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laughingman
Ice climber
Seattle WA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 29, 2011 - 03:06am PT
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Hello I am new to this forum and have been throwing this question around about himalayan big walls.
Does anybody know if the coveted North face of the Jannu has been attempted since the russians sieged the wall out in 2004?
Also very few of the last of the great himalayan "big walls" have been climbed by Americans in the last decade or so. In the same time frame the Russians managed to climb the big walls on Jannu, Changabang, Pik 4810 (look it up), Ak-Su and countless others. Style aside, is there a fundamental difference in ideology and tolerance for adversity that americans don't have? Or is the russian style of climbing simply better at producing results at the expense of style?
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Oct 29, 2011 - 03:09am PT
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This should be good. Wait till the morning and see or nuke it now.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Oct 29, 2011 - 04:33am PT
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Americans are pussies.
werner
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Oct 29, 2011 - 11:07am PT
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Its hard to watch Monday Night Football when you are in the Himalaya.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Oct 29, 2011 - 12:11pm PT
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Pik 4810.
Americans could clearly climb that thing. But I think we have too limited a view of what's out there. (some at least)
We have things like Patagonia and Baffin fixation, which both happen to be on our side of the planet.
With the state of the world post 9/11, coupled with the economy the last few years, it's no surprise that American alpinists haven't been paying big dough and fighting with visas, logistics etc to climb on the other half.
Plus, I don't think we can get The Kardashians or Dancing With The Stars Over there.....
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Radish
Trad climber
SeKi, California
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Oct 29, 2011 - 02:16pm PT
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Lots of vodka and cigarettes get you up alot of Himalayan walls in siege kinda ways. The brits proofed that this style goes better for the thin air. A study even showed that those who smoke do better at high altitudes. Look at the first ascents list and see what I mean. Alpine style is the frontier but man.... its a long way out there!
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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Oct 29, 2011 - 03:00pm PT
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An American in the Karakorum, though not Jannu NF.
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Oct 29, 2011 - 05:31pm PT
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The russians have a government supported climbing team that trains together all over the world. They are truly a war machine. They earned every bit of that climb.
didn't the japanese do a different route on Jannu , or were historically the first there?
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Oct 29, 2011 - 05:54pm PT
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We need to push ourselves as climbers, but not for nationalistic reasons. ('cept once in awhile)
Not every peak on the planet has to be American....
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vlani
Trad climber
mountain view, ca
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Oct 29, 2011 - 05:56pm PT
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Lowe/Hill did a climb on 4810 in perfect style - fast and light. And free. Not the wall in the picture, the other one around right corner. More than 10 yeas back, though
This summer Russian all-woman team did FA on Grand Trango. 40 days for 48 pitches. Makes me pause.
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laughingman
Ice climber
Seattle WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 29, 2011 - 06:08pm PT
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"Lowe/Hill did a climb on 4810 in perfect style - fast and light. And free. Not the wall in the picture, the other one around right corner."
Did they put a new route up the face or did they climb an existing route?
I have a feeling many of the "free" routes put up the faces of many himalayan big walls are not FA or turn out to be free variations of an aid climbing route. Is this true?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Oct 29, 2011 - 06:17pm PT
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Aren't Peak 4810, Ak-Su and so on in the Pamirs rather than the Himalaya? The one range connects to the other, and perhaps they have related geological origin, but I believe that they're considered to be separate ranges.
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vlani
Trad climber
mountain view, ca
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Oct 29, 2011 - 06:50pm PT
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Alex and Lynn did some variation mix of two established climbs. With palm-sized photo of a mile-high wall with hand-drawn line for topo. It is mentioned in her book.
This 4810-Ak-Suu area is called Pamirs-Alay, not sure what is geographical meaning of it relative to Pamirs proper. It is kinda North to what I believe Pamirs is. The highest summits are around 5500m.
There is also great area called Sabbah nearby, somewhat forgotten. Same steep granite.
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Oct 29, 2011 - 07:16pm PT
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road trip!
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nick d
Trad climber
nm
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Oct 29, 2011 - 10:54pm PT
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Man! That's an awesome looking peak!
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laughingman
Ice climber
Seattle WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 30, 2011 - 02:58am PT
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I am under the impression many of the "russian big wall project" climbs are done in places that don't really necessitate free-climbing (20,000+ feet from sea level in Millet everest boots) Is this true?
as the "russian big wall project" been scraped? Last I checked It was financed by one of the big oligarch (Not khodorkovsky) that are increasingly becoming an endangered.
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vlani
Trad climber
mountain view, ca
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Oct 30, 2011 - 12:04pm PT
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They finally did Latok III this summer. Does not look like scraped to me.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Oct 31, 2011 - 02:37pm PT
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Steve H. and Colin H. and numerous other Americans do real big alpine style ascents. That climb House did on Nanga Parbat's Rupal Face may be the climb of this era. So I think it is possible to do big alpine style climbs if you are skilled enough. Chance for success is low though. Maybe style of choice a lot of Russian teams use ('siege style') is used because they really NEED to succeed to make sponsors etc happy. $ is not flowing for their climbs out there.
Although there are Russian alpinists that also do crazy sh#t in a push. Denis Urubko for example is one of the best today.
American alpinists can't be everywhere and have an ascent on every peak!
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laughingman
Ice climber
Seattle WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 2, 2011 - 11:55pm PT
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"Steve H. and Colin H. and numerous other Americans do real big alpine style ascents. That climb House did on Nanga Parbat's Rupal Face may be the climb of this era."
Yes there is a huge list of americans who do alpine style ascents however very few tackle the huge "Himalayan big walls" Like the Jannu NF these peaks require major aid climbing in nasty conditions not seen in "classic big wall" locations like yosemite.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Oh I see what you mean...
Go do it!
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