원정 개요

C1 at southwest Col.

Did no acclimatization climbing because 3 climbers had all recently done 7000m climbs in very recent months in order to get a Dhaulagiri climb in best weather. Did many bivouacs on difficult pillar (grade 4 to 6). 7200m biv on hard ice, small ledges & at plateau had to make cave at 7350m because of winds. Started 11:15 am 6th Oct from 7350m and 7:00 pm on top in darkness & left there in rock pyramid some flags; so windy could not stand up; 10:00 pm on 6th Oct reached cave at 7350m. From BC only 3 men; others on expedition thought they might climb other route; 3 men did entire job of climb with 2 Russians who went for recce for 1991 climb and had equipment (Czechs' stuck on delayed ship) but for whom alpine-style climb forbidden till perestroyka arrived in USSR. Intent was pure alpine-style: 9m climbing rope, 1 7mm rope not for climbing (each 40m long) and 80m long other rope & this all; 30 cams, 30 rock pitons, 5 ice screws and some chocks; 2 ladders, 4 jumars, 1 tent, 2 sleeping bags (Denjan none) and 350 grams/man/day, so on descent no food because had not realized it would be "very hard," but was "very nice." A-2 rating of artificial climb.


Dhaulagiri Trilogy by Jiri Novak from Mountain Magazine, July/Aug 1988

Three months before departure my big chance came. Some key people in the expedition couldn't make it and I was made leader of what had become a "super light" team of eight climbers and two trekkers.

On 16th Sept a cosmopolitan group arrived at the green field beneath the West Face. Myself, Igor Novak, Tomas Skricka (the expedition doctor), and Zoltan Demjan were from Czechoslovakia; Marco Fogliatti and Sergio Antoniazzi from Italy and Jurij Mojsejev and Kazbek Valijec from the Soviet Union.

We had come to finish off the French Pillar to the summit, and attempt the Japanese Route on the South Face, but yet again the monsoon stayed late and bad was pushing us up against our deadline for leavinag on Oct 12.

The first good break came on Sept 25th, and next day a team set out for the SW Saddle at 5100m and the day after that, a start was made on the Japanese Pillar. The latter team soon came up against acclimatization problems, and were forced to abandon their climb.

The climbers on the SW Pillar, however were fresha and fit from climbing in the Tien Shan, prior to departure for Nepal, and on Sept 28th, Zoltan Demjan, Jurij Mojsejev and Kazbek Valijev left the SW Saddle, carrying only 15 kg loads each.

Five bivouacs and 1700m of climbing got them to within striking distance of the summit, and on 6 Oct at 19:15 all three climbers reached the top. Descending the way they came the team reached BC on Oct the 11th after sixteen days of climbing!

For Zoltan Demjan, it was his third "eight thousander." He describes his experience:

"We were late in starting the ridge and the climbing was immediately difficult, forcing us to climb without mittens. In some places the metamorphised limestone was solid, in others it was crushed. The possibilities for hooking were good and some pitches were as magnificient as on Yosemite granite!

I did most of the leading, particularly the difficult pitches, but the big problem was with fierce gust of wind, blowing up the face, one of which nearly swept Kazbek Valijev away. The 600m headwall of the Pillar was the crux. In three days we climbed 16 rope lengths of alpine VI and A2.

The last 70 metres of the pillar I climbed in the dark, with the light of my headtorch gleaming in the clear water ice. We had only one rucksack with two sleeping bags, gas, two climbing ropes and one thin 80m rope.

On the bivouac above the pillar, my toes became frozen, but the hard climbing was below us, and there "only" remainded the three km ridge to the summit.

On 6th October at 7 pm we reached the summit and stayed there for 15 minutes, but I was so exhausted, I couldn't even summon the energy to film or photograph the others. Thankfully, Kazbek Valijev planted a small Kazakh flag in the summit pyramid to mark our passing.

The descent in the dark was unnerving. Would we find our bivouac? Would the weather hold? The others kept my spirits up, with their good humoured banter, but I was desperately hungry. Sometimes I could ago for two days without food, but not here. After all the leading, I was drained, so Kazbek and Jurij really looked after me, and got food into me quickly at the top bivouac.

The summit photograph would have to wait till BC, but not to worry. We were tired, wasted, but alive."