On Friday, 21 April 2023, at 6 pm, we cordially invite you to a museum evening dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the expedition to the Sahara, which will be presented by a member of the expedition, Rudi Rajar.
At the end of 1973, the Academic Mountaineering Section organised an expedition to the Hoggar Mountains, which lie at the centre of the world’s largest desert. From articles in French mountaineering magazines, it was understood that there were very interesting towers and real needles, some of them virgin, not yet climbed. The expedition also had the task of exploring some little-known areas. They set off in an IMV van.
They covered the 1300 km from Algiers in one day, and the 700 km through the desert, where the route was only marked with signposts, took 3 whole days. On several occasions, they had to rescue their van when it got stuck in sandbanks. They set up base camp in a dry wadi, 15 km from Tamanrasset, the main settlement in Hoggar. One group of climbers immediately set out to climb very difficult routes near the camp, while four others searched for virgin peaks within a few days’ walk of the camp. Marko and Rudi found the 100 m high Assekerda Needle, which is supposed to be virgin. They climbed it on a difficult championship route, but they had already found a man on the summit, but there was no information about the first-timers. No matter, it was a great experience.
All this is shown in the two films mentioned above, when they will be shown with some additional commentary at the presentation.
