Kategorian ‘Blogikirjoitus’ arkistot

maanantai 2. maaliskuun 2015 12:41

Annapurna Expedition starts!

Best greetings from my second home town Kathmandu! I arrived here on 28th and am now ready to get to the mountains! I’ve got lot of my gear stored here and every time it is one big packing operation upon my arrival. Now everything’s sorted and my stuff in fact is already on the way to Tatopani in Kali Gandaki valley.

Other than that I was this morning given blessing by Rinpoche in Boudha. I feel this is very important for me and would not feel good about going climbing these peaks without doing puja.
After puja we went to Ministry of Tourism for attaining our peak permit.

This trip is operated by my friend Mingma Gyalje Sherpa and his agency Dreamer’s Destination. I will be sharing his group’s basecamp and being provided services needed there. The permit’s shared by Mingma’s very international team consisting of climbers from China, Macedonia, Iran, US and Argentina. Above basecamp I will be doing my own carries, program and sort of climbing by myself. In reality, I am expecting to work together with all the teams on the mountain for added safety and changes to summit. Annapurna is a very dangerous mountain and I believe team-effort will be the key to success this time. I just bumped into Carlos Soria and the Spanish team in Thamel and am happy to be on the mountain with these lovely people.

So tomorrow on 3rd we are flying first to Pokhara from where we drive up Kali Gandaki valley to Tatopani. From Tatopani we are flewn to Annapurna Basecamp by helicopter on the morning of 4th.
I will be posting on my blog at www.samulimansikka.com, Twitter and Instagram so make sure to follow my progress on Annapurna!

Best wishes to all!

Samuli

sunnuntai 15. helmikuun 2015 21:18

Annapurna preparations (Feb 15th 2015)

It is now 12 days until my departure to Nepal! My Annapurna preparations are pretty well underway and sorted and I feel very well prepared. Still need to replace some last bits of clothing and make sure all the communications are working okay. I have most of my high-camp gear stored in Kathmandu where I will finalize all packing upon my arrival.

I’ve now spent an unusually long period of 6 weeks in Finland and have thus been able to work on my physical performance. I started at a new gym in autumn and have been quite happy with the outcome. This, I think is especially good thing on Annapurna as speed for sure is safety on this avalanche-prone mountain. This also goes down to overall living a very healthy lifestyle and I might be able to say I am at my best shape ever when leaving for the expedition on 27th.

Annapurna can be considered extremely dangerous if you look at the statistics. According to Himalayan Database (thanks Rollo!) there’s been 186 confirmed ascents to main summit since the French first ascent in 1950. 69 climbers (9 of them while descending from the summit) have deceased which makes it the most dangerous of all 8000’ers. I must admit that I have never put so much effort on mental preparation.

I will once again be assisted by my most amazing weather-guy, Michael Fagin from Seattle! The modern professional forecasting is of great benefit and I am happy to have him provide me with his often very accurate forecasts.

The Spanish team of Carlos Soria’s has already left to Nepal. I am joining Mingma G. Sherpa’s team and we will all fly to basecamp on March 3rd. I will again do my own carries above basecamp and will not employ high-altitude staff. Due to dangerous nature of the climb, however I will be working together with the other teams on the mountain and I do believe team effort will be the key to success this year.

I would like to address thanks to my partners whose support is crucial! Thank you Valandre, Rab, La Sportiva, Skyr!

Please follow the trip through my Twitter and Instagram!

Samuli

torstai 22. tammikuun 2015 12:26

Greetings from Aconcagua! (Newsletter Jan15th 2015)

Greetings from somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean! I am completing my first trip around the World as I am returning to Helsinki from my Aconcagua trek! Started by flying to Sydney in December, from where to Santiago de Chile and on to Mendoza.

This Aventura’s expedition was my third time on Aconcagua and I can say am starting to get a hang of the mountain and it’s character. I do like the mountain and the region! I keep hearing some say this would be a not-that-picturesque a mountain but I strongly disagree. Yes, it is a very different peak as it is not snow-covered and yes, it through it’s normal routes really is a trek and not a climb! I do though like the desert-like landscape and the amazing dry-air deep-blue skies as well as it’s rocky flanks alternating colors in evening light.

Argentina is in many senses a little different country to run a trip at compared to f.ex. Nepal. I am happy to have again seen the clockwork-like precision at which the trips are operated. Guides are professional, friendly and helpful and the atmosphere at basecamp very unique indeed!
Weather can be an issue as the peak gets a lot of wind. The region benefits of fairly accurate forecasts which we with good planning can use to our advantage picking up the most suitable summit date.
Climbs from camp to camp are short and easy but the summit day is long and fairly strenuous due to high altitude.

I will be adding pictures under ’Previous trips’ very soon! The next trip starts late January 2015 aiming to summit around Feb 10th 2016. This is a very good time of the year condition-wise. Join us to get the best possible changes to summit this interesting peak!

I recently announced that I will be attempting Annapurna in March! Why this early in the season? It is fairly common for Annapurna to receive new snow in April which might be dangerous on this avalanche-prone mountain. Therefore some teams are aiming to complete the climb already by end of March or early April.
I am again climbing alone on the mountain but due to expected heavy need for trail-breaking and rope-fixing I will be working together with the other teams on the mountain, namely Mingma G. Sherpa’s guided group as well as Carlos Soria’s team.
Route of ascent will be the first ascent route or a variation according to conditions. Teams are flying to Annapurna North basecamp on March 3rd. It might be a cold climb!

After Annapurna I will be leading Aventura’s Mt. Everest Basecamp trek and an Island Peak climb on April 9th through May 1st. We still have spots available for this World trekking classic so sign-up through Aventura!

Best wishes,

Samuli

lauantai 27. joulukuun 2014 21:27

Round-the-World and getting ready for Aconcagua

Greetings from Santiago de Chile! I arrived here yesterday and am flying to Mendoza tomorrow on Sunday!
The last slightly over two weeks I spent in Sydney which I can say easily became one of my favorite cities in the World! Sydney has everything! Beaches, good restaurant, lively and super-friendly people, very high standard of living and amazing climate. Super clean, organized and well-functioning too! What more can you expect? Even got a slight hang of surfing which proved super-fun although quite demanding.

Now I am in Santiago de Chile relaxing and getting everything sorted for Aventura’s Aconcagua trip. Our group of 7 members arrives in Mendoza, Argentina on sunday and we’ll start the trek to basecamp on Tuesday. Aconcagua is an easy trekking peak but is not trivial. At 6959m it is high and very prone to weather and especially high winds. I really hope we get a good change to summit the peak comfortably!
At least hearing the latest from Kilian Jornet’s trip to the mountain gives us impression that the route is in good shape. Less than 13hrs from park entrance to summit and back! That is, pardon my French, fuckin’ insane!

I will be tweeting and sending pics to Instagram occasionally so follow at Twitter and Instagram!

australiablogi002

sunnuntai 7. joulukuun 2014 13:04

Greetings from Helsinki (Newsletter Dec 7th 2014)

Wow, what a busy couple weeks it’s been since I from my recent Nepal-season got back to Finland! I am soon again to leave to new adventures which I don’t mind to be honest! November-December are not ideally a pleasant time of the year here for outdoor activities nor for not much else either.

So what I’ve been up to? Well, last week I was featured on Prisma Studio talk show on Finnish TV channel 1. This is a talk show focused on scientific themes and subjects and this time taking a look at dangers outdoors. Pleasure to participate!
Last weekend we had the Helsinki Adventure Night here in my hometown. Of course the program was very interesting but also it was fun to meet so many of the Helsinki outdoor people! Go through Kim Öhman’s photos here to get a view of this excellent annual event!
Highlight for sure was Ueli Steck’s presentation but also I greatly enjoyed the ’Valley uprising’ movie on Yosemite climbing from early years to present. I later on had a change to interview Ueli on Sunday at Kiipeilyareena’s event. What a pleasant chat and one of my personal highlights of the year!
This week I did an interview with Finnish newspaper Iltasanomat’s ’After Dark’ web-TV-broadcast which should be aired in near-future. Thanks to pro-snowboarders Eero Ettala and Lauri Heiskari for the invitation!

Away from all this I have been working on all my upcoming trips of which first one is leading a trip on Aconcagua! This is through Finnish Aventura Tour Operator and we have a small group of lovely people participating. Many of them have been on my trips before and I am sure we will be having a lot of fun on the trip! Of course I must let you be noted that I will be taking some time off prior to this and will be spending some time in Australia before flying to Argentina! So look forward to some tropical pictures on my Instagram!

I will be back in Finland in mid-January to take part in the annual Helsinki travel fair! Come over for a chat at Aventura’s stand! I’ve got several presentations scheduled looking at Aventura’s selection of World treks. January 19th we’ll also be doing an event at Ravintola Dubrovnik in Helsinki! This time you’ll have a change to get a look of what climbing K2 last summer was like?

We still have spots available for Kilimanjaro trek and Serengeti safari in late-January through early February!
I will be leading Aventura’s Mt. Everest Basecamp & Island Peak trek in April! You can only do the basecamp trek or do the climb as well. Up to you!
Enquiries and reservations for these through Aventura!

So follow my travels through Instagram and Twitter! Take care!

uelisteck_kiipeilyareena