Skip to main content

Two teams set to scale Gasherbrum peaks

GILGIT: Two winter expedition teams are attempting to scale Gash­erbrum-I (8,034 metres) and Gasherbrum-II (8,080 metres) in the Karakoram range mountain situated in Gilgit-Baltistan.

According to the tour organisers, Italian climbers Simone Moro, 52, and Tamara Lunger, 33, along with 45 local porters were on their way to the base camp of Gasherbrum-I. Italian photographers, Matteo Zanga and Matteo Pavana, are also part of the expedition.

Naik Naam Karim, tour operator of the expedition, told Dawn that the climbers got permits to scale both peaks.

The team will complete their adventure in January.

“The team started the trek to approach the Gasherbrum base camp on Friday and are now passing from Paju,” according to the official page of the expedition.

In the next few days, they will stay at the base camp to assess the weather for further planning.

“If the weather allows, they will proceed ahead,” said the tour operator.

The other team — Broad Peak winter expedition — comprising famous Russian mountaineer Denis Urubko, Don Bowie from Canada, and former Miss Finland Lotta Hintsa arrived at the base camp of the peak on Friday.

Team leader Denis Urubko in a satellite message said: “From Concordia to the Base Camp there was 1 metre of snow. Me and three porters have opened the trail and arrived to the Base camp, finally all the team is here, weather is good!”

In another text message from satellite phone, he said:“Don still sick, i marked trail 1km today with Lotta, route- is very difficult, ice there.”

The tour organisers said that the Broad Peak expedition team reached the base camp from Concordia with the help of local porters in one metre deep snow.

The international K2 winter expedition team has confirmed to start their attempt to scale K2 (8,611 metres) from January 9, according to the tour organisers.

The eight-member K2 expedition team leader is Mingma Gyalje from Nepal. Other members of the team are Tamting Sherpa, Pasang Namgel Sherpa, and Kili Pempa Sherpa from Nepal, John Snorri Sigurionsson from Iceland, Gao Li from China, Tomaz Rotar from Slovenia, and Serbaz Khan from Pakistan.

Pakistani climber Serbaz Khan from Hunza, who is part of the team, told Dawn that the rest of the members would arrive in Pakistan on January 4.

The team will trek towards K2 base camp from Skardu on January 9, he said.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2019



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/2QrDVuC
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trump says he urged team to ‘slow’ COVID-19 testing

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was encouraging health officials in his administration to slow down coronavirus testing, arguing that increased tests lead to more cases being discovered. The president has claimed falsely on several occasions that surges of COVID-19 in several states can be explained by greater numbers of diagnostic tests. At his first rally since the outbreak forced nationwide shutdowns in March, Trump told the crowd in Tulsa, Oklahoma that testing was a “double-edged sword.” The United States — which has more deaths and cases than any other country — has carried out more than 25 million coronavirus tests, placing it outside the top 20 countries in the world, per capita. “Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases,” Trump argued. “So I said to my people ‘slow the testing down.’ They test and they test.” It was not clear from Trump’s tone if he was playing to the crowd, who ...
Post a Comment
Read more

IT ministry forms panel to review social media rules

ISLAMABAD: While uproar against the new rules to regulate social media continues from various segments of society, including parliamentarians, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and civil society, the information technology ministry on Friday formed a committee to review the rules. The federal cabinet approved the rules on Feb 11, but later after opposition from various quarters, including companies that manage different social media platforms, the prime minister announced that a fresh consultation process would be launched over the Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules 2020. The committee formed by the IT ministry is headed by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Amir Azeem Bajwa while its members are Eazaz Aslam Dar, additional secretary of IT; Tania Aidrus, member of the Strategic Reforms Imple­mentation Unit, Prime Minister Office; and Dr Arslan Khalid, focal person on digital media at the PM Office. Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Ma...
Post a Comment
Read more

IS confirms Baghdadi’s death, vows revenge

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.—AP BEIRUT: The Islamic State militant group confirmed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a statement on Thursday and named his replacement as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi. “We mourn you ... commander of the faithful,” said Abu Hamza al-Quraishi — presented as the group’s new spokesman — in an audio statement. Baghdadi, who led IS since 2014 and was the world’s most wanted man, was killed in a US special forces raid in Syria’s province of Idlib on Sunday. The group also confirmed the killing in another raid the following day of the group’s previous spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir. The statement said the group’s legislative and consultative body convened after the 48-year-old Iraqi-born jihadist chief’s death. “The Islamic State shura council convened immediately after confirming the martyrdom of Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the elders of the holy warriors agreed” on a replacement, said the seven-minute message. Little is known abou...
Post a Comment
Read more