At the beginning of 1980’s Jiri Novak got a somewhat crazy idea.
To make a first ascent through the 4500 meters tall west face of Dhaulagiri. Virtually no one had ever seen the wall before us.
We had at our disposal only a low-resolution photo from an airplane which was later used as the expedition postcard.We had at our disposal only a low-resolution photo from an airplane which was later used as the expedition postcard.
Financially the expedition was supported by the participants, mostly by working at heights. Air transport was in the 1980s many times more expensive than today and in Nepal almost nothing was available. So the expedition equipment was shipped by truck. We started on July 22nd, 1984 from the centre of Prague. No one had expected to return as late as December. Our route had to cross Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and India. Due to never ending problems at the borders it took a month. As our truck in 1984 had been significantly delayed, we had almost nothing to eat at the base camp. Our boys solved it by buying a buffalo and baking bread.
When I finally reached the base camp, the works in the wall were moving at full speed. Our expedition counted an unbelievable number of 20 participants. Initially, the weather was very bad. It was often snowing and huge avalanches were sweeping the wall.
Our team was fantastic. All who were allowed by their health condition rushed to the wall with maximum effort.
The youngest participant Honza Šimon was performing in the wall unbelievably. The wall climbing was very strenuous and difficult.The altitude differences between individual camps were about 1000 meters. Finally, 57 days later, on October 23, 1984 Jan Šimon conquers the summit of Dhaulagiri. A while later the summit is reached also by Jaryk Stejskal and Karel Jakeš. Tragically, however, Jan Šimon fell to his death during descent. In 1988 Jiri Novak brings yet another expedition under the West Face. This time the summit of Dhaulagiri is reached in the Alpine style by Zoltan Demjan together with Kazakh climbers Kazbek Valiev and Jurij Moiseev. This has become one of the greatest ascents in Himalayas of all times. In 1991 Kazakh expedition led by our friends Kazbek Valiev and Jurij Moiseev succeeds through the centre of the wall. The summit is reached by the unbelievable number of 10 climbers. And this is the end of serious climbing on Dhaulagiri. According to Miss Hawley database, in the years 1991-2012 Dhaulagiri was attempted by 1397 climbers within 232 expeditions.
With the exception of few attempts through the North face, all ascents took the standard route along the North-East-ridge.
1 окт 2024
