Ulina smer, major new route on Triglav

At the start of August the Slovenian Mountain Guides Tomaz Jakofcic and Tina Di Batista established an important new 1000m line route straight up the centre of the North Face of Triglav, Ulina smer. The 1000m line settles in at IX (7c) and was established ground-up over a two day period at the start of August. Tomaz Jakofcic has sent the following report.
 

ULINA SMER, TRIGLAV
by Tomaz Jakofcic

Tina and I climbed the route on 2 and 3 of August after a few days of preparation in early July. I had observed the obvious overhanging crack for a few years and the obvious overhanging yellow band of rock was simply too striking. This year it was time to go!

The route starts up one of my older routes and after 5 pitches continues directly up. It is 25 pitches in length and we placed 28 bolts along the pitches, 13 at the belays and 25 pegs in total, which means it is far from being considered an alpine sport climb. Generally the rock is good, sometimes perfect even, while a few sections present poor rock. We graded the hardest pitch IX and we bivouacked after 16 pitches in an amazing cave with a flat floor in the middle of the overhanging wall. We established the route, as normal, ground-up. A competent team will need one set of cams up to #3, nuts and 6 different pitons.

This is my 4th new route on Triglav after Na drugi strani casa (VIII, 350m, 1994), Metropolis (VIII+/IX-, 350m, 2003) and Miha Valic Memorial (VIII+, 650m).

We named the route Ulina smer, which translates as Ula's route. Ula is our two-year-old daughter. It's mainly her "fault" that we've found some attractive climbing goals close to home in our mountains, and this was our birthday present.


Tomaz Jakofcic
From 8b redpoint to Everest with a client, the list of climbs is too long to mention. Notable ascents include the summit of Dhaulagiri (8167 m) via the NW ridge and Ama Dablam (6822m) via the South East ridge, as well as alpine style first ascents in Patagonia (North Tower of Paine: Los Esclavos del Barometro, 6b, A2, 500m and Cerro Almirante Nieto: Eolus 6c, 650m), Trango (Trango Monk (5850m): Chota Badla 6b, A2, 450m, first ascent of the mountain). Furthermore, Jakofcic has carried out a series of important repeats including the second ascent of Season of the sun (VI/5+, M6+, 1500m) on
Mt Bradley in Alaska, the first free ascent of Hipermermoz (6c+, 650 m) on Ag. Mermoz in Patagonia and the first alpine style ascent to the summit of Trango Tower (6251m) via Eternal Flame (6c+, A2, 1000m). for more details check out www.tomazjakofcic.com

Tina Di Batista
Along with Monika Kambic, Tina she was the first female team on the summit of Fitz Roy and together with Tanja Grmovsek the trio were also first female team on Trango Tower (via Eternal Flame). Di Batista has also established a new route up the north tower of Paine along with her partner Tomaz Jakofcic, summited Ama Dablam and climbed 8a sport route. What she enjoys most are big winter faces, and she has climbed the e big north faces (Eiger, Matterhorn, Grandes Jorrases) in winter, as well as the Dru north couloir Direct, Omega in Petit. Jorasses, and more.