Pan Aroma MP 8c rope solo by Lukasz Dudek

Lukasz Dudek, who previously has done 20 routes 9a and one 8C boulder, has roped solo Alex Huber's Pan Aroma in the Dolomites with nine pitches up to 8c. (c) Piotrek Deska comments, "It was both inspiring and thrilling at the same time. But I was only there with Łukasz during his preparation trips when he was still figuring out everything. While he was making the actual ascent he was there alone, so it was the real solo ascent as it should be."

Hom come you choose this amazing challenge?
I have great respect for the achievements of Alex Huber. Pan aroma is a very important step in the history of the Dolomites. This line is amazing, spectacular and terribly exposed. I wanted to climb this route in the best style I could. For me it was rope solo. I use the most popular climbing device - gri gri 1 with loops connected to the harness with carabiners.

It was totally crazy project. This ascent is a summary of what I have learned in these 20 years of my climbing activity. It is a combination of hard sports and mountain climbing, complicated equipment logistics and newly discovered solo climbing. It was my biggest challenge in my life. I feel that I am completely fulfilled as a climber. I lead all the pitches on the first attempt. After 17 hours of climbing, at 2 am I was on the top of Cima Ovest. The hardest pitch is a 60m traverse which should be graded at 8c. Next pitch is a very spectacular but very easy 8b+. The other pitches are not harder than 7a - 7b. Earlier this year, I decided to climb Pan Aroma alone. As part of the preparations, I started making several dozen of solo rope ascent in Polish Jura up to 8c grade. Last year I lead Tortour 8c (270m) rope solo which is located on the southwest face of Schartenspitze, Austria.

Here is the Huber's description of the route from 2007. It should be mentioned that ascents of Pan Aroma have made headlines several times as it is one of the hardest in the world, so this rope solo should be something for the climbing history books.