season - Climb Magazine

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S SEASON
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WINTER CLIMBING
IN THE KARAKORAM 2013
Winter in the Karakoram is amongst the most unforgiving environments for climbing. Despite the
ferocious winds and extreme cold, last winter saw two very impressive ascents, but at a great cost
I
n the harsh Karakoram winter of 2013, a
number of teams attempted first winter ascents.
Only two were successful, and although
contrasting markedly, both were highly
significant. Sadly, one would end in tragedy.
Before this year there had been six attempts to
climb Broad Peak (8047m) in winter. None were as
successful as the first, which still remains one of the
most remarkable in the history of Himalayan winter
climbing.
In 1987-8, the great Polish expedition leader
Andrezj Zawada organised an attempt on K2. With
a more northerly latitude and far harsher winter
conditions, the Karakoram presents a considerably
greater challenge than the high mountains of Nepal
in the same season. Zawada’s concept was well
ahead of its time; no one successfully climbed a
Pakistan 8,000er in winter until 2011.
By the end of February 1988, the Poles had failed
to get higher than 7,000m on K2 and chances of
success were deemed slim. Team members Maciej
Berbeka and Aleksander Lwow, two of the strongest
mountaineers of their day, were given permission to
make a light and fast attempt on neighbouring Broad
Peak. Lwow gave up high on the mountain, leaving
Berbeka to continue alone. He reached the ‘summit’
in strong winds and gathering gloom, and during
the descent bivouacked in a snow hole in the vicinity
of the 7,900m pass between Main and Central
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summits, before regaining his top camp at 7,300m
next day. Later, after studying photographs, Berbeka
realised he had made a mistake, having stopped on
the 8,028m foresummit, only around 400m away
from the main summit.
The seventh winter expedition to the mountain was
the fourth by Polish, and led by the veteran Himalayan
winter mountaineer, 63 year-old Krzysztof Wielicki,
the first person to climb Everest in winter. It was a
small team but included none other that Berbeka, now
58, and the much younger Adam Bielecki, who one
year previously had made the first winter ascent of
Gasherbrum I. They arrived in base camp on the 23rd
January 2013, and began establishing ropes and camps
on the Normal Route.
At dawn on the 5th March, Berbeka, Bielecki,
Tomasz Kowalski and Artur Malek left Camp 4
(7,400m) for a summit push. This departure time
was based on three things: good conditions and
a good weather forecast for the coming days; the
traditional ‘rule’ of not setting out at night on high
mountains in winter; and the fact that the climbers
had reached camp quite late, having climbed directly
from Camp 2 (6,300m), and therefore needed
adequate rest. Above 7,700m there were three
crevasses, and the most difficult was secured with a
fixed rope.
They reached the 7,900m pass at 12:30pm,
then discovered that the ridge to the foresummit,
normally only a couple of hours work in summer,
had been highly sculptured by winter winds and
presented unexpected difficulties. They roped up
and reached this top at 4:00pm. After radio contact
with Wielicki in base camp, they unroped and
continued separately to the summit, Bielecki arriving
at 5:20pm, the remaining three in the next 40
minutes. At this altitude in winter, waiting for others
simply brings on rapid general physical deterioration
and hypothermia, making it more risky for the
entire team, so each member immediately started
his descent. Conditions and weather forecast were
exceptionally favourable; night-time temperatures
between -29° and - 35°C, almost no wind, no clouds
and therefore perfect visibility.
Unfortunately, once they left the summit 27 yearold Kowalski, a relative newcomer to high altitude
climbing, suddenly deteriorated. It took him 12
hours to reach the pass (normally around one hour
in summer), where it is surmised he remained. He
made radio contact on a couple of occasions and
reported seeing Berbeka lower down the mountain.
Bielecki returned to Camp 4 at 10:10pm; Malek
arrived at 2:00am on the 6th. During that night
and following morning both tried to reascend to
look for the other two but quickly found they were
too exhausted. Later, on the 6th, the experienced
Pakistani mountaineer, Karim Hayat, set out from
Camp 2 and reached the crevasses at 7,700m.
e
south face of Dhaulagiri. He reached the Japanese
route high on the southwest ridge but was unable
to summit due to bad weather. Later, he made
unsuccessful winter attempts on the Rupal Face of
Nanga Parbat. In autumn 1993, on an expedition
led by Jon Tinker, he became the first Pole to summit
Everest from Tibet, paving the way for Tinker to
become the first Englishman. After this he appears to
have disappeared from high altitude mountaineering,
though continued to visit the Himalaya, and summit
lower peaks, in his professional capacity as an
IFMGA guide.
Berbeka’s ascent of Broad Peak made him only
the fourth person to achieve first calendar winter
ascents of three 8,000m peaks, the others being
Wielicki (Everest, Kangchenjunga and Lhotse),
Jerzy Kukuczka (Kangchenjunga, Dhaulagiri and
Annapurna, although he also climbed Cho Oyu three
days after Berbeka) and Simone Moro (Makalu,
Gasherbrum II and Xixabangma). Only two of the
world’s 8,000ers now awaited a winter ascent - K2
and Nanga Parbat.
Not far to the south of Broad Peak lies the
spectacularly beautiful ice spear of Laila, its summit
almost 2,000m lower but rarely climbed. Laila takes
centre stage of one of the most memorable views seen
Despite good visibility he saw no sign of Berbeka
and Kowalski. With still no sign on the 7th, Wielicki
reluctantly had to accept that, having now spent
two nights out on the mountain with no bivouac
equipment and in difficult conditions, the two
climbers had no further chance of survival.
Maciej Berbeka was one of the major high
altitude Himalayan activists of the 1980s, a time
when the Polish scene was at its zenith. His first
major expedition took place in 1979, when he
was a member of a Polish team that made the first
confirmed ascent of Ngadi Chuli (a.k.a. Peak 29,
7,871m), immediately south of Manaslu in Nepal.
However, he came to global prominence in 1981
when he made a new route on the south face of
Annapurna, climbing direct to the Central Summit
on a line reported to be similar in difficulty to the
north face of the Matterhorn. In January 1984 he
made the first winter ascent of Manaslu: before
that date the only 8,000m peak to have received a
calendar winter ascent was Everest. Then one year
later, on another major Zawada expedition, he made
the first winter ascent of Cho Oyu via a new route
on the southeast pillar.
In the post-monsoon season of 1986 he climbed
a highly difficult new line on the left side of the
by those making the Askole to Hushe trek, along the
Baltoro Glacier and over the Gondokhoro La.
This winter, a four-man Spanish team of José
Fernández, Ramon Portilla, Juanjo San Sebastian
and Alex Txikon established Camp I at 5,200m on
the approach to Laila’s west ridge, and then Camp
2 at 5,600m at a col on the crest, before making a
summit attempt. They failed just 100m below the
top. Portilla had tried the peak twice previously
in summer and felt it highly condition-dependent;
dangerous rather than having any great technical
difficulties. Unfortunately, he suffered frostbite to the
fingers of his right hand on the first attempt and was
unable to take part in any further climbing action.
On the 16th February the other three set off again
from their 4,200m base camp. San Sebastian, who
had injured a knee on the first attempt, was forced
to turn back quite soon, but Fernandez and Txikon,
the latter on his third consecutive winter trip to the
Karakoram (the previous two involving unsuccessful
attempts on Gasherbrum I) battled through deep
snow for seven hours to reach Camp 1. Next day
they made a similar struggle to Camp 2 and at
around 6:30am on the 18th set off for the 6,096m
summit.
The pair climbed for nearly 10 hours in steep
Facing Page: Adam Bielecki on the main summit of Broad Peak, with K2 visible behind. ADAM BIELECKI
This paGe: A twilight view towards Broad Peak and the Gasherbrums from K2 to the north. (A) Gasherbrum I (8,068m), (B) Gasherbrum II (8,035m), (C) Gasherbrum III (7,952m), (D) Gasherbrum IV (7,925m),
(E) Broad Peak Central (8,016m), (F) Broad Peak Main (8,047m), and (G) Broad Peak North (7,490m). Peaks in the far distance are the Ghent Group (7,401m). (1) East Face from China - Spanish Route (Oscar
Cadiach-Enric Dalmau-Lluis Rafols-Alberto Socini, 1992). (2) Central Buttress - Russian Route (Viktor Afanasiev-Valery Babanov, 2008). (3) West Flank/Rib – Normal Route (Marcus Schmuck-Fritz Wintersteller,
followed by Hermann Buhl-Kurt Diemberger, 1957), used on first winter ascent. BRUCE NORMAND
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Top Left: Looking southwest down the Gondokhoro Glacier
from the Gondokhoro La. The prominent ice spear left of center is
Laila, and the winter ascent was made via more or less the right
skyline. Nearer to the camera, on the left, is Trinity Peak. TOMAS
FERNANDEZ-MONTESINOS, SUPPLIED BY CARLOS PENALVA
top Right: The legendary Himalayan winter mountaineer
Krzysztof Wielicki keeping up to date at base camp. ADAM BIELECKi
Centre left: Maciej Berbeka below Camp 2. ADAM BIELECKI
Centre right: The final rise to Broad Peak. The foresummit
is on the right, main summit behind and to the left, and distant
bottom left is Gasherbrum IV. The highly wind-sculpted ridge to the
foresummit is generally a straightforward snow slope in summer.
ADAM BIELECKI lower: Base camp in bleak winter after a
storm. The Normal Route on Broad Peak, followed by the first
winter ascensionists, is marked. (A) Broad Peak North (7,490m).
(B) Broad Peak Central (8,016m). (C) Broad Peak Foresummit
(8,028m). (D) Broad Peak Main (8,047m). (1) North West Ridge
Integral to Broad Peak Main (Jerzy Kukuczka-Voytek Kurtyka,
1984). (2) Spanish (Alberto Inurrategi-Juan Vallejo-Mikel Zabalza,
2010, climbed all three summits). (3) Central Buttress - Russian
Route (Viktor Afanasiev-Valery Babanov, 2008). (4) West Flank/
Rib – Normal Route (Marcus Schmuck-Fritz Wintersteller, followed
by Hermann Buhl-Kurt Diemberger, 1957). (5) West Face-Mexican
Route (Carlos Carsolio, solo, in two stages June-July 1994). (6)
French, to ridge only (Ludovic Giambiasi-Elizabeth Revol, 2009).
ADAM BIELECKI
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soft snow, with winds estimated to gust to 60km/hour,
before reaching the top. They climbed 12 pitches, most
of them 80m; the last two were reported to be through
chest deep snow. The highest point, reached at 4:00pm
was formed by huge powder snow cornices, and the
two stopped 10m below, as close as they deemed safe to
approach. By 8:00pm, following wands placed on the
ascent, they regained Camp 2, the temperature by this
time already down to -35°C. Their GPS on the summit
had recorded an altitude of 6,100m, more or less
identical with the official map height.
Laila, which roughly translates as ‘loved one’, is
characterised by an almost uniform 55° triangular snow/
ice slope forming the northwest face, and a very steep
eastern aspect. Today, attempting peaks below 6,500m
in open areas requires more or less no formality, but 25
years ago this was not strictly the case. By the time an
Italian expedition made the first ‘official’ ascent in 1996
(summit reached on the 2nd July via the northwest face
by Paolo Cavagnetto and Fabio Lacchini, followed a day
later by three other members), the mountain had already
received three ascents.
In 1987 Andy Cave, Tom Curtis, Sean Smith and
Simon Yates, during a productive summer in the Hushe
region, made the first ascent via the northwest face,
then descended by rappelling the east face. Their route
was repeated by a German team in the very early ‘90s,
and again by a Swiss team in 1993. The Italians noted
that the easiest route would follow the west ridge, from
a col accessed via an easy-angled snow couloir. They
descended this way with 10 rappels.
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