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Benegas brothers in Islamabad - cool routes and cool technology
Jun 17, 2004 12: 12 EST
Big walls and Spires in the Karakorums offer some of the most technical and demanding climbs on Earth; extreme mixed routes and many ‘unsolved problems’. Now the Benegas brothers, Willie (Guillermo) and Damian, are off to find the solution to one of the most famous problems. Their objective: to climb the North Ridge of Latok I (7145 m), often dubbed as ‘The Walker Spur of the Karakorum’.
The Benegas brothers are outfitted with HumanEdge Tech's Contact 3.0, supplied to them by North Face. NF are just one of the big outdoor companies now planning to outfit all their elite adventurers with the technology to spice up the updates from their expeditions.
The brothers have arrived in Islamabad and started their reports. "One of the most awesome things about our journeys is the fact that we always run into friends from all over the world and this trip was not being an exception.
At the same time, in the plane and in town we kept running with climbers and peak baggers in general.
This year is very crazy in Pakistan it seams that everyone is going to the same mountains, G1, G2, Broad peak, Nanga Parbat and K2 where hundreds of climbers they will be shoulder by shoulder trying to summit. Then are us and a small group of climbers that we are in the pursuit of exploration and new routes up on some of this killer Karkorum Mountains."
Check out their brand new dispatches and the previous interview by the ExWeb Spanish section, esp.mounteverest.net (English translation).
Big walls and Spires in the Karakorums offer some of the most technical and demanding climbs on Earth; extreme mixed routes and many ‘unsolved problems’. Now the Benegas brothers, Willie (Guillermo) and Damian, are off to find the solution to one of the most famous problems. Their objective: to climb the North Ridge of Latok I (7145 m), often dubbed as ‘The Walker Spur of the Karakorum’.
"It is a perfect spur rising from a completely flat glacier. A real beauty. The best thing of opening a new route is the sense of exploration, wondering at each step where you will go next. If there are traces, well, we will just have too many clues! That’s why we are considering changing the place where we will open the route. We’ve been thinking of the possibility of climbing the North face, instead of the North ridge. The problem with the face is that it can be too exposed to falling rocks. We can not know until we get to the foot of the wall. Then we will make our decision."
Damian and Willie (Guillermo) Benegas, born in Argentina and living in the USA, have raised the attention of the climbing community since they were very young, and started opening routes in their homeland, mostly in Patagonia and Aconcagua. Then they extended their action field to the rest of Andes, did severe rock-climbing in big walls such as El Capitan (Yosemite) and soon headed for the Himalayas. They own a guiding company.
Last year they were the first to climb the North Pillar of Nuptse, resulting in a new route opened in alpine style after a non-stop six day long climb, and named ‘Crystal Snake’. "When we were climbing the North Pillar of Nuptse last year, we couldn’t take our eyes off of Everest’s west face. We studied the face under different light, at different hours, and I think there is a route there. Yeah, someday we’ll go there, when we get the money, of course!"
This summer, they are moving to the Karakoram Range, where they will try to be the first to climb the North Ridge of Latok I.
Image "Willie in transfer in London trying to blow the budget in a $1400 of 200g of caviar" courtesy Damian Benegas.
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