Tuesday 28 July 2009

This one is a nice one



There is always a next one and that one will be a pure winter one and I think I will opt for Kwangde in Nepal. The North Face of Kwangde is classic ground and the summit is just shy of 6200 meters with some superb ice lines finding its way up the face.

The routes in the picture are: (purple line) Extra-Blue Ciel (ED2, Sam Beaugey, Christophe Profit, Andre Rhem, Jerome Ruby, 1995); (green line) Breashears-Lowe Route, 1982; (red line) Normal Routes Have Nothing Extraordinary (ED2 WI 5+, Stéphane Benoist, Frédéric Gottardi, 2006). Source and picture from http://www.climbing.com. There is a few more routes on the face not shown in this picture.

Ines Pappert did a new route last winter that share exit wit the Profit route. I think we will opt for the Lowe or Profit route but who knows where the ice is best formed. At the end of the day that will be the deciding factor. It is defiantly possible to do new routes on the face but again conditions have to be good as well as time to scout so I don't think thats an option for this winter expedition.

Our aim is to do a pure winter accent so we have to arrive in BC after December 21st and top out before March 23rd. I think there is a winter definition according to the Nepal standards that is starting in mid December but Simone Moro and other winter climbers are pushing hard for the UIAA definition and I think they are spot on. Well this is early plans and they depend on my knee recovery but I really want to get some thing done in Himalaya during 2009/2110 so this would be an ideal target as I think Kwangde is a perfect winter mountain.