Łukasz Dudek makes 8c rope solo first ascent in Poland

Łukasz Dudek has pulled off a noteworthy first ascent at the limestone crag Biblioteka in Poland where he has come up trumps on the 8c Core. What makes the climb remarkable is the fact that the 36-year-old freed the route on his own using an intricate rope solo rigging system. The route in question was originally bolted seven years ago by Jacek Matuszek, his habitual Alpine Wall Tour climbing partner, and Dudek worked the line with friends prior to his rope solo first ascent.

Core joins another route immediately to the right called Chuck, bolted by Matuszek and freed by Dudek once again, graded 8b. When uttered together, Core and Chuck sound like Korczak and pay homage therefore to Piotr Korczak, one of Poland’s strongest rock climbers throughout the 1980’s.

"My idea was to establish two hard routes, one next to other, as a tribute to living legend Piotr Korczak" Matuszek told planetmountain.com, adding "Łukasz completed my vision, and did so rope solo, respect. And best of all, these routes are completely natural!"

In 2016 Fabian Buhl made a rope solo first ascent of his Ganesha, a 175m multi-pitch above Loferer Alm in Austria graded 8c, while earlier this year Keita Kurakami made a rope-solo ascent of the 8c+ sport climb Mare, an 8c+ sport climb at Mt. Futago in Japan. It goes without saying that rope solo first ascents are extremely rare, in particular ones this difficult.