Roman Kozelka
Name: Roman Kozelka
Nickname: kozel
Job: Full-time UIAGM mountain guide, owner of TA Summit Travel, caretaker of the via ferrata in Slaný Czech Rep., I run a small company for rope access and hazardous tree felling. During Covid I bought a small excavator, we call it BOB with my sons, and sometimes I dig into the ground. Full-time father, Recreologist…
Climbing since: 2000
Country: Czech Republic
What do you enjoy about climbing?
Everything… mainly the views and the peace. I love mountains, rocks, snow, and ice, and I love skiing and ski touring. Temperatures in the mountains are acceptable for me from +40 to -40 degrees, and i can work with that. Lately, I’ve been spending some time on expeditions, so maybe I’m maturing… (I note with a smile). In Sweden, I’ve been guiding Heliskiing for several years, and that’s also a nice job.
How did you start with climbing?
As a little kid, I climbed up lightning rods at our house, up to the second floor balcony, then on chimneys and rooftops. I jumped out of a plane when I was 16. I simply sought adrenaline and heights—I didn’t know any climbers, and there was no climbing club in Slaný. Only when I studied to be a paramedic in Ústí nad Labem did I get a taste of sandstone climbing in Tisá and Ostrov, and the decision was made. I bought my first climbing shoes at Hudáč in Hřensko—probably the only shop around back then—and I guess I’ll never stop…
My favourite climbing area?
In the Czech Republic: I enjoy relaxed sandstone routes in Tisá, Rájec, Ostrov, and I also like Srbsko and Bořeň, where I started.
Alps: Wallis, Chamonix, Austria – Ötztal
Himalayas
Greece – limestone
The most significant ascents?
Hard to judge, I’ll probably never be a climbing representative 😊. I weigh 95 kg, and my deformed big toes since birth never manage small edges. But I’ve stood on about 65 four-thousanders with my clients and friends, some of them many times. For example, I’ve been on the Matterhorn 50 times, and about 350 times on some 4000m summit in the Alps over the last 20 years. I have my own simple classification of ascents:
- It goes well
- It goes badly
- It doesn’t go
What I value most is who I climb with—and that I’ve always come back!!!
Some peaks I’ve climbed:
- 2025 Mont Everest 8848m – summit with oxy
- 2024 Denali 6190m – summit
- 2023 Kazbek 5047m (2 ascents in one day by different routes) – summit
- 2023–2021 Expeditions and ski touring in Svalbard, Morocco, Georgia, Bulgaria, Sweden, Norway, etc.
- 2022 Pik Lenin 7134m – summit (3 expeditions: 2021, 2006)
- 2019 Aconcagua 6961m – summit
- 2010 Chimborazo 6263m – summit, Cotopaxi 5897m – summit
- 2008 Island Peak 6189m – summit
- 2007–2022 Elbrus (8x summit), Mont Blanc 4808m (about 40x summit—sometimes on skis)
- 2006–2018 Kilimanjaro 5896m (10 ascents by different routes), Mount Kenya
- 2007 Dachstein South Face (a mix of everything and a fight for life 😊)
- 2006–2014 Smítko’s Crack VIIc on Rakev (after years of training I managed it—it was hard work)
- 2005 Peru & Bolivia – Chachani 6057m – summit, El Misti 5822m – with a bike on my back (almost summit 😊 then cycled down)
2010–2020 Various north faces: Ortler, Lenzspitze, Glockner, Breithorn, Allalinhorn, Wildspitze, Brochkogl, Mont Blanc. Ski descents of various couloirs and faces in the Alps, and in the Tatras—some with skis down the mountain 😊.
And many other less-known peaks around the world.
- Mount Vinson 4892m – Autumn 2026
- Snow Leopard – 2025–2030
- 2025–2030 Project: 82 Alpine four-thousanders (on foot, and with skis where possible)
That’s about all I might manage before I turn fifty—what I’ve marked in my head as good climbs to do. Meanwhile, many, many days spent skiing, climbing, and guiding in the Alps.
Other interests:
Basketball, football, chess, beer, wine, photography, time spent with my children and good friends…
What will (in your opinion) climbing look like in 100 years?
Hopefully the speed of glacier melting will slow down, and hopefully people will also slow down a bit in the mountains, put away their phones, spend more time in nature with friends—and then over a beer.
More info about me:
www.summittravel.cz – you’ll find articles and info there, otherwise Google is powerful…
More
