Valery Babanov

Saturday November 7, 8 p.m.
Max Bell Auditorium
Tickets $32

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Valery Babanov is a climbers’ climber. His resume reads a bit like a tick list of all the possible hard ascents in the world. Babanov's experience ranges from speed ascents on peaks in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s in his native Russia, to big walls on El Cap, to solo first ascents on the highest summits of the Himalaya. His notoriety when it comes to hard alpine routes is legendary and makes him a force to be reckoned with on the international climbing stage. Even as he ages, he refuses to relent and the hard expeditions continue. Often his partners cannot keep up. His persistence and determination have most recently taken him to an attempt on Annapurna earlier this year. In 2008, in true Babanov style, he successfully completed a new route on Broad Peak and another other on Gasherbrum II in a three-week siege. However, his successes have not come easily. Join us as he shares stories of summits, hardship, and failure on some of the most renowned peaks on the planet.

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Photo courtesy of Valery Babanov