Anna Tybor is in Pakistan to begin her Broad Peak Dream Line project. The Polish climber and skier wants to ascend 8,051m Broad Peak without supplemental oxygen, then make the first female ski descent from the summit. Guide Tom Lafaille and photographer Piotrek Drzastwa will accompany her.
Tybor has experience. On September 29, 2021, she climbed to Manaslu’s foresummit, also without bottled oxygen, and skied down with Italian guides Marco Majori and Federico Secchi. The team stopped at Camp 4 for the night during the descent. Last autumn, Hilaree Nelson aimed to make a full ski descent of Manaslu but fell to her death shortly after starting to ski down.
Ski descents from 8,000’ers are difficult because of the terrain and difficulty breathing during the descent. According to Russian extreme skier Vitaly Lazo, a skier has to stop every 20m to 30m to take a break, recover, and refocus.
Broad Peak. Photo: Furtenbach Adventures
Polish skier Andrzej Bargiel made the first ski descent on Broad Peak in 2015. That season, another skier, Olek Ostrowski, went missing when he fell into a crevasse descending on skis from Camp 2 to Camp 1. Ostrowski’s partner, Piotr Snigorski, reached Base Camp safely.
Confirmation from Trango II
Eneko Pou, Iker Pou, and Fay Manners have summited Trango II (6,237m), and are back at Base Camp.
Andres Marin, the fourth member of the team, did not join the ascent on Trango II. He recently posted that, “it was a great learning experience trying to accomplish a goal at the Great Trango Tower.”
The quartet’s original target was Great Trango, but they didn’t make the summit.
“Exploration in the greatest ranges requires that the stars align in such a way that there is a magical flow,” Marin said.
Frame from a video posted by Andres Marin on the Trango Tower. Bad weather halted the team. Photo: Andres Marin
“Some adjustments will be made next time to increase the chances of success,” Marin added.
The Pou Brothers have also detailed the third short line they climbed on one of the Trango groups’ surrounding towers, carried out before their summit push on the Great Trango Tower.
On one of the minor spires, which they have called “Lady,” they opened a 205m line (6c) and named the route “The First Minister.”
Eneko Pou opening “The First Minister” line on “Lady” tower. Photo: The Pou Brothers
Nanga Parbat and Istor-O-Nal
On Nanga Parbat, climbers continue to acclimatize in changeable weather, with several teams yet to arrive.
On 7,403m Istor-O-Nal in the Hindu Kush, David Klein and Bence Kerekes are progressing slowly but deliberately. They have recently fixed ropes up to 5,850m.
Bence Kerekes (left). Camp 1 seen from above on Istor-O-Nal. Photo: Bence Kerekes
