I just read that the russians are trying to scale K2 this winter. Wow!! Seriously wow!! Read it here..
Keep a look out for these hardy men!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Guess what?
Guess what? I had Jerzy Kukuczka's 'My vertical world' delivered at my doorstep today morning and i didn't buy it or order it. Whoever sent it got me one of the greatest memorable gifts of my lifetime.Thank you very very much! You have no idea what this gesture means to me irrespective of how the book ends up as a read, I can't thank you enough. You should have really seen my face when i opened the package and saw the title on the book. :)
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Kukuczka - Can you pronounce it??
Even i don't know how to pronounce it correctly after all these years of idolizing him.His complete name is Jerzy Kukuczka. To me he is the greatest high altitude mountaineer of all time,no second thoughts.The god of climbing in Himalayas.In my eyes he is far superior than Reinhold messner who is generally considered to be the greatest high altitude climber of all time being the first to climb all the 14 8000 meter peaks.
Jerzy Kukuczka was the second to do it.Sadly the world never remember's second placers,not in any sport or any sort of competition.
He climbed the 14 8000 ers in 8 years compared to Reinhold messner's 14 years and i believe holds the record for climbing all of them in the shortest duration. In the process, Kukuczka established ten new routes and climbed four summits in winter.
Out of the 14 mountains only 9 had been climbed in winter before 2010 and none in the Karakorum range, until last year when G2 was knocked off making it ten.
Of the 9 climbed before 2010,4 were done by Jerzy kuckzka.
To give an idea about how winter climbing compares,here is a write up i found on the web.
Winter is a whole different story with base camp having a average temperature of -20 and that gives the frostbite time in around 30 minutes. The average summit temperature is around -90 which gives a average frostbite time in just 5 minutes or less. Usually 3 out of 4 days the summit is blown with hurricane force winds. It's dry, very windy, cold , and dark. There is low humidity which is about the only plus of winter climbing.
For me the bench mark is his climb of K2 via the south face.
South Face or “Polish Line”- In 1986, Jerzy Kukuczka and Tadeusz Piotrowski summited on this route. This dangerous avalanche route is also called “Suicidal Route” as no one else even attempted it.
In my mind he is the greatest ever!
Why am i suddenly writing about him? Because,they are going to release a documentary about him. Read it here - http://www.explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php?id=20476.
I am really excited and looking forward to see this documentary on one of my climbing heroes.
Infact he has written an autobiography My Vertical World: Climbing the 8000-Metre Peaks which i have been trying to lay my hands upon for a long time. Its out of publication and the used ones sell at 149$ on Amazon,yikes!!I am still looking for a benefactor who has it and would lend it to me or even better present it to me. :)
Jerzy Kukuczka was the second to do it.Sadly the world never remember's second placers,not in any sport or any sort of competition.
He climbed the 14 8000 ers in 8 years compared to Reinhold messner's 14 years and i believe holds the record for climbing all of them in the shortest duration. In the process, Kukuczka established ten new routes and climbed four summits in winter.
Out of the 14 mountains only 9 had been climbed in winter before 2010 and none in the Karakorum range, until last year when G2 was knocked off making it ten.
Of the 9 climbed before 2010,4 were done by Jerzy kuckzka.
To give an idea about how winter climbing compares,here is a write up i found on the web.
Winter is a whole different story with base camp having a average temperature of -20 and that gives the frostbite time in around 30 minutes. The average summit temperature is around -90 which gives a average frostbite time in just 5 minutes or less. Usually 3 out of 4 days the summit is blown with hurricane force winds. It's dry, very windy, cold , and dark. There is low humidity which is about the only plus of winter climbing.
For me the bench mark is his climb of K2 via the south face.
South Face or “Polish Line”- In 1986, Jerzy Kukuczka and Tadeusz Piotrowski summited on this route. This dangerous avalanche route is also called “Suicidal Route” as no one else even attempted it.
In my mind he is the greatest ever!
Why am i suddenly writing about him? Because,they are going to release a documentary about him. Read it here - http://www.explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php?id=20476.
I am really excited and looking forward to see this documentary on one of my climbing heroes.
Infact he has written an autobiography My Vertical World: Climbing the 8000-Metre Peaks which i have been trying to lay my hands upon for a long time. Its out of publication and the used ones sell at 149$ on Amazon,yikes!!I am still looking for a benefactor who has it and would lend it to me or even better present it to me. :)
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