Winter 2015 | K2 Permit Issues, Three Teams Ready for Nanga Parbat

Months after physical, mental and financial preparations for an endeavour like attempting K2 via new route in winter, you suddenly receive an email, right before departure, that your climbing permit has been withdrawn. It does happen if you are climbing in China. On the other hand, three teams are ready for winter Nanga Parbat; there were no expeditions to the mountain during summer climbing season.

K2 Permit Retracted
"Dear Mr. Denis, after conferring with friends we decided to cancel permit your team to climb K2. Good luck! I hope we will see us for a cup of tea! All the best! With warm greetings from Xinjiang... etc. etc. Sincerely Yours Mr. Lee," Denis Urubko was stunned by the latest development. The team coordinated with relevant authorities to get the matter sorted out.

From latest update, it appears that permit has been issued, but with a delay of two weeks. Adam Bielecki wrote on Facebook today, "I should get upset but all in all I am glad :-) Due to the Chinese bureaucracy, the start of trip is delayed by approximately 2 weeks. So, the holidays with my family:-)"


Tomek Mackiewicz
Tomek Mackiewicz has been in Rupal valley since past few weeks. He has acclimatized to over 5000m on different mountains. Although, the acclimatization is not sufficient for an alpine style attempt on Nanga Parbat, he should be able to progress swiftly on the Diamir face.

It appears that Tomek has two route options in his mind. a) Messner 1978 route. b) Route to the left of Kinshofer, which was first attempted by Reinhold Messner, Hubert Messner, Hanspeter Eisendle and Wolfgang Tomaseth in 2000. He shall be reaching Diamir BC by next week.

Daniele and Elisabeth
Elisabeth Revol is expected to reach Pakistan by Dec 20th, whereas Daniele Nardi will be arriving a week later. He will be accompanied by Roberto Delle Monache (mountaineer and videographer) and Federico Santini (videographer). Daniele will attempt Mumery Rib for third time.

Russian Team
A strong team of Russians Nickolay Totmjanin, Valery Shamalo, Serguey Kondrashkin and Victor Koval will be leaving for Pakistan on December 22nd. Precise information about climbing route is not available yet.

Iranian Expedition
Third Nanga Parbat expedition consists of three climbers Reza Bahadorani, Iraj Maani and Mahmoud Hashemi from Iran. The trio will be arriving in Pakistan at around second week of January. They will be climbing on Diamir side, although route is not confirmed.

Tomek's route options on Nanga Parbat; Source

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