Yesterday I posted an update on some of the big winter climbs that are now underway but noted that there had been no word from the Hungarian-American Winter Nanga Parbat expedition. Today at long last we received an update via the team's Facebook page, giving us some news on their progress thus far.According to the dispatch, the team, which consists of Hungarian climbers David Klein and Zoltan Acs, as well as American Ian Overton, climbed up to 5100 meters (16,732 ft) yesterday as part of their on going acclimatization process. They are currently back in Base Camp however, where they continue to wait for the rest of their gear to arrive.
It seems that a significant amount of their equipment has been MIA since their arrival in Pakistan and it is having an effect on their living conditions in BC at the moment. The climbers are currently without a generator and warmer community tent, although both are expected to arrive in the next few days. The generator will allow them to keep their communications gear more fully charged and stay in better contact with their support team. Hopefully that means more regular updates on their progress once they are fully supplied.
Meanwhile, Lonnie Dupre is continuing to struggle with weather conditions on Denali. He remained at 8800 feet (2682 meters) due to the poor conditions and his home team reports that the mountain was hit with seven feet of new snow on Sunday, making it nearly impossible for any movement at the time. Depending on where it fell, that could bring some seriously unstable conditions to the region, making it even more challenging to go up. With two weeks to go, it seems like Lonnie will need a major improvement to the weather to have a shot at the summit, but so far January hasn't exactly been the most cooperative month for climbing.
That's all for now. More news to come as it breaks.
