Everest 2013: Denis Urubko Shares Thoughts On New Route Up Southwest Face

As mentioned a few weeks back, the 2013 Everest season is shaping up to be an interesting one with several teams looking to try some different routes. In addition to Simone Moro and Ueli Steck's attempt at a new route on the Nepali side of the mountian, Glab Sokolov and Alexander Kirikov will take on the East Face from the Tibetan side. But Denis Urubko is also joining forces with Alexei Bolotov to try a new route along the Southwest Face as well, something that he discusses in a new interview prior to heading to Kathmandu in a few weeks.

This expedition will be done in pure alpine style with Denis and Alexei planning on climbing without oxygen, fixing their own ropes and without Sherpa support. The plan is to go up a path in the center of the Southwest, relying on their own substantial experience and skills to get them to the top. But as Denis says in the interview, they'll also be relying on favorable weather and a bit of luck too.

Urubko has already successfully climbed Everest, and all of the other fourteen 8000-meter peaks, without oxygen, but he is being lured back with this opportunity to do something different. When asked what the mountain means to him he answers:

"For me Everest is simply the highest mountain of the world. All other things depend on the personal view: Beautiful, difficult, magic mountain – this applies to many mountains. But the highest, this is only Everest."

In the interview he also touches briefly on over crowding on the mountain, his experience climbing with Alexei in the past and his impending 40th birthday in July. He also talks about the potential of his team joining forces with Simone and Ueli on their climb (don't hold your breath!) and his thoughts on any future attempts on Everest too.

The interview comes across as a bit stilted because it has been run through an online translation service before it was posted to ExWeb. Still, you can easily get the gist of what is being said about this major expedition which will likely get underway in early April.