Mountaineers plan to ski down Laila Peak after summit

Italian mountaineer Cala Cimenti along with his Swiss friend Matthias Koenig is now at Pakistan for their upcoming expedition to Laila Peak (6096m). They want to climb the peak and ski down from the summit. They have another plan to summit Gasherbrum II (8035m) after that and if possible, they may try to ski down from that mountain too. "...I am going to try to climb and then descend on skis the Laila Peak and then move, in early June, to the Base Camp of the Gasherbrum II to try to climb that too", posted by Cala Cimenti on his Facebook page few days ago.

Another Swiss Julian Dänzer will be joining them on their Laila Peak expedition, while for Gasherbrum II, two Italians Mauri Basso and Francesco Cassardo along with German Felix Berg will team up with them.

Cala Cimenti, Matthias Koenig and Julian Dänzer teamed up at Skardu on 11th May. They hoped to reach the Base Camp of Laila Peak within three days. "We are all set for Laila Peak trekking. In three days we would be there at the Base Camp. We are really motivated and fully prepared. If everything goes fine we hope to have a great ski. We will let you know how it went", stated by Cala and Matthias to Dream Wanderlust from Skardu on 11th May. They started from Skardu from 12th May and arrived at the Base Camp (4173m) of Laila Peak on 14th May. They planned to start their acclimatization process for the expedition from 15th May, early in the morning.

Cala Cimenti and Matthias Koenig summited Dhaulagiri (8167m) last spring without supplemental oxygen and skied down a portion (7200m to 5200m) of the mountain.

Photo Courtesy: Cala Cimenti