Despite the long update yesterday on everything that is going down in the Himalaya, there is still plenty more to say today, beginning on Baruntse where the Ski The Himalayas Team has moved up to C2 at 20,000 feet, and are beginning the next phase of their climb, making an alpine style first ascent on an unknown route. They don’t make any mention of their intended summit day, noting that they don’t know how hard or how long the climb will be at this point. Baruntse is a 23,390 foot peak that they intend to make the first descent on skis as well.
Over on Kangchenjunga, Korean climber Oh Eun-sun has claimed the first summit of the season on that mountain, amidst very high winds. Edurne Pasaban has reached C3, where she will wait for two days and pray that the winds die down before making her own summit bid. The Spanish team was said to be concerned for the Koreans due to the conditions, and were standing by to assist if needed. So far, no word of any issues.
Denis Urubko and climbing partner Boris Dedeshko have set their sights on a new route on Cho Oyu, making an alpine style attempt on the South East Ridge. The two very experienced climbers are making a go at the mountain now, but ExWeb reports that they left their sat phone behind, so there will be no word of their progress until they’re up and back. Good luck guys!
Of course, Everest remains the focus with summit days just ahead. The mood on the mountain remains a bit muted today thanks to the death of the Sherpa in the Icefall yesterday. Alan Arnette is reporting that some teams are still forging ahead as planned, hoping to summit on the 12th, while others re-evaluating the schedule and watching the weather. It seems like the middle of the month will now be the target date from both the North and South sides of the mountain.
Finally, as further proof that the First Ascent Team are by far the most well covered and closely followed team on the mountain this year, I came across this story over at MacWorld.com, a site that covers Macintosh Computers and other products from Apple. It seems that the team and the production crew following them, have been using MacBook Pro laptops and iPods on the mountain, which has garnered the already over exposed rockstar climbing team even more coverage.
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