Juraj Kardhordo on the summit of GII
Vladimir Linek
Slovak Mountaineers have not traveled to the Himalayan mountains for a long time. But in recent years the situation has started to change. A new generation of mountaineers summitted some eight-thousenders, and are becoming more experienced. While the spring of 1997 was quite successful, only bad news came from the Himalayas during the fall 1997. Six our friends will never return home.
Juraj Kardhordo on the summit of GII
Kangchenjunga, 8586 m, Slovak variant of Japanese Route, May 1997
The main goal of an eleven member Slovak expedition was to climbed Kangchenjunga by the
difficult 1981 Czechoslovak Route. The leader of this expedition was Jaryk Stejskal, who
in the 80s summitted Lhotse Shar, Dhaulaghiri and Cho Oyu. The weather was very poor
the entire time. The first attempt was made by three climbers: Juraj Kardhordo
(Cho Oyu, 1995), and two novices to the Himalayas, Vladimir Plulik and Jaroslav Vondercik.
On May 5th they reached 7700 m, where they decided to retreat because of thick snow
and strong winds.
The second attempt was made from the Camp III (6800 m) by the next three climbers: Jindro
Martis (45), Martin Gablik (43) and Stanislav Glejdura (39). On May 8th they were at 8300
m by 11:00. There was a lot of new, waist-deep snow, and their progress was very slow,
forcing them to descend. The third attempt was made by Kardhordo and Vondercik. On
May 13th, at 17:00, they reached 8500 m, very near the summit. They climbed the
whole day in a very strong wind, continually thinking about retreat options.
Kardhordo and Vondercik climbed 40 m above the col, where a very strong wind was
blowing. They realized that they would be not able to reach the summit until dusk,
and that they had no chance to bivy there. They decided to descend because they did not
want to take such a high risk.
The Slovak Expedition came very close to the summit of Kangchenjunga, missing their goal
by a lack of good fortune.
Cho Oyu, 8201 m, Normal Route, May 1997
Cho Oyu is the 6th highest peak in the world and one of the easiest of the
eight-thousenders. Vladimir Strba was not well-known in Slovak mountaineering because
until Cho Oyu he had not climbed anything that high. The leader of this 5-member
international expedition was the well-known Himalayan climber Jiri Novak. Participants
included Slovaks Ivan Urbanovic and Vladimir Strba, the Czech Tomas Slama, Walter Turek
from Austria, and Roland Nicco from Italy. Except for Urbanovic, all climbers reached the
top of Cho Oyu, although everyone was on the summit alone. The climb was, in spite of its
expedition style, very quick. Vladimir Strba reached the summit on the 16th day after
their arrival at base camp.
Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, Normal Route, July 1997
Slovak mountaineer Juraj Kardhordo was a member of the Czech commercial expedition to
Pakistan. In July he summitted two eight-tousenders: Hidden Peak (Gasherbrum I), 8068 m
and Gasherbum II, 8034 m. Josef Rybicka led this 12-member Czech expedition. They reached
the base camp early in July.
Kardhordo was well acclimatized from the expedition to Kangchenjunga, and on July 9th at
15:00 reached (together with Czechs Stanislav Silhan, Ladislav Misik and Zdenek Hruby) the
summit of GI via the Japanese Route. They had a good weather and spent about 30 minutes
there. They descended to the camp III the same day, and to the base camp the following
day.
Simultaneously, other members of the expedition were working on the Austrian Route on GII.
At the base camp Juraj suffered some problems with his right eye. He decided to climb GII
as soon as possible and then leave base camp. Kardhordo set off for climb alone via
Austrian Pillar and on July 17th before 15:00 reached the summit of GII in good
weather.
Thanks to a period of good weather, all expedition members reached the summit of
Gasherbrum II.
Cho Oyu, 8201 m, Normal Route, September 1997
In the fall of 1997, the couple Vladimir and Gabriela Zboja were on Cho Oyu. On September
9th they reached base camp at 5650 m. They wanted to climb the Polish Route by the W.
Ridge in alpine style. But because of bad conditions they changed their goal to Herbert
Tichy’s Normal Route. Vladimir and Gabriela Zboja set off for the final
attempt from base camp on September 23rd, together with David Jewell from New Zealand and
Roman Koval from Ukraine. On September 28th, Vladimir set off at 6 AM alone from camp III
for the summit. Gabriela decided not to continue because of unstable weather. Jewell
and Koval followed him later. Zboja reached the summit at 13:45, and at 16:10 he was
back in camp II. Koval returned at 17:00 and Jewell at about 20:30. He was badly
frostbitten on his nose and the fingers of both hands. The next day they descended
together to base camp. Vladimir Zboja, on his third visit to the Himalayas reached his
first eight-thousender in cold and poor weather.
Manaslu, 8163 m, Normal Route, October 1997
One of the last eight-thousenders, which was not climbed by a Slovak, was Manaslu. Peter
Sperka, an experienced mountaineer and ski alpinist from the High Tatras, organized the
expedition to this mountain. They had bad weather and conditions. In spite of this, they
pitched the 3rd camp at an altitude 7400 m. Three climbers Peter Sperka (Shisha Pangma,
1996), Miroslav Rybansky and Juraj Kardhordo (Cho Oyu 1995, GI a GII 1997) waited there
for better conditions, which had been promised by the Sherpas. Together with Slovak
climbers there were mountaineers from Spain and Japan. In the morning, October 8th,
the weather cleared up and all climbers set off for the summit. Slovak climbers were
the last.
Juraj Kardhordo, who 3 months ago summitted GI and GII, was the slowest. During the
expedition he suffered from slight stomach problems. Spanish climbers reached the summit
first at 14:00, then Japanese climbers using oxygen. Just before 17:00, Peter Sperka,
together with one Spaniard, reached the summit of Manaslu, half an hour after Miro
Rybansky from Spisska Nova Ves, marking his debut in the Himalayas with his first
eight-thousander. During the descent they met Juraj Kardhordo. Sperka tried to persuade
Juraj not to continue to the summit because of the lateness of the hour. But Juraj
felt OK and continued. Rybansky met him only 150 m from the summit at the beginning
of fixed ropes leading to the sharp ridge.
He was the last to see him alive. Juraj did not return to the last camp, and next day
Japanese mountaineers found his ski pole and his bag in the beginning of the fixed ropes.
Sperka is convinced that Juraj made it to the top of Manaslu, and probably fell from the
sharp ridge because of very strong wind gusts in an area where fixed ropes did not exist.
We will never know the truth about what happened to him. There are steep faces along
Manaslu’s top ridge and nobody climbs there. The descent from camp III was very
dangerous in deep snow. Both our mountaineers suffered frostbite, but they walking
together with Spanish and Japanese climbers. But the tragedy of our expedition was
not finished yet. Miro Rybansky died suddenly at the fixed ropes. It was probably a sudden
heart attack or collapse from total exhaustion after a long stay at high altitudes. This
is a cruel price for the summit of Manaslu. But to provide reasons is very difficult.
High altitude mountaineering is very dangerous and to use common climbing standards
for the Himalayas is not possible. Nobody goes to the Himalayas to die; but
everyone knows this risk and no one is forced to go. But statistics say that the
percentage of death is very high. Those who are to survive have to learn from these
casualties.
Pumori, 7161 m, Normal Route, October 1997
The situation for the ascent of this beautiful seven-thousender just opposite Everest was
different. The result for Slovak mountaineering was the tragic loss of three climbers.
The Czech Trekking Expedition CK Montana consisted of four Slovaks Dusan Myslivec and
Peter Lenco from the town of Nitra, and Pavol Dzurman and Frantisek Miscak from Presov and
some other Czech trekkers. The goal for Slovak mountaineers was to make the FA of
the hard SE face of Pumori. They worked with well-known Slovenian climbers Janez Jeglic
and Tomaz Humar, who planned to make a new route, and the Slovenians wanted to link with
our mountaineers on the upper part of the wall. For acclimatization four Slovak
climbers wanted to approach the col by the Normal Route and leave a tent there for the
descent after finishing the new route. Dusan Myslivec came down with health problems
and that is why the best member of the Czech trekking group joined the team. After
reaching the col at 6500 m, they decided to climb to the top of Pumori. All four
climbers were on the same rope. About 150 m above the col on the ice-snow wall one
of them probably fell
and the rest were pulled with him. They stopped after in the broad col, not falling into
Tibet, as the news said. Peter Lenco, Pavol Dzurman and Frantisek Miscak did not survive
the fall, and were badly damaged. Only the Czech member survived. It is very
hard to say what happened. Such a fall could occur in the Alps or in The High Tatras
as well. Climbing four on a rope in not such difficult terrain was not a good idea.
In such circumstances it is probably better to climb alone or to protect oneself more
safely. Regardless our young mountaineers are still dead.
Jindrich Martis is dead, October 1997
Only a bad set of coincidences and fate was the reason of the tragedy that occurred during
the trekking expedition round Annapurna. The leader of this group was a very experienced
mountaineer, Jindrich Martis (a Czech who lived in the High Tatras for 23 years).
Originally the leader was to be Juraj Kardhordo, but after the accident on Manaslu,
Jindrich Martis took his place. November 5th, 1997, this group reached Col Thorung
La at about 5200 m. There is a tourist trail to the col used by
hundreds of visitors. Jindrich lighted a candle devoted to the memory of Juraj
Kardhordo. Then he borrowed ski poles and started to climb in easy terrain some meters
above the col to take pictures of the trekking group. In front of their eyes, the snow
slope started to move. Jindrich Martis suffered serious injuries and died immediately. He
was pulled out of the avalanche after a short time, but the quick rescue couldn’t save
him. According to his Will, he was buried in Nepal.