“First height rotation for Alex and his teammates. After the traditional puja in CB the team has gone up to field 1 today. Álex conveys that the sensations are good and that he is strong and with a lot of desire “. That is the note that the Biscayne mountaineer’s communication service posted a few hours ago. Usually, this camp is usually placed at about 5,750 meters. This is the third attempt by the climber from Lemoa to climb this mountain at this time and without the help of artificial oxygen. On February 26, 2016, he completed the first winter run on Nanga Parbat, the 8,125-meter bare mountain. Never before had this height of the Himalayas been climbed in these cold months.
Once again, Txikon surrounds himself with his trusted Nepali companions such as Pasang Sherpa and Chhepal Sherpa, as well as sharing leave with his friend Simone Moro, who will arrive on the mountain in January. A few days ago he established Base Camp at 3,700 meters, quite low compared to other occasions. In this way he avoids the consequences of avalanches that make the eighth highest mountain on Earth one of the most complex due to avalanches. The Manaslu is also known by the locals as the Kutang and its name means “mountain of the spirits”. The first thing they did after arriving at the Base was to celebrate the Puja, a ceremony that drives away evil spirits.
This mountain was first climbed in 1956 by a Japanese expedition. It has 8,163 meters and lately many of its peaks have been questioned since, in the line of summits, there are two points, it has the top shape of a horn. Some experts consider that most climbers have stepped on the lowest and have not completed the journey to the highest point. Toshio Imanishi was the first to achieve it in the company of Gyalzen Norbu Sherpa. The Japanese passed away in 1995. In 1984, a Polish group made the first, and so far only, winter summit.
The first ascent without the use of artificial oxygen was signed by the Tyrolean Reinhold Messner in 1972. That feat ended in tragedy due to the death of Andi Schlick and Franz Jaeger, who belonged to an Austrian expedition. Simone Moro will attempt this mountain for the fifth time in his career while Txikon, who has previously participated in a charity trek through the Everest area, will do so for the third time. It is not the most technical eight-thousander and what is needed is a window of good weather of about three or four days and to be able to avoid the danger of avalanches. After the recent K-2, all the colossi already add winter ascents. No one is virgin.
The Biscayan project was not presented at a press conference since he has been in Nepal since November. First he led a group with SOS Himalaya to Makalu Base Camp and then did another trek to the Khumbu Valley. Heading to Everest Base. In this second initiative, he guided a mountaineer from Zalla who has cerebral palsy. He took the opportunity to visit the village where Pasang Temba lives, the mountaineer who participated in the 1980 Everest expedition that ended with the Nepali and Martín Zabaleta at the summit.
After chatting with Sherpa Temba in Phakding, he noticed his hearing problems and decided to take him down to Kathmandu for a check-up at the ENT. The doctor fitted him with headphones and the veteran high-altitude porter decided to stay with Txikon’s group for a few days and, in fact, has accompanied him to the Manaslu Base Camp. The intention of the Basque mountaineer is, today, continue betting on winter expeditions, one of the main mountaineering challenges that can be done at this point in the film in the Himalayas.
