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Guy Knowles
Guy John Fenton Knowles (1879-1959) was an engineer, an art collector and a benefactor of several museum collections. He was also a member of the expedition which made the first serious attempt to climb K2, the second highest mountain in the World.

Knowles was the son of Charles Julius Kino, a wealthy Russian-born wool merchant and hotel proprietor who was a friend and patron of Alphonse Legros and also knew Rodin, Kino changed his name to Knowles in the 1880s. As a boy Guy Knowles was allowed to play with clay in Rodin’s studio.

He was educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge, and took a Second Class in Pt. I of the Mechanical Sciences Tripos in 1901.

His father died in 1900, whilst Guy was at Cambridge, and left him a considerable inheritance. In 1904 he and Lucien Legros, the son of the artist Alphonse Legros, started a motor vehicle company: Legros & Knowles Ltd in Cumberland Park, Willesden Junction, Willesden. Knowles purportedly provided a considerable proportion of the finance for the company. The two later established the Iris Car Company.

=Mountaineering= For a number of years Knowles climbed in the Swiss Alps, in 1898 he was climbing there in the company of Oscar Eckenstein In 1902 Eckenstein led an expedition making the first serious attempt to climb K2, Knowles was a member of that party and reportedly financed most of the expedition's costs. At one point on the expedition Aleister Crowley, another expedition member, threatened Knowles with a revolver and had to be forcibly disarmed, Knowles kept the revolver until the end of his life in 1959. Although he never climbed again in the Greater Ranges he did make further climbing trips to the Swiss Alps and was there with Eckenstein in 1904.

=War Service= During the first world war he served in the Royal Garrison Artillery, reaching the rank of Captain. He was twice mentioned in despatches and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre and the Greek Military Cross.

=Art bequests= in his later years Knowles lived in "a house full of treasures", which included a Degas bronze, two Rodins, ten Whistlers, and a magnificent Guardi sketch — apparently his father had bought the Guardi and a Titian sketch for 12s 6d each in the 1880's. In his will he left to the Fitzwilliam Museum what was described as "a remarkable collection of paintings, drawings, bronzes and miscellaneous works of art", and he is regarded as a major donor of the Fitzwilliam’s Whistler collection.

Himalayan Winter Mountaineering
By the world calendar, winter begins 21 December, so this was not winter but a very-late-autumn-climb. However, the climb was done under a winter climbing permit, which the Nepali government issues for climbs beginning on or after 1 December.[21]

Jan Długosz (mountaineer) made the first winter ascents of the biggest walls in Polish High Tatras in 1956-57, which demanded innovative tactics and techniques.

Buhl on Watzmann winter solo CUMC 1958 - reviw of Gervasutti book, solo winter Italian ridge Matterhorn

Hawley, p11 "since Nepal opened its peaks for winter climbs in 1979"

=Nanga Parbat= Karl Herrligkoffer led an expedition to the Rupal face of Nanga Parbat early in 1964. This was the one of the first attempts on a high himalayan peak in winter but the choice of season was determined by Herrligkoffer's plans to undertake an Antarctic expedition in autumn 1964, rather than any special mountaineering considerations.[26] Remarkably none of the team, apart from Herrligkoffer, had previously been to the Greater Ranges, even in the less challenging spring/summer months. Climbing took place throughout most of March but a problem with the permits resulted in a premature end to the activities before the team had ascended above 5,800m.[27]

Nanga Parbat was first successfully climbed in winter on February 26, 2016, by a team consisting of Ali Sadpara, Alex Txikon, and Simone Moro.[44][45]

The second winter ascent was made by the Polish climber Tomasz Mackiewicz and Frenchwoman Élisabeth Revol on January 25, 2018.[clarification needed]

=Lhotse= 1974 December 25 First attempt of an 8,000-meter peak in winter. Polish climbers Andrzej Zawada and Andrzej Heinrich reached a height of 8,250 meters (27,070 feet).

1988 December 31 Krzysztof Wielicki, a Polish climber, completed the first winter ascent of Lhotse.

=Everest= The Polish climber Andrzej Zawada headed the first winter ascent of Mount Everest, the first winter ascent of an eight-thousander. The team of 20 Polish climbers and 4 Sherpas established a base camp on Khumbu Glacier in early January 1980. On 15 January, the team managed to set up Camp III at 7150 metres above sea level, but further action was stopped by hurricane-force winds. The weather improved after 11 February, when Leszek Cichy, Walenty Fiut and Krzysztof Wielicki set up camp IV on South Col (7906 m). Cichy and Wielicki started the final ascent at 6:50 am on 17 February. At 2:40 pm Andrzej Zawada at base camp heard the climbers' voices over the radio – "We are on the summit! The strong wind blows all the time. It is unimaginably cold."[114][115][116][117] The successful winter ascent of Mount Everest started a new decade of Winter Himalaism, which became a Polish specialisation. After 1980 Poles did ten first winter ascents on 8000 metre peaks, which earned Polish climbers a reputation of "Ice Warriors".[118][115][119][120]

=K2= in January 2021, K2 became the final eight-thousander to be summited in the winter; the mountaineering feat was accomplished by a team of Nepalese climbers, led by Nirmal Purja and Mingma Gyalje Sherpa.[15][16]

=Kangchenjunga= Kangchenjunga First winter ascent 11 January 1986 by Jerzy Kukuczka and Krzysztof Wielicki

=Gasherbrum I= 2012 - March 9, Adam Bielecki and Janusz Gołąb (Poland) made the first winter ascent of Gasherbrum_I. The ascent was made without the aid of supplementary oxygen.[7] The same day, three climbers from a different expedition — Austrian Gerfried Göschl, Swiss Cedric Hählen and Pakistani Nisar Hussain Sadpara — went missing, never to be found again. They were trying to ascend via a new route and are considered to have been blown off by strong winds.[8]

=Gasherbrum II= On February 2, 2011, Cory Richards, Denis Urubko, and Simone Moro made the first winter ascent of Gasherbrum II. Despite being buried by a class-four avalanche, they reached the summit at 11:30 am, without supplemental oxygen or porters. Richards, who was the first American to climb an eight-thousander in winter, filmed the expedition, which he turned into the film Cold.[30][31]

=Shishapangma= 2004: 11 December, Jean-Christophe Lafaille (France) provoked controversy when he climbed the "British Route" on the southwest face, solo, and claimed a winter ascent. Since this was not calendar winter, he changed his claim to an ascent "in winter conditions."[30] 2005: 14 January, first (calendar) winter ascent by Piotr Morawski (Poland) and Simone Moro (Italy).[24]

=Dhaulagiri= 1982, 13 December – Two members (Akio Koizumi and Wangchu Shelpa) of the Japanese team led by Jun Arima of the Academic Alpine Club of Hokkaido University reach the summit of Dhaulagiri. By the world calendar, winter begins 21 December, so this was not winter but a very-late-autumn-climb. However, the climb was done under a winter climbing permit, which the Nepali government issues for climbs beginning on or after 1 December.[21]

Hawley, p11 re: 1985 winter ascent by Loretan et al.

1985 – Polish expedition led by Adam Bilczewski set out to conquer Dhaulagiri for the first time in winter. After seven weeks of dramatic struggle against hurricane-force winds and temperatures below −40c°, Andrzej Czok and Jerzy Kukuczka successfully made first winter ascent on 21 January.[22][23]

=Annapurna = On 3 February 1987, Polish climbers Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer made the first winter ascent of Annapurna I.[12]

=Manaslu= During the winter of 1983–84, a Polish team led by L. Korniszewski successfully followed the Tyrolean Route. The first winter ascent of Manaslu was made on January 12, 1984 by Maciej Berbeka and Ryszard Gajewski via the normal route.[30][31]

On January 6, 2023, Spanish alpinist Alex Txikon, along with six sherpa climbers, made a successful winter ascent of Mount Manaslu, which had not been summited in winter in over 20 years.[48]

=Makalu= 2006: On or about January 27 the French mountaineer Jean-Christophe Lafaille disappeared on Makalu while trying to make the first winter ascent.[15]

2009: Makalu was first climbed in winter on February 9, 2009, by Italian Simone Moro and Kazakh Denis Urubko.[16][17] It was the final Nepali eight-thousander to be climbed in winter conditions. Moro had previously made the first winter ascent of Shishapangma in winter 2005 with Pole Piotr Morawski.

=Broad_Peak= On March 5, 2013 Maciej Berbeka, Adam Bielecki, Tomasz Kowalski and Artur Małek made the first winter ascent of Broad_Peak. Broad Peak was the twelfth eight-thousander summited in wintertime and the tenth eight-thousander first summitted in winter by Polish climbers.[11] During the descent, Maciej Berbeka and Tomasz Kowalski did not reach Camp 4 (at 7400 m) and were pronounced missing. On March 7, the head of the expedition Krzysztof Wielicki, said there are "no chances at all" of finding alive 58-year-old Maciej Berbeka and 27-year-old Tomasz Kowalski.[12] On March 8 both climbers were declared dead and the expedition was ended.[13][14]

=Cho_Oyu= 1985 On February 12, Poles Maciej Berbeka and Maciej Pawlikowski make the first winter ascent of Cho_Oyu via a new route on the southeast face. It is the only winter ascent on an eight-thousander made on a new route and the first winter ascent without additional oxygen support. The ascent was repeated three days later by Andrzej Heinrich and Jerzy Kukuczka, with Kukuczka setting an additional record for climbing two eight-thousanders during the same winter, as he had earlier climbed Dhaulagiri.

Hawley, p32 - winter solo of Cho Oyu 1987-88

Freney Pillar
Central Pillar of Freney on the south side of Mont Blanc cf Mazeno

to the left - Innominata to the right Gervasutti pillar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giusto_Gervasutti

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Freney_pillars_view_from_helicopter.jpg

BLOG: https://alpineexposures.com/euro/freney-pillar-mont-blanc

1961 Jan Długosz (mountaineer) participated in the first ascent of the Central Pillar of Frêney on Mont Blanc by a British-Polish team (with Don Whillans, Chris Bonington and Ian Clough). Considered then as 'The last problem of the Alps' https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_1962_files/AJ%201962%20111-119%20Bonington%20Freney.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on7DZCkLopQ recorded 2011

- a month earlier the tragic Bonatti-Mazeaud drama in which they lost four of their companions) Walter_Bonatti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Bonatti#The_tragedy_of_the_Central_Pillar_of_Fr%C3%AAney https://www.summitpost.org/the-1961-drama-of-the-central-pillar-of-freney/824489

https://www.summitpost.org/l-affaire-freney/l-affaire-freney/comments/827900 Bonnatti passing by hut where Bonnington et al were staying prior to the 1st ascent.

well illustrates how serious, remote the location is

Montagne pour un homme nu[16] (Mountain for a naked man), by Pierre Mazeaud. This book reports the tragedy on Mont Blanc on July 11, 1961, where seven mountaineers were surprised by a violent storm on the pillar of Frêney, near the summit of Mont Blanc. One hundred and ten hours later, a helicopter landed three survivors at Courmayeur; among them Walter Bonatti[17] and Mazeaud.[18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_storms

Claims of René Desmaison, Pierre Julien, Yves Pollet-Villard and Ignacio Piussi who climbed on same day as Bonnington et al. :https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_2012_files/AJ%202012%20246-257%20Vola%20Freney.pdf & ?? Mountain  ?? http://www.summitpost.org/l-affaire-freney/827900 In 1993 Desmaison expressed the view that it was the media (French or British, I'm not sure) that were to blame for any claims for the FA on his behalf. https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/expedition+alpine/central_pillar_of_freney-571042 Total Alpinism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchainment In August 1975 Nicolas Jaeger (who had made the first solo traverse of the Chamonix Aiguilles [fr] in 1973[2]) accomplished the first solo ascent of the Bonatti-Gobbi route on the Grand Pilier d'Angle, descended to the Upper Freney Glacier and then made the second solo ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney, thereby reaching the summit of Mont Blanc over 17 hours.[3][4] That achievement has led to him being referred to as the “the inventor of modern enchainments”.[5]

Winter ascent: 1st winter ascent Central Pillar of Freney "After an unsuccessful attempt defeated by bad weather, Reno Desmaison and Robert Flematty made the first winter ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney between January 31 and February 3 rd"

1967 rene desmaison https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/rene-desmaison-396013.html   https://alpinist.com/newswire/in-memory-rene-desmaison/

the Hidden Pillar: http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web07f/newswire-hidden-pillar-freney-gabarrou

The Brouillard pillars are quite a bit lower down than the Freney pillars. I think the only two that get done with reasonable regularity are the Red and the RH pillars. https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/expedition+alpine/central_pillar_of_freney-571042

AJ links: 1st ascent by Central Pillar of Freney 66 372, 67 113 attempts & fatal storm on Freney, 67 112 1st ascent by route to right of North Pillar of Freney, 67 152

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBoZABHlyKY