The climbers on Kinshofer route have decided to join hands and work as a single unit. They have fixed route till 6050m.
The climbers on Kinshofer route have decided to join hands and work as a single unit. After failing to launch alpine style summit-bid and being unable to maintain acclimatization, Polish climbers Adam Bielecki and Jacek Czech have opted to coordinate with Alex Txikon, Daniele Nardi and Ali Sadpara. The three international climbers want to climb Kinshofer route in classical style, i.e. fixing rope and setting up camps before summit push. “Generally speaking we want to fix ropes on the way to C3 together,” says Adam Bielecki.
The five climbers have been working together on Kinshofer route since January 11th. They have deposited required ropes and gear in C1 or above.
Narrow Escape
Daniele Nardi, Adam Bielecki and Jacek Czech went up from Base Camp on Monday. They fixed more rope and shifted some gear till 5700m. All in all, the team had 700m of rope at 5700m, 1000m at 5300m and 600m in C1. Jacek Czech, who recently recovered from an infection, returned to BC after delivering some equipment at 5300m.
On January 12th, Daniele Nardi and Adam Bielecki resumed the rope fixing above 5700m. They were at 5800m when the Polish climber suffered a sudden fall. He dropped around 80m and, fortunately, survived without any major injury.
“There were 200 meters to get to the base of Kinshofer Wall and another 200 meters to reach camp 2” Daniele Nardi explains. “We were very quick to climb even with heavy load on our shoulders. We deposited excessive material at 5700 meters and began to climb: Adam climbed first, we had 400 meters of rope with us, went through a channel of ice, stopping at about 5800 meters.
I heard fixing a piton and I saw him do the anchor maneuver, then something happened and he fell. He flew for about 80 meters. During the flight, I could not help but to anchor most of his rope to my harness and then wait for the blow.”
Luckily, there wasn’t any serious injury. The two climbers even considered going up, but eventually decided to retreat to BC.
“I took a fall with torn fixed rope. Fortunately Daniele was securing me with second rope. In spite of long fall I’m ok just with slightly battered right hand.” Adam wrote on Facebook.
At the Base of Kinshofer Wall
Alex Txikon and Ali Sadpara left C1 at around sunrise this morning and resumed the rope fixing. By the end of day, they had opened the route till base of Kinshofer Wall at 6050m and deposited one tent, food and other material there.
“It’s been eight hours of technical blue-ice climbing in shadow, for 1250+ meters of vertical drop and for fixing 500 meters of rope between 5700m and 6050m,” team feels delighted by the progress.
Ali Sadpara and Alex Txikon are hoping to fix the Kinshofer Wall and reach C2, tomorrow.
Tomek and Elisabeth
Tomek Mackiewicz and Elisabeth Revol returned to Base Camp on January 11th. Apparently, bad conditions – cold and strong wind – forced them to retreat from C3 (ca. 6600m-6700m). Earlier, the duo made significant progress by opening route from C1 to C3 despite persistent bad weather.
Italian Duo
Simone Moro and Tamara Lunger have set up C2 on Messner-Messner-Eisendle-Tomaseth 2000 route. “We did a good job and reached Camp 2 and higher. Nice, isn´t it?” Tamara updated on Facebook yesterday. They previously acclimatized till 6000m on Ganalo Peak.
Rupal Side
Justice for All team have reached an altitude of 6200m on Schell Route. At the time of last communication, they were stuck in snow cave at 6000m – waiting for improvement in conditions. The team reports ‘horrible’ conditions this year. Despite usual snowy conditions in lower sections, it’s either hard ice or bare rocks up on the mountain.
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