Hansjörg Auer in the West Face of Lupghar Sar West

“It was very, very cool and intense,” Hansjörg Auer tells me. After his successful solo project in the Hunza region in northern Pakistan, the Austrian top climber is back in his native Ötztal. As reported before, the 34-year-old had first climbed the approximately 1,000-meter-high West Face of the rarely attempted 7157-meter-high Lupghar Sar West – solo. First Hansjörg climbed from the base camp to a bivouac site at the foot of the wall at about 6,200 meters. From there he left on 7 July at 5 am and climbed up to the summit in six and a half hours. At 8 pm, Auer was back at the base camp.

Hansjörg, you said in advance that you wanted to know what it’s like to be alone in the wall of a very high mountain. How did you experience it?

Lupghar Sar in northern Pakistan

Since our first ascent of the 7400-meter-high Kunyang Chhish East in 2013, I had asked myself this question again and again. I only waited for the right moment. This year the time had come. It felt very, very good. Of course, it was very different from climbing with a team. You are much more focused, you also feel stronger, as if you are drilled for a goal. Overall, it’s less emotional than I’m used to. But when it does get emotional, it’s much more intense because you are alone and have the strong urge to somehow manage it. 

What was the special challenge for you while solo climbing through this wall?

It wasn’t so much about climbing a difficult route, but really about being alone. In this altitude you are generally very exposed. This is multiplied if you are climbing alone and have no friend or rope partner as a kind of back-up. It’s also mentally more difficult. If you have a bad phase and begin to doubt, there is no one to support and motivate you. You have to do it yourself.

Selfie from the bivouac tent

Did you have moments of doubt?

Yes, sure. When I was lying in the bivouac that night, I was wondering if I could make it. Then I said to myself that I had already completed so many solo projects. That helped. Besides, I’m now in my mid-30s and have a lot of experience. This also helps, of course.

Did you have the exact route in mind before entering the wall?

I had two lines in my mind, in the left part of the wall part. I waited for my inner voice. Finally I decided for an icy couloir and several ice fields up to the Northwest Ridge, which I reached at about 6,900 meters. Then I climbed over the ridge to the summit.

How close were you to your limit?

View into the depths

It was running relatively smoothly. I had actually planned a second bivouac on the way up. But I made relatively rapid progress. At 6,700 meters, I found that the summit was not so far away anymore and that I should climb directly up. I had already thought beforehand that it might actually be possible to climb the wall non-stop. But because the weather was not so consistent and I was afraid that a snowstorm might catch me on the ridge, I took the tent with me. But then I deposited my backpack at 6,900 meters and climbed the last 250 meters up to the summit without any equipment.

The route through the wall was, of course, technically not as difficult as routes that can be climbed by a team. The ridge was exposed, with very loose rock, so I had to be careful. On the descent, I took my time. At the bergschrund, a snow bridge broke and I slipped 50 meters deep. Nothing happened because the snow was soft. In the end, everything went well.

What are you taking from this solo project in Pakistan? Will you be back with a team in the future? Or have you now tasted blood and think: How far can I get in climbing solo in high altitude?

On the summit

Of course, I always have many solo projects in mind. However, it’s important to me that the right moment comes and I don’t put pressure on myself. That’s why I cannot tell you anything about this at the moment. At this point, only so much: I will remain true to the technical lines at high altitude. Of course, it is also very challenging in a team to climb new routes on very high mountains, because in a rope team you can push the technical limits much further.

Generally speaking, it’s not easy for family and friends when I go for solo climbing. This time, nobody told me before the expedition that it was a bad idea. Shortly before my departure, Simon Anthamatten (Swiss climber with whom Hansjörg and his brother Matthias Auer scaled Kunyang Chhish East in 2013) called me and strengthened my vision. That felt good.  It would be a lot harder if everyone says: “Hey, what the hell are you doing?”

Will you put your feet up now?

Hansjörg Auer

Last week, I felt very tired. It just takes time to recover – even mentally. But now I’m going to climb in the Alps again. For example, I plan to open a new route in the South Face of Marmolada. For me, one expedition at high altitude per year is enough. I think to myself, the devil never sleeps. Of course, you never want to stop doing what you like to do. But in order to minimize the risk, you should focus more on quality than quantity.

Hansjörg Auer on top of Lupghar Sar West

This is a real milestone. The Austrian Hansjörg Auer says, he succeeded the first ascent of a big wall of a seven-thousander in the Karakoram – solo. “I climbed the West Face of Lupghar Sar West for the first time. I took a line on the left side and finished my route up the steep Northwest Ridge with very loose rock to the top at 7,157 meters,” the 34-year-old extreme climber wrote on Instagram. Hansjörg had set off to Pakistan in mid-June for his solo project. His originally planned climbing partner and friend Alexander Blümel had to call off due to health problems.

Four years of dreaming

The mountain seen from Hunza valley

“This ascent is very unique to me, because I was dreaming of it for the last four years,” writes Auer. “Since Kunyang Chhish East in 2013 (when he, his brother Matthias Auer and the Swiss Simon Anthamatten made the first ascent of this 7400-meter-high mountain in the Karakoram) I always wanted to know how it feels to be alone in high altitude. And I’m happy that I made this experience now.“

In memoriam Gerry Fiegl

Gerry Fiegl (1988-2015)

Hansjörg Auer dedicates the first ascent of the West Face to his late friend Gerry Fiegl. In fall 2015, Auer, Blümel and Fiegl had mastered the South Face of the 6839-meter-high Nilgiri South in western Nepal for the first time. Gerry had shown symptoms of high altitude sickness at the summit and had fallen to his death on the descent.

The rarely attempted seven-thousander Lupghar Sar – which means “top of the big rock” – has three almost equally high summits and is located in the Hunza region in northern Pakistan. The West Summit was first climbed on 18 June 1979 by the German brothers Hans and Sepp Gloggner, who were part of an eight-member expedition team from Tegernsee.

Lupghar Sar in northern Pakistan

“I expect for sure some intensive moments,” says Hansjörg Auer. The 34-year-old extreme climber from Austria set off to Pakistan last weekend for a solo project. Hansjörg will tackle the West Face of the 7,181-meter-high Lupghar Sar West. “For me, it will be a special kind of project to see if I can carry out the next step of my climbing career,” Hansjörg said in a video published on Facebook before his departure.

Climbing partner Blümel called off

Hansjörg Auer

Actually, he was planning to go on another expedition with his friend and climbing partner Alex Blümel. But Alex had to call off due to health problems. In November 2016, the two climbers had succeeded the first ascent of the North Face of the 7,005-meter-high Gimmigela East in eastern Nepal, in Alpine style, i.e. without fixed high camps, Sherpa support and bottled oxygen. In fall 2015, they had mastered, together with their compatriot Gerry Fiegl, the South Face of the 6,839-meter-high Nilgiri South for the first time in western Nepal. Fiegl had shown symptoms of high altitude sickness at the summit and had fallen to death on their descent.

Special taste

Free Solo in the Marmolada South Face

Also beyond the climbing scene, Auer had become famous for his spectacular free solo climbs in the Alps. In 2007, for example, he made headlines worldwide when he climbed the difficult Fish route through the South Face of Marmolada in the Dolomites for the first time free solo. So it is nothing new for Hansjörg to climb alone. But on an expedition? “Now I won’t be able to count on my friends to help me in the decision making,” Auer said in an interview with planetmountain.com, “and as I see it this lends the project a very special taste. If I’m honest and ask myself why, then this is a taste I’m always looking for somehow.” He would certainly feel “even more exposed”, said Hansjörg: “I’m intrigued to find out if I’ll have lot of fun or if I’m going to get scared and come back after three weeks. It’s going to be a completely new experience.” Only in the base camp, a cook and a Pakistani companion will be waiting for Auer.

Rotten rock

The mountain seen from Hunza valley

The rarely attempted seven-thousander Lupghar Sar – which means “top of the big rock” – has three almost equally high summits and is located in the Hunza region in northern Pakistan. The West Summit was first climbed on 18 June 1979 by Hans and Sepp Gloggner, who were part of an eight-member expedition team from Tegernsee in Germany. The brothers climbed via the Southwest Ridge, “over terribly rotten rock “, as Hans Gloggner later reported in the “American Alpine Journal”: “Slabs and blocks of rock teetered on the slope, held by an insecure mortar of ice. We finally reached the top so late in the day that we had to make a miserable summit bivouac. The climb had been so dangerous that no further summit climbs were made (on this expedition).” Hansjörg Auer has chosen an extremely ambitious goal for his solo adventure.

Route of the Austrian climbers on Nilgiri South

Anyone who has ever climbed a very high mountain knows about the dangers during the descent. Not the dangers of the mountain itself, but of your own body. Suddenly all adrenaline is used up, you feel the pain that you have pushed away during the ascent, you are exhausted, only want to get down quickly and run into danger of losing your concentration. It’s not for nothing that many accidents happen on descent – like on the 6,839-meter-high Nilgiri South in Nepal, where the Austrian Gerhard Fiegl fell several hundred meters into depth on Monday of last week and has been missing since then. As reported, the search for the 27-year-old was meanwhile abandoned.
According to the other two team members, Hansjoerg Auer and Alexander Bluemel, the trio earlier had “successfully reached the summit after climbing through the more than 1,500 meter high South Face”. It was the first climb via the difficult wall where several other expeditions had failed in the past few decades. At the summit they noticed that their friend Gerry was “very exhausted”, Hansjoerg and Alex say. Was it symptoms of High Altitude Sickness? Fiegl’s rapid drop in performance might indicate this. At that altitude, oxygen is pressed into the longs with around 40 percent less pressure than at sea level.

Unplanned bivouac

At the summit: Fiegl, Bluemek and Auer (r.to l.)

“At the summit, we were still lying in each others arms and rejoiced over the successful first climb of the South Face”, says Auer. “But within a short time the situation turned extremely tense due to Gerry’s condition.” A few hundred meters below the summit, the three climbers decided to bivouac. Down in Base Camp, the photographer Elias Holzknecht tried to organize a rescue operation. However, strong winds made helicopter flights impossible. The next morning, Gerry’s condition seemed to have improved slightly, the trio continued their descent. Later, at around 2 p.m. local time, Fiegl lost his balance on the Southwest Ridge and fell around 800 meters into depth while his friends were looking on in horror.

Helicopter search two days later

Hansjoerg and Alex climbed down to Base Camp. Heavy snowfall hampered the search that was started immediately, only two days after the accident a helicopter was able to take off. The search for Gerry was unsuccessful. On 1 November the other expedition members returned to Austria. “At the moment when a longtime friend falls to death before your eyes, everything else becomes unimportant”, says Hansjoerg Auer. “Our joint expedition could not have taken a worse end.” As well as Auer, Alexander Bluemel is “very sad about the loss of our friend. But nobody can take me away the memory of the intense time I experienced with Gerry.”