14 Dec China: Ren Zhong Feng’s first ascent
In November 2009, Danish climbers Kristoffer Szilas and Martin Ploug have made the first ascent of Ren Zhong Feng , a 5,800 m mountain south of Minya Konka in Sichuan, China.
The duo established their route climbing in alpine style the east wall and north ridge to the summit: "Lost to Ice” (this the name of the itinerary) is 1,300 m TD WI 4 M4.
During the descent from the summit, Ploug slipped while placing an ice screw and fell 30 metres down the 1000 metre west face: Szilas was very brave and quick enough to manage to do the ridge jump onto the east face, just in time saving both their lives.Ploug was bruised but assisted by lots of pain killers and was able to continue back to the bivy, where they rested the next day before heading down to base camp.
The peak was ‘discovered’ by the Japanese explorer Tom Nakamuras back in 2008 and Nakamuras proposed the name Ren Zhong Feng.
Source: Kristoffer Szilas and ukclimbing
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