Live coverage of Moro and Urubko's attempt to make a first winter ascent of the 8125m peak.
Fancy a bit of virtual mountaineering while you're waiting for some proper snow to hit the British hills? If so you're in luck, you can follow The North Face athletes Simone Moro and Denis Urubko's bid to climb Nanga Parbat in winter for the first time ever.
Thanks to the wonders of modern communications technology, not only can you view their progress on the expedition's own web site, there's also set to be a live webcast from the mountain on Monday, January 30 at 13.00 in the UK.
The mountain at 8125m, is the ninth highest peak on earth and has a reputation for being both hard and dangerous. And that's in summer – it has never been climbed in the winter months, but Moro and Urubko have impressive previous Himalayan winter experience including last year's first winter ascent of Gasherbrum 2, where they were accompanied by Cory Richards and Moro's first winter ascent of Makalu.
Regular Bulletins, Great Images
The expedition's dedicated web site at carries regular updates, images and video reports from the mountain.
The team left Italy almost a month ago and have now reached Camp 2 on the mountain after three weeks of climbing and acclimatising in harsh conditions which has made progress slow and means they're behind schedule.
In one update, Urubko refers to 'an earthquake, taking out some seracs, but no problems'. If nothing else, the reports are well worth browsing through for a look at some fantastic images from the mountain.
Live Webcast
The icing on the cake is set to be a live webcast from the mountain on The North Face's Facebook page next Monday 30 January at 12.00pm central European Time – which is 1.00pm in the UK.
The programme will come live from basecamp on the mountain at 5100m and will include a live Q&A with the climbers answering questions about the expedition.
Interesting scenario – what would happen if the team decided there was a weather window for a summit bid on the same day?
More about the expedition – and really, check out those images – at www.thenorthfacejournal.com/category/nanga-parbat.
