THE 2008 ANNAPURNA SOUTH FACE/EAST RIDGE EXPEDITION
 | Located in the central Himalaya region of Nepal, the summit of Annapurna is highly coveted ground. Of the fourteen 8000 meter mountains on earth, none has seen fewer attempts or successful summits as Annapurna. To date, less than 160 people have stood on her summit, compared to 3000+ total Everest summits, and 265 total summits on K2. The venerable Maurice Herzog first successfully climbed the mountain in 1950, four years before Everest's summit was reached, testimony to the difficult nature and elusive reputation of the mountain. |
| Don and Denis Urubko are on the mountain |
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Pablo Ochoa de Olza reports "Don and Denis are between C1 and C2, going up like rockets and will reach Inaki sometime in the next 24 hours." They are climbing with a Nepalese Sherpa, carrying O2 for Inaki and additional high altitude gear for Ueli. They spent 8 hours rapidly gaining elevation in deep snow that hampered their ascent. They hope to reach Inaki and Ueli tomorrow.
Kaldo Aldaz the cheif coordinator of the rescue efforts soberly commented: "They (Don and Denis together with Ueli) would not be enough to bring Inaki down. The rescue effort will need as many as possible to get as high as possible and as fast as possible."
Tomorrow the weather forecast is perfect, especially in the morning. 06:00 Nepal time or earlier, a third rescue team should arrive on the mountain. They comprise 1 Polish Doctor, 5 Nepalese who are climbing Sherpas, and 2 Romanian climbers. With them they have a pressure bag, O2 and additional medicines for all. They will fly to C1 or C2 weather permitting. |
