Piolet d’Or winner Marek Holecek and fellow Czech Tomas Petrecek have just arrived in Pakistan to reprise an old, unfinished mission: a new route up the Rupal Face of 8,125m Nanga Parbat.
Holecek and Petrecek first tried to establish a new route up the 4,600m face in 2018. While they have not said if they intend to do the same line this time, the climbers have confirmed they will follow their usual alpine style.
“We know that we have an extreme task ahead of us,” Petrecek wrote on his website. “We feel tension, respect, and huge expectations, but at the same time, we can’t wait to experience the raw beauty and uniqueness of the mountains.”
He gave no details of the climb, but just noted that they intend to return home in the second half of August.
The first attempt
In 2018, Holecek and Petrecek set out to establish a new line to the right of the 2005 Anderson-House route on the Central Pillar of the Rupal Face. However, bad weather and heavy snowfall forced them to adjust their plans. When a weather window opened, they shifted to a line closer to the 1970 Messner Route, following it until the Merkl Rinne, a steep gully used by the Messner brothers. From there, they deviated up a new variation through rocky buttresses to the left of the gully, seeking a natural line of weaknesses.
The upper section of the Rupal Face. (1) Holecek-Petrecek attempt in 2018; (2) South-Southeast Spur, aka Messner Route, 1970; (3) Central Pillar, Anderson-House Route of 2005. The far right skyline is the top section of the 1985 Mexican-Polish Route. Photo: Lee Young-Jun Collection via the American Alpine Journal
After six days on the face, they reached about 7,800m on September 2. There, they were forced to retreat in increasingly strong winds of up to 100kph. They were about 300m below the summit when they turned back.
They descended the Rupal Face, which Holecek described as extremely challenging, comparing it to a “cabriolet [horse-drawn carriage] trip without a windscreen in an ice storm.”
Read more about the climbing history of the Rupal Face here.
Marek Holecek is a professional climber who has excelled at opening new routes on highly difficult Himalayan faces, always in alpine style. He is also known for venturing up highly exposed faces and assuming high risks, on occasion with tragic consequences.
Two tragedies
Zdenek Hruby died in 2013 while he and Holecek attempted a new route on the Southwest Face of Gasherbrum I. In 2024, the young climber Ondrej Huserka died after a crevasse fall while the pair descended from the summit of the highly dangerous Lantang Lirung.
Last year, Holecek joined forces with Radoslaw Groh to attempt a new route on the Southeast Face of Cho Oyu. The climbers had to retreat due to high winds on their first push. When they returned to the glacier, they found that some essential gear they had cached there was missing, prompting the end of the expedition.
Tomas Petrecek is also a regular among the climbing elite of Czechia. He twice attempted Muchu Chhish in the Batura range. Unfortunately, he was not part of the team that finally succeeded on a subsequent attempt.
