Simone Moro has to kick heels in Pakistan for 17 days because of different delays and protractions and, at last, hopes to get aboard the helicopter and arrive in base camp under Broad Peak.

"Such a long wait could easily kill ambition and motivation - but not mine. Winter ends March 21, and I'm ready to wait and play my cards till that date."

Nevertheless, life in Skardu is not the most comfortable: "There is no water in the houses, no water in the only hotel opened this season (where I stay) ... They give me 10 liters of boiled water each morning to last me through the day. Power blackouts are frequent, as everybody in the city use electric heathers, and there is not enough power for them all. I have to charge all my tech com batteries in the night and other off peak times."

 Simone Moro, 38, North Face team, in his bag: Everest (three times), Broad Peak, Cho Oyu, Shisha Pangma (winter), Lhotse (twice) and five "7-thousanders", first winter climb of Marble Wall 6400 m, Tien Shan, a 24-hour climb on Fitz Roy's West Face , Patagonia.

On January, 14, 2005 Simone and Piotr Morawski summited Shisha Pangma after a fast 5-hour high-speed climb in storm winds. It was his fifth winter climb: in 1993 he successfully climbed on Aconcagua and Cerro Mirador (new route in alpine style), in December, 1997 - the tragic attempt on Annapurna when Anatoly Bukreev died, and in 2001 in a two-man team with Denis Urubko - on Marble Wall, Tien Shan.

None of the Pakistan's "8-thousanders" (K2, Nanga Parbat, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and II) have been summited in winter. While in Nepal, only Makalu remains still unclimbed in winter. This year, Pakistan's government has reduced the winter climbing fee to a nominal 5%.