Alpine-style teams in Nepal and Pakistan are setting up their base camps, making plans, and even sharing some details.
Facing Jannu
Benjamin Vedrines, Leo Billon, and Nicolas Jean have spent their first two nights above base camp, under the immense north face of Jannu East. “It is really impressive,” Vedrines said.
They eyed a possible route and spent quite a tough night in heavy snowfall at 6,100m. They then descended for acclimatization purposes and to take shelter from the storm hitting Nepal.
The monsoon has not yet retreated and they expect over a meter of fresh snow on the mountain. It will take some time for the snow to fall, settle, and then clear as the mountain shakes off the excess in the form of avalanches.
Meanwhile in Pakistan
Adam Bielecki and Louis Rousseau have set up Base Camp at the end of an isolated valley in Hunza. To get there, they trekked for days through glacial terrain, without trails or even cairns to mark the way.
The pair have two peaks in mind, and both look large and difficult.
“There is no reasonable and therefore safe route to the lower peak [but] on the higher one we have spotted several potential climbing lines. They all look difficult but realistic,” Bieleki told his home team. “We have an idea of how to get up, but we don’t yet have an idea of how to get down safely.”
Bielecki and Rousseau are acclimatizing while trying to find a suitable descent line.
Finally, there is also news that Dean Steadman, Cody Winckler, and August Franzen made it safely back to the base of Yashkuk Sar. They just completed a first ascent.
