Indonesian Digital News Archive

One of the few teams still in Pakistan this summer is the Trango Air Wall squad. The four person group that consists of Liv Sansoz, Tim Emmett, Jérome Blanc-Gras and Manu Guy have been attempting to climb the Great Trango Tower, a 6286 meter (20,623 ft) granite spire and then BASE jump from the top. Updates to their website have been few and far between, although there have been status reports on their Facebook page where today we learn that they are abandoning the climb.

The news actually comes via an update by Trey Cook on the EpicTV Daily. Trey reports that he spoke directly with the team while they were still on the Tower and they said that they were successful in their climb but poor weather was preventing them from reaching their exit point. The team spent 12-14 hours scaling the Great Tower but rapidly deteriorating conditions were preventing them from actually making the jump. So, with that in mind the four climbers were preparing to descend in the usual fashion then return to Base Camp before starting the long journey home.

This is just another example of how fickle the weather has been in the Karakoram this year. Aside from a short weather window at the end of July, it has been nearly impossible for anyone to climb in the region this summer. Thankfully some of the teams were able to achieve their goals when that window opened or it would have been an awful season indeed. The question is whether or not 2012 is an anomaly or if shifting global weather patterns are giving us a glimpse of what to expect in the future as well. At this point there is no answer to that and we'll just have to wait and see how things play out next summer.

Congratulations to the Trango Air Wall team on a successful climb. It's a shame they didn't get the chance to BASE jump, but job well done none the less. Hopefully everyone will descend safely and get home in one piece.

The Pakistan climbing season is slowly grinding to a halt with just a few teams still active in the region. Unfortunately, there have been few updates over the past week or so as climbers continue to proceed with some major climbs.

K2 remains a focus of course with Al Hancock still on the mountain. In his last update, which came over a week ago, Al indicated that his team had been up as high as Camp 2 and that they were back in Base Camp, resting and preparing for a summit push. Since then there has been no word on the team's status and we can only assume that they may have started their ascent. For now we'll just have to wait for Al to re-emerge and fill us in on the expedition.

One climber who did successfully top out on K2 last week was Polish mountaineer Adam Bielecki who made the ascent without the use of supplemental oxygen. Adam has posted a debrief on his climb on PolishWinterHimaism.pl in which he shares some details on the climb and some great photos as well. Bielecki notes that July 31st was an unprecedented day on the mountain with 28 climbers reaching the summit. For K2 that is an unbelievably high number and gives us a good indication of how good the conditions must have been during that ascent. Thanks to ExWeb for sharing the link to Adam's debrief and be warned. If the link to the Polish website set off the malware warning in my browser. I'm not sure if the site will cause problems or not, but be aware before you head over to read the update.

Finally, the Trango Air Wall expedition should be proceeding on schedule as well, but there haven't been any updates on their progress either. The team did post the video below however which gives some insights into what they are hoping to accomplish on the climb and how the four members came together to make an attempt on the 6286 meter (20,623 ft) Great Tower which they hope to BASE jump off the top. Hopefully we'll get more news on their progress soon as well.

Austrian BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner has successfully completed his second test-jump as he prepares for an attempt at the world record for the highest skydive. Yesterday Felix donned his specially designed pressure suit, boarded a balloon filled with helium and proceed to climb to an altitude of 96,640 feet (29,455 meters). At that point, he opened his tiny capsule, stepped out into the void and let gravity take its effect.

What followed was a 3 minute, 48 second freefall during which Baumgartner reached speeds in excess of 536mph/863kph. It took him 10 minutes, 36 seconds to complete the entire jump, which was all just a dress rehearsal for the big event which could come this fall. At that time, Felix will attempt to jump from 120,000 feet (36,576 meters).

The video below gives us a good glimpse at the balloon, Felix's suit and the huge effort that is going into this project. The images from the edge of space aren't bad either.

Not a whole lot has changed since our last update from Pakistan a few days ago. The teams are mostly in a holding pattern at the moment as they wait to see what the weather will give them. Some have called it quits for the season and started the long journey home, while others are simply trading one Base Camp for another.

One of those climbers who is switching peaks is Al Hancock who left Broad Peak yesterday and is now en route to K2 where he'll hope to have better luck. Al was climbing as part of the Field Touring Alpine team, who made a summit bid on BP last weekend but were turned back due to heavy snow and avalanche dangers above 7000 meters (22,965 ft). It'll take a few days for him to reach BC on K2 where he'll no doubt continue sharing his excellent dispatches once he's had the opportunity to get settled.

Speaking of the FTA team, they posted an update on their status yesterday and their weather forecasts say that there will not be another window in the near future. With that in mind and as they recover from their previous efforts, the rest of the squad will now return to Skardu and start to head home. They gave the expedition all they could but Mother Nature simply had other plans for the mountain this year.

While one expedition comes to a close another is just getting under way. I mentioned the Trango Air Wall project awhile back and it seems the team is now in Pakistan and making its way from Islamabad to Skardu. For those who don't remember, this is the group of four climbers who intend to scale Nameless Tower and BASE jump from the top. The Tower stands 6240 meters (20,472 ft) in height and features a massive 800 meter (2524 ft) wall that is amongst the most difficult high altitude climbs in the world. If successful in their bid, Liv Sansoz, Jérôme Blanc-Gras and Manu Guy, all of France, as well as Brit Tim Emmett, will be the first to BASE jump from the massive rock spire that is part of the Trango Towers.

Finally, there has been no news on K2 from either Peter Hamor or Tunc Findik. That can only lead us to believe that the weather remains bad and that the climbers are still biding their time in BC while they wait for an opportunity to shuttle more gear up the mountain. The next few weeks will be very telling on that mountain, the most difficult in the region if not the world.

The summer climbing season in the Karakoram is just starting to ramp up and we have another major expedition to keep an eye on in the weeks ahead. A team of climbers, mostly from France, has set its sights on not only climbing the 6240 meter (20,472 ft) Nameless Tower – one of the Trango Towers – but also BASE jumping from the top. They all this project the Trango Air Wall expedition and it is set to get underway next month.

The expedition, which looks to get underway around the 20th of July and last about a month, will go up the Eternal Flame route. That approach is on the Southeast Face and will require roughly three to five days to complete, all of it spent on the wall itself. The team, which consists of Liv Sansoz, Jérôme Blanc-Gras and Manu Guy, all of France, as well as Brit Tim Emmett, will attempt to free climb the face in a fast, minimalist approach. To do that they'll have to overcome a difficult 800 meter (2624 ft) sheer rock face with 30 very challenging pitches, at altitude no less.

Of course, the climb is just the first part of the expedition because when they get to the top the four men intend to make the first-ever BASE jump off the tower itself. Using wingsuits and parachutes they hope to glide safely back where they started, with impressive views of the Baltoro Glacier, the Karakoram and K2 surrounding them. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but that is one helmet cam video that I'm already looking forward to!

You can find out more about his project, although you may need to use Google Translate, at the expedition's official website.

Yesterday I posted a story and video of Russian Base Jumper Valery Rozov, who had reportedly set a new world record for the highest jump ever. Turns out that wasn't exactly true and Rozov's sponsor, Redbull, has quickly corrected their error.

The story that was widely being reported yesterday was that Rozov and a couple of climbing partners spent six days summiting Mt. Shivling in India. When they reached the top, Rozov used a wingsuit to descend from the 6543 meter (21,466 ft) peak. In the initial press releases that were sent out, that was hailed as new altitude record. But according to this story from CNN, the actual record is held by Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan. That husband and wife team made a jump from the summit of Mt. Meru, also located in India, which is 6604 meters (21,666 ft) in height.

As you can imagine, Singleman and Swan were a bit "miffed" when they heard the news, especially since it was covered by a number of news outlets. To Redbull's credit however, as soon as the error came to light, they changed their statement to read the jump was Rozov's highest ever and that it was another great addition to his already accomplished career. Rozov simply said that he didn't really care about records at all.

Thanks to Chris for sharing the CNN link.

Base jumper Valery Rozov spent a month in the Indian Himalaya preparing for a climb up the 6543 meter (21,466 ft) Mt. Shivling. It took him six days to complete the ascent, but just 90 seconds to return to the base. While at the summit, Rozov stepped out of his climbing gear, donned his wingsuit and took flight. A minute and a half later he was on the ground, but his climbing partners would require another three days to get back down.

Rozov, who is well known for his dramatic and daring Base Jumps, set a new world's record for the highest altitude jump on this expedition.

Need a little afternoon inspiration? Than check-out the video below, which features a number of amazing athletes doing some amazing things. You'll find everything from mountain climbers and paddlers (Looks like Ueli!) to Base Jumpers and skateboarders, amongst numerous others, all pulling off some epic feats. Definitely a fun video that is well worth sharing.

Thanks to Nic and Jeff for passing this along. I caught it sometime back but hadn't been able to find a version I could embed to share on the blog. Maybe the video will give us some ideas on what to do in June, eh?