Mountain Culture and Environment Speakers’ Series: Pumari Chhish East, Karakorum
Tuesday, September 8, 7:30 p.m.
Max Bell Auditorium, The Banff Centre
Tickets: $12
Box Office: 403.762.6301 or 1.800.413.8368
Mountain Culture Members free
In 2006, Calgary climber Raphael Slawinski, along with Eamonn Walsh, Ian Wested, and Ben Firth, traversed the Hispar Glacier in Pakistan’s Karakorum range, and completed a first ascent of 6164m Ali Chhish. This summer, Slawinski and his team attempted the notoriously difficult 7000+m peak Pumari Chhish East in the same range. The ascent includes 2400m of continuous technical mixed climbing at high altitude. On September 8, Slawinski will present a talk on both ascents as part of The Banff Centre’s Mountain Speakers’ Series.
A physics instructor at Mount Royal College in Calgary, Slawinski has conquered some of the most challenging routes in the world. He’s logged first ascents on the west face of Mount Alberta (with Eamonn Walsh), a new traditional rock route on Banff’s Mount Rundle (with Eric Dumerac), the northeast face of Mount Andromeda (with Scott Semple), and the east face of Mount Chephren (with Jim Sevigny), among many climbs — ice, traditional, sport, and mixed. He and his team won the Alpine Club of Canada’s John Lauchlan Award in 2008 for their Karakorum expedition this summer.
The Mountain Speaker’s Series is a program of Mountain Culture and Environment at The Banff Centre, and is generously supported by the Juniper Hotel.
— 30 —
