29.06
First cloudy day after one week of blue sky. Probably it is the best weather condition for Joby, who is walking up to "Sheep House" and tomorrow will arrive here in base camp. Today I went again at the base of the face to watch the route I choose but a stone falling push me to change idea and route.... all the snow is melted and now in the coloir remained only stones...

I will follow the same route of the German of 2002 on the right side of the glacier descending from Batokshi. Also today I'm fighting with my sat modem because the mountain that I have in front of base camp cover partially the satellite and I have only 50% of signal that is the minimum to transmit files and data. So many times I have no line or it cut after few seconds. So try o send many times each message before it is able to leave the base camp and arrive to you...
Ciao
Simone

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28.06
I can't wait anymore..! The weather continue to be wonderful and the conditions of the mountain now looks good and safe. Joby Ogywn is NOT yet arrived by Jeep in the village of Bar where my cook Didar is waiting for him since yesterday. For that reason tomorrow I will start the climb alone trying to set camp 1 on Batokshi peak along the route to Batura II. The good weather will not remain so good forever.... better to do something
Ciao
Simone

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LEAD

Men
1. Ovchinnikov Evgeny, Krasnoyarsk
2. Sharafutdinov Dmitry, Ekaterinburg
3. Kaurov Ivan, Saint Petersburg
4. Pekarev Mikhail, Moscow
5. Gogol Mikhail, Kaliningrad
Women
1. Chereshneva Yana, Krasnoyarsk
2. Malamid Evgeniya, Voronezh
3. Chereshneva Venera, Krasnoyarsk
4. Yaemurd Ekaterina, Moscow
5. Alekseeva Ksenia, Miass

SPEED

Men
1. Peshekhonov Alexander, Meleuz
2. Vaytsekhovsky Evgeny, Ufa
3. Sinitsin Sergey, Ekaterinburg
4. Minachev Evgeny, Tyumen
5. Shaulsky Alexander, Krasnoyarsk
6. Subbotin Jakov, Ekaterinburg
Women
1. Saulevich Anna, Ekaterinburg
2. Ruyga Tatyana, Krasnoyarsk
3. Yurina Valentina, Ekaterinburg
4. Evstigneeva Olga, Krasnoyarsk
5. Saulevich Olesya, Ekaterinburg
6. Piratinskaya Maya, Ekaterinburg

BOULDERING

Men
1. Rakhmetov Salavat, Ufa
2. Sharafutdinov Dmitry, Ekaterinburg
3. Gelmanov Rustam, Moscow
4. Kozlov Vasily, Krasnoyarsk
Women
1. Bibik Olga, Krasnoyarsk
2. Abramchuk Julia, Saint Petersburg
3. Tarasova Tatyana, Tolyatti
4. Chereshneva Yana, Krasnoyarsk
5. Alekseeva Ksenia, Miass

I was on time to come back from Moscow and plump into Finals of World Cup that took place in Zurich, and I report to you :)
I was taken aback by Angela Eiter's climb: that looked like "take classes of rock-climbing, girls". When all the qualified for the final girls fell from above the middle of the line, Angela could sent it right up to the end to the accompaniment of public's enthusiastic shouts and cheering en masse but fell from the final hold.

The local rock-climbing star Alexandra Eyer fell short of expectations and in the result became the fourth. But at men Cedric Lachat (though from the French part but the Swiss) sweetened "female pill" and became the winner.

It is needed to tell that the men showed more equal results. Cedric and a young German Timo Preussler both fell from the same hold and the results of semifinal tipped the beam.

As to our climbers - (M.Ru. comment: Russian climbers did not participate in this stage, Vadim is referring to the Ukrainian climbers) - Alena Ostapenko was just about to qualify for the final (12 place). But I did not get on to this part of the program.

Results
Men
1 LACHAT Cedric (SUI)
2 PREUSSLER Timo (GER)
3 CRESPI Flavio (ITA)

Women:
1 EITER Angela (AUT)
2 VIDMAR Maja (SLO)
2 SAURWEIN Katharina

Source: Vadim Geshkenbein, Switzerland

June, 26, Victor Kozlov calls: We went 20 km more for today. The heat holds - it seems we are like in a mountain desert. The sky is serene and bright. We reached Paju, 3400 m. We don't want to gain altitude at a dash. Even trees grow in Paju: It looks like a small green oasis on the river bank. What a nice place! We could already see the upper part of K2 today. Tomorrow we are leaving on the glacier to continue our headway.

June, 25 Victor Kozlov calls: We left Askole today only at 7.00 am - it took us two days to hire porters and dispense the loads: we could not find porters in Askole and had to take them on from the settlements located below. Just the natural disaster - fiendish heat holds in Pakistan now. Even at 3000 meters the temperature is 45 C. There is a lot of snow and it is thawing with a run. During afternoon it's just impossible to cross some places. All the creeks on our way turned to the rough rivers and we are up against difficulties to jump them. The way appears very hard for our porters. Today we went 20 km and reached the following staging post. Tomorrow we are leaving at 4.00 am to go next 20 km, and hope to reach the next post by 2.00 pm.
Greetings to everybody!

27.07.2005
Another sunny day with blue sky. It is already one week that I get this weather conditions and the snow is melting fast. The avalanches continue to come down along the icy walls and they clean the deep snow from the mountains. Today I spoke with some friends that are in Pakistan in different expeditions and they also told me to have the same weather conditions. We agreed that the season 2005 is 20/25 days late and that is not a problem to be at base camp late June and beginning of July.
Today I did another excursion at the base of the face to observe the last details of the route...
Ciao
Simone

26.07.2005
Second excursion around the base camp. Today in fact I climbed a fore summit of Ya Chhish, who is located exactly in front of Batura II and Batokshi peak. From that point I get the possibility to see our route and take nice pictures. It had been also the occasion to do a 5 ours “trekking” and climb till 4° grade UIAA in a nice ambient and rock. Today Joby Ogwyn landed in Islamabad and immediately he took another flight to Gilgit. Tomorrow he will start his trekking and in 3 days will be here at base camp. Also today I send you some photos I took today
Ciao
Simone

25.07.2005
Joby Ogwyn, my climbing partner, is flying now from Milano to Islamabad. Finally he get the visa and he can start the expedition and his fast approach to the base camp. He should arrive here one 29th of June. Today I went to the base of the face to observe the starting point of our route. I took some photos and transport some equipment there. The altitude of the starting point of the route should be 4250 m. Tomorrow I will go to the summit of Ya Chhish 5130 m that is located exactly in front of the face and from where I should see most part of our climbing line from to base to the summit. Ya Chhish had been already climbed the 23rd may 1976 from two east-german climbers.
Till tomorrow

24.07.2005
First day at base camp. Also today nice weather and many work to do. Fix definitively the tends, shavelling the snow, set the solar panel together the electronic instruments, test the emergency generator, control all the climbing equipment. Also today I did tons of photos to the mountains around us. There are so many unclimbed and beautiful peaks. Since tomorrow I will show to you some of them with name and altitude. I hope that somebody will find one to attempt in the next expedition....
Ciao
Simone

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23.06
Finally we arrived at base camp! The GPS of my sat phone Thuraya indicated 4103 meters the altitude of this place. From here to the summit should be 3659 m of difference... The place is really nice and thanks to the porters we arrived here with all the equipment to stay till august and made all the attempt we need. Here there is water, we are near the wall of Batura, there is grass even still covered from snow now. We have sun from 7 a.m to 6 p.m.. Now we remained in 3 persons. Me and the Pakistan cooks Didar and the kitchenboy Karim. My climbing partner Joby Ogwyn is still in Italy but should fly to Islamabad between 3 days. His passport with Pakistan visa is coming from USA to Italy (where he lives now). Other thing I will write you tomorrow as I have a lot of free time.....

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Viktor Kozlov reports: We're in Askol now, tomorrow we are going up. Now we are busy with managing the loads for the porters. The weather is so nice.

22.06
How big is it!!!! This is the first sentences I said when I saw Batura II and the Batura group!! As supposed the flat green place of the base camp of the German expedition of 2002 is completely covered by 50/100 cm snow. Only near the morean we found a small green place, NOT FLAT where we set the provisory camp for today. The porters worked hard to find the place to organize their camp and place for all of them below stones or protected from stone walls. Tomorrow we will cross the glacier and set the base camp where I requested, near the face. It will be the "Italian base camp".....

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On June, 21, Victor Kozlov reports: "The team left Islamabad the day before yesterday and now we are in Skardu. First day we drove 12,5 hours, spent the night in Chilas and next day went 9 hours.

What a tremendous place Skardu with its beautiful valley paving the way between mountains and the river passing into the lake!
We like this place very much. And in general we like Pakistan - everywhere is clean, accurate there... We have bought equipment, now we are buying vegetables and tomorrow we head to Askole where will spend the night (already in installed tents) and then next morning we will start trekking again. Everything is OK.

21.06.2005
What a nice place here!!! I never imagined that I could find a better place around high mountain. The photo I send you, will not probably give you the real idea of the beauty but believe me.... is incredible.
Around the mountains we saw today and also yesterday, there are a lot of snow leopards and all my porters told me stories about their meeting with the animal and that in this area there are a lot. I can believe it, because here there is no tourism and also very few expeditions came here in the past.
Today we stopped here at 3332 meters and not higher as scheduled, because the porters decided to walk 2 days more (tomorrow and after tomorrow) to help me as muchas they can to arrive closer to the mountain and not at the normal base camp that is 5/6 hours distance from the wall. For me it should be a great help!
Today afternoon the porters played polo...here at 3332 meters highness. They prepared the "game tools" with some wood, they provided in the forest and the game started....

They are fantastic as the mountain here around.....
Ciao

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Vivat! Olga Bibik is the first, Julia Abramchuk- the third!!! Yes!:)
Last Sunday brought us two good news: one of them is excellent, the second - surprising. Let's start with the first one: Olga Bibik won the second stage of Worldcup in Fiera di Primiero! "I am the first! What a mercy! I wish it would be like that at world championship :) Sandrine was very upset. I did not expect that the second place can upset somebody very much. Julia is the third. Our greetings to Moscow". The second news was a little bit unexpected. Gerome Pouvreau, successfully participated in difficulty the other day now became the first in men's bouldering.

Final Results

W O M E N
1. BIBIK Olga RUS
2. LEVET Sandrine FRA
3. ABRAMTCHOUK Ioulia RUS
4. THEROUX Corinne FRA
5. ABGRALL Emilie FRA
6. BEZHKO Olga UKR
7. BACHER Barbara AUT
8. ASHER Elizabeth USA

M E N
1. POUVREAU Gerome FRA
2. FISCHHUBER Kilian AUT
3. EARL Andrew GBR
4. DULAC Daniel FRA
5. JULIEN Stephane FRA
6. MEYER Jerome FRA
7. CROXALL Mark GBR
8. KAZBEKOV Serik UKR

Max Petrenko, Ukraine: "I had arrived in Innsbruck (Austria) the day before yesterday but yesterday I already was on rocks and on-sighted AREN 8à +, area Nassareith (near to Innsbruck) and also FORTUNA, 8b, second go".

20.06
After discussing and managing the loads for the porters, finally we did start for the trekking.

We have 42 porters and some of them are the same of the German expedition of 2002.

They are very nice, friendly and strong. The valley, in which we are trekking is really wild and beautiful.

Green and brown are the 2 colours that had been around us during all the day. Now we are a 2782 meter of altitude and we can see at 1 hour distance, the Baltar glacier. Tomorrow evening we will see Batura IV and III.

For Batura I and II we have to wait one day more....

All news of the expeditions

Arco 19/06/2005
If Arco equals climbing, then the Rock Junior is its future. The second day of the great European Youth climbing meeting, or rather, the European Youth Climbing Days - Rock Junior, turned out be a great party. This fantastic youth climbing festival was fueled by the enthusiasm of more than 2500 participants, from young and even younger climbers to their parents, all of whom participated in two days of climbing and games. And, of course, the European Under 14 Cup, reserved for the best young European climbers who competed on the impressive and mythical Rock Master wall.

For two days the climbing Stadium was transformed for these young climbers, who came in all different shapes and sizes and spoke a myriad of different languages. 14 different nationalities were represented on the green lawn beneath the Colodri wall which, for the occasion, was transformed into a great amusement park for the young. Climbers from Italy, Austria, Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium, England, Sweden, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Ukraine were all united by one common passion: climbing both as a sport and a game. All, from the youngest to the oldest, released their incredible energy, and immense desire to climb.

All found their own, personal dimension. Starting with the impressively determined and able athletes who travelled here for the European Under 14 Cup, and finishing with the youngest climbers taking part in the Kid’s Rock, climbing lines which resembled nature such as crossing tree trunks, the river or the sweets climb.

The bouncy castle and slide were a particular favorite and the children literally assaulted this ascent. And many continued with the fun, crossing the River Sarca on the Tyrolean traverse and, for the smallest, drawing in the arts laboratory. Many mini climbers chose to test their physical capacities and plan their training programs under the supervision of the University of Perugia professors Paola Gigliotti and Prof. Francesco Coscia.

The second round of the European Under 14 Cup was won as follows: category A (1992/93) Arman Ter-Mynasyan from Russian and Johanna Ernst from Austria category B (1994/95) Domen Skofic and Vita Osolin from Slovenia, while category C (1996/97/98) was won by Julija Kruder from Slovenia and Markus Ladurner from Italy, the best Italian athlete together with Jessica Morandi from Arco who won the Italian trophy yesterday and European Speed.

But what really counts at the Rock Junior, more so than anything else, is taking part. And so this great open air festival came to a close with an event shared by both parents and children, the Family Rock. 50 pairs of parents and their young ones took part in this exciting relay on the speed wall. Pairs "passed the baton" at half height and, at the same time, took part in a game which has few equals in other sports and which was perhaps the most interesting aspect of these two beautiful climbing days at Arco. Two days of happiness and joy, documented also by Disney Channel, which prepared two showings of the event and the climbing.

The 4th edition of the Rock Junior was a great success therefore, thanks to the participants and the impeccable organisation. This was headed by the Associazione Rock Master di Arco, with the indispensable collaboration of the Associazione Sportiva Arco Climbing, the FASI (Federazione Arrampicata Sportiva Italiana) and the help of the Guardia di Finanza, the Polizia, the Carabinieri, the SAT mountain rescue service and the mountain guides Friends of Arco, who all worked to guarantee the participant's safety. Once again their help contributed in making Arco the world's climbing capital.

Thanks also go to the institutions, the Autonomous Province of Trento, the Comune di Arco, Cassa Rurale Alto Garda, Ingarda Spa, Azienda Municipalizzata Sviluppo Arco, and the technical sponsors The North Face, La Sportiva, Cassin, Sint Roc & Ecogrips, Pareti and PlanetMountain who all made this festival for young climbers possible.

Press Office Rock Junior
Vinicio Stefanello
Tel. +39 049 8808423
Stefanello@planetmountain.com

INFORMATION:
ASSOCIAZIONE ROCK MASTER
C.P. 60 38062 ARCO TN
TEL 0464 516830
FAX 0464 517691
mail@rockjunior.info
www.rockjunior.info

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17.06
Today I saw white mountains. Even with one hour delay, I flew to Gilgit today and in the clouds I saw mountains of this area, mostly Nanga Parbat. The snow it look really deep and more than usual for this season and in the few minutes of the clear sky I took some pictures to Nanga to show you. I also tried to watch in the direction of Rakaposhi and Batura but it was impossible to see because there was to cloudy sky and flew to low.
The sun in any case continue to be the principal actor of the day and it should be good to melt the heavy snow on Karakorum mountains… The news I get from here about Baltoro area is that from Urdukas to the base camp of K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and II, the porters have to walk in the snow with the obvious difficulties.
Tomorrow should arrive in Gilgit by truck and bus all the expedition's equipment and my cook Didar and the kitchenboy. After tomorrow we should start to trek to base camp. Today I also spoke with Joby in Italy (his new home) and he confirmed me that his passport arrived in USA and in Pakistan embassy there. I hope and wish that the visa will be organized fast and Joby will come here to begin the adventure soon...
Ciao

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Diran Peak 7266

19.06
Today we start. From Gilgit we will go by Jeep for 4/5 hours till the village of Bar where we will spend the night and organize the porters. Tomorrow we will start the trekking to approach Batura II throw Baltar Glacier. There is a lot of snow and this is the reason why I choose this approach and not the Muchuchil glacier valley. We in fact received advise from our staff, that porters wouldn't go there because it is longer and more difficult with deep snow. The risk is they left our equipment too far from the mountain. On the map you can see the purple points that indicate our trekking way. I hope to get the possibility to update the web site and give you information and photos also along the trekking (if batteries will work without to be charged anymore till base camp).
So everybody on board that the games are starting...
Simone

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Ciao to everybody. I'm here again after some month silence after the first winter climb I realized with Piotr on Shisha Pangma 8027 m (officially registred) My new project you should know and you can read on my web site and the most important international web sites. The expedition started with some problems because we have to fight to obtain the pakistan visa from the embassy in Italy and finally only I get it... Joby Ogwyn had to send his passport to Usa and is waiting to get it back with the visa. For that reason I'm in Islamabad alone and I already made the briefing at the minister of Tourism, collected the equipment sent by cargo 2 weeks ago and tomorrow I will fly to Gilgit and than start with the trekking. Now I have another big problem, because I get 2 different advices from 2 friends who knows Batura very well. Wolfgang Heichel (the most informed man about this mountain area) told me to go to Batura II along the Muchuchil Glacier. Markus Walter the last climber who attempted Batura II in 2002 suggest me to go along the Baltar Glacier. There are 2 different valleys and approach. Which I have to follow??!! Also in ATP agency of Ashraf Aman I get 2 advices from 2 different cooks who was in the 2 different glaciers in different expeditions. The advices are different also.... The only thing it looks agreed that from Baltar Glacier should and could be less dangerous..... maybe. Soon you will have the result of my decision ( I have a coin to play the choice........:-)
Ciao
Simone.

All news of the expeditions

Temperature at the top was about negative 40-45 C, weather was unstable. They had made two McKinley attempts before. On June, 3 they plan to descend to the base camp to have a rest for 2-3 days.

The further plans are without changes: the guys will try to pave a new route on McKinley South Face with the overall of 3000 meters.
They are in a good mood and wish only the good weather!

On May, 30, 2005 the English climber Alan Hinkes summited Kangchenjunga - his 14th Mountain over 8000 meters and became the first Britain that has realized the dream to summit all 14 highest mountains of our planet.

Also this season Ed Viesturs summited Annapurna becoming the first American to join the "14/8000" or "five mile high club".

A.Odintsov and A.Ruchkin

Yesterday, on June, 8, the project leaders A.Odintsov and A.Ruchkin took off for Pakistan to conduct reconnaissance of the area. Mt. Masherbrum, 7820m, is considered as a possible object for the following ascent.

Two deep in love Nepalese climbers, Moni Mulepati, 24, and Pem Dorjee, 23, got married this week on the Everest summit.
No long ceremonies, champagne and orchestra striking up the livelong Mendelson wedding march, anything temporal and superfluous around, - only snow, tremendous ice, solid metaphysics in toto.
Two minutes at the summit appeared quite sufficient to exchange their vows, tie the knot and take a short photo session for the future descendants.
They briefly took off oxygen masks to put traditional red powder on the bride's forehead according an old Nepalese tradition - the equivalent of exchanging rings.

A new book authored by Christophe Moulin "Solos" (in French) is just out. The "monster" of mountaineering wrote about his eight year - solo - ascents. About the reasons, induced him to climb solo. About first experience. About impressions. About love to mountains.

You can order the book

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