August 23, 2011 — Liberty Mountain, a leading independent distributor of technical outdoor products and climbing brands in the U.S., is pleased to announce its partnership with Valandré. Starting immediately, Liberty Mountain will offer Valandré’s line of high end technical down products.
The French company is a high-end manufacturer of down sleeping bags and outerwear for mountaineers and alpinists, such as the Austrian female climber, Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, who has just become the first woman to successfully climb all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks without the use of bottled oxygen.
“Climbing to these heights without supplementary oxygen requires down gear that offers extreme warmth and better insulation due to reduced blood circulation. We are proud that Gerlinde has summitted K2 (North pillar – Japanese route), the second highest mountain in the world and her 14th 8,000er without supplemental oxygen, wearing our Valandré Combi,” said Niels Friisbol – President, Valandré.
Continue reading “Liberty Mountain and Valandré Form US Partnership.” »
Photograph © Maxut Zhumayev/National Geographic – Austrian alpinist Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner cheers on reaching the summit of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain. By reaching the top, she became the first woman in the world to summit all 14 of Earth’s highest peaks without using supplementary oxygen.
26 August 2011 -Summit Photos
Gerlinde and Ralf, Maxut, Vassiliy, Darek and Tommy had a very long day yesterday as they went all the way down to Chinese Base Camp, where they arrived late and exhausted.
But before they switched off the base camp lights, they were able to send as the summit photos we have so eagerly been waiting for!
Warm regards and have a great weekend!
The home team of Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits
© TEXT G.Kaltenbrunner/R.Dujmovits ; TRANSLATION: Billi Bierling
A big hello at deposit camp
We are very relieved to report that Tommy and Ralf were able to meet Gerlinde, Maxut, Vassiliy und Darek at the deposit camp, which is at the end of the heavily crevassed glacier.
They are on their way down to the base camp and after a short rest will continue to the Chinese base camp.
The camels are already waiting there and the team will start their way back into civilisation tomorrow.
We are sending our heartfelt congratulations to the whole team, especially gerlinde for their amazing success.
Warm Regards
Gerlinde’s and Ralf’s Home Team
© TEXT G.Kaltenbrunner/R.Dujmovits ; TRANSLATION: Billi Bierling
Gerlinde short bevor reaching Camp III - International K2 Expedition
Update 10AM Local Time
At midnight last night, Gerlinde, and a little later also Darek, reached Camp IV at 8,000m. Vassily and Maxut stayed the night at their bivouac at 8,300m, from where they left at 7am. They have now almost reached Camp IV.
Today, they are planning to descend to Camp I at 5,300m, where they will spend one last night at the foot of the North Pillar before they will go down to our deposit camp tomorrow. I am planning to go up and meet them there.
Continue reading “24 August 2011 – Team still descending – International K2 Expedition” »
K2 Ramp Summitridge
2nd Update – 16:15pm local time
I was able to speak to Gerlinde over the radio at 3pm. They had just arrived at the ramp, which leads from the Japanese Couloirs to the summit ridge and progress was very slow due to the deep snow. At one point we could see from base camp how the four climbers were going in three different directions to break trail, however, all of them had to start from scratch as the snow was just too deep.
Continue reading “23 August 2011 – K2 SUMMIT – International K2 Expedition” »
