All-Women Alpine Team Climbs New Mountain Route
The 500-metre route climbs the southwest face of Gulba at 5.10
Babsi Vigl
At the end of summer, five climbers made the first ascent of a new alpine route in Georgia’s Caucasus. Over a four-day weather window, Elisabeth Mayr, Elena Barbist, Elena Prem, Hannah Rabl, and Babsi Vigl climbed the southwest face of Gulba (3,725 m). The climbers are taking part in a two-year program in Austria at Alpinkader that aims to “support and train female alpinists, foster community, and encourage more women in the sport.”
Vigl and the team established camp at 2,900 m, where water was available, and scouted a potential new route. On the first day, they climbed a lower buttress and cached gear for the upper wall. The five pitches of the buttress were on solid granite with ledges and long cracks. At the top was a large yellow rock scar that had seemed problematic from below but proved passable via a traverse. After caching gear for a final time, they rappelled back to base camp.
The following morning, Barbist, Prem, Rabl, and Vigl resumed the climb. They traversed past the yellow scar on solid rock and entered a crack system along the ridge crest, climbing sustained pitches at UIAA grades 5 to 6. The climbing steepened until they found a traverse that led to the top of a pillar and the end of their new line. They named the route Pferderennen02 (5.10+, 500 m).
Earlier this year, Canadian Rockies-based Joanna Croston completed her new book Mountaineering Women. It’s one of the best books about climbing history to hit the market in the past decade. About the book, legendary Himalayan climber Sir Chris Bonington said, “Mountaineering Women provides long-awaited recognition for the many pioneering women who have made invaluable contributions to the history of climbing.” More information on the must-have book here. And for those eligible, Alpinkader is now taking applications from women who want to be part of the next program, more info here.
In other alpine climbing news, Luka Lindic and Fanny Schmutz climbed a new alpine route on the west face of the 5,600-metre peak Garmunei Gou in the Genyen Massif of western Sichuan Province, China, near the Tibetan border. After first climbing a nearby peak, they bivied below their main objective for an early start. The upper headwall required traverses, a diagonal rappel, aid climbing, and followed run-out terrain. They summited at night, grading the route VII A1, and descended by rappelling to their cached gear around 3 a.m. before returning to base camp the next day.
And last week, Nepalese climbers Jenjen Lama, Pasang Rinzee Sherpa, and Ashish Gurung climbed new routes in Nepal’s Upper Mustang region. They made the first ascent of Chhuama II (6,325 m) and then traversed the ridge to Chhuama I (6,366 m). “The expedition followed an alpine approach, climbing via the southeast face of Chhuama II, traversing westward to Chhuama I, and descending via the south ridge of Chhuama I,” sponsor Seven Summit Treks reported. “The idea came from a guy who works with Seven Summit Treks, a member of the Nepal Mountain Academy who identified these peaks as unclimbed.
In April, Benjamin Védrines and Léo Billon completed a historic hattrick of the three great north faces of the Alps, climbing the Eiger, Matterhorn, and the Grandes Jorasses in rapid succession. To make the undertaking even more impressive, Védrines travelled from one mountain to the next without the use of motorised transport; while Billon travelled by car from one mountain to the next, Védrines made his way autonomously by bike, skis and paraglider.
