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Watch Ascent of French Route on Cholatse

Four New Zealand Alpine Team members recently climbed the north face of Cholatse via the French Route.

Steve Fortune, Matthew Scholes, Kim Ladiges and Daniel Joll spent two nights and three days climbing the route and descending the South Ridge.

Matthew Scholes on the North Face of Cholatse nearing the summit ridge ? @danieljoll

A post shared by NZ Alpine Team (@nzalpineteam) on

Cholaste is a 6,440-metre peak in the Khumbu region of the Nepalese Himalaya. The Chola glacier descends off the east face. The north and east faces of Cholatse can be seen from Dughla, on the trail to Mount Everest base camp.

Cholatse means “lake pass peak” and was first climbed via the southwest ridge on April 22, 1982 by Vern Clevenger, Galen Rowell, John Roskelley, Bill O’Connor and Peter Hackett.

In 2005, Ueli Steck soloed a new route up the north face. It was the first solo ascent of the peak.

The French Route was first climbed in 1995. In 2010, Russian climber climbers added a direct variation to the route, which is still the most difficult climb up the wall.

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