Vanja Furlan

Beside hard routes in the Slovenian mountains, Vanja did new Alpine routes on the north face of the Nesthorn and the east face of Monte Rosa, and visited the Canadian Rocky Mountains, New Zealand Alps and the Himalayas six times, all in a very short period of time during which he became one of the first Slovenian professional climbers. His solo of a new Slovenian route on the South Face of Mt. Cook led the same year to success on Siniolchu’s north face with Uros Rupar and then to Langshisa Ri, where he put up solo a new route, For Kango Chu, Two Friends, Van Morrison and a Goat, on the northwest face. All this he accomplished in less than one year. In 1994 he became the Alpinst of the Year in Slovenia. After bad experiences on Annapurna, Ama Dablam’s northwest face and Kumbakarna East’s east face (twice), he made his last important new route with Tomaz Humar on Ama Dablam this year. The best ascent of the 1996 spring season in the Himalaya, the Grade VI 1650-meter route took five days. The game of fate being what it is, he dedicated the route to the memory of Stane Belak, the legendary Slovenian alpinist and mountain guide who lost his life in an avalanche last winter on the same mountain that later claimed Vanja.