Indonesian Digital News Archive

It looks like predictions of the end of the fall season in the Himalaya are proving to be true. This past weekend there were summit bids scheduled on several mountains across the area despite the fact that the jet stream had begun to settle in at the higher altitudes. But those summit attempts were stalled out, at least on Makalu, due to high winds.

One of the climbers who saw her climb brought to an abrupt end was Billi Bierling. She had been on Makalu for the past six week and expected to top out last week until her Sherpa team put Camp 4 in the wrong place. Billi and the rest of her squad had hoped to rest up and give it one more go this past weekend, setting out for the summit on Friday with the hopes of topping out today. Unfortunately they only made it as high as Camp 2 before returning to Base Camp due to the high winds on the upper slopes. The weather forecasts didn't look promising for the days ahead, so the expedition was cancelled and the climbers started for home. After 10+ hour trek to Yangle Kharka yesterday and a brief helicopter ride to this morning, Billi is already back in Kathmandu and promising more information on her experience soon.

Commercial guide service Alpenglow Expeditions posted a dispatch explaining the situation on Makalu as well. They note that they decided to pull the plug on their climb due to the dire forecasts which show no break in the winds for the next two weeks and beyond that it is impossible to tell. Sitting and waiting for two weeks without knowing what lies beyond simply wasn't an option, so they pulled up camp, collected their gear and hit the trail for home. The dispatch hints at more than a little frustration with the situation but such is the experience when climbing in the Himalaya, where the weather is always unpredictable and even more so at this time of the year.

There is also late season news from Manaslu, where EpicTV reports that amidst the tragedy of the avalanche, and the triumph of the summits that followed, one success story was over looked. Last week, German skier Benedikt Bohm became the first person to successfully climb and make a ski descent of the mountain without the use of supplemental oxygen. More impressively, he also made the climber from Base Camp to the summit and back in under 24 hours. Bohm is part of the Dynafit ski team, which also played an instrumental role in helping aid the survivors of the avalanche. Strong members of that team were amongst the first on site in Camp 3 when word of the accident reached the other teams. This is a tremendous achievement on the part of Benedikt and congratulations are certainly in order.

The other two mountains that were expecting summit attempts this past weekend were Everest and Lhotse. I haven't seen any updates on the progress of the teams on those two mountains yet, but it is likely that the jet stream may have prevented them from going up as well. We'll just have to wait for dispatches from Nepal to get word on their success.

Speaking of the impending ski and snowboard season, here's a little video to help get you in the mood. It comes our way courtesy of our friends over at Mountain Hardwear and does a great job of showing the evolution of freeskiing and the making of these kind of films. To say things have changed over the past couple of decades is an understatement to say the least.

Superheroes of Stoke Trailer from MSP Films on Vimeo.

Just in time for the start of the impending ski season, Zeal Optics is introducing a new set of goggles that come equipped with a camera built right in. The new iON HD Camera goggles are capable of capturing both 1080p and 720p video and can take 8 megapixel still images. An in-goggle viewfinder helps you to know exactly what you're shooting at any given time and the oversized buttons make the iON easy to control even while wearing gloves. Videos and images can be easily edited and shared on Facebook, Twitter and social networks as well, so you can brag to your friends about your best powder days.

The 3-hour battery life doesn't sound all that great for long days on the slopes, but this does seem like a fun option for making ski and snowboard videos. The goggles run $399, which is a bit on the expensive side. Particularly when you can buy a GoPro HDHero 2 for less money and it would be far more versatile of a system.

Then again, these are some great looking goggles.

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The news in the adventure community has been dominated with stories from Manaslu this week, where a massive avalanche took the lives of numerous climbers in Camp 3. One of the climbers who was there and was fortunate enough to survive the accident is Glen Plake, a world class skier who had intended on making a ski descent of the mountain. Yesterday, our friends over at EpicTV were able to connect with Glen in Kathmandu via Skype, while also being joined by his wife Kimberly in studio. In that interview, which you'll find in the video below, Glen shares his very personal story of survival while he still deals with the loss of his two friends and climbing/skiing partners Greg Costa and Rémy Lécluse.

EpicTV Weekly 22: Manaslu Avalanche: Glen Plake's Story from EpicTVAdventure on Vimeo.

It is hard to stay motivated late on a Friday afternoon, particularly when the weekend is so near. Sometimes we need a little reminder of all the promise the next few days hold. The video below can help in that department. It's the trailer for a new outdoor/adventure film entitled Pushing The Limits 2012, which is set to debut in December and it quite literally has a little something for everyone. You'll find wingsuits, paragliding skiers, surfers, mountain bikers and more. All doing the things they love and doing it out on the edge. This is like a highlight reel for our planet and some of the amazing people that inhabit it. Beautiful and inspiring. I hope you enjoy it.

Pushing the Limits 2012 Full Trailer - English from Favier Simon on Vimeo.

Yesterday I posted an update from the Himalaya that was mostly about how the teams on Manaslu are currently in a holding pattern while they wait for an opportunity to begin their climb. We had numerous reports from different sources who indicated that a storm had been raging on the mountain for three days and that forecasts seemed to indicate that it would continue for a few more before letting up. Until it does blow over, the climbers will be staying in Base Camp and waiting for conditions to improve.

But late yesterday I also received a conflicting report from the gang at EpicTV that you can read here. It indicates that they have heard from the Moguls to Manaslu team on Sunday, who told them that the storm had passed and that they were planning on heading back up the mountain. You may recall that this squad of climbers, made up of Greg Costa, Rémy Lécluse and Glen Plake, are attempting to climb Manaslu and then make a ski descent all without the use of supplemental oxygen. The trio apparently laid out their plans which would have them going from Camp 2 to Camp 3 today, spending tomorrow resting in C3 before proceeding up to Camp 4 on Thursday and making a final summit push on Friday.

Whether or not that schedule will hold remains to be seen. If the storm has indeed dissipated, it would clear the way for them to begin climbing again although there could be quite a bit of fresh snow along the route, making it difficult to move up. Also, the route from Camp 1 to Camp 2 is prone to avalanches, which means it could be tricky until the snow has settled as well. The team promised to check in with EpicTV again once they were in Camp 2, so for now we'll just have to wait to see if they made it.

The IMG team updated their blog late yesterday as well, indicating that they are still in BC and waiting out the weather. More importantly, their update filled in their plans and what we can expect on Manaslu in the next few days. Once they start up the mountain on their next acclimatization rotation, the plan is to first spend a night in C1 before spending two nights at Camp 2. If everything goes well and the climbers are feeling up to it, they'll then proceed to C3 for a night as well, followed by some rest ahead of a summit push of their own. The dispatch says that at the moment there are no ropes fixed above Camp 3 but that there is a plan in place to finish fixing the lines all the way to the top over the course of the next week. That would seem to indicate that we shouldn't expect the bulk of the climbers to have a go at the summit until sometime early next week.

For now, all we can do is wait and watch the weather too.

I've been posting regular updates on the fall climbing season in the Himalaya over the past few weeks as the teams have arrived in Nepal and slowly filtered out to their mountains. The bulk of the activity has been centered around Makalu and Manaslu thus far and I've tried to keep readers aware of the progress being made on those two peaks, plus a few other random expeditions in the region. But one team that I've been following, but haven't posted about, is the three-man Moguls to Manaslu crew who are attempting to summit that mountain and then ski back down.

The team consists of Glan Plake, Greg Costa and Rémy Lécluse who not only hope to make a ski descent, they hope to complete the entire expedition without the use of supplemental oxygen. The trio have been on the 8156 meter (26,759 ft) for a couple of weeks now and have been steadily acclimatizing on schedule. According to their most recent update this morning, the team has moved up to Camp 2 with plans to proceed up to C3 today and wait out a strong, but short, storm that is expected to dump about 10cm (4 inches) of fresh powder on the mountain. After that storm blows through, the weather forecast says things should be good through the 20th/21st of the month, which could afford them the opportunity to go for the summit, and consequently the ski descent, as early as this weekend. That is well ahead of the schedule that the other guided teams are on for making their ascent of the mountain. Most of those teams are only just arriving or are currently completing their first acclimatization rotations.

The Moguls to Manaslu team has a bit of incentive to go a bit faster now as they've learned that they aren't the only skiers who hope to become the first to take on the Himalayan peak sans oxygen. Greg Hill has also set his sights on that goal and brings an impressive resume with him. If his name sounds familiar, you may recall that Greg was the man who spent all of 2010 attempting to ski 2 million vertical feet, something that he was eventually able to accomplish. In order to do that, you need to be a consistently strong climber and skier.

Greg has been in the Himalaya for a few weeks now as well and has cut his teeth by climbing and skiing Mera Peak, 6470 meter (21,227 ft) mountain this perfect for acclimatizing ahead of Manaslu. His blog hasn't been updated since Sept. 3 but presumably he is either on his way to the main objective or already in Base Camp on Manaslu itself. Either way, it looks like we'll have two impressive ski descents of the mountain this year.

Stay tuned for more and thanks to the gang at EpicTV for keeping us informed on these expeditions.

The calendar still officially reads summer for another couple of weeks but I know more than a few of you are already looking ahead to winter and some fun in the snow. The video below will either help satiate your need for powder or get you even more amped up for the cold weather. It is the trailer for an upcoming ski film called Choose Your Adventure that comes our way courtesy of PowderWhore Productions, who caught some of the top skiers and snowboarders in the world shredding it in some very remote locations. This one looks like it should be a lot of fun.

As with all their films, PowderWhore Productions' upcoming movie Choose Your Adventure will feature some of the top skiers and snowboarders in the world doing their thing on remote mountains across the planet. The official trailer for the film isn't due out for another couple of weeks, but the team decided to have a little fun and produced the video below as a result. It is a parody of the popular Saturday Night Live video "I'm On A Boat" that uses footage from the Antarctic portion of the film. Funny stuff, although not necessarily entirely work safe.

The Revelation Mountains are a sub-range of the Alaska Range and for the most part they are largely unexplored. Rugged and remote, the region is known for its unpredictable weather which can bring abundant snow. Those mountains are the subject of a new Slovenian documentary film entitled Aurora Polaris which was made when a small team of adventurers visited the Revelations for some climbing and skiing. The trailer for the film can be viewed below and the full documentary is scheduled for release in November. Looks like an amazing place!

What's a ski bum suppose to do in the middle of a sweltering July and there isn't a snowflake in sight? Why, enjoy the latest trailer from Teton Gravity Research for their next ski movie The Dream Factory. The full film doesn't come out until September but the video below will get you in the mood for hitting the slopes now.



The Dream Factory Official Trailer - TGR Teton Gravity Research 2012 Ski Movie from Teton Gravity Research on Vimeo.

Norwegian explorers Audun Tholfsen and Timo Palo have completed their arctic adventure at last. The two men, whom I've written about a couple of times throughout their journey, arrived at Longyearbyen a few days ago, closing out a 1600km (994 mile) expedition that took 72 days to finish.

The two men launched their excursion on April 23, starting at 90ºN and heading south towards Svalbard. Using skis and kayaks they crossed vast open areas of ice and ocean, enduring incredibly bad weather, daunting surface conditions and the occasional polar bear while en route.

Audun and Timo estimate that of the 1600 or so kilometers that they covered in their journey about 400km (248 miles) of that was done in a kayak. The rest of the time they were on skis and pulling their gear, including the kayaks, behind them. That's a lot of miles to cover on foot in some of the toughest conditions on the planet.

Now that they've been back for a few days the two men report that they are in good physical condition and recovering nicely from the challenges of the expedition. They say that they've missed hot showers and pizza the most, and I suspect that they are enjoying both right now. They promise to share more information on their adventure once they've had a chance to rest and settle in, so be sure to watch their website for any future updates.

Congrats to both Audun and Timo on a job well done. Those pizzas and hot showers have been well earned mates.

It has been over a month since I posted an update on the progress of Audun Tholfsen and Timo Palo, the two Norwegian explorers who were dropped off at the North Pole back in April and have been making their way south ever since. The boys have had their struggles over the past weeks, but they continue to make good progress and are slowly, but surely closing in on the finish line at last.

While on their journey, Audun and Timo have traveled by ski and kayak as they make their way towards Longyearbyen, on the island of Svalbard. The entire excursion will cover approximately 1400km (870 miles) once it it completed and will mark the longest and most challenging North Polar expedition of the year by far. As of yesterday the duo were at about 82º30' north latitude, which would put them squarely in the Arctic Ocean. But since the area is still mostly frozen, they continue to use a combinations of skiing and paddling to make progress.

The two explorers have been making periodic updates to their blog in which they share the experiences of their travels. Those experiences have included nasty storms that have lasted for several days, dealing with broken equipment, polar bears, difficult terrain and more. All of those things have made the journey a challenging one, but they are still on track to finish sometime late this month, provided they don't encounter more unexpected challenges.

Its great to see that one of the North Pole expeditions is doing well and continuing forward. It's beginning to look like more expeditions will be starting at 90ºN in the future instead of ending there.

Standing 8013 meters (26,289 ft) in height, Shisha Pangma is the 14th highest mountain in the world. In 2010, a group of four mountaineers that included Mark Fisher, Andy Tankersley, Todd Passey and Kim Havell traveled to the peak, which is found in Tibet, to not only climb it but make the first ski descent as well. That expedition resulted in the video below, which I came across this morning on the National Geographic Adventure Blog. In a post to that blog, which can be read here, Havell shares some of the details of their adventure, which sounds like it was truly epic in every sense of the word.

Enjoy this amazing short film that is guaranteed to put some adventure into your Thursday afternoon.