Winter Climbs 2013: Still Waiting In Alaska, Moving Up In The Himalaya

The winter climbing season is now underway with a host of teams planning ascents across the Himalaya and elsewhere. With the holidays now firmly behind us, and 2.5 months of winter ahead, those climbers are now settling in and preparing to take on some of the biggest challenges in mountaineer.

One climber who doesn’t back down from those challenges is Lonnie Dupre. He has returned to Denali for another attempt at scaling the tallest mountain in North America in January. Perhaps I should say he hopes to return to Denali to give it another go, because as of this writing, he’s still stuck in Talkeetna, waiting for a lift out to the mountain. Weather conditions have not been favorable to fly so far this month, which means he has to wait for his opportunity to travel. Hopefully he’ll get that chance soon and begin his climb in earnest.

Meanwhile, over in the Himalaya, the Hungarian-American Nanga Parbet expedition, consisting of climbers David Klein, Zoltan Acs, and Ian Overton, is just getting underway. The team hasn’t had a very easy time of it however as some of their gear is missing, forcing them to make due with limited supplies at the moment while they wait for the porters to locate their equipment and deliver it to Base Camp. The trio of climbers isn’t letting that stand in their way however, as they are planning on scouting a new route up the mountain to Camp 1. They hope to reach that point on the mountain in the next few days as they start their acclimatization process.

The Polish Team that has its sights on Broad Peak is still trekking into BC and hopes to arrive there at the start of next week. They’re targeting January 15 for the start of their climb as they hope to make the first winter ascent of that peak. Expect to hear more about their progress in the days ahead.

Stay tuned for more updates as the season gets into full swing and more climbers begin arriving in their respective Base Camps across the Himalaya.

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Kraig Becker

Kraig is an outdoor and adventure travel writer based in Nashville, TN. Over the course of his career, he has contributed to numerous online and print outlets, including Popular Mechanics, Gear Junkie, Outside Online, National Geographic, Digital Trends, Business Insider, TripSavvy, about.com, and of course The Adventure Blog.