:: South buttress in alpine style

Shishapangma south face 1 is the right thing for alpine style climbers. Slovenian 1989 expedition was organized as a number of rope parties, each having its own project. For acclimatising, four members - Stane Belak, Filip Bence, Andej Stremfelj and me - made the first ascent of Nyanang Ri 2 (7071 m) above base camp. On the top 3 of the mountain there wasn't very much space...

After some days, Andrej Stremfelj and me started a new route in the central buttress os Shishapangma. First night we were caught by unexpected storm, and at the end of the long day we made a poor ice ledge as bivouac place at about 7200 m 4 . Second day we found the way through steep rocks 5 on the buttress and had another bivouac at 7700 m. We took the rope with us, but never used it, to be as fast as possible. Next day we reached the top of Shisha Pangma 6 , in clear but very cold 7 weather. The good new route - Slovenian buttress 8 - was climbed. For the 'himalayan' price: some toes...