"July 6, Grega Kresal and I climbed an attractive new route in Cordillera Huayhuash," Pavle (in the image) told ExplorersWeb. This was his eighth big-wall route in the Peruvian Andes. (Click to enlarge).
"For 14 hours (roundtrip) we climbed up the east face of Puscanturpa East (5,410m)." (Click to enlarge).
"Climbing the volcanic rock was really something else and rather scary at times." (Click to enlarge).
"We called the new 600m-long itinerary "Stonehenge," and rated it as VII+/VI, with 70/50 degrees of steepness." In the image Grega (left) and Pavle on the summit (click to enlarge).
"According to Jeremy Frimer's 'Climbing Guide of Huayhuash,' ours is the first route on that face and probably only the second ascent to the top of this hard mountain." All images courtesy of Pavle Kozjek/Revijasport (click to enlarge).
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Nangpa La champ Pavle Kozjek opens "Stonehenge" in Cordillera Huayhuash
Posted: Jul 17, 2007 11:15 am EDT
(MountEverest.net) His new route on Cho Oyu got the public's award at the Piolet d'Or Ceremony last year. His images of Tibetan refugees shot dead by border guards at Nangpa La stirred the world. For both feats, Pavle Kojzek was chosen the Best of 2006 by ExplorersWeb. A few weeks back the Slovenian climber was back doing what he likes best: He finished his eighth new big-wall route in the Peruvian Andes.
Volcanic climbing
"July 6, Grega Kresal and I climbed an attractive new route in Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru," Pavle told ExplorersWeb. "The 14 hour roundtrip tooks us up the east face of Puscanturpa East (5,410m). Scaling its volcanic rock was really something else and rather scary at times."
"We called the new 600m-long itinerary "Stonehenge," and rated it as VII+/VI, with 70/50 degrees of steepness," he said. "According to Jeremy Frimer's 'Climbing Guide of Huayhuash,' ours is the first route on that face and probably only the second ascent to the top of this hard mountain."
"Hi, my name is Pavle Kozjek, from Slovenia, and I just returned from Cho Oyu. I have some photos from 30.9.," reported an email to ExplorersWeb on Nov. 2, 2006. The sender's images showed a nun shot dead by Chinese border officers when she tried to reach Nepal across the Nangpa La col, together with about 50 other defenseless refugees, many of them children. The events took place before more than a hundred foreign climbers.
Most of them, save a number of east Europeans, were reluctant to speak up about a murder taking place right before their eyes. Some climbers said that expedition leaders advised them against talking, and after the shootings became known, an unsigned email, circulated by a UK journalist and reportedly written by a veteran commercial expedition leader, stated that the refugees were human traffickers and prostitutes.
An American climbing guide's first report to ExplorersWeb was initially denied by the Chinese. Pavle's images forced China to admit the event. Foreign Tibetan organizations met with the refugees in Nepal and escorted them to safe houses in India. They reported that the shot woman was a Tibetan nun leading children to religious freedom in India together with fellow monks. At least 20 of the kids were captured by the army guards and later tortured in jail.
More on Pavle's climbs
Pavle Kozjek is not an 8,000+ meter peak regular, it's just that all his visits to the world's giants have ended up successfully, and then some.
In 1986, Pavle climbed Pakistan's Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II in a total of five days. In 1989, he opened (with Andrej Stremfelj) a new route on Shisha Pangma's south face, in alpine style; in 1997, Pavle became the first Slovenian climber to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen; and in fall 2006, on his latest trip to the Himalayas, Pavle left the aforementioned brand new route on Cho Oyu.
Still, Pavle's favorite playground remains the Peruvian Andes, where he has applied his fast, lightweight style to open a number of hard new routes on Chacraraju, Huascaran, Siula Grande, Chopicalqui, etc.
On July 6, 2007, together with mate Grega Kresal, Pavle opened "Stonehenge" (VII+/VI, 70/50 deg., 600m, 14 h roundtrip) on the east face of Puscanturpa East (5,410m) in Cordillera Huayhuash.
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