Czech mountaineer Marek Holecek was back for his fourth attempt at a new route on the southwest face of Gasherbrum I, this time with Ondra Mandula. The pair first acclimatized on the normal route, reaching 7,500m. They set off for a summit attempt on August 9, following a line previously attempted twice by Holecek and Zdenek Hruby, and a third time by Holecek and Tomas Petrecek. The proposed line follows the right side of the Afanasiev-Babanov couloir (AAJ 2009), before breaking right across mixed ground onto the main southwest face (above the 1983 Kukuczka-Kurtyka traverse) and then climbing more or less directly to the summit.

Holecek and Mandula bivouacked at 6,000m on day one, 6,800m on days two and three (after poor weather stopped play), and 7,000m on day four, and eventually reached 7,700m on August 15. Here, they were stuck for several days in very bad weather before making a difficult retreat, finally reaching base camp on August 22.

– Lindsay Griffin