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New route on Everest: Russian Central North Wall expedition
15:45 p.m. EST Feb 19, 2004
Our friends at Mountain.ru just alerted us they have a truly spectacular expedition coming up. A Russian expedition, led by Victor Kozlov, will attempt the first ascent of Everest via the center of the North Face!
This is a severe, technical climb to the left of the Hornbein/Japanese couloir. The guys are going straight up, on a clean and lofty face. The technical difficulty of the route along with the extreme altitude makes this one of the most difficult challenges in mountaineering.
Comments Eberhard Jurgalski of AdventureStats:
"If they succeed, it would be the absolute highlight of the season! The two couloirs left and right are difficult enough, but the central pillar... I wish them all the luck they will need! Would be something like the 'North Face Direttissima'."
The 20-member team of Russian climbers is supported by the Russian Mountaineering Federation and takes off from Moscow on February, 25.
Many of the climbers were members of the team that successfully summited the "last unclimbed 8000er" in the world - Lhotse Middle, spring 2001. The crew scouted the North Face already in May 2002, when they planned the line from BC. In a second scouting expedition in 2003 the climbers managed to climb via the center of the North Face up to 6800 meters. This year, it's a full go on the great Everest ascent.
The leader of the expedition is Victor Kozlov, the senior coach is Nikolay Chernij. The full expedition list will be announced on February, 20.
Image of the route courtesy of Mountain.ru
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