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Karakorum: Amin Brakk BASE jump debrief - taming the monster lizard
Oct 6, 2004 20: 23 EST
Published Sep 23, 2004
In June/July, 2004 the "Russian Extreme Project" team of 4 climbers, a camera-man and a photographer, set off to climb a new "Russian" route on Amin Brakk’s (5850m) West face.
The expedition leader Valeri Rozov's goal was not just to get to the top, but to do a B.A.S.E. jump from the summit. This was the first Russian climb of the mountain as well as the first BASE jump from this wall ever.
The other team members were Arcadi Seregin, Alexander Lastochkin, Sergey Kovalev, cameraman Lev Dorfman and photographer Dmitry Lifanov. They are all impressive big wall climbers and Valeri Rozov is Russia, Europe and World Champion of Parachuting.
They not only made it, but also brought back some amazing pictures. Here's the 2 part debrief:
The weather test
Bad weather and sheer vertical walls were the main obstacles to overcome for the Russians. They often climbed in low visibility and snow storm conditions.
The six-member team reached Base Camp on June 22nd, just to find how bad the Karakorum weather can be: Before they could even fix the first pitches, snow storms held them up for six days. "It seems the weather decided to check how serious our intentions were,” they wrote in their online diary.
The opening of the new route took nearly a month, including delays due to storms, some difficult decisions about the best line to climb, cold, suffering and very exposed passages. As time was running out and the weather didn’t improve, the Russian team decided to switch to the Czech route at one point on the upper section of the wall. Therefore, the route is not new in its entire length.
Ur! Ur! Ur! – Summit!
Finally on July 19th “at 4 pm the Russian Extreme Project team summited the mountain, having overcome ice-covered rocks, deep snow below the summit tower and non-stopping blizzard.
"Ur! Ur! Ur!" the team would report "Now the climbers know the secret of Amin Brakk. The next task is a B.A.S.E jump. Valery Rozov plans to make it on July 20 in the afternoon at favorable weather. The chosen exit point is a small ledge on the summit ridge, about three hundred meters below the top (it is impossible to jump right from the summit because of its domed shape)."
The Lizard King
The monster-wall had been tamed. The climbers described it: “Amin Brakk looks like a giant lizard (the multi-kilometer ridge comes to an end with a colossal ‘head’ tower). The ‘Lizard’ lays sometimes asleep, deep in its dream under the cold, indifferent stars; or suddenly is awaken by the first sun rays shooting out behind the ridge at eight o'clock in the morning. By the afternoon the sun gives life to ice, snow and stones. Then the ‘Lizard shakes off’ provoking avalanches and rockfalls, notifying all in the area: "I'm not sleeping, I keep the secret, I am keeping guard day and night over this eternal, transcendental country!"
Tomorrow: Second task: Jump!
Amin Brakk is located in the inaccessible Pakistan Mountains that represent a real climbing Mecca. Amin Brakk is one of the most complex and extended walls on Earth, considered even harder than Trango Tower.
The tower was first attempted in May 1996 by a Basque team: The experienced Spanish big wall climber Jon Lazkano, along with Adolfo Madinabeitia and Jose Carlos Tamayo made a capsule-style attempt on the 1,200m granite face, then unclimbed. After 15 days on the wall the trio were forced to give up at about 300m below the top, worn down by bad weather, cold temperatures and lack of food. They estimated that another three to four days of good ‘climbable weather’ would be needed in order to reach the summit.
The Spaniards made several attempts until 1999 when Pep Masip, Miguel Puigdomenech and Silvia Vidal climbed this Spire and dubbed their route ‘Sol Solet’ (VII 6C+, A5). The ascent took 34 days. The route has a technically complex section of 1650m in length and 22 pitch, graduated A5 and 6c+ (vertical!).
The Amin Brakk walls include 150m-long sections of А5 (maximum difficulty level for aid-climbing) at about 6000 m altitude. Lack of snow on the wall forced the climbers to haul up water.
The Russian Project Extreme to Amin Brakk team-members were : Arcadi Seregin (Ussuriisk,45), Alexander Lastochkin (Moscow, 42), Sergey Kovalev (Lenensk-Kuznetsk, Kemerovo region, 38), cameraman Lev Dorfman (Moscow, 43), and photographer Dmitry Lifanov (Moscow, 37). They all have impressive big wall climbs all over the world. Valeri Rozov is also Russia’s, Europe’s and World’s champion on Parachuting.
Images of the climb and Valeri’s BASE jump, courtesy of the team and Mountain.ru
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