Aleš Česen and Luka Lindič Summit Broad Peak, Get Ready for Gasherbrum IV

Aleš Česen and Luka Lindič summited Broad Peak on July 12th, thus concluding the acclimatization part of their expedition. The two climbers will now attempt the mighty Shining Wall of Gasherbrum IV. Interestingly, it is first eight-thousander summit for both Ales and Luka. Ales (son of Tomo Cesen) had never even reached the altitude of 8000m previously, while Luka was once at 8200m on Makalu. The Slovenian alpinists are amongst the finest technical climbers and winners of Piolets d'Or 2015.

Aleš Česen and Luka Lindič arrived in Pakistan on June 15th and reached BC on 29th. They made two acclimatization trips, first spending a night in C1 (5700m) and next sleeping at the altitude of around 7000m. While, regular Broad Peak climbers have just completed rope-fixing to C3 and wait for summit window, the Slovenians went up earlier this week, summited the mountain on 12th and return to BC a day later. These are first 8000m summits of the season in Karakoram.

Strikingly beautiful, yet notoriously difficult, G-IV has been climbed by just a small number of elite climbers. Italian Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri made first ascent of mountain in 1958 by the Northeast Ridge. G-IV West Face – the Shining Wall – attracted several expedition in 1970s and 80s. The face was first climbed by Polish Wojciech Kurtyka and Austrian Robert Schauer, in 1985 (they quit the ascent at North Summit due to bad weather and exhaustion). The climb is still regarded as one of the finest climbs in the history of Karakoram. A year later, Greg Child, Tom Hargis and Tim Macartney reached main summit via Northwest ridge.

G-IV saw two Korean ascents in late 1990s. Bang Jung-ho, Kim Tong-kwan and Yoo Huk-jae climbed Central Spur of the west face in 1997, while Kang Yeon-ryong and Yun Chi-won repeated NW Ridge in 1999. Most recently, a strong Spanish team - Alberto Inurrategi, Ferran Latorre, Jose Carlos Tamayo, Juan Vallejo and Mikel Zabalza – made third ascent of NW Ridge in 2008. The Spaniards stopped at a minor peak, between North and Main Summits.

[L to R] The Shining Wall, Aleš Česen and Luka Lindič. [Courtesy: gripped.com]
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