11.06.2008
Valery Babanov unswer for the questions about Dhaulagiri West face attempt
- Where on the west face does the proposed route ascend? In relation to
other routes?
We have tried absolutely new line from the west side of Dhaulagiri. Nobody tried this line before.
This is an enormous (4600m elevation gain) and very extensive (about 7 km) route.
The lower part of it (3700 - 5500m) is the steep rock, West Buttress, which then leads to the W.Pillar.
At 7000 meters West Pillar connects with the NW ridge which leads to the summit.
An interval between 7600m and the summit was already climbed by Japanese expedition in 1981.
West pillar borders the west face of Dhaulagiri on the left side.
It is very beautiful and logical route which leads to the summit of Dhaulagiri.
- How far did you manage to ascend before retreating?
With the starting point of 3700 m we reached 4900 m after two days of climbing
(April 18-19).
So we managed to climb 1200 m of elevation.
We had no fixed camps or any fixed ropes.
- Was the retreat the result of poor weather alone? Climbing
difficulties insurmountable in the conditions?
The retreat was the result of both, bad weather and poor condition of the route.
However, the major reason of our retreat was the discovery of the fact that we could not approach the upper part of rock buttress due to its separation from the place we stayed by the deep rocky canyon. Therefore, It was impossible to cross.
We decided to keep going up the side we were at in the hope of crossing the canyon much higher, perhaps where it was glacier.
But finally we accepted the fact that it was too dangerous to continue climbing with huge seracs above us.
By that time we were absolutely off of our initial route, and so in order for us to get back on the track we had to get back down and start the route from a different place.
At 4900 m (indicated by the red point on the picture attached below) we decided to start descent by rappelling and down climbing.
The night of April 19 we were back to the beginning of the route.
After the last attempt to climb a new route we did not try again because of the lack of equipment and time.
The West face of Dhaulagiri and its West pillar in particular, belong to the few formidable faces in Himalaya which exceed more than 4000 meters in its size and elevation.
In fact, when you start climbing such huge faces in pure alpine style, at some point you cannot descend by the same route since you would not have enough equipment. Climbing such faces often called “One way ticket”.
So before start climbing, one should accept an extremely high risk and commitment. West pillar is especially exposed to strong winds at a higher altitude.
- Please describe the type and difficulty of the climbing you were able to complete.
In the beginning of the route there was a steep rock covered with grass.
We constantly climbed using crampons and two ice axes.
Dry tooling is a very useful climbing technique used on the vertical wall covered with the grass.
From 4500 m there was a mixed climbing: rock and snow.
The quality of the rock reminded me of the bad limestone of the Canadian Rockies, very blasted.
The difficulty of the pitches were about 5.9 on the rock and M5 on the mixed terrain.
- Do you intend on attempting the line again?
Yes, I would like to attempt to climb it again, perhaps next year.
For me, it is much more important to climb a new route rather than to get to the summit.
I do not feel satisfied just with the summit alone, without a new line to the top.
If I will need to climb the same mountain again, I will return and try it once more.
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