Splendid traditional mountaineering: CAMP ambassador Zdeněk Hák in great style on the SE Face of Hunza Peak
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Zdeněk Hák
From Gilgit we go up the Hunza valley, along the famous Karakorum Highway (KKH), initially to the north and then to the east, going round the fabulous Rakaposhi (7788m). The road and the river run alongside – the former is sketchy and the latter a potential disaster – and all around them, to left and right, stand the enormous north Pakistan mountain ranges, with seven-thousanders that have seen few ascents: adventure here still feels pristine. We reach Karimabad (about 2400m), the KKH continues towards Khunherab (4693m, the highest paved boundary point in the world, China being on the other side) and we stop here, at the foot of Ultar Sar (7388m) and Hunza Peak (6270m).
These mountains are for connoisseurs, that’s for sure, like all the ones Zdeněk “Háček” Hák tackled in recent years, always in a very light alpine style. What has our top Czech climber come up with this time? He placed his eyes on the unclimbed Hunza Peak southeast face: Mick Fowler and Crag Jones were the first to climb its southwest face in 1991. After having acclimatised and studied the entire route, Zdeněk waited for the right moment to complete his project. His compatriot Radoslav Groh accompanied him, as was the case on Chombu (6859m, first overall ascent) in 2022, on Cholatse (6440m, first ascent of the west face) in 2024 and on Muchu Chhish (7453m, first overall ascent) in 2024.
The two friends left base camp (3200m) on 6 June 2025 and, after five days of climbing, they finally reached the top of Hunza Peak, dedicating the recently opened route to Eid al-Adha, the Muslim “Feast of sacrifice”, that started on 6 June this year, commemorating the obedience of Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) to God. The route of Hák and Groh goes over 2300 metres on rock (V+), ice (WI5) and mixed terrain (M6+) and it is not only technically demanding, but also dangerous, especially on the first section, where the risk of ice blocks falling is high.
Weather conditions made bivouacs in the top section of the wall demanding. Between the fourth and fifth day, Zdeněk and Radoslav had to dig ice for five hours to make a small, one-metre wide ledge and spend an uneasy night. They were on belay for the entire time, to avoid falling off while asleep – as to how much sleep they got it’s hard to say. The ledge was the starting point of the last run towards the top: twenty hours of action at the end of a technical, physical and mental crescendo. The descent was rather long and they were beaming with joy, once they reached base camp, looking up towards Hunza Peak, where a new, exciting page of extraordinary traditional mountaineering had just been written, also thanks to the precious help of C.A.M.P. tools.
Link: www.camp.it
Passion, work and simplicity are some key-words that have always distinguished the way of doing of C.A.M.P.
The passion is the one for the mountain and for the products that help everyone that go out there to accomplish their dreams and projects; the work is the one handed on for more than 115 years by four different generations that succeeded to the helm of the company, and the simplicity that marks a way of doing and collaborating based on seriousness and fairness.
