François Cazzanelli and Pietro Picco open a new route on Nanga Parbat
On June 26, 2022, the two mountain guides succeeded in opening a new route on the Diamir slope of Nanga Parbat (8126m).
Six mountain guides, a lot of determination and a single goal: to carry out an expedition to reach the summit of Nanga Parbat, possibly by discovering new routes or walking those less traveled. The expedition from the Aosta Valley to Pakistan includes François Cazzanelli and Pietro Picco, accompanied by Roger Bovard, Marco Camandona, Emrik Favre and Jerome Perruquet. With the idea of the greatest exploration, the entire group attempted the ascent to Ganalo Peak (6606m) reaching 6100m, useful for the best acclimatization. However, the team had to return and stay at Base Camp for a week due to heavy snowfall.
As soon as the weather improved, François identified a new route that had never been traced but seemed ideal to climb, leading the group to 6000m (Camp 2) where it joins the classic Kinshofer route. The route involves the ascent of the vertical serac at the base of the route, then follows steep snowfields to a mixed section leading to the ridge that joins the Kinshofer route, for a total of 1800 of ascent at an altitude where lack of oxygen forces very slow climbing.
François and Pietro commented: “We have decided to call the route Aosta Valley Express to honor our belonging to the Aosta Valley and the the Aosta Valley Guides, Francois being a guide from Cervinia in the Matterhorn Guides Society and Pietro from Courmayeur in the Courmayeur Guides Society. The climb was done in a single push from basecamp, hence the name express”
The group plans to spend a few days at altitude to acclimatize before attempting the summit ascent.
