summiteer worldwide. American John Golden is climbing Everest from its south side, together with Jon Shea and Phinjo Sherpa. Golden has a transplanted knee, as a result of a football accident back in 2005.

Everest comms and security numbers In order to provide better communications on Everest as well as with lower Khumbu and Kathmandu, the Eco Everest Expedition 2009 will have one base station at Camp 2, one at Base Camp and one in Asian Trekking’s office in Khumjung, Ang Tsering reported. “There will be telephone and internet connectivity. Our frequency this year is: 00 870772223518 OR 00870772223596. I would recommend that all climbers please make a note of this: In case of emergencies on the mountain, we can transfer messages down to Kathmandu rapidly should this be required.” Eco Everest team is led by Apa Sherpa (18 times Everest summiteer).

Two lanes in Khumbu Icefall As last year, there will be two ropes-lines in the Khumbu Icefall; word is that a third line might be established this year as well.

Mondinelli returns – for another Lhotse summit ”I'm leaving again for the Himalayas. I'll go back to the South Col to check the weather station we installed last year and, if I am still on time, I will try to reach Lhotse’s summit,” reported 14, 8000ers (w/o 02) summiteer Italian Silvio "Gnaro" Mondinelli.

Annapurna: Valery and Victor have climbed to 5,600 m; so have Nives and Romano; Revol & co reached 6,100m; Libor set C1 at 5,020m, and a Korean team was somewhere in between last week before a bad weather spell forced most mountaineers back to BC on Annapurna. Babanov reported dangerous conditions right above C2 on the normal route, due to a large overhanging serac. His and Victor's second acclimatization trip will therefore go up the Czech route.

From Greenland to Cho Oyu – authorities permitting Nick Nielsen, a climber from Greenland, arrived Kathmandu last week hoping to get a climbing permit for Cho Oyu.

Korean Oh Eun-sun aiming for 4x8000ers in one year Currently on her way to Kangchenjunga, Korean lady climber Oh Eun-sun hopes to climb all 14x8000ers in a record time. Oh claims nine 8000+ meter summits (Editors Note: the number varies pending source) and she hopes to bag four more this year, according to Korean Chosun paper.

Manaslu 2008 summit cleared by Miss Hawley On Manaslu last fall, several large commercial teams’ summit reports didn't add up to other climbers' climbing notes cutting numbers of success down to barely half. Serbian Jacimovic’s team summit (currently enroute to Everest north side) had apparently not been confirmed by Miss Hawley. “Miss Hawley said the Lukla air accident last year had created some confusion, and thus Manaslu summit list was left incomplete,” team member Nina Adjanin, and also a 2008 Manaslu summiteer, stated on the expedition website. “After checking the facts, Jacimovic’s team has their Manaslu summit finally confirmed by Miss Hawley.”

Manaslu: ExWeb interview with Carlos Pauner, "you either win or lose; there are no ties here" He has 8x8000ers summited plus an even larger number of attempts. In 2003, Pauner miraculously survived after being lost for two days lost on Kangchenjunga’s upper slopes. A few years later he barely escaped a chopper-crash on Makalu; and last spring he had another close call - on Lhotse. Yet Carlos Pauner won't give up in his goal to climb all 14x8000ers. Last week, he set BC on yet another snow-packed 8000er - Manaslu - and answered ExWeb's Angela Benavides' call for an interview.

A huge avalanche hit Manaslu’s BC shortly after the interview; burying Carlos Pauner’s, Joao García’s, South Korean and French expeditions' tents. No injuries are reported.

Makalu West Pillar Alberto Inurrategi & co report heavy rains on their third day trek to Makalu BC; raising questions how the porters will manage to cross the Shipton La pass if it turns out packed with snow.

Ben Clark to ski down Baruntse After ripping up some fresh tracks on Annapurna IV last year, American Ben Clark from Telluride (Colorado) is leaving for Baruntse next, which he hopes to ski down from the summit.

HumanEdgeTech Everest special: where is the satellite? In the past year, Thuraya and Inmarsat each launched a new satellite thereby greatly increasing footprint (area covered). Simultaneously, both companies also repositioned previous satellites. Inmarsat's repositioning has led to close to global coverage but also a lower aiming angle for Himalaya users. Go to ExWeb for the heads-up and tips on how to aim Inmarsat in Everest south side BC.

Arctic wrap-up: first open leads, record ice-ridge below Barneo, and polar bear tracks Last week, the North Pole teams came across the first open water. Lonnie, Stuart and Max had to swim. The explorers encountered seals peeking out of the open water, fox tracks and one team also posted pics of fresh polar bear tracks. Temperatures then dropped in some places to -20°F/-29°C followed by little wind and sun, freezing over the leads again. Barneo reported that Russian scientist Yuri Yevdokimov landed at the base last week and when diving near the edge of Barneo’s floe he observed an ice ridge about 10 m thick at a depth of 10 m. An average ice floe in the area is reportedly no thicker than 2 meters. The two full-trip teams are halfway to the Pole. Last degree groups reported good ice conditions.

Planned future expeditions: Baikal, Scott Centenary, Greenland and some mountains Henry Cooksen and his team found Lenin at the Pole of Inaccessibility in January 2007. Henry now plans to guide Kilimanjaro (5865 m) trips in June, July and August via the Umbwe Route and Western Breach combined with a climb on Mount Meru (4566 m) near Kili. He also plans climbs in Uganda/Congo and Ethiopia. Guiding Aconcagua Vacas Route in December and January is on the list again and a Greenland Icecap crossing in 2010. Two Czechs, Pavel Blazek and Vasek Sura, are planning an unsupported Lake Baikal crossing starting in March 2010. The UK Scott Centenary Expedition will start at the base of the Beardmore Glacier and ascend the glacier through to the Polar Plateau to reach the South Pole.

The Indian Ocean Rowing Race competitors The Indian Ocean Rowing Race starts next week. The skipper of the only Open class team (8 rowers), Angela Madsen, is a grandmother of three. She competed in the Beijing Paralympics and is the only differently-abled crew member. As for the rest of the teams, two men entered the Solo class; four teams entered the Pairs class as well as the Fours - one of them an all women team. The 8-team has another woman crew member as well, 22-year old Helen Taylor.

ExWeb interview with Roger Haines and Tom Lee, “there's just this almost sixth sense of what needs to be done and who's best to do it.” Team Dueto, Roger Haines and Tom Lee, will be the Indian Ocean Rowing Race team with the most summers behind them. ExWeb’s Correne Coetzer caught up with them in the UK before they left for Down Under.

Somalia piracy attack solved - the American way They started out as sort of a Coast Guard (to stop illegal tuna-fishing), became greedy, and finally organized in a profitable pirate network believed to stretch from Europe to Dubai. These days the cash, in the hundreds of millions, raised from ransoms in the Gulf of Aden is reportedly used to fund war in the area. Hindu reported that between 330-500 pirates are active in Somalian waters, led by three main clans in Somalia. More than 100 attacks have been reported since the start of last year- among the hijacked; a ship loaded with Russian tanks and rocket launchers brokered by Ukraine, headed for Kenya and flying a Belize flag; a Greek oil tanker under Panamanian flag and a Saudi-owned super-tanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil. The piracy was easy; shipping companies and merchant marines just paid up and resisted protection, claiming fears of risks of "collateral damage both to ships and innocent seafarers." Until came an Indian naval ship late last year and captured 23 pirates, unsure however what to do with them after. This weekend, U.S. Navy snipers shot three pirates, holding an American captain at gunpoint in a lifeboat. The operation was simultaneous and precise; only the captain survived. A fourth pirate, in ransom negotiations onboard the Navy ship at the time, is to be brought to US soil and put on trial.

Read these stories - and more! - at ExplorersWeb.com

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