News Flash: The following news flash is a preliminary report posted as a service to our readers. Alpinist has not confirmed the veracity of its contents but will post a story in detail when more information becomes available.–Ed.
On July 17, 2008, Russians Valery Babanov and Victor Afanasiev summited Broad Peak (8047m), Karakoram, Pakistan, via a new route on the northwest face. Daniele Nardi, who was climbing the peak via the normal route at the same time, said: “The two Russian alpinists reached the summit on July 17th at 8 a.m. after nine days spent on the face and defying the blizzard, while all the other teams were returning to base camp. They continued undaunted to climb up the new route that they had studied for weeks from base camp.” No information has been released officially by Babanov or Afanasiev.
Babanov and Afanasiev’s success comes on the heels of tragedy–Broad Peak claimed the life of Slovakian climber Vlado Plulik as he and Jozef “Dodo” Kopold attempted to summit earlier this year (read the July 2, 2008 NewsWire).
More information will be posted as it becomes available.