Jon Lazkano

Jon Lazkano Agirre is an internationally renowned mountaineer, specialist in big walls with flagship activities in Patagonia and Baltoro, discoverer of little-known places. Born on February 21, 1969 in Bergara (Gipuzkoa), he is attracted by the big walls of the planet but rejects normal routes and "commercial" mountains. Among his climbs are the openings of Trango, Paine, Naranjo, etc. Routes in the Alps, Patagonia, Karakorum, attempts on the G-IV, a monolith of rock and ice culminating at 7,925 meters in the heart of Karakorum.

He started climbing very young on Atxarte, Anboto, etc. In 1987, he made the Zodiac to El Capitan, Le Nez, Horse chute, etc. In 1988, with José Carlos Tamayo, he made New dawn, Tangerine trip and New Jersey turnpike, also in El Capitán. In 1988, during his visit to Patagonia with Guillermo Bañales, from Bizkaia, he climbed the Aguja Poincenot. In July 1989, with Javier Mugarra, also from Bizkaia, he reached a virgin peak that they named Pico Violeta, on the Choktoy glacier, and opened with Ramón Portilla the "Gizon berri bat naiz" on the western slope of the Naranjo.

In 1990, with Portilla and Tamayo, he made the first national winter national north of the Dru. In addition, for the program "Al filo de lo imposible" on Spanish television, with others, he opened the Banana mango mix on the Gran Torre del Trango up to a few meters from the summit.

In 1991, in the Central Tower of Paine, he signed two routes: "Kanterarik ez", with Kike de Pablo, and "La ballena de los vientos", with Tamayo and other companions. He then climbed the Andrea Oggioni of the Torre Sur del Paine with Tamayo and, later, with De la Cruz, he climbed the south face of the Aguja Saint Exupéry. Also in 1991, with José María Codina, he climbed the Cecchinel-Nominé to the Grand Pilier d'Angle to Mont Blanc. In Chamonix, the Anouk to the Petites Jorasses and the Pilar Bonatti to the Dru. With Tamayo, in the Chamonix massif, he also made the Walker in the Grandes Jorasses and, in the Dolomites, the Carlesso in the Torre Trieste, the Brandler-Hasse north of the Cima Grande, the Cassin in the Cima Ovest, the Tempi moderni in the Marmolada, etc.

In 1992, an illness forced him to abandon the Dhaulagiri. In 1993, climbing the AK-Su (White Waters) valley of the Pamir, with the Bañales and Mugarra of Biscay, he made the Directísima of Pic 3,850, the south face of Pic 4,810 and the Directísima of Leningrad in the Russian Tower; being awarded the Piolet de Oro prize for this activity.

Jon Lazkano collaborated with the Iñurrategi brothers from the beginning of the E.T.B. project. (Basque public television) before Felix's death. He participated in the expeditions in which Alberto Iñurrategi climbed Hidden Peak in 2001 and in the Annapurna expedition in 2002, in which Alberto crossed all fourteen eight-thousand-metre peaks. Lazkano, nicknamed "Mister Jon" in Pakistan, made uninterrupted trips to this mountaineering paradise.