On August 13 and 14, Slovaks Juraj Svingal and Marek Caci Radovsky opened a new alpine-style route on Mount Zabor. The 5,080m peak lies in the Kookhsal-Too Valley, in Kyrgyzstan’s Tien Shan mountains.
Juraj Svingal and Marek Radovsky. Photo: SHS James
They named the 900m, 21-pitch route “Ice Dry Queen” (M9- WI6+). The pair climbed mostly on loose ice.
“The higher the ice, the worse it was, as this was the east face,” they recalled later. Since the top of the peak was sunlit longer than the bottom, it melted more. The ascent and descent took a total of 23 hours.
Svingal and Radovsky climbing. Photo: SHS James
“From the bottom, we didn’t even know if we would be able to manage the difficult sections,” said Radovsky after the climb. “It went on the first try, but it was really not easy.”
The topo of “Ice Dry Queen”. Photo: SHS James
