Pumori Southeast Face climbed via new Romanian route

A trio of Romanian alpinists comprised of Romeo Popa, Zsolt Torok and Teofil Vlad have scored a notable success in the Himalaya with the first ascent of a new route up the SE Face of Pumori, the 7161 m peak opposite Everest.

After having acclimatised by climbing Lobuche and spending two nights at 5900m, the trio established Advanced Base Camp at the foot of Pumori at 5600m. From here they chose a direct line up the SE Face, to the left of the Scottish Route (Sandy Allan, Rick Allen, 1986), which they climbed alpine style to join the ridge at circa 6700m.

Five bivouacs were needed: the first two on the face with just a tarp, the third on the face in a 2-man tent, the last two on the ridge proper. On reaching the ridge Popa, Torok and Vlad rested for a day, then made their summit bid in high winds up to 100 km/h and returned back to the tent later that day. They abseiled down the mountain’s western flank for nearly 1000 meters, requiring one last day to safely reach Gorak Shep.

"The route consisted mostly of ice, with some mixed cruxes, difficult to protect, with the mixed cruxes rated R" Vlad told planetmountain.com, adding "climbing this route was the real deal. Some time ago establishing a new line on a 7000er was science fiction, something I’d read about in the books of the early pioneers. I’ve now lived the dream I hardly had the guts to dream." The 1100m new route is called Les voyages de petit prince and graded AI 4, R.

It is worth noting that in 2017 Zsolt Torok attempted the same face with fellow countryman Vlad Capusan, but the two were forced to abandon their ascent after Capusan was caught in an avalanche on the face above 6000 meters.

FB: Teofil Vlad, Zsolt Torok, Romeo Popa