hard ice (I was unable the put ice protection to secure our ascent because ice was solid like iron) stopped our progression at around 6750m. We came back to base camp. We tried another summit push in alpine style by the Japanese Couloir on the other side of the mountain. We reached 7050m but strong wind (more than 90kmh at 7000m) forced us back down. We left base camp on the first day of spring (March 21, 2011). We fought hard until the end. I came back home very disappointed, but I have no regrets, absolutely no regrets!


You have just returned from an epic winter attempt on Gasherbrum I in Pakistan. How did it go? It was very hard, much harder compared to what I have done so far. Difficult physically and psychologically. I knew the route was technical, but not technical like this. The approach to reach the base camp of G1 had never been done by foot during winter; it took us 8 days to reach the base of the mountain. We arrived at the end of January 2011. We spent more than 50 days in base camp. On the South face of G1, we opened more than 1700m of new technical ground. Very steep and


2011 MAY JUNE |


climber MAGAZINEism |


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37