Denis Urubko has a busy few months ahead. He will attempt a new route on winter Broad Peak, then in the fall, he will go for an unclimbed line on Everest. Not bad for a guy who insisted in 2020 that he was done with the 8,000’ers.
Urubko revealed his plans during a mountaineering lecture in Ekaterinburg, Russia, on September 14, Russian Climb‘s Elena Laletina told ExplorersWeb.
Denis Urubko in Ekaterinburg. Photo: Marina Gevorkyan/Snob.ru
Broad Peak in ‘strict’ winter
Urubko has summited Broad Peak twice in summer and attempted it in winter six years ago. He started that winter expedition with Don Bowie of Canada and continued on his own when Bowie retired. A close call with an avalanche forced him down.
Broad Peak has been climbed in winter once before, by Polish pioneers Krzysztof Wielicki, Maciej Berbeka, Adam Bielecki, Tomasz Kowalski, and Artur Malek in 2013. They reached the summit very late in the day, and Berbeka and Tomasz Kowalski perished during the descent.
Denis Urubko on winter Broad Peak, 2020. Photo: Denis Urubko
Interestingly, the Polish climbers summited on March 5, well within the calendar definition of winter — but Urubko has always followed a stricter definition, based on the Gregorian Calendar used in Russia. For him, winter begins on December 1 and ends on February 28. He will climb Broad Peak according to this interpretation of winter, in January and February.
Then there’s Everest
Urubko will not be alone on Everest next fall. At least one commercial team (Furtenbach Adventures) will launch a guided expedition up the normal route.
He is also not the only Russian with a new line on Everest in mind. A four-member team led by Andrey Vasiliev is currently on its way to the mountain for an “off-the-normal-route” climb. Their original plan was to attempt a new, no-oxygen line on Everest in the spring of 2027. It remains to be seen what they will do this fall, on what was to have been just a shakedown trip to test themselves and their gear.
Everest’s Khumbu Icefall in the fall, during one of Andrzej Bargiel’s ski attempts. Photo: Pawlikowski Media
Far from done
After a failed attempt to solo winter Broad Peak in February 2020, Denis Urubko claimed he was done with the 8,000’ers and would focus on sport climbing instead. Just months afterward, however, he returned to the Greater Ranges to try to break Juan Oiarzabal’s record number of 8,000m climbs without oxygen. He blamed the media for misunderstanding what he said about retiring.
Urubko and Cardell on the summit of Nanga Parbat. Photo: Denis Urubko/FEDME
Urubko opened a new winter route on Koshar Gang in February 2022, then returned to Pakistan in summer to make a first ascent of a 5,000m peak. He then did Broad Peak (normal route in less than 15 hours), and Gasherbrum II and K2 solo.
In 2023, he attempted a new route on Gasherbrum I with partner Maria Cardell. They climbed the normal route in preparation, but in the end, they failed to bag the new line. Urubko then returned to Gasherbrum I in winter with only a porter to help him cross the crevassed glacier. It was a near-disaster: Urubko fell into a crevasse and had to rescue himself and retreat on his own, frostbitten, down the valley to the hospital in Skardu.
After a long recovery, he returned to the high mountains last year, forging a new route on Nanga Parbat with Cardell, despite dangerous conditions. Several climbers died from falling rocks during that dry, hot year.
