Credit: Martin Hanslmayr / Red Bull Content Pool
David Lama, Peter Ortner, and Hansjoerg Auer set off for Masherbrum in Pakistan.
“The first time I stood in front of Masherbrum, I knew I had found what I was looking for. A face so incredibly huge and difficult, you are tempted to believe it is impossible.“ These are the feelings expressed by extreme mountaineer David Lama at sight of the yet unclimbed northeast face of Masherbrum in the Karakoram mountain range. Together with Peter Ortner and Hansjoerg Auer, the climbing prodigy wants to take on the wall 3500 metres in height this summer. Currently, the three climbers are acclimatizing at an altitude of about 7000 metres above sea level. By the end of June, they will set off for Masherbrum.
The label “impossible“ has not sprung from nowhere. The Russians, famous in the mountaineering scene for their willpower and stamina, were the only ones so far who aimed to climb through the central wall of Masherbrum back in 2006. Before facing that challenge, they have successfully conquered the highest and roughest walls of the Himalaya and Karakoram mountain range. Yet, during the Masherbrum expedition the Russians had to bow to the mountain and never returned. The team leader at the time, Alexander Odintsov, declared the striking northeast face towering 3500 metres above the Yermanendu Glacier as “impossible“.
Already during his free climbing project on Cerro Torre in Patagonia, 23-year-old Lama had caught sight of the 7821-meter high Masherbrum, also called K1. Ever since, he could not get the extremely challenging northeast face out of his head. A wall more daunting that he had dared dreaming of: vertical rock and ice paired with the inhospitable conditions of altitudes well above 7000m.
Credit: Andreas Gradl / Red Bull Content Pool
“This project will certainly demand all of our collective alpinist experience as well as superb technical climbing skills,“ says Peter Ortner (30), who has been the congenial partner to Lama for years. In 2013, the two already headed for Masherbrum, but had to abandon the expedition due to an injury of Ortner. For more than a month the two had observed the wall from the base camp and came to the conclusion that this year they would take on the challenge as a roped party of three. Hansjoerg Auer (30), who is an experienced mountaineer and famous beyond the climbing scene for multiple spectacular free solo ascents of alpine walls, completes the team. “I have always dreamed of this mountain. For me, there is hardly any other mountain that can match the beauty of the Masherbrum. The unclimbed northeast face is without a doubt one of the toughest challenges the Karakoram has to offer,“ the Oetztal (Austria) native states. “We are all aware that in order to be successful here everything has to be perfect and come together at the right time: the weather, the conditions and of course our own fitness,” Ortner adds. “Everything in between our return last year and now was a preparation for that goal. We can’t wait to finally stand beneath that massive face again,” David Lama comments shortly before the departure.
The three climbers have already put a lengthy journey on the Karakorum highway and nearly one hundred kilometres by foot behind them. The next step of the expedition, which is planned to last till the beginning of August, is the acclimatization at the nearby Broad Peak (8051m).
Putting the Masherbrum Project into Perspective
With 7821 metres in height Masherbrum is the 22nd highest mountain in the world and the 9th highest in the Karakoram Range. Since its first ascent in 1960, the peak has been summited only three more times. The last ascent dates back to 1985, which was five years prior to Lama´s birth.
For Lama, Ortner, and Auer however it is not solely the height of the mountain that fascinates them. More importantly, the northeast face of Masherbrum stands out to other Karakoram giants due to its incredible steepness. At an altitude of 7000 metres above sea level, the vertical headwall blocks the way to the summit. “It is basically the north face of the Eiger with a Cerro Torre towering on top of it,” David Lama says drawing parallels to his last milestone project. While on Cerro Torre it was all about the first free ascent, this time the bare climb through the northeast face alone would be an alpine historic sensation, not only because the Tyrolean trio will climb alpine style, without high camps, fixed ropes or bolts. “If this expedition is successful it will take years, maybe decades until someone dares to repeat it,” says alpine legend Reinhold Messner putting the level of the project into perspective.
Find all details at www.redbullcontentpool.com
