Posted: Mar 17, 2010 10:11 am EST
“Silvio Gnaro Mondinelli, Daniele Bernasconi, Mario Panzeri, Soro Dorotei, Michele Compagnoni and Hervé Barmasse: here's the dream-team of mountain guides to face the ultimate Himalayan challenge: the north face of Gasherbrum I – the last unexplored face of the 8000ers,” Sara Sottocornola of Montagna.org reports.

"It’s history we’re making: This expedition to the Chinese Side of GI will mark the end of the unexplored faces of the 8000ers,” states a press release by leader Agostino da Polenza. “After this adventure, there will be no face entirely unexplored among the Himalayan giants.”

Austrian Kurt Dienberger often mentioned the north side of the Gasherbrums’ as one of the ultimate Himalayan pendant problems.

Da Polenza was behind the team that made the first ascent of the neighboring north face of GII in 2007. The late Karl Unterkircher, Bernasconi and Compagnoni bagged the wall’s first ascent after a climb in alpine style to GII’s summit ridge.

This time the Italian expedition organizer hopes to complete the feat by opening a route on the “other” Chinese 8000+ meters face of the Gasherbrums.

All-guides team

In addition to 14x8000er summiteer Silvio Mondinelli (52) and Lecco Spider Daniele Bernasconi (39), other names include Michele Compagnoni (38) from Valtellina, Mario Panzeri (46) from Lecco, Hervé Barmasse (32) from Val d'Aosta, and Soro Dorotei (59) from Veneto. All mountain guides, this team is very experienced in both Himalayan altitude and high-difficulty alpine climbing.

Route, dates, style and other expedition details are to be released during a press conference in Bergamo on March 19.

One year after the first ascent of GII north face, Karl Unterkircher perished on Nanga Parbat. Friends and family have since founded the "Karl Unterkircher Award" for climbing excellence. The first ceremony will take place July 10 in Karl's hometown Selva de Val Gardena.

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