(MountEverest.net/K2climb.net) "If you do not take up the challenge, we shall have to take it on our old shoulders, without a guarantee of success." So ended Krzysztof Wielicki's Winter Manifesto read in 2002 at the convention of the Polish Alpinist Association.
Better try and fail
All Pakistan’s 8000ers – K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, and Broad Peak – still wait for a first winter ascent. So does Makalu. Now is a great time for such an expedition: Technology offers the best gear and communication systems ever imagined, Pakistan government has lowered climbing permit fees to almost zero and, as Mallory pointed out, the peaks are there. So how come nobody seems interested?
The Polish winter Nanga Parbat expedition have retreated from the mountain but they come back winners. These guys, took upon their 'old shoulders' what few young climbers dared.