The Winter Maestro

With four first winter ascents of 8,000-meter peaks, Simone Moro has taken the art of climbing in harsh conditions to new heights, but controversy plagues his climbing résumé.

- Marcello Rossi

The only notable ascents involve establishing new, elegant routes up obscure or remote peaks, enchaining several peaks, or free soloing classic routes in record time. A decades-long siege on the world’s 8,000-meter peaks has turned these mountains into a circus, where during the summer it’s not uncommon to see endless lines of climbers trudging up fixed lines or having dozens summit in a single day. But climbing an 8,000-meter peak is still a challenging feat, and going in winter is a guaranteed path to standing out as a high-altitude mountaineer.

A little more than 10 years ago, half of the fourteen 8,000ers had never seen a winter ascent. Then, winter high-altitude mountaineering became the obsession of Simone Moro. In January 2005, when the wiry Italian stood atop Shishapangma, he ended a 17-year gap during which no one had summited an 8,000er in winter. Eleven years later, K2 is the last holdout in the game of 8,000-meter winter ascents.