Slovenian alpinists Urban Novak and Marko Prezelj, together with American Hayden Kennedy and Frenchman Manu Pellissier, are the first to have every climbed the east face of Cerro Kishtwar (6173 m).

The summit is located in Kashmir, India. It was given its name due to its similarity to the more popular Cerro Torre in Patagonia. The technically demanding ascent, graded ED+, which is even more difficult than the highest level on the French six-graded system, is a new great Alpine achievement in the Himalayas.
Two summits reached by preferential routes
The expedition conquered two summits in that mountain range by preferential routes – first the 6278 meter-high Chomchior along its southern ridge, and then reached the top of Cerro Kishtwar by climbing its east face. The latter, extremely difficult route, called Light before wisdom, is assessed as extremely difficult. The expedition faced no problems, except the heavy snowfall that hit base camp. Due to the snowfall the team had to dig out a real drain canal to prevent the water from washing away their camp.

The climb was prolongued
They climbed for three days. The most difficult part was climbing the system of plates covered with snow. The climb dragged on but the experienced Marko Prezelj climbed the most difficult part in his own style. Prezelj is otherwise a winner of Three Golden Ice-Axes.

The expedition was planned in a modern way, with only a smaller number of accompanying team members, in an Alpine style, and by undergoing adequate acclimatization on nearby summits, which also enabled the team get a nice view of their main target.

Jure Čokl, Radio Slovenija; translated by K. J.