Pakistan kick-off! Summer 2009 Karakoram list of expeditions

(09.05.2009)

K2 double headers

Austrian Gerfried Göschl will lead a strong group for Nanga Parbat and K2. Gerfried hopes to climb a new route on Nanga's North-West face together with friends Günther Unterberger, Hans Goger and Louis Rousseau.

Also K2 will hopefully get a new line; Gerfried, Louis Rousseau and Jorge Egocheaga will give it a shot if conditions allow. Other members in Gerfried's team are Dr. Günther Straub (co-leader), Kilian Volken from Switzerland, Giuseppe Pompilli, etc. Scottish Himalaya veterans Sandy Allan and Rick Allen will share climbing permit with Gerfried's expedition.

Frederic Roux will lead a six-member team on a BP+K2 double header.

Australian outfitter Field Touring Alpine will be heading back to K2 in 2009 with a 15 person attempt on the SSE spur, or Cesen route. FTA has a double permit that includes Broad Peak, where several of the K2 climbers will go first to aid acclimatization.

This will be the third serious commercial attempt on the hill after FTA's previous effort in 2006, and Amical Alpin's successful ascent of the mountain via the Abruzzi Ridge in 2004. The expedition is not fully guided though: "We have professional leaders running the K2 trip, but it’s not a situation where the guide will lead anybody to the summit," FTA's Dave Hancock stated. "What we have is a group of likeminded climbers pooling their efforts to surmount a significant Himalayan objective - the entire team will be working to get the strongest members to the top." All team members are experienced 8000ers climbers, with Fabrizio Zangrilli one of the leaders.

K2 ski-descent

Swedish extreme skier Fredrik Ericsson hopes to achieve the first complete ski descent from K2's summit. The expedition will kick off in June, 2009. Fredrik and Italian Michele Fait will acclimatize in a ski-descent of Laila Peak (6069m) and climb K2 SSE ridge mid-July, with no supplementary 02 and their ski-touring boots on.

The current K2 ski expedition is the first stage in Fredrik's project to become the first person to ski the world’s three highest mountains: Mount Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga. Fredrik Ericsson has completed ski descents on Peak Somoni, Shisha Pangma, Gasherbrum 2 and Dhaulagiri.

K2

Maxut Zhumayev and four other members in the Kazakh National Team will give K2 another try.

Hosaka Akinori will lead 10 men.

American Nick Rice has tentative plans to return to K2 for a second attempt. He’ll climb via the SSE Spur (or Spanish) route on the mountain.

Chinese climber Shi Hai Feng will attempt K2 together with a climbing mate.

Broad Peak

Lober Dakovic will lead a seven member team from Croatia.
Jordi Bosch will lead a five member team.
Saltoro Summits outfit has an international 8-member team with Swiss Eelco Jansen leading.
Climber and Paraglider Antoine Girard is leading another team.
Stephan Schanderl is leading a large team launched by the DAV's (German Alpine Club) Summit club.
Ryszard Pawlowski is leading five fellow Poles.
Amical is launching teams on Broad Peak and GII this season. Broad Peak will be led by Dirk Groeger.

Nanga Parbat

After summiting Manaslu, Joao Garcia hopes to turn Nanga Parbat into his 13th 8000er.

Kim Jae Soo will be in place leading a 7-member Korean team.

Gasherbrum multiple climbs

Scottish Bruce Normand is leading a six member team attempting the four taller Gasherbrums, including two 8000ers, scarcely visited GIII and the highly difficult GVI. Bruce summited K2 two years ago as member in Chris Warner and Don Bowie's Shared Summits expedition.

Dirk Grunert will attempt both Gasherbrums plus GVI, together with three other climbers.

G-I & G-II Doubles

Altitude Junkies' Phil Crampton is leading an international team on both Gasherbrums, launched jointly by his outfitter and Jamie McGuinness' Project-Himalaya.

Fresh from achieving a first climb on Dome Kang (a 6000+meter summit in Kangchenjunga region) in spring, at 70 years old Spaniard Carlos Soria is ready to attempt both Gasherbrums. The climbing permit has been issued for an eight member team.

A second Spanish expedition, led by Luis Barbero, is also scheduled to attempt both Gasherbrums.

G1

Marek Holecek will lead a 10 member Czech team on Hidden Peak.

G-II

Russian Valery Babanov is going for Gasherbrum II.
Kari Kobler is returning to GII. Expedition leader on the climbing permit is Ueli Steck.
Kim Jae Soo is leading a seven member Korean team.
Javier Gorospe is leading a five member Spanish team.
Amical Alpin is launching a team led by Herbert Wolf.
Jagged Globe expedition leaders are David Hamilton and Adele Pennington.

Spires & Lower peaks

Takeshi Yamakawa (leader), teaming up with two fellow Japanese climbers, will attempt Kunyan Chich.

American Steve House is attempting Masherbrum (also called K1) with two climbing mates.

Young Slovenian climber Irena Mrak and her climbing partner will give Rakaposhi a try.

Raphael Slawinski will lead a five member team from USA/Canada on Pumari Chhish, in the Mustagh-Hispar range.

Kim Se Joon will lead a six member team from South Korea on Latok I this season. Also American Colin Haley & Josh Wharton are aiming for Latok I this summer, with two other climbers.

Alexis Montader will lead two fellow French climbers on Spantik. Gerhard Wegmair will lead three fellow Austrians. Yonezawa Hiroo is leading a six member Japanese team. Kim Hyung IL will lead 5 fellow Koreans. Rounding off the Golden Peak (Spantik) is Japanese Fumitaka Ichimura with one partner.

Mirco Stalder is leading a six member Swiss team on K7.

Douglas Chabot got a Mugs Stump Award for an attempt together with Bruce Miller on the unclimbed Kuk Sar II. Before the climb, Doug will spend time with Greg Mortenson's CAI humanitarian project in the nearby Chapruson Valley.

Shim, Gwon Sik is leading a seven member Korean team on Tahu Rutum peak.

Godspeed climbers!

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Autor: K2Climb.net

Further information at: http://www.k2climb.net/news.php?id=18298