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.

The West Face of Cerro Kishtwar (© Stefan Schlumpf)

They have been on the road for the last three weeks and are expected to have meanwhile arrived at the destination of their expedition. The Swiss climbers Stephan Siegrist and Julian Zanker and the German Thomas Huber want to tackle the still not mastered West Face of the 6155-meter-high Cerro Kishtwar. The mountain, located in the Indian part of the crisis region Kashmir, has been scaled only three times so far. In 1993, the British Mick Fowler and the American Steve Susted succeeded the first ascent via the Northwest Face. In 2011, Siegrist, his Swiss countryman Denis Burdet and the Austrian David Lama reached the summit of Cerro Kishtwar as the second rope team, after opening a new route on the edge of the West Face. The third ascent was made in 2015 by the Slovenes Marko Prezelj and Urban Novak, the American Hayden Kennedy and the Frenchman Manu Pellisier. They were awarded the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar of the Climbers”, for their first ascend of the South Face.

Always in his mind

He just could not get the West Face, “the largest still unclimbed rock face in the Kashmir Himalaya”, out of his head since 2011, Stephan Siegrist wrote to me before leaving to India. “At that time we climbed an ice route on the right side of the main wall. Again and again I looked at this amazing wall. The idea of ​​tackling this line did not let me off.” According to Stephan, the trio is also planning to free climb some rope lengths of the route. The 44-year-old has infected Thomas Huber with his enthusiasm. The older of the Huber brothers was raving to me about “one of the most beautiful, coolest unclimbed walls of the world”, with best quality of granite: “When I saw pictures of the Cerro Kishtwar West Face, I said: Actually, this is the second Cerro Torre,” the 50-year-old told me.

Instinct required

Thomas Huber (left) and Stephan Siegrist

The third in the trio is the Swiss climber and mountain guide Julian Zanker, who was already en route with Siegrist in the Indian part of Kashmir in fall 2016. Both were then temporarily detained by the Indian police because they were wrongly accused of having used a satellite telephone. The use of private satellite equipment is prohibited in India because of the fear of terrorist attacks. “Concerning weather you have to rely on your instinct again. This will be very exciting,” said Huber. “We have drawn up a strategy, and I believe it will work.” He really likes to be on the road with Stephan Siegrist, says Thomas: “Stef is an incredibly great rope partner. You always have fun with him in the base camp and on the mountain. There is always something to laugh about. But he knows exactly when it gets serious. And then he pushes it through.“

“Live as intensively as possible!”

Siegrist and Huber have something less pleasing in common. Both suffered fractures of the scull after falls. Stephan had to abandon an attempt on the eight-thousander Makalu in 2013 due to the long-term consequences of the injury he had sustainde several years ago. Since then, he has chosen his goals mainly on difficult six-thousanders. Thomas had suffered a skull fracture at the beginning of July 2016 when he had fallen 16 meters deep from a rock wall in the Berchtesgaden region. He had received an emergency surgery. Only a month later, he had set off for an expedition to a seven-thousander in Pakistan. “I just accepted this incredible fortune. I do not question that. And this is the reason that I’m well,“ Thomas told me recently. “I’m no longer afraid of my death. The more important thing is: Live now, as well, as intensively and as beautifully as possible!”

The route Mingma wanted to take on Chobutse

The next Sherpa coup in the Himalayas, again in Rolwaling Valley. After Nima Tenji Sherpa, Tashi Sherpa and Dawa Gyalje Sherpa – as reported – had first climbed three six-thousanders within three days at the beginning of October, Mingma Gyalje Sherpa now succeeded in doing an amazing solo ascent. The 29-year-old stated that he reached the 6685-meter-high summit of Chobutse (also called Tsoboje) climbing alone and for the first time through the West Face. He had two cold bivouacs in the wall causing frostbite at his leg. Chobutse was first climbed by the Germans Wolfgang Weinzierl, Peter Vogler, Gustav and Klaus Harder in spring 1972, via the Northeast Ridge. Several attempts to climb through the West Face had failed.

On top of seven eight-thousanders

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa grew up in Rolwaling. He is the head of the Kathmandu-based expedition operator Dreamer’s Destination and one of the strongest climbers in Nepal. The list of his mountain achievements is long. He stood on top of Mount Everest four times, twice each from the Tibetan north (in 2007 and 2010) and the Nepalese south side (in 2011 and 2012). Mingma has climbed six other eight-thousanders so far: Manaslu (three times), Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Kangchenjunga, K2 and Annapurna. In addition he opened new challenging routes on the six-thousanders Cheki-Go and Bamongo.

Passion for climbing

Even before he set off, the 29-year-old called his solo climb on Chobutse “the most important for my entire life”. Never before a Nepalese climber had done a solo ascent, Mingma wrote: “Sherpa are well known for their hard job in the Himalayas. The trend is changing. There are many young Nepalese climbers who have been doing so many climbing for themselves.” Recently, Swiss top climber Ueli Steck also enthused about the strong young Sherpa climbers: “It’s nice to see how a ‘new’ generation of Sherpas is growing up, who are really interested in climbing and not just in business. I think that’s awesome!” I think so too.

P.S.: Ueli Steck has meanwhile returned from Nepal to Switzerland – after a failed attempt on the South Face of Nuptse. “Winds were too strong. There was a lot of drifting snow at 7,000 meters. It was hopeless”, Ueli writes to me.