Slovak Pair Establish New Karakoram Line

Slovakian climbers Dodo Kopold and Gabo Èmárik have recently returned from the Karakoram with a big new route to their names. Having been beaten back from a steep tower on the summit ridge of Hainabrakk, and then from the North face of Shipton Spire with sunstroke, they eventually succeeded in a 54 hour push on Uli Biaho. Dodo had been looking and waiting for an opportunity to tackle the impressive and previously un-climbed North West face of this peak for three years. In his words ´The wall is steep, with hard ice and dangerous summit ridge´, with few possibilities for climbing. They started the climb in a dangerous couloir during the night, reaching the bottom of the main ice wall at dawn. Then followed 100m of the 90 degree ice before more steep ground and the site of their first break. They chipped out a small sitting ledge in the ice, however the night proved to be too cold without sleeping bags, so after few hours they continued climbing encountering the hardest pitches on the route, the thin ice barely fixed to the rock. 10m below the summit the pair were forced to belay each other separately to the unstable snow-mushroom top. They then abseiled the line through the night using just Abalaks (hand made ice-threads). The grade: V6 / ABO (Abominable!) Check out the images below, in particular the one of Dodo slacklining in a blizzard, their chosen training for the attempt! Slacklining at 4,400m! Base Camp Steep Ice on Uli Biaho Uli Biaho If you would like to get in touch with Dodo his email is: Dodo.Kopold@james.sk ———————————————————————– If you have any news worth reporting please contact Matt – matt@planetfear.com / 0114 2969114 ———————————————————————–

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