Sport
WITH A CONFUSED STORY
The two-time Piolet d’Or has announced that they will seek the second ascent of Sura Peak (6,764m), also known as Hongu, Hongku and various other names, although they will decide the exact route depending on conditions.
Marek Holecek has returned to the Himalayas with a new interesting goal from a mountaineering point of view. The Czech, twice awarded the Piolet d’Or for his ascents with Zdenek Hák on Gasherbrum I and Chamlang, travels this time with Matej Bernat to attempt a peak located near the latter. A peak he refers to as Sura Peak.
The duo is clear about the top they want to climb, although they have not fully decided where exactly to do it. “Where will we climb the 6,764 meter altitude of Hungu Sira Peak? On the right side of the central edge or on the other side? We are all going to have to wait a few more days to find out ”, wrote Marek Holecek on his social networks.
Sport A story full of confusion
It is no coincidence that the phenomenal Czech mountaineer has already used two names to refer to the peak they will attempt (Sura Peak and Hungu Sira Peak). Actually, his partner Matej Bernat has also referred to him as Hongu and Churda, “a peak that is not found on most maps and that human legs have only stepped on once,” the latter points out.
According to Bernat’s description of it, the peak is “in the remote valley between the Baruntse and the Chamlang.” And he also points out that “the center of our interest will not be to repeat the realization of our predecessors.”
Sport The Sherpa-Japanese precedent of 2019
Those predecessors that Matej Bernat mentions as the only “human legs” that would have stepped on the top would be the Japanese Hiroki Nakayama and the Nepalese Pemba Wangchu Sherpa, who completed their ascent of the northeast face on October 25, 2019, according to data from The Himalayan Database. The ‘first recorded ascent’ of this peak was noted.
Sport Pirate tops in the ’80s
However, as Lindsay Griffin documented in the American Alpine Journal of 2020 in reference to this Sherpa-Japanese ascent, there would already be previous ascents carried out by expeditions without permission for this mountain, which was not included in the list of permitted peaks until 2003. According to this information, the first known ascent would date from 1983, when Sepp Egarter and Volker Klammer would have climbed the southeast face. A line that would have been repeated several times later.
Sport In Iñurrategi-Vallejo-Zabalza in 2015
For The Himalayan Databasewhich agrees that the peak would have been climbed for the first time in the 1980s, the ‘first recorded ascent’ would actually correspond to Alberto Iñurrategi, Juan Vallejo and Mikel Zabalza, on October 9, 2015.
The Basque-Navarrese trio was finalizing their acclimatization to attempt the west ridge of Chamlang, their main objective for that autumn, and they announced that they had reached the peak that they identified as Hongku Chuli Nup. According to his information, they were referring to a neighboring peak, known as Hongku Chuli or Pyramid Peak (6,833 m). However, The Himalayan Database He considers that this peak is still virgin to this day and attributes the name of Hongku Chuli Nup to the Hongku (6,764 m).
