KATHMANDU, JANUARY 16
An ambitious Annapurna winter expedition involving a team of eleven, including climbers, Sherpas, and a photographer, has been aborted due to bad weather conditions.
Winds at over 100 km/h are primarily responsible for the termination of the venture, said Thaneswar Guragai, the General Manager of Seven Summit Treks, a prominent trekking and expedition company based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The temperature also dropped to minus 40 degrees Celsius during sunny days, worsening the situation, he added.
Winds beyond 35 km/h are deemed unsafe for the climb, forcing the team to halt their ascent at around 6,900 meters, the height of Camp III, Guragai revealed.
The climbing endeavor was a collaborative effort between SST and renowned Spanish alpinist, Alex Txikon. The diverse team included Brazilian climber Moeses Fiamoncini,Italian climber Mattia Conte, Sherpas Chhepal Sherpa, Gyalu Sherpa, Pasang Nurbu Sherpa, Ming Temba Sherpa, Lakpa Temba Sherpa, Pemba Tasi Sherpa, Tashi Sherpa, and photographer Andres Navamuel.
Txikon, providing updates via his Facebook profile, officially announced the expedition's abandonment.
"Maybe we should be at BC, but for some reason, we are not; surely we have not been smart or effective enough on Annapurna. We fought it, I made a mistake on my own, and we all stood up. I think staying would be foolhardy given the compromising and risky conditions on the mountain. We have decided to say yes to life, leaving behind our pretensions of continuing to try."
The team's ordeal brings to mind the historical significance of Annapurna's winter ascents.
On February 3, 1987, Polish climbers Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer made the first winter ascent of Annapurna (8,091 meters) without supplemental oxygen through the north face.
On December 20, 1987, the Japanese Toshiyuki Kobayashi, Teruo Saegusa, Yasuhiro Saito, and Noboru Yamada stood atop the world's 10th highest peak for the first winter ascent of the south face and the first ascent of the mountain by Japanese in the winter. But the expedition ended in tragedy resulting in the death of Kobayashi and Saito on the descent. Since then, no one has reached the summit of Annapurna in winter.
Attempting to scale an 8,000-meter peak is inherently arduous, but the stakes escalate significantly during winter expeditions, where extreme cold, high winds, and the potential heavy snowfall create formidable challenges.
Alex Txikon's history of conquering 8,000er peaks in winter
But attempting winter ascents is not a new task for Txikon.
In January 2023, Txikon, along with six Sherpas, achieved a historic winter ascent of Mt. Manaslu (8,163 meters). Txikon stood atop the mountain in his third attempt, following an unsuccessful endeavor in the 2021/22 winter. It may be noted that Mt. Manaslu had not been summited in winter for over two decades. As of January 2023, the peak had only seen five winter expeditions, and 22 climbers reaching the summit during winter.
Txikon's winter mountaineering feats extend beyond Mt. Manaslu. In the winter of 2010, he led a team to Ama Dablam before embarking on a winter Everest expedition. At that time, they scaled Ama Dablam in both meteorological and astronomical winter.
The 42-year-old Spanish climber has ascended 11 of 14 8000-meter peaks. In 2016, Txikon, along with Simone Moro and Ali Sadpara, set a record by becoming the first climbers to scale Nanga Parbat in winter.
Annapurna is the world's 10th highest peak situated in the Annapurna mountain range in north-central Nepal. Soaring to 8,091 meters (26,545 feet) above sea level, the mountain is known for the difficulty and danger in its ascent and descent.
What inspired this team?
Moses Fiamoncini, a seasoned mountaineer, and a member of the aborted expedition, sheds light on the intense drive that fuels their ambitions.
"I would like to confess that we, and I, in particular, are so passionate about what we do that we are capable of risking our lives to reach the top; 'Winning, more than anything, our freedom, achieving our goals, and exalting our ego to the utmost, carrying out the most selfish act we can undertake is what pushes us to take on challenges involving the ascent of winter Annapurna."
Fiamoncini's quest for 8,000m peaks amid personal sacrifice
This was Moses Fiamoncini's fourth attempt on Annapurna. In his three ealier attempts, he had attempted to tackle the peak without supplemental O2 each time. This time too, he attempted without bottled O2.
Fiamoncini, 44, who has already made summits of eight peaks above 8000m, making history as the first Brazilian to climb Dhaulagiri and the true summit of Manaslu and becoming the first Brazilian to conquer most summits of peaks above 8000m.His pursuit is not without personal sacrifice, as he tragically lost four friends -Spanish Sergi Mingote, Chilean Juan Pablo Mohr, Pakistani Ali Sadpara, and Bulgarian Atanas Skatov - during the winter K2 expedition in 2021, a bond formed during the ascent of Dhaulagiri.
Now, he is on his mission to climb all 14th 8,000-meter mountains. Of them, he has already scaled eight peaks. He climbed Nanga Parbat (8126m), the world's ninth-highest peak, and K2 (8611m), the second-highest peak on earth, in 2019. He made other summits of Broad Peak (8,051m), the world's 12th highest peak, Gasherbrum II (8035m), the world's 13th highest mountain, Gasherbrum I (8,080m), the 11th highest peak on earth, Manaslu (8,163m), the world's eighth-highest peak, Dhaulagiri (8167m), the world's seventh-highest peak, and Everest (8848.86m), the world's highest peak. He conquered all the mountains without supplemental oxygen except Everest.
Mattia Conte's second winter pursuit at an 8,000er peak
Joining the expedition was Mattia Conte, an Italian climber, on his second attempt at an 8,000-meter peak in winter.
This was Mattia Conte's first attempt on Annapurna in winter. Earlier, Conte made an attempt on K2 in 2021. He declined to continue the summit push of K2 after his friend and expedition partner Sergi Mingote was died during the expedition.
Previously, he has made summits of Manaslu, Gasherbrum II, and Broad Peak.
