When 10 Nepalese climbed K2 together on 16 January last, some said it was the end of an era: the last page in the history of winter climbing seemed to be written. A year later, we can see that this is not really the case: winter Himalayan climbing is booming, with at least four attempts underway on Everest, Nanga Parbat, Manaslu and Cho Oyu. Why the rush?
Currently, there are climbers battling bitter cold on Nanga Parbat, Everest and Manaslu; Gelje Sherpa prepares an all-Nepali team to open a new route on Cho Oyu, and a commercial team is (still) expected on K2.
In addition, we have seen some top-end climbers performing on lesser peaks that seem to ‘grow’ when attempted in winter conditions. Such is the case of Marcin Tomaszewski and Damian Bielecki on a literally frozen up Uli Biaho, and multi-awarded Kazuya Hiraide completing a first