Whatever happens today will decide the success or failure on the east face of 7,234m Langtang Lirung. Marek Holcek of the Czech Republic and Ondro Huserka of Slovakia are on their fourth day on the unclimbed east face, struggling to find a way up.
“Either we reach the summit ridge, which would be nice, or we have one more overnight stay somewhere on a 70-degree ice slope,” Holecek reported over satellite phone from the wall.
Langtang Lirung lies southwest of Shisha Pangma, on the Nepal side of the border with China. After waiting for days at the bottom of the wall for the snow to stop and for the face to shake itself clean of avalanches, the pair set off at 3 am on October 25.
On that first day, they still had to deal with some sluffs of snow falling over them. Still, they managed to make some progress and set their first bivouac on a rock promontory.
On October 26, they advanced another 200m on unknown terrain and stopped for a rest — but probably little sleep — on a tiny ice ledge with their legs bent. Sunday passed similarly.
Yet, meter by meter, the determined climbers are approaching the summit ridge. Once there, the summit will be within their reach.
