Tomo Česen

Tomo Česen (born November 5, 1959 in Kranj , Yugoslavia , today Slovenia ) is a Slovenian mountaineer and sport climber . In mountaineering circles, he is one of the most controversial personalities, as he can rarely provide evidence of his achievements.

Special alpine achievements

In 1985, Česen climbed the north face of the Kangchenjunga western summit with his rope partner Borut Bergant, who died on the descent. Česen then had to descend alone and without equipment from an altitude of 8,300 m. In 1986 Česen managed to climb Broad Peak . Then he went to K2 , although he only had one permit to climb Gasherbrum II . He stayed only briefly in the base camp at K2 and then climbed a new route alone on his shoulder. Although he could not reach the summit due to the bad weather, this route over the SSE ridge has been called the Česen route since then . A Basque expedition with Juanito Oiarzabal came to the summit via this route for the first time in 1994. This route was also called the Basque Route . In 1989, Česen tackled the north face of Jannu , which he said he climbed alone on a new route. "The respected Mountain Magazine ruled:" Probably the most daring venture of all time in the Himalayas. "" Since there is no evidence of a successful ascent, it is often questioned. This route on Jannu has not yet been repeated.

A year later, Česen allegedly succeeded in climbing the Lhotse south face for the first time. He was alone on the mountain without bottled oxygen after only 14 days of acclimatization in the base camp and, according to him, reached the summit within 45 hours and 20 minutes on April 24th. A 20-man Russian expedition also climbed the south face in the same year. They needed weeks for their project, used artificial oxygen and were amazed at Česen's performance and ultimately doubted it. As proof of his ascent, Česen submitted a photo to the French magazine Vertical, but it can be proven that it was not taken of him. The Česen visit is controversial and is officially unoccupied.

Česen has been a sport climber since the 1990s.

swell

• Portrait of Tomo Česen on bergfieber.de (accessed on March 27, 2010)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Malte Roeper : Has Tomo Cesen not even been on some mountain? Down from the summit. Die Zeit , January 21, 1994, accessed November 10, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Bernadette McDonald: See you in Kathmandu . 1st edition. Bergverlag Rother, Munich 2005, ISBN 979-3-76337048-0 , p. 272 . Chapter Lots of allegations, lots of ambition, p. 184 ff. ( Limited preview in Google book search)
3. ↑ Mario Casella: The Burden of Shadows: When Alpinists Don't Tell the Whole Truth. Chapter: Tomo Cesen. The Lhotse riddle . 1st edition. AS Verlag, Zurich 2018, ISBN 978-3-906055-84-8 , p. 2053–2166 (Items Kindle Edition) .