The North Face athletes Simone Moro, Denis Urubko and Cory Richards have left Base Camp Sunday morning, January 30, for the first summit attempt.
After a night at Camp 1 they kept going and they have now reached Camp 2, 6,500m, where they previously placed their tents during acclimatization.
Tomorrow they will move to 7,000-7,200m, setting up Camp 3, where they will spend the last night, before the final push. The weather is expected to clear up, but the winds will be strong.
The alpinists are hoping that the wind will blow away some of the snow that has fallen in the past days, making their ascent less tough.
“Before reaching the ridge I expect to have to break trail, but in knee-deep snow, not waist-deep like in the past days” says Simone Moro “this would allow us to be quite fast”. “We might aim for the summit directly from Camp 2, it’s about 12-13 hours… but it’s not like summer. The days are very short, the sun goes down early. I believe the best tactic is to move higher, set up Camp 3 and from there, at midnight, leave for the summit.” “Then it’s going to take us two days to climb back down to Base Camp, and the weather is not expected to be as good.”
