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11 Days in -32°C for New Himalayan Big Wall – “We Left a Lot of Skin”

Climbers don't often visit this region for steep rock during winter, which makes this a rare December new route

Himalayan big wall climbing is alive and well, despite a year of fewer expeditions to the world’s highest mountains. This new wall took 11 days and a lot of effort.

At the start of December, Polish mountaineers Marcin Tomaszewski and Damian Bielecki made the first ascent of Frozen Fight Club at A3 M7 up 780 metres of granite cracks and systems on Uli Biaho Gallery in Trango, Krakorum, Pakistan. The area is famous for Trango Tower, Uli Biaho and Shipton Spire. “We left some skin,” said Tomaszewski. “There was no room for a mistake. Maybe no one has ever climbed such a bigwall in the Karakorum.”

Frozen Fight Club’s first ascent took place from Dec. 5 to 16, which is unusual as most climbers visit during the summer. The first known ascent of the granite wall where this route is found was back in 2012, and another new route went up in 2014 called FreeTanga Ecuatoriana.

Frozen Fight Club is a northeast facing climb that never sees the sun in winter. Temperatures dropped to below -32°C as they climbed difficult pitches up to A3 and M7. Throughout the entire climb, they bivied on portaledges and placed only nine bolts used for rappels and hauling.

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