New route in the West face of Cholatse (6.440 m)

We reached altitude of 4.900m  without  porters on 01.11. and bivouacked about 200 vertical meters above the usual base camp for Cholatse. Considering the high objective risk, we divided the ascent into two days. On the first day, we climbed the first 3 pitches of disjointed ice icicles with WI4+/M5 classification in the early morning and then continued on relatively easy terrain for about 4 pitches to a safe ice cave at the top of a prominent serac at the base of the wall. 

Topo of „JUST ONE SOLUTION“ ED (WI 4+,M5,1200m)

Here we sheltered from falling rocks during the day and started climbing again around 2am the next day with the aim of climbing in one push to the summit ridge. We eventually managed to reach the summit ridge after about 14 hours of exclusively ice climbing. The wall didn't allow a single place to bivouac in a safe way. The slope of the ice ranged from 60 to 90 degrees. It took us about another 30 minutes to reach the summit on the SW ridge at 5:30 pm.

Detailed topo of bottom part

After reaching the summit, we immediately started descending down the SW ridge in the dark. With the help of fixed ropes we got to C1 (5.600) of the normal ascent route quite quickly. On 4.11. we descended from C1 to the place where we successfully searched for the camera of our deceased friend who had fallen from the SW ridge while climbing the normal ascent route about 10 days earlier. After a short remembrance we continued to the settlement of Portse. We continued to Lukla on 5.11. and flew back to Kathmandu on 6.11. 

Cholatse West Face

We dedicate the journey to our friend Honza Ros, who tragically lost his life there. „JUST ONE SOLUTION“ ED (WI 4+,M5,1200m)

14.11.2023 Zdeněk Hák and Radoslav Groh

Zdeněk & Radek were used the lightest twin rope in the world - Master 7.0 (only 34 grams per meter)