To Mt. Everest, without supplementary O2

Press release: A Romanian-Slovakian team will approach Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen. Horia Colibasanu and Peter Hamor are getting acclimatized now on Shisha Pangma
 

Romanian-born Horia Colibasanu and Peter Hamor from Slovakia have departed in an expedition to Mount Everest (8,848m), with an aim to ascend the world’s tallest mountain without supplementary oxygen and Sherpa, via the Northern Route (Tibet, China).

Mount Everest has registered more than 5,650 successful summit attempts by 2012, but only 173 – meaning 3% – were accomplished without oxygen, according to Eberhard Jurgalski.

Horia and Peter are getting acclimatized now on Shisha Pangma (8.027m) in Tibet, a mountain which registered 302 successful attempts since 1964, when it was climbed for the first time.

Shisha Pangma has a fatality rate of 8.3%, which is double compared to Mount Everest.

Horia Colibasanu, aged 37, is the only Romanian climber to reach three out of the world’s five most dangerous 8,000-meter peaks: Annapurna, K2 and Dhaulagiri. He carried out those climbs expedition-style – without supplementary oxygen. Five out of Horia’s six successful ascents above 8,000 meters are firsts for his home country, Romania.

Peter Hamor, aged 50, has climbed ten 8,000-meter peaks so far, including K2, Annapurna, Kanchenjunga and Nanga Parbat – four out of the world’s five most dangerous mountains. Peter is the first mountaineer ever to climb Annapurna (8,091m), the most dangerous 8000m peak, from both sides. Peter opened several new routes, including Annapurna (2006).

View from Shisha Pangma, 2009 (Horia Colibasanu’s archive)

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About Mount Everest:

Mount Everest (8,848m) is the tallest in the world and is located at the border between Nepal and Tibet (China). Its Tibetan name, Chomolungma, means Goddess Mother of the World.

The first man to reach the Everest Summit without bottled oxygen was Reinhold Messner (Italy), in 1978 (South) and in 1980 (North).

Everest Peak had been reacheded for the first time in 1953, by legendary Edmund Hillary (New Zealand) and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (Nepal). Up to 2012, Mount Everest has registered 5,656 successful ascents, 97% of them with additional oxygen and Sherpa, according to Eberhard Jurgalski.

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For more information, please write to: contact@horiacolibasanu.com.