ορειβασία

[Blackman 2,613]

Ψηφισμα για ασφάλιση στο λούκι του Μύτικα.

Μια ανακοίνωση του ΕΟΣ Αγρινίου, πυροδότησε και πάλι τη συζήτηση για το "όρια" της επέμβασης στον Όλυμπο. Η ανακοίνωση βγήκε με αφορμή τη μελέτη (που ακόμα δεν έχει υλοποιηθεί) για ασφάλιση του Λουκιού του Μύτικα, με σκοπό να μειωθούν τα ατυχήματα που συμβαίνουν εκεί, ειδικά τα τελευταία χρόνια που ο αριθμός των επισκεπτών έχει αυξηθεί κατακόρυφα.

Σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες, θα ασφαλιστούν τα επικίνδυνα σημεία, αλλά δε θα απαιτείται ειδικός εξοπλισμός via ferrata, κάτι που θα περιέπλεκε τα πράγματα, μιας και η χρήση τέτοιου εξοπλισμού είναι σχεδόν άγνωστη στη χώρα μας.

Η "συζήτηση", που γίνεται μέσα από τα social media, δείχνει και τη σοβαρότητα με την οποία προσεγγίζει η ορειβατική κοινότητα το ζήτημα.

Ένα δικό μας σχόλιο: τα τελευταία χρόνια στον Όλυμπο υπάρχει κατακόρυφη αύξηση της επισκεψιμότητας όλες τις εποχές του χρόνου. Νέα καταφύγια έχουν ανοίξει, νέα μονοπάτια καθαρίζονται, οι αγώνες "περιπέτειας" διασχίζουν το βουνό, δρόμοι με ελεύθερη πρόσβαση ανεβαίνουν μέχρι την αλπική ζώνη, η φύλαξη του βουνού είναι ουσιαστικά ανύπαρκτη. Η επισκεψιμότητα αυτή, μάλλον δεν έχει προβλεφθεί να έχει κάποιο όριο (αντίθετα επιζητείται η αύξησή της), κάτι που δεν έχει φανεί μέχρι τώρα να προβληματίζει σοβαρά την οργανωμένη κοινότητα και τα όργανά της, αφού δεν υπάρχει από αυτή κάποια ολοκληρωμένη και τεκμηριωμένη πρόταση.

Κανείς δε θα έφερνε αντίρηση να μπουν κάποια όρια σε αυτή την πίεση που δέχεται ο Όλυμπος (που ας μη ξεχνάμε, είναι ουσιαστικά ένα μικρό σε έκταση και απομονωμένο βουνό). Αλλά όσο δεν υπάρχουν αυτά, το να μας πειράζουν μερικά κιλά σίδερο στο Λούκι (που μπορεί να σώσουν και κάποια ζωή, άσε που βγαίνουν και εύκολα σε αντίθεση με τις άλλες μόνιμες επεμβάσεις), είναι σαν να έχουμε καταπιεί όλο το βόδι και να μας ζορίζει η ουρά του.

 

Η ανακοίνωση του ΕΟΣ Αγρινίου

 

Τα τελευταία χρόνια η ορειβατική κοινότητα παρακολουθεί άναυδη την αλλοίωση στο χαρακτήρα και την φυσιογνωμία του Ολύμπου.

Αυτή επιχειρείται με διάφoρoυς τρόπους, από τους χιλιάδες τουρίστες που κάθε χρόνο επισκέπτονται το βουνό, πελάτες των καταφυγίων - ­πολυκαταστημάτων που εμπορεύονται από μπλουζάκια- μπρελόκ­ - σηματάκια μέχρι σουβλάκια και πανσέτες, καθώς και την παρέλαση των τετρακίνητων θηρίων που με το άνοιγμα του δρόμου έφτασαν μέχρι την τοποθεσία Μεγάλη Γούρνα, με ότι αυτό συνεπάγεται για τις συνέπειες στο ευαίσθητο οικοσύστημα του Ολύμπου.

 

Μπορούμε να αναφέρουμε πολλά παραδείγματα που είναι γνωστά στον ορειβατικό κόσμο, αλλά το πιο κραυγαλέο προέκυψε από την εισήγηση του Διοικητικού Συμβουλίου της Ομοσπονδίας, όπου αναφέρεται ότι στα σχέδια των «πατέρων» της ορειβασίας είναι να αλλοιώσουν την φυσιογνωμία του βουνού τοποθετώντας σιδερένια σκαλοπάτια και συρματόσχοινα κατά μήκος του λουκιoύ του Μύτικα για να διευκολύνουν έτσι το έργο των διαφόρων οδηγών και συνοδών βουνού που έχουν ξεπεταχτεί τα τελευταία χρόνια.

 

Με αυτές τις ενέργειες παραδίδουν τον Όλυμπο βορά στην άκρατη κερδοφορία, μη λαμβάνοντας υπ' όψιν την ιστορικότητα του βουνού αυτού καθώς και το ευαίσθητο οικοσύστημα του.

 

Το Δ.Σ. του ορειβατικού συλλόγου Αγρινίου καλεί τους ορειβάτες της χώρας να αντιδράσουν, όσο ακόμα είναι καιρός, σε όλα αυτά και γι' αυτό το λόγο απευθύνεται σε όλους τους ορειβατικούς συλλόγους καλώντας τους να ενημερώσουν τα μέλη τους και να συντονίσουν τις ενέργειες τους για να υπάρξει μια συντονισμένη και άμεση παρέμβαση.

 

Δ.Σ. Ορειβατικού συλλόγου Αγρινίου

 

Πηγή http://www.anevenontas.gr/

[Olga 6,796]

Hiking – Fivos Tsaravopoulos

 

This is not exactly a sport that I am doing. I am an avid hiker, and through this passion I have decided to work on the development of hiking tourism in Greece.

Place of residence

 

Athens and all around Greece since most of the time I am traveling

Sport/Activity

 

Development of hiking trails networks around Greece, as well as on the promotion of these trails.

Profession and educational background

 

MSc in International Relations (Paris), MSc in Environment and Resource Management (Amsterdam)

When did you start doing your sport and why?

 

I started working professionally in 2011, when I was asked by an NGO to make a study for trails development in former royal estate of Tatoi.

Do you have a saying or motto that you live your life by?

 

Caminante no hay camino, se hace el camino al andar (Walker, there is no trail, the trail is created as you walk) by the Spanish poet Antonio Machado.

What is the most challenging thing for you to do in your sport?

 

In my activity, the most challenging thing is to create a consensus amongst the locals, so that we all work together towards the even development of the project. Most often in Greece local communities are victims of internal disputes and concurrences. I try to prove every time that if we all work together, then the benefits would be bigger for everyone.

What has been one of your biggest accomplishments in your sport?

 

Perhaps having to say that after three years of working in this business I have sign-posted 7 trail networks, and created studies for another 10 projects. And all this during the crisis.

What is satisfying about your sport?

 

What I mostly appreciate in this work is that there is no such thing as an “office work” for me. When I am on a project, I have nature all around me, I meet nice people who give me the “keys” to discover their place in depth. I also have the feeling that I help Greece, even if this is just a very very tiny little stone that I am adding to the edifice.

What was the best advice you were ever given?

 

To strive for what I believe.

What are your heroes? Where do you draw your inspiration from?

 

The smell of plants, the sound of the wind and the appeasing heaviness of trees. It is also all these passionate people that I meet in different areas. I remember how strong I felt when in Kythera, an old man wanted to show me a forgotten path. He was about 80 years old at that time. We started the walk in the morning. As soon as we reached the beginning of the path, we realized that the bushes and the spikes had virtually covered it. Except of the dry stone walls that were right and left of the path. At once, he jumped on one of these walls and started walking on it, along the path. After about a minute, he turned towards me and told me that his father had built these walls some 60 years ago… I felt electrified.

What is your biggest challenge and how do you do manage this challenge?

 

The biggest challenge that I face would be the creation of a common promotion for hiking tourism in Greece.

How important is your equipment for your performance?

 

When I am “out there” correct equipment is very useful. I am not a fan of any specific brand. What I know though is that no shoes that I have bought have resisted for more than 6 to 7 months…

Why do you think Greece is an ideal place for your sport?

 

Greece offers everything for any type of hiker: from high mountains to small paths by the sea, paths passing through dense forests or paths crossing agricultural fields, paths passing by watermills and paths passing by ancient temples… In other terms, it is a paradise of old and new paths, the weather is good all year round, and everything is at human size.

Can you recommend 3-4 places in Greece ideal for this sport?

 

Well, the whole country is excellent, and offers unique beauties every time. If I may suggest some places, these would be: Kythera island in Spring and Fall, Karpathos island in Spring and Fall, Kalymnos island (especially if you want to climb as well), the region of Zagorochoria (in all times except in winter), and the region of Drama (all year round).

 

Πηγη: http://agreekadventure.com/

[Turms 2,694]

εχω δυο ερωτησεις

1. διαβασα σε καποια φορουμ οτι καλο ειναι τα μποτακια πεζοποριας-ορειβασιας να ειναι ενα νουμερο μεγαλυτερα απο οσο ειναι το ποδι γιατι το ποδι μετα απο πολυ περπατημα πρηζεται...αληθευει?

 

2. θα εχω μαζι μου εκτος απο τα κλασικα ρουχα πεζοποριας, ενα αδιαβροχο, ισοθερμικο, εχω ενα ortovox merino που θα παρω και αυτο, και επισης και ενα mid layer (ετσι δεν λεγονται?) που συνηθως φοραω πανω απο το ισοθερμικο και κατω απο μπουφαν στο σκι οταν εχει πολυ κρυο....

υπαρχει ενδεχομενο να κρυωσω ???

 

Η απορια μου ειναι (οσον αφορα το νο2) γιατι θα περασω απο ενα Passo καπου στα 1.500 μ.

ΟΚ θα ειναι καλοκαιρι, και αν μου πουνε απο κατω οτι ο καιρος εινια χαλια θα κανω τον κυκλο και θα παω απο την αλλη διαδρομη (δεν ειμαστε να μας ψαχνουν οι διασωστες τωρα).

Αλλα...επειδη ο καιρος στο βουνο ειναι απροβλεπτος, και ισως ξεκινησω μεν με καλο καιρο αλλα ποτε δεν ξερεις, αν πεσω σε απροβλεπτη κακοκαιρια υπαρχει ενδεχομενο να δαγκωσω τιποτα απο το κρυο αν εχω ολα τα παραπανω? χρειαζομαι κατι ακομα?

[pepe karaivanov 3,503]

δεν εχω ανεβει ποτε στο ολιμπο,εχω διαβασει οτι ειναι απο τησ δισκολοτερεσ κοριφες,αυτη εδω ειναι η πιο δισκολη που εχω κατακθισει μεχρι τωρα,αδε και καπια μερα στο ολιμπο!!!!

[pepe karaivanov 3,503]

και εδο γενητικα, και μεγαλοσα,κατε ΣΚ ειμουν σε αυτο το βουνο!!!!!!

δεν ειμαι τρελαμενος οριβατησ,αλλα μου λιπει ΠΟΛΥ

[wraith 6,406]

Reinhold Messner: What I've Learned

 

 

By Reinhold Messner

 

 

 

I’m still a traditional climber. So for me climbing must contain three elements: difficulty, danger and, most important, exposure. Exposure means there is no

Messner established the grade of 5.11d, and was the first to solo Les Droites North Face. Photo by Keith Ladzinski.possibility for outside help. Exposure increases the higher up you are, the more remote your location, and the greater the difficulties encountered higher up. Steve House and Vince Anderson’s ascent of Nanga Parbat is so important because they were by themselves with absolute exposure. If they had made one mistake, they would have had no chance to be saved. I think only a few climbers understand how and why exposure is the most important ingredient.

 

Climbing evolves as each generation tries to change the notion of what was considered impossible, and make it possible. But if you use all the technology available, you can do anything, even without being a rock climber. The impossible is not there. We should accept the idea that some things should always remain impossible, even one million years from now.

 

I would like to remove all competitions in outdoor sports. The competition is not the important thing. The important thing is to learn to behave with wild nature.

 

The most beautiful mountain in the world is not the highest, or the most difficult. It is personal. It is always the one I am currently dreaming about. At the moment, it is one in Nepal. But I won’t tell you the name.

 

My father was a teacher and a rock climber in the interim between the two World Wars. Hetaught mehow to behave in the mountains. Simple but important lessons about respect and survival. We were a large family with nine children. We grew up in the mountains, and it was logical that we wanted to climb them.

 

Without failures I would not be here. I learned most of what I know today through them. Maybe it was my partner, or the equipment was not proper, or the training—especially the mental training, which is the most important thing—were not good enough. With success, you don’t always know why you succeed, but when you fail, it’s clear what you did wrong. Then you can make changes and learn.

 

I didn’t become successful in my field because I’m bigger or more intelligent than others. No, I became successful because I had the willpower to fail, and to try it again, again and again.

Dying is the simplest thing. I’ve been close to death before, very near death, and in those moments I never had the feeling that the afterlife was important.

Each generation has the opportunity to define its highest goals, and the climbers who achieve them are the leading climbers. Climbing history is nothing more than naming the key climb of the time. Mont Blanc in 1786. The Matterhorn in 1865. Eiger North Face in 1938. Direct Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat in 2005. But it’s impossible to compare climbs of the 1930s to the 1970s to today. Each climber is only a key figure in his own time, and not out of his time. There is no such thing as the “single greatest climbing achievement” or “greatest climber” of all time. That’s bullshit.

 

Today it’s difficult to say who are the leading climbers because there are so many disciplines. In rock climbing it may be Chris Sharma, but perhaps it could also be Adam Ondra. In classical alpinism for at least 15 years it has been Alexander Huber. The leading, most creative figure in high-altitude climbing in recent years is Steve House.

When people tell me they consider me the “greatest,” that tells me that they have no idea about history. There was a time period, between 1975 and the early 1980s, when I had the leadership, and I contributed to climbing together with Peter Habeler. We had forged a new approach to mountaineering, and for a few years we were the only ones to behave this way because no one else had the experience to climb mountains “by fair means.” But Slovenian and Polish climbers surpassed our achievements quite quickly.

I was a great admirer of Tomaz Humar. He was surely the leading high-altitude climber in the 1990s. He was very risky. I still do not understand what happened to him on Langtang Lirung. I later learned he was interested in becoming a politician. I don’t think his focus was on the mountain where he died.

I know David Lama very well, and I will not speak ill of him.

 

Messner was the first to climb all 8,000 meter peaks (four of them twice). Photo by Keith Ladzinski.Politics is the opposite of mountaineering. On a mountain you are on your own, in a world of anarchy, with a chance to experience what it was like a hundred thousand years ago when humans were wild animals and not dependent on the social world. The strongest figure of the climbing team decides what to do, how to go forward. As climbers, we are inventors of our own goals, and must decide on our own how to achieve them. There is nobody else there. Nobody to control. We do extreme, dangerous things, and nobody else can say what is right or wrong. There is no moral loathing. We have only our instincts about human behavior, and in the end we are our own judges.

 

 

The art of politics is compromising, and if you are compromising every minute on a mountain, you won’t go far.

 

 

 

Responsibility is learned in the mountains, not here in society. Here we put most of our responsibilities on others. We have insurance. In the mountains, your behavior is directly linked to your responsibility.

 

 

 

Success is based on finding the right partners. A partner must be willing to do the climb. You don’t necessarily need a friend, though that’s preferred. You don’t even need your partner to be of equal skill level. What’s most important is mutual identification with the goal. If you take someone who is not willing to go, who is perhaps skeptical, the risk is very great because your responsibility is so great. The responsibility is imbalanced. Responsibility must be divided between you and your partner.

 

 

 

Maybe I was lucky, but I had very good partners. I relied on my instincts, however, when choosing them. I had to find different partners for different objectives: rock climbs to high-altitude mountains to desert crossings.

 

 

The afterlife is something we have no instruments for. We cannot understand it with our intelligence, nor can we see it with our eyes, or sense it with our nose. Our instruments are designed to comprehend this world. What is beyond is beyond. I don’t think about it.

 

 

Dying is the simplest thing. I’ve been close to death before, very near death, and in those moments I never had the feeling that the afterlife was important. You will do everything you can to live, but if you are really at the end, it’s like, “OK. I’m happy it’s over.”

 

 

 

The most intelligent article ever written by a climber is “Artificial Aids on Alpine Routes,” by Paul Preuss [bold Austrian alpinist, 1886-1913]. Preuss was one of the original climbers to adopt and push this view of fair means. One of the things he wrote was that you should never place a piton, ever.

 

 

 

When I wrote “Murder of the Impossible,” in 1971 I received a letter from a 96-year-old lady, who said she was once Preuss’s girlfriend. She sent me his piton hammer. Yes, he had a piton hammer, just in case of an emergency! She said I should one day pass on the hammer to a climber who thought like Preuss and myself. I’ve had this piton hammer in my cellar for all these years, always knowing that I would have to do something with it.

This piton hammer was the impetus for building the Messner Mountain Museum, a collection of five different buildings all dedicated to different aspects of mountains, climbing and culture. I consider building this museum to be my “sixth life” and when it is completed this summer, I will be free again, and a new life will begin. I would like to find a way to tell mountain stories through big-screen film.

 

 

Have you seen Vertical Limit? I find it terrible.

 

 

Our instincts as humans are slowly dimming the less time we spend in wild nature: rainstorms, cold, whiteouts, loose rocks, adventure. Climbingis an important and sacred opportunity for us to exist in situations that we faced a hundred thousand years ago. The animalistic side of human beings. Our instincts are an important element of our intelligence.

 

 

 

When I was 20, I did not believe that the life I’ve lived could be possible. I didn’t think it was possible to become a professional climber. I became a professional climber. I became a high-altitude climber, an adventurer. Becoming a politician was easiest, and I did it for only five years; after that, it became boring.

 

 

 

What I tell young people is if you identify your goals, and have the willpower to overcome difficulties—there will always be certain difficulties—and you find the right people to help you, you will be successful.

 

Πηγή: Rock & Ice

[Turms 2,694]

ειδα ενα ντοκυμανταιρ πριν μερικες μερες για αυτον....

εχω την εντυπωση οτι ο ανθρωπος ειναι ΠΕΡΙΠΤΩΣΗ.....

δεν ασχολουμαι πολυ με τον κοσμο αυτο της ορειβασιας σε αυτα τα υψομετρα, αλλα εχω την εντυπωση οτι ειναι μοναδικος.

Εχει παει σε ολες τις 8αρες, ο πρωτος στο Εβερεστ χωρις οξυγονο. εχει παει Β.Πολο, Γροιλανδια, Ανταρκτικη, 18 φορες σε 8αρες σε 20 χρονια (ή κατι τετοιο...δεν τα θυμαμαι καλα....)

 

Μου δημιουργηθηκε ευλογα μια απορια...τελικα γενιεσαι ή γινεσαι?????

Γιατι προφανως αυτος ειναι γεννημενος για αυτο που κανει. Εγω δεν το εξηγω αλλιως....

Edited March 29, 2014 by Turms

[wraith 6,406]

Ναι, σίγουρα είναι μια ξεχωριστή προσωπικότητα στον χώρο του βουνού, στο διαχρονικό τοπ-5 θα έλεγα.

 

Γενικά, όπως σε πολλά άλλα πράγματα γύρω μας, για να φτάσεις σε αυτό το επίπεδο είναι ένας πολύ γερός συνδιασμός του γεννιέσαι και του γίνεσαι. Αν δεν έχεις κάποια φυσικά χαρακτηριστικά δεν μπορείς να πας πάνω από κάποιο υψόμετρο χωρίς οξυγόνο, από την άλλη και να το έχεις αυτό, εφόσον δεν έχεις την αυτοπειθαρχεία να εργαστείς πάνω σε αυτό, παραμένεις ένα απλό ταλέντο.

[Olga 6,796]

ειδα και εγω την ταινια

 

επισης τα βιβλια του αξιζει κανεις να τα διαβασει (στο τοπικ για τα βιβλια νομιζω εγραψα γι'αυτον)

[Olga 6,796]

Ψυχή από ατσάλι: Επέστρεψε στο βουνό, όπου έχασε χέρια και πόδια

 

 

Η συγκλονιστική ιστορία του Jamie Andrew. Ανέβηκε και πάλι στο Mont Blanc, παρά το ότι πριν 15 χρόνια έφτασε κοντά στον θάνατο και είδε τον φίλο του να πεθαίνει

 

 

 

 

Έχουν περάσει 15 χρόνια αφότου ο 44χρονος Σκοτσέζος Jamie Andrew έχασε τα δύο του χέρια και πόδια στο Mont Blanc.

 

Μαζί με τον φίλο του Jamie Fisher είχαν εγκλωβιστεί τέσσερις μέρες στη βόρεια πλευρά του Les Droites στην οροσειρά του Mont Blanc. Ο Fisher πέθανε από υποθερμία την τελευταία νύχτα, ενώ ο Andrew αναγκάστηκε να ακρωτηριάσει τα άκρα του.

Λίγα χρόνια αργότερα επέστρεψε πίσω στο βουνό και άρχισε να ορειβατεί. "Ήξερα ότι αυτή η φλόγα δε σβήνει. Επίσης, ήξερα ότι αν ζούσε ο Jamie θα έκανε το ίδιο πράγμα".

Μετά τον ακρωτηριασμό των άκρων του, ανέβαινε ένα μικρό λόφο στο Εδιμβούργο, ωστόσο όταν επέστρεψε πίσω στις Γαλλικές Άλπεις θυμήθηκε τις τρομακτικές εκείνες νύχτες, που πάλευε με ανέμους 120 χιλιομέτρων την ώρα.

 

Ο Σκοτσέζος έκανε προπόνηση δυο χρόνια για να καταφέρει να αναρριχηθεί στο όρος Matterhorn, μια από τις πιο απόκρημνες αλλά και χαρακτηριστικές κορυφές των Άλπεων.

Αυτή η θρυλική κορυφή βρίσκεται στα σύνορα μεταξύ Ιταλίας και Ελβετίας, σχηματίζοντας μια εντυπωσιακή φυσική πυραμίδα σε ύψος 4.478 μέτρων.

Κύριο χαρακτηριστικό του είναι η μεγάλη κλίση και από τις τέσσερις πλευρές. Το Matterhorn προκαλεί δέος σε όλους τους ορειβάτες, ακόμη και τους πιο έμπειρους και δεν είναι τυχαίο ότι είναι μια από τις τελευταίες κορυφές, που κατακτήθηκαν από τον άνθρωπο.

 

Για πρώτη φορά η κορυφή του πατήθηκε τον Ιούλιο του 1865 από επτά ορειβάτες, που ανέβηκαν από την ελβετική πλευρά. Υπολογίζεται ότι περισσότεροι από 500 ορειβάτες σκοτώθηκαν στις πλαγιές του.

 

Το βουνό πήρε το όνομά του από τις γερμανικές λέξεις Ματ , που σημαίνει ''λιβάδι'', και Horn , που σημαίνει "κορυφή".

Ο Andrew ελπίζει ότι οι άνθρωποι θα εμπνευστούν από το απίστευτο κατόρθωμα του.

 

 

Πηγή: Dailymail

[Olga 6,796]

Eφιαλτικό σαββατοκύριακο για έντεκα ορειβάτες στο Παγγαίο

 

 

Με τον άνεμο να τους παρασέρνει, τη δυνατή βροχή να τους κλείνει τα μάτια και το κρύο να τους παγώνει το αίμα, έντεκα ορειβάτες που έχασαν τον προσανατολισμό τους στα απόκρημνα μονοπάτια του Παγγαίου, έζησαν εφιαλτικές στιγμές μέσα στο βαθύ σκοτάδι της χθεσινής νύχτας, αγωνιώντας πότε θα ξημερώσει, για να μπορέσουν να βρουν το δρόμο της επιστροφής τους ή να εντοπιστούν από τα σωστικά συνεργεία.

Ο Διοικητής της Πυροσβεστικής Υπηρεσίας Σερρών Σωτήρης Δημητράκης περιγράφει καρέ – καρέ τις στιγμές αγωνίας που έζησαν οι έντεκα ορειβάτες: «Ήταν οχτώ άνδρες και τρεις γυναίκες. Ξεκίνησαν από την Ιερά Μονή Εικοσιφοινίσσας να περπατήσουν το μονοπάτι Ε4, για κάποιους λόγους όμως αποπροσανατολίστηκαν και σε συνδυασμό με τις κακές καιρικές συνθήκες που επικρατούσαν, χάθηκαν.

Ειδοποίησαν την πυροσβεστική υπηρεσία και αμέσως στήθηκε επιχείρηση διάσωσης. Για το σημείο ξεκίνησαν τρία οχήματα της πυροσβεστικής από Σέρρες και Ροδολίβος, με επτά άνδρες, ενώ ζητήθηκε και η βοήθεια της 2ης ΕΜΑΚ που συνέδραμε με δύο οχήματα και έξι άνδρες . Η ορατότητα όμως ήταν μηδαμινή, οι καιρικές συνθήκες που επικρατούσαν στο υψόμετρο που βρισκόταν οι αγνοούμενοι ήταν ακραίες με δυνατό αέρα, ομίχλη και βροχή που δεν σε επέτρεπε να δεις ούτε στα πέντε μέτρα. Οι προσπάθειες των σωστικών συνεργείων σταμάτησαν και ξεκίνησαν με το πρώτο φως της ημέρας. Βοήθεια από αέρος ήρθε και από την αερολέσχη Σερρών.

Ευτυχώς γύρω στις 9.00 το πρωί οι ορειβάτες εντοπίστηκαν σώοι και αβλαβείς, αποπροσανατολισμένοι τελείως από το μονοπάτι που θέλησαν να ακολουθήσουν, σε υψόμετρο 1426 μέτρων».

Οι έντεκα ορειβάτες, που κατάγονται από την Αριδαία και τον Άγιο Αθανάσιο Δράμας, φανερά τρομαγμένοι και ταλαιπωρημένοι από την εφιαλτική νύχτα που πέρασαν, διακομίσθηκαν, για προληπτικούς λόγους, στο Κέντρο Υγείας Ροδολίβος και σήμερα το απόγευμα βρέθηκαν στα σπίτια τους.

Πήγη: ΑΜΠΕ

[Χρήστος Λάππας 25,408]

Everest avalanche: Climbers descend amid uncertainty

 

Sherpa mountain guides have already held some talks with the Nepalese government

 

 

Climbers are descending from Everest base camp, amid uncertainty over this year's climbing season after 16 guides were killed in an avalanche.

 

A row over local guides' share of revenue from foreign climbers erupted after last week's deadly accident, prompting some to threaten a boycott.

 

Sherpas also want better rescue and treatment facilities for guides.

If others descend, some fear it could effectively end plans to climb the world's highest mountain this year.

 

Ang Tshering Sherpa, the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), told BBC Nepali's Surendra Phuyal that was a distinct possibility if the majority of climbers decided to abandon climbing.

But Madhusudan Burlakoti, a tourism ministry official, hoped that some teams might still climb. Sherpas have been in talks over these issues with the Nepalese government.

 

Everest's climbing season lasts three months every year

 

More than 300 foreign climbers were preparing to climb Everest this year, but the tense aftermath of the avalanche that killed 13 Sherpas and left 3 missing presumed dead dashed hopes and left many climbers disturbed and shocked, our correspondent reports.

 

What climbers are saying

 

Several expeditions appear to be cancelling their climbs. Alan Arnette, who runs a climbing blog , describes Everest as "an airport with the terminal open but the runways closed".

 

Monica Piris from Alpenglow Expeditions says on their website that attempting to climb Everest now would be "unwise and unsafe".

The Sherpa "need time to mourn their losses and their families want them at home", while "the ambience at base camp is becoming increasingly tense", she writes.

 

Saray Khumalo from the Ubuntu Everest expeditionposts on their Facebook page that it was not meant to be this year, "but I have definitely enjoyed the journey till now", she says.

 

Meanwhile, Irish Seven Summits tweeted early on Friday: "Many groups have now left but we remain at Base Camp and are staying positive amidst the tense atmosphere....Discussions are ongoing with the expedition leader so to cover all options available to them."

 

Last Friday's avalanche was the single deadliest accident in modern mountaineering on the world's highest peak.

It struck an area just above Everest base camp at 5,800m (19,000ft).

 

Sherpa conditions

Sherpas can earn up to 5,788.71€ (5,832.32€) in the three-month Everest climbing season, more than 10 times the average wage in Nepal, which remains one of Asia's poorest nations.

 

But BBC South Asia correspondent Andrew North says that does not look so good when the government is earning millions of dollars each year in fees for climbing permits. Some guiding companies charge clients up to 43,415.34€(43,742.41€) per person.

The guides who lost their lives had climbed up the slope early in the morning to fix ropes for climbers and prepare the route.

The avalanche struck a passage called the Khumbu Icefall, which is riddled with crevasses and ice boulders that can break free without warning.

 

Although relatively low on the mountain, it is one of its most dangerous points - but there are no safer paths along the famous South Col route first scaled by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

 

Sherpas often make 20-25 round trips to carry kit and supplies to advanced camps, exposing them to greater risk.

Everest has been scaled by more than 3,000 climbers since 1953.

 

 

 

Πηγή: http://www.bbc.com/n...d-asia-27153239

[Χρήστος Λάππας 25,408]

The End of the Everest Myth

 

Katie Ives

 

Posted on: April 28, 2014

 

 

 

 

Mark Rosen/Wikimedia Commons

 

 

We all know the Myth. We've heard it told and retold hundreds of times, in "motivational" speeches exhorting audiences to "climb your personal Everest," in press releases announcing the latest person to summit for the latest reason, in corporate metaphors hailing the qualities required to overcome whatever obstacles stand in the way of "success" on the world's highest peak.

 

As climbers and as readers of mountain literature, we're also familiar with attempts to communicate the realities behind the Everest Myth. We've seen decades of accounts about the crowds of clients on the normal routes and about the extensive reliance on the ropes fixed, the camps placed, the oxygen bottles carried and the loads hauled by local workers. Some of us have argued in print and online that this form of "totally supported" ascent is not "climbing," that genuine mountaineering involves more direct contact with the features of the mountain, and that the "spirit of alpinism" is about respect for the natural world, not its dominion. In 2008 the French alpinist Patrick Wagnon summed up this view in an impassioned editorial for Montagnes Magazine:

 

"I'm not seeking, here, to advocate an elitist discourse...but rather a return to humility, in which it's up to the climber to adapt himself to choosing an objective within his abilities, and not to the mountain to be rendered more accessible."

 

Over the years, like the editors of so many other publications around the world, and like numerous members of the climbing community, Alpinist contributors have periodically spoken out against the current problems with high-altitude tourism on Everest. And each season, as the death toll rises, the Myth only seems to grow more powerful. The climbing writer Peter Beal argues on his blog, "There is no question that Everest is a spectacle now, feeding on its own image, becoming a bigger version of itself."

 

 

Then on April 18 of this year, sixteen Sherpa, Tamang, Gurung and Nepali high-altitude staff died in a single ice avalanche in Everest's Khumbu Icefall. All references to individual summit dreams take on a hollow sound before the images of children's faces contorted in grief; before the knowledge that their parents died trying to earn the money to support them and to send them to school.

 

Before yet another Everest season arrives next year, I believe the consequences of the Myth must be examined again, this time with an even stronger emphasis on the dangers for those whose labor helps sustain it. To look behind the layers of this mythology is not merely a matter of pointing out differences in mountaineering styles or of arguing about philosophies and motivations. In inspirational books and speeches, many clients have obscured the immense infrastructure of labor that makes their exploits possible. And to the degree that Sherpas and other local guides have become invisible in such stories, their concerns, their risks and the value of their lives have become invisible as well.

 

When Sherpas appear in Western narratives, their role is far too often described in terms redolent with imperial nostalgia. In a recent blog post (republished on Alpinist.com), Jemima Diki Sherpa evokes the "six-odd decades of mountaineering mythbuilding" that have led some Westerners to imagine themselves "as conquering heroes, assisted by a legion of Sherpa faithful ready—and cheerful—to lay down sweat and lives for arduous, but ultimately noble and glorious, personal successes." On the One Mountain Thousand Summits Facebook page, the climbing writer Freddie Wilkinson alludes to "a fog of Orientalism" that has lingered over representations of Sherpas in the media, a gauzy set of projected fantasies about the exotic and the Other.

 

Meher H. Mehta, an elder member of the Himalayan Club recalled in a 2012 email to Alpinist: "The division of 'them and us' was very much an attitude of the colonials [during the early twentieth century].... There was always the case of demarcation of the common and preferred. It was in that context that the Sherpa found entry into the mountaineering hierarchy." Even today, depictions of Sherpas as almost-mythical, self-sacrificing beings present them, implicitly or explicitly, as subservient to the desires and expectations of Western visitors. The suffering, fears and hopes of individual Sherpas can be easily ignored in paeans to "the Sherpa people" that extol their "geographic destiny"—as if all Sherpas were preordained to spend their lives hauling heavy equipment for foreigners, cheerfully and faithfully, amid the ever-present dangers of avalanches, icefall and thin air. Such writing praises them, essentially, for 'knowing their place.'

 

In Buried in the Sky (2012), Amanda Padoan and Peter Zuckerman described the widespread appropriation of the Sherpa culture and name: "The word [Sherpa] is often applied commercially to anything that helps people get around. Haul your terrier in the Sherpa Dog Carrier. Brace your belly with a Baby Sherpa Maternity Belt. Stow your bibs and burp cloths in the award-winning Alpha Sherpa diaper bag. 'It's no mystery how this pack got its name,' reads the promotional website for the Evo-Sport Sherpa Rucksack. 'The Sherpa is built to carry all your gear, and you won't feel a thing.'" The blog Reclaiming Sherpa keeps a list of companiesthat use "Sherpa" as a brand, and that thus help conflate an ethnicity and a group of human beings with "goods and services." Beneath the surface of some international Everest accounts, there's a similar kind of dehumanization, an assumption that suffering can be passed on to hired "personal Sherpas," who are somehow "built" to bear and endure.

 

A certain romanticism lies at the heart of many Western mountaineering traditions, one that has taken multiple and shifting forms: the image of the heroic individual who tests himself against the elements or who seeks to lose himself in union with nature; the valuing of transcendent moments that seem to exist outside of civilization and time. That same tendency, however, can spill over into less seemly habits of thought. As the anthropologist Sherry Ortner explains, the echoes of an older, essentializing language resound in some modern Everest tales, portraying Sherpas as if they were an inextricable part of a romanticized natural landscape, as "happy," "unmodern" and "innocent." During the early days of Himalayan mountaineering, this kind of rhetoric promoted the attractions of hiring Sherpas. But it also frequently denied them the right to make their own decisions about personal safety, depicting the Sherpas as "childlike" and insisting that Western expedition leaders 'knew best'—even when they ordered Sherpas to carry loads in dangerous snow conditions (Life and Death on Mt. Everest, 1999).

 

Filled with ghostly remnants of this language, the Everest Myth veils the complexities of mountain workers' lives, the scarcity of better employment that drives most local expedition staff to such hazardous jobs; the increased professional qualifications and experience of some modern Sherpa guides; the dreams of many to escape mountaineering into careers that offer less physical risk, more autonomy and more choices; the stories of Sherpas who have, in fact, succeeded in non-climbing careers in Nepal and in other parts of world; the varied cultures among the members of different ethnic groups who perform the same labor as Sherpa high-altitude staff and who are often referred to by the same name; the growing frustration of many expedition workers with the inequities of the current system; the political tensions within the country after years of struggles between Maoists and the government; the broader economic struggles that have pushed many Nepalis to seek other dangerous jobs abroad, includingthe hundreds of migrant workers who have died in the past few years on construction sites in Qatar.

 

In a 2013 article, "The Disposable Man," Outside Senior Editor Grayson Schafferwrote about Everest in much-needed, de-mythologized terms: "A Sherpa working above Base Camp on Everest is nearly 10 times more likely to die than a commercial fisherman—the profession the Center for Disease Control and Prevention rates as the most dangerous nonmilitary job in the US—and more then three and a half times as likely to perish than an infantryman during the first four years of the Iraq war. As a dice roll for someone paying to reach the summit, the dangers of climbing can perhaps be rationalized. But as a workplace safety statistic, 1.2 percent mortality is outrageous. There's no other service industry in the world that so frequently kills and maims its workers for the benefits of paying clients."

 

In a Guardian report this year, the British journalist Ed Douglas portrayed Everest's labor conditions with a similar industrial language: "As factory floors go, it's hard to imagine anywhere more dangerous. And that is what the [Khumbu] Icefall is: a place of work for the Sherpas and other high-altitude workers. It is hard to imagine anything in nature more capricious or beyond human control, yet Sherpas ferrying supplies to the upper slopes must pass through this labyrinth up to 30 times during the season. They are playing Russian roulette for a living." To look at Everest high-altitude tourism, thus, for what it has become—a multimillion-dollar business—allows for a more serious investigation of labor relations, working conditions and inequality. It encourages a demand for better life insurance for local expedition workers. It raises questions about differences in pay between some indigenous and Western guides who have similar levels of experience.

 

There are other shifts in talking about Everest that may remove additional layers of the Myth. During the 1963 American Everest Expedition, the writer James Ramsey Ullman described Sherpa staff carrying loads from Advance Base Camp: "The real job, during this phase of the climb, was being done by the Sherpas up on the Lhotse Face, and there was a glumly recurrent, though scarcely realistic, vision of their going on all the way to the top of the mountain while the sahibs cooled heels and behinds in the Western Cwm. THIRTEEN SHERPAS REACH SUMMIT OF EVEREST; AMERICANS GREET THEM ON DESCENT WITH CHEERS AND HOT TEA would be a fine message to send out to Kathmandu and the world" (Americans on Everest, 1964).

 

Now, when similar announcements would be accurate (albeit, perhaps, without the offer of American-brewed hot tea), we rarely see such headlines amid the media sources that report on commercial ascents. What if instead of announcing that a client "climbed Everest," those newspapers and websites, instead, named the particular groups of local guides who prepared the route to the summit and then assisted their clients to the top? What if the term "Everest climber" were given to the people who climbed the features of the mountain directly, rather than awarded to those who ascended its pre-fixed ropes? More honest accounts might result in a clearer vision of what takes place on Everest—the beginnings, perhaps, of real discussions about effective and lasting solutions.

 

There has been an inherent violence to the Everest Myth: violence to the natural environment in the waste that pollutes this over-crowded mountain; to individual identities in the stereotypes that persist; to truth, and most of all, to human lives. At the same time, the Myth can give the general public the false impression that the current methods of commercial expeditions are the only way, erasing the diverse history of mountaineering styles that preceded them. When last year's Everest fight stopped Ueli Steck, Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith's attempt, few people seemed to remember that others had previously climbed Everest without using fixed ropes on the Lhotse Face—or that Reinhold Messner, Erhard Loretan and Jean Troillet had proven, decades ago, that ascents could be made without high-altitude support staff.

 

Many have argued that Everest tourism is necessary for local economies. A few guiding companies have striven admirably to give back to communities, with a variety of programs. But after the disasters of the past few seasons, it's time to ask: If this industry must continue in the future, can it be reorganized into new forms that might result in less suffering, discord and grief? In the aftermath of this year's Khumbu Icefall accident, Sherpas guides and other local expedition workers are already taking action. They have demanded that the Nepali government pay more support to the families of the dead, cover medical treatment for the injured and increase the amount of life and rescue insurance for future seasons. They have asked for 30 percent of peak fees to go toward establishing a "mountain relief fund." And they have argued for the authority of local guides to cancel a climbing season, without a financial penalty—the right to make their own decisions, at last, about when the mountain's conditions are placing them in unacceptable risk.

 

More and more local guides are now speaking and writing about their experiences, taking control of their own representations in the international media. New stories, told by Sherpas from a wide variety of careers and backgrounds will increasingly tear rifts in the once-dominant narrative of the Myth. In the Nepali Times, Tashi Sherpa, a gear company owner, declares: "We cannot predict nature's tantrums and in that we have common ground, for we do not blame anybody for the shifting of the mountain or the movement of rocks; that is the risk inherent in venture. What we cannot accept is the furtive manipulation and complicit acceptance [by others] to make more for ourselves and pay less to those that risk their lives on our behalf."

 

The old paradigm of foreign visitors dictating the plots of Everest climbing narratives is ending. Instead of merely purchasing a fading illusion of heroism, could more clients (as some already do) contribute more directly to the welfare of local communities? Could the choice of guided peaks be better matched to the abilities of clients, allowing a lighter style and more natural experience for the whole team—and less exposure to objective hazards for the workers? Perhaps, Freddie Wilkinson suggests, if commercial teams could shift their focus toward other, more appropriate destinations in the Himalaya, "such a change would still bring employment and opportunity to the Sherpa community; it would avoid the ludicrous notion of using helicopters to ferry people and equipment above the [Khumbu] icefall; it would potentially spread the economic prosperity that expeditions offer to more valleys and regions of Nepal while also diluting the human impact; it would create a more respectful, and ultimately sustainable model for commercial climbing in the Himalaya. The reason, of course, why nobody has seriously talked about doing this is that the Myth is too strong. People...will always be drawn to the superlative, and there are few goals more easily defined, than reaching the highest point on planet Earth."

 

But it's important to remember that the well being of local workers is not just an issue for the Everest guiding industry. Most independent alpine-style climbers rely on low-altitude porters to carry loads to base camps, employees who remain even more invisible in international narratives than Sherpa high-altitude staff (See Campbell MacDiarmid's article in Alpinist 42). Nick Mason asked in the 2008Alpine Journal: "Is it radical to suggest that instead of an equipment or clothing company sponsoring yet another climber they sponsor the construction of porter shelters where they are so desperately needed in Nepal?"

 

By helping to overturn the false romanticism associated with the Everest Myth, we might all find unexpected ways to break seemingly ironclad conventions, to promote greater levels of both creativity and responsibility for Himalayan climbing. For the Myth, of course, can also trap some "Westerners" within its stereotypes, reinforcing the outdated imperial notions of "us and them"; blurring cultural, national and personal diversity among foreign clients and guides; reiterating patterns of expected roles that they, too, may find limiting and disturbing. In its emphasis on success and personal fulfillment, the Myth can eclipse more important values associated with alpinism, such as solidarity, self-reliance, humility and respect for mountain environments. A return to the "spirit of alpinism" on Everest might encourage something far more meaningful than any summit: a "brotherhood of the rope" that acknowledges not only the connections between climbers, but also the human bonds between every person who dwells and travels beneath Chomolungma—the original name for this still sacred peak.

 

[With additional reporting by Gwen Cameron.—Ed.]

 

Sources: Freddie Wilkinson, Janice Sacherer, Meher H. Mehta, Gwen Cameron, Americans on Everest,Buried in the Sky, Life and Death on Mt. Everest, Tigers of the Snow, Montagnes Magazine, Outside, The Alpine Journal, mountainsandwater.com, alpinist.com, whathasgood.com,reclaimingsherpa.wordpress.com, outsideonline.com, theguardian.com, thehimalayantimes.com

 

Πηγή: http://alpinist.com/doc/web14s/wfeature-everest-myth

[Turms 2,694]

εχω μια ακομα ερωτηση (ασχετη με τα παραπανω)

 

για πολυωρο περπατημα , και για να μην ανοιξουν πληγες στα ποδια κλπ υπαρχει κατι που μπορω να χρησιμοποιω ? προληπτικα?

ή δεν εχει νοημα. πχ να βαζεις βαζελινη διαβασα καπου...ισχυουν αυτα?

Πηρα δυο ζευγαρια απο αυτες τις καλτσες (http://wrightsock.myshopify.com/ ) που μου προτειναν απο ενα καταστημα ειδικα για ορειβασια, αναρριχηση κλπ

Αλλα υπαρχει κατι αλλο που μπορω να κανω?

 

Επισης αν εχει καποιος κατι να προτεινει για bed bugs....σκεφτομαι να παρω καποιο σπρευ αλλα δεν κανουν και πολλα....απο οσο ξερω....

Edited May 11, 2014 by Turms

[Blackman 2,613]

Αν βαλεις βαζελινη ειναι σχεδον σιγουρο οτι θα ανοιξουν πληγες στα πόδια! Γιατι θα τσουλάει το ποδι μεσα στη κάλτσα!!! Με καλά εφαρμοστη κάτσα και σωστό υπόδημα δεν θα εχεις απολυτως κανενα θεμα!

[MakisM 3,965]

Συνηθως, αμα κανεις φουσκαλες στα ποδια, βαζεις εμπλαστρα Compeed. Ορισμενοι τα χρησιμοποιουν προληπτικα, σε σημεια που ξερουν οτι θα εχουν προβλημα (πχ πισω απο την φτερνα, εκει που τελειωνει ο αχιλλειος). Ειναι σαν να εχεις ενα δευτερο προστατευτικο δερμα και μαλλον πρεπει να δουλευει... Οπως καταλαβαινεις δεν το'χω χρησιμοποιησει...

 

Μερες πριν το πολυωρο περπατημα, φορα τα παπουτσια που θα κανεις το πολυωρο σε μικροτερες αποστασεις για να εγκλιματιστουν τα ποδια σου στα παπουτσια (μποτες θα συνιστουσα).

[Turms 2,694]

εχω παρει και compeed και καποια αλλα που λενε οτι εινια ειδικα για αυτες τις περιπτωσεις...προληπτικα μεν αλλα...

επισης τα εχω ηδη περπατησει τα παπουτσια...χωρις προβλημα.

Το θεμα ειναι οτι αλλο 8 χλμ μια (αντε δυο) φορες την βδομαδα και αλλο καμια 20αρια το λιγοτερο καθε μερα....

δεν ξερω πως θα ανταποκριθουν τα ποδια (και οχι μονο)

Edited May 12, 2014 by Turms

[Olga 6,796]

μια χαρα θα ανταποκριθούν!

 

ενα ακομα που πρεπει να προσέχουμε στην αγορα παπουτσιών ορειβασίας είναι να τα παρουμε 0,5-1 νρ. μεγαλυτερα. οταν περπατάμε >10χλμ και σε επικλινές εδαφος συνήθως πρήζονται τα ποδια μας.

από την άλλη δεν πρεπει να είναι πολύ μεγαλα και να γλιστρήσει το ποδι μεσα, τοτε δημιουργούνται οι φουσκαλες. παντα σε μεγαλες διασχίσεις (εβδομαδας εννοώ) προτιμώ να φορεσω κατι παμπάλαια ορειβατικα τα οποια είναι δοκιμασμένα 4 χρονια και ακομα αντεχουν παρα να ξεκινήσω με καινουργια

θα μπορουσες Κων/νε να παρεις 2 ζευγαρια μαζι

 

Υ.Γ. επισης, το βραδυ οποσδηποτε κρυο νερο στα ποδια και σαγιοναρα στα καταφυγια..οσο μπορεις αστα να παρουν αερα

Edited May 13, 2014 by Olga

[Turms 2,694]

πηρα μεγαλυτερο νουμερο. οκ αυτο...

 

Να παρω 2 ζευγαρι δεν παιζει με τιποτα. Θα ειναι αρκετα εξτρα βαρος.

Κοβω απο παντου...

 

Αντε να δουμε.

δυστυχως εχω πολυ τρεξιμο τελευταια και δεν προετοιμαστηκα οπως θα ηθελα...

ισα ισα προλαβα να παρω παπουτσια και καποια αλλα.....

παω πολυ στο φλου....βεβαια εχει και τα ωραια του αυτο αλλα δεν το εχω συνηθισει

[Olga 6,796]

παω πολυ στο φλου....βεβαια εχει και τα ωραια του αυτο αλλα δεν το εχω συνηθισει

 

εχει εχει!!!! περιμενουμε περιγραφη και πολλες φωτο!

[Gavis 1,078]

πηρα μεγαλυτερο νουμερο. οκ αυτο...

 

Να παρω 2 ζευγαρι δεν παιζει με τιποτα. Θα ειναι αρκετα εξτρα βαρος.

Κοβω απο παντου...

 

Αντε να δουμε.

δυστυχως εχω πολυ τρεξιμο τελευταια και δεν προετοιμαστηκα οπως θα ηθελα...

ισα ισα προλαβα να παρω παπουτσια και καποια αλλα.....

παω πολυ στο φλου....βεβαια εχει και τα ωραια του αυτο αλλα δεν το εχω συνηθισει

 

 

κωστα για σενα μονο αυτο αγορι μου

[Turms 2,694]

ξερεις τα δοκιμασα αλλα δεν με βολεψαν....δεν μου αρεσε γιατι το δαχτυλο μπροστα δεν εχω ξεχωριστη θεση....

[Turms 2,694]

εχει εχει!!!! περιμενουμε περιγραφη και πολλες φωτο!

 

οκ....αλλα μονο το 40% με 50% θα προλαβω τωρα και με την προυποθεση οτι δεν θα τα δω ολα απο τις πρωτες μερες ... το υπολοιπο τον Οκτωβρη μαλλον....

[Olga 6,796]

για πες λεπτομερειες για το που θα πας?

 

(αν νομιζεις καλυτερα και με πμ)

[Olga 6,796]

16/5/2004 - 16/5/2014. 10 χρόνια από την πρώτη ανάβαση ελληνικής αποστολής στο Everest. Μια επιτυχία σταθμός για την ελληνική ορειβασία.

Όλη η προσπάθεια και το χρονικό: www.anevenontas.gr/issues/50/#/44/