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  EnlargeLosar from Namche Bazaar, in the Khumbu region of Nepal. The team bivouacked on big ledges 12 pitches up the route, and then finished the final two pitches the next morning. Photo by Conrad Anker, courtesy of Brady Robinson.
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 EnlargeErik Weihenmayer follows the 13th pitch of Losar. Photo by Rob Raker.
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Blind mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer has climbed the 700-meter frozen waterfall Losar (VI WI5) in Nepal. Weihenmayer, who summited Mt. Everest in 2001, completed Losar with Ian Osteyee from New York and Rob Raker from Colorado. The trio took two days to climb and rappel the 14-pitch route, which Weihenmayer described as “Polar Circus on steroids.”
Losar is located on a shady hillside near Namche Bazaar in the Khumbu region. It was likely first climbed in 1994 by Erik Decamp and Catherine Destivelle.
 EnlargeIan Osteyee and Erik Weihenmayer at a belay on Losar. Photo by Rob Raker.
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Before completing the route, the trio acclimatized by making the possible first ascent of a three-pitch ice route a day’s walk from Namche. Weihenmayer named the climb Arjun’s Playground after the 5-year-old Nepali boy, Arjun, that he and his wife, Ellie, have just adopted.
Weihenmayer is currently promoting a new film, Blindsight, about his attempt on the 23,000-foot Lhakpa Ri with six blind Tibetan teenagers. To learn more about the film, which opens in select theaters this month, visit Blindsightthemoive.com.
Date of Ascent: January 2008
Sources: Erik Weihenmayer, Rob Raker, Touchthetop.com, NEice.com
Ian Osteyee, Rob Raker, and Erik Weihenmayer (left to right), with Losar in the background. Courtesy of Rob Raker.
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 EnlargeRob Raker leads steep ice on Losar. Photo by Ian Osteyee, courtesy of Rob Raker.
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