An "Eternal Flame" Burns On Pakistan's Trango Tower

Details of the first free ascent of Eternal Flame (VI 5.13a/7c+) on 20,508-foot (6,251-meter) Trango Tower (Nameless Tower) in Pakistan were just released a few days ago. The famed German hardcore climbers Alexander and Thomas Huber climbed the 2,200-foot, 24-pitch route from August 11 to 14 during a spell of good weather, making it one of the world's hardest rock climbs above 20,000 feet.

The route was originally established in 1989 by the crack German team of Wolfgang Güllich, Kurt Albert, Milan Sykora and Christoph Stiegler. They redpointed the route using siege tactics, fixing ropes, and then climbing the next pitches. About 80% of the route was free-climbed, leaving several sections of aid including a 50-foot bolt ladder. Over the next 20 years several strong climbers attempted an all-free ascent, including Swiss Denis Burdet and Spaniard Iker Pou, who found a 5.13b variation to the 10th pitch bolt ladder but had to abandon his attempt because of weather.

The Huber brothers, accompanied by photographer Fritz Hinderbrandner and Mario Walder, climbed to Camp 2 at the Sun Terrace, and immediately headed up the face, climbing two 5.12 pitches, which they named "Come on Baby" and "Light My Fire." The weather turned bad for the next three days so they holed up at Base Camp before getting a great weather report for the next week. They climbed to the high point and began working up the wall above. Walder aided the pitches first, fixing ropes for Hinderbrandner to film the ascent. On their website, the Hubers wrote: "...we wanted to free climb as a team, swapping leads, without any falls, both on lead and as second, from belay to belay, pitch after pitch."

On day two they reached the unclimbed bolt ladder section. The Pou Variation was out of the question since ice coated it. But 12 feet to the right was "a trace of a crack" which led to the dry upper Pou crack. They did it in two 5.12d pitches and then finished the day with "a perfect hand-jamming crack." The next day the Hubers swung leads up more perfect cracks to a "slightly overhanging finger crack." After a "very intensive boulder session," they cranked the 5.13a crack.

On the fourth day they blitzed for the summit, reaching it at noon. Alexander Huber told Planet Mountain: "There's no doubt we were extremely lucky. To be successful, so many different things have to fall into place. The weather was great which meant we could climb perfectly, up the cracks which were free of ice. I take my hat off to the achievement and free climbing instinct of the first ascenders. This route is a true enrichment for mountaineering. With Eternal Flame, Kurt Albert, Wolfgang Güllich, Christof Stiegler and Milan Sykora have passed on the best and most beautiful free climb on the globe. We are thrilled that we could play a little part in developing this route!"

Photographs: Top: Trango Tower in Pakistan's Karakoram is one of the most beautiful mountains in the world. Bottom: Thomas Huber, Alexander Huber, and Mario Walder on the summit of Trango Tower after the first free ascent of Eternal Flame. Photographs courtesy Fritz Hinderbrandner/Huberbuam