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March 2005 news

31 March, 2005 Spanish climber Eduardo Perez Errea (21) from Barselona died on Elbrus on March, 26 - according the message from Elbrus Rescue Service. He climbed alone and without registration in Rescue Service and without radio. Our condolences to friends and relatives...

29 March, 2005 The winners of All-Russia Mountaineering Winter Championship became the team of Dagestan Mountaineering Federation for their climb to Yerydag (NW Face, through carnices at the right bastion), 6b Russian Grade, first ascent. Members: Shanavazov (leader), Afanasjev, Bibin, Grigorov, Dorro, Tabakov.

27 March, 2005 Jannu team was awarded by Golden Edelweiss March, 26 in Moscow - national prize for the best climb of the year.

22 March, 2005 Russian Mountaineering Federation has awarded ranks the Master of Sports to
Alexander Belkin (Kemerovo)
Maxim Vlasov (Magnitogorsk)
Lev Dorfman (Moscow)
Maxim Krivosheev (Irkutsk)
Andrew Mariev (Togliatti)
Daniil Primerov (Yekaterinburg)
Alexander Shabunin (N. Tagil)
Andrew Shonin (Magnitigorsk)

17 March, 2005 Great rock climbing event - St.Petersburg Climbing
Festival "Climbing for Everybody" will be held on 5-9 of May, 2005. The festival programme

13 March, 2005

Serguey Shakuro: Himalaya watercolors .

 

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29 March, 2005 Panama climber Alexander Ivan Chen Arrocha and Phurba Tamang Sherpa (members of of the Summit Climb team, led by American Dan Mazur) died while descending from Pumori, which they summited March, 25. They slipped down and fell to the glacier.

29 March, 2005 Silvio Mondinelli with partners set BC and brought loads to 5000 m March, 27. Very difficult route, they have fixed 500 m of ropes. They had already Puja in BC. Acclimatization goes well.

23 MArch, 2005 Indian Army has finally officially confirmed that an all-women team will attempt Everest this spring. However, the uneasy political situation in Nepal has dissuaded the army officials to enter the country. The team will launch the climb from Tibet instead.

23 March, 2005 Inaki Ochoa was caught in an avalanche yesterday during his solo attempt on Shisha Pangma. He fell 100 on the North Ridge route. Luckily, he suffered no serious harm and made it back safely to BC.

18 March, 2005 Inaki Ochoa: solo summit push on Shisha Pangma. Yesterday he hurried up to a small camp he had previously set at 5900. He's going to set a tent at 6800 today, and, if he feels well, he could try for the summit the same day. Otherwise, he’ll rest in the tent and attempt the summit on Saturday. The route - NW side, possibly through the normal route or may be a variation - depending on the conditions. The solo climber will have to traverse the Central summit (8008m) and move until he reaches the main summit (8027m).

9 March, 2005 Inaki Ochoa reached Shisha Pangma BC on March 4. He's ready for a solo bid on the mountain. He climbed a nearby 5800m peak for a better view of Shisha’s route conditions. “It looks OK.” The climber will be completely alone on the mountain except for a Sherpa cook who will remain in BC, at 5030m.

Ochoa spent a few weeks in the Khumbu Valley to acclimatize before heading for Tibet. He reported on the political situation as being fairly quiet in Kathmandu, but was concerned about road blocks, as he intended to enter Tibet by road. (www.mounteverest.net)

3 March, 2005 Iran Mountaineering Federation was organizing an all female Everest expedition this year. Sixty nine women accepted the challenge and attended various test climbs since December. The expedition won’t be exclusively feminine though: men’s mountaineers will accompany this expedition and also attempt to summit themselves. The last successful climbs by an Iranian team on Everest was in May 1998, when four members summited the mountain. Final results (women):
1- Farkhondeh Sadegh
2- Rezvan Salmasi
3- Laleh Keshavarz
4- Roya Sadat-Ghazanfari
5- Leila Bahrami
6- Nasrin Nemati (Reserved)
7- Parvin Rezaei (Reserved) (www.mounteverest.net)

2 March, 2005 Nepal: KATHMANDU -- Seventy Maoist rebels were killed after a major clash with Nepal's security forces. The clash erupted at Mahammadpur village as security forces were clearing a roadblock placed by the rebels.The gunbattle started in the early evening and lasted four hours.

Four security personnel were also killed during the fighting in Bardiya, about 500 km southwest of Kathmandu on Monday

23 MArch, 2005 Indian Army has finally officially confirmed that an all-women team will attempt Everest this spring. However, the uneasy political situation in Nepal has dissuaded the army officials to enter the country. The team will launch the climb from Tibet instead.

Army chief General J J Singh explained the decision to media last Friday in New Dehli: "The Nepalese government had cleared the team’s attempt from the southern side. But keeping in view the team’s security and the movement of stores over a long distance prone to Maoists attacks, we have decided to let the women team make the bid from the Chinese route."

Apparently the threat was serious for Indian climbers: Intelligence officials told India Daily that the Maoists were planning to kidnap the Indian military personnel.

The 10-member team, comprising women aged 20 to 27 years, was selected after screening 140 volunteers. The team includes women from various parts of the country, from West Bengal to Gujarat, and from the remote areas of Leh and Ladakh to the villages of Orissa.

The women have trained at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Uttarkashi, and they have been working out hard, indeed.

Besides high-altitude glacier marches, the women were trained in ice, snow and rock climbing skills. As a preparatory climb, the women summited Mt. Abi Gamin (7,355 m) in the Garhwal Himalayas in October 2004.

The selected women also trained in sub-zero temperatures at the Siachen glacier in January. "The team braved the harsh terrain and hostile climate with tremendous mental and physical toughness," an army spokesman told the New Kerala.

The team will fly to Lhasa via Kathmandu and from there they will drive to Everest’s North side BC. The leader of the expedition is Maj. S.S. Shekhawat, who has climbed Everest twice. The team is supported by a technical team of experienced climbers from the Indian Army.

Another - all-male, this time - Indian Air Force team was confirmed as well earlier last week. They will follow the women team and climb the North Col route as well.

23 March, 2005 Inaki Ochoa was caught in an avalanche yesterday during his solo attempt on Shisha Pangma. He fell 100 on the North Ridge route. Luckily, he suffered no serious harm and made it back safely to BC. Yesterday, Inaki set Camp I at 6000m but resumed the climb after pitching the tent. He wanted to check the snow conditions and open a trail for the summit bid the following day.

"I was doing good,” he told his home team. “But after traversing a plateau at 6.500m, I noticed that the snow conditions there were bad. The risk of avalanche was too high, so I turned back.

A moment later I heard a roar behind me. I turned around to check what was going on: There was nothing I could do, I was caught and fell about 100 meters down the slope. It has been so scary!".

Inaki is now in back Base Camp with a strong pain in his right shoulder: "I don’t know what’s wrong with the shoulder; it may be sprained. I'll head home to have it treated andto recover before going for Dhaulagiri and Annapurna in April and May. I expect I can make it back to Kathmandu by the 23rd of March. I’ll go to hospital there for first aid and then travel home to Spain to rest for some days." (www.mounteverest.net)

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