Pobeda from The North Face®

The  North Face® has today released “Pobeda,” the story of Italian alpinists Simone Moro and Tamara Lunger as they venture to arctic Siberia to take on a winter summit of Pik Pobeda, tackling the challenge in temperatures way below the -40°C recorded at their base camp.

Available from today, a short movie on the adventure has been released on the brand’s YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWmXPWTkL9M

“Pobeda” follows regular climbing partners Moro and Lunger in a truly hostile climate as they travel to the Siberian region of Sakha (Yakutiya), an area where the coldest permanently inhabited settlement in the world is found – and a place where the lowest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere has ever been recorded (-71.3°C).

The duo find themselves in this desolate landscape in order to attempt a winter summit of Pik Pobeda, which at 3,003m is the highest mountain found in Siberia. Following some extensive travel – 13 hours of flying via Moscow, Yakutsk and “ghost city” Ust Nera, as well as nearly losing their minivan on a frozen river crossing and a half-day of frozen snow mobile land transfer, the two reach their nomad hut accommodation ahead of their summit attempt.

Both climbers were experiencing a new kind of winter ascent. Simone Moro, recognizing that they were both going through a new type of exploration, said of the expedition: “If I am in Nepal or Karakorum, the Himalayas or the Andes in Patagonia, I know what could happen and I feel at home. Here it is different, I do not know what could come next.”

The pair also acknowledged that the local people were a key part of the trip – educating the Italians that the conditions for climbing in Siberia are completely contrasting to the familiar conditions of a Himalayan climb. After spending several days in the nomad hut before the right conditions presented themselves, the athletes must avoid spending too long out of their tents. This meant that they needed to undertake a rapid ascent over various technical sections, doing so in around 7.5 hours, followed by a tricky descent in the dark and cold which took over half that time again.

Despite the tough conditions, both climbers enjoyed the expedition. “I got confirmation that I am in love with exploration,” said Tamara, while Simone concluded that “I am right when I say that exploration is still there waiting for someone who pushes over and goes forward in this direction.”

Find out more about the expedition at: https://www.thenorthface.it/exploration/our-journal/pobeda.html or get involved by following @TheNorthFaceUK on Instagram and @TheNorthFace on Facebook.