UKC

OK then, time for those armchair readers of Bonington, Messner and Scott to come out of the shadows!
From my depressingly theoretic knowledge of Himalayan mountaineering (I do plan to go there soon), I would say that the most impressive goals on the highest peaks are:
The Mazeno Ridge of Nanga Parbat
The West Wall (direct) on K2
The West Face of Makalu (without diverting onto the West Pillar)
The South/SE Ridge of Gasherbrum 4
A full traverse of Lhotse (I suggest up the long ridge to Lhotse Shar, finishing at the South Col after crossing the pinnacles and the main summit)
A complete traverse of Nanda Devi (the one that Vignes and his companion disappeared on in the 1970s - it hasn't been done yet has it?)
Kangshung Face of Lhotse

A lot of these routes are grand traverses. I would also venture that there will be a future trend among the super strong towards mega traverses. Doug Scott hinted at this once, talking about a traverse of the Western Cwm horseshoe. Someone will do something unbelievable like that some day, I'm sure.

In reply to Tom Chamberlain:

bugger. i've got that planned for the next season - keep your bloody last great problems quiet would you?!?!

In reply to Tom Chamberlain:

Mentioned in this months Climber. Bonnington says impossible without bottled O2. Could have a point.

When I was a kid, my Dad bought me a little book about the history of climbing Everest, nice picture and little boxes on the equipment etc. When I started hill walking on my own at about 13, and was clearly going to become a great himalayan mountaineer, I drew a line on one of the pictures, of my proposed route. The route? The Nuptse-Lhotse-Everest horseshoe. The dreams of youth eh?

In reply to Tobs:
Aha! A good last great problem that one, as it keeps being attempted and noone ever gets more than half way.
Gasherbrum 4 must be one of the world's most fabulous peaks. It now sports 4 major lines, although I don't think anyone has ever managed to repeat any of them. Bonatti and Mauri's first ascent route looks nails. Bonatti himself commented that it was the hardest thing he had ever done. Apparently just getting to the ridge is a mission in itself, as the icefalls are worse than the Everest icefall... nice

In reply to Tom Chamberlain:

G4 - I think the Australian/American NW ridge route was repeated by Koreans, separate to their W face route.

Great unclimbed lines ?
- north ridge of Chomolhari (UK attempt this Sept)
- east face of Kanjut Sar
- east face of Kangchenjunga
- east face of Shishapangma
- north ridge of Latok
- north (NW?) face of the Ogre
- west face of Ngadi Chuli (Peak 29)
- NE ridge of Gasherbrum 2
- south face, or east ridge, of Broad Peak
- south face of Pumari Chhish
- south (SE?) ridge of Kongur
- SE pillar of Ultar
- east pillar of Lupghar Sar W
- Meru Shark Fin direct
- full Gasherbrum traverse (up G4 Wface, down NE ridge, up G3 W face/N ridge, down G3 east face, up G2 NW face, down G2 east ridge, up G1 NW face, down G1 SE ridge to GBC.

D

In reply to Damo:
Ah yes, the SE ridge of Broad Peak looks pretty good. UK attempt a couple of years ago. That would be a lot more interesting than the normal West Butress route (and a lot harder).
Are there any routes on the Tibetan face of Makalu?

In reply to Tom Chamberlain:

Yep, the Japanese climbed the northern ridge from Tibet, but to the left of this is the unclimbed east face. It's steep at the bottom, then up over a lip into the big basin beneath the final headwall. Scott et al dropped in to this basin from the SE ridge back in the 80s on a climb of the ridge. Approaching the base of the east face is not easy either, but it would be cheaper now that the Japs went there (1995?). It's often seen in telephoto shots taken from Kangchenjunga.

D

In reply to Tobs:

Tried the West spur on G4 in 1986 but backed off like everyone else due to horrendous rockfall. We then went round and tried the South Face/SW arete. Not sure which arete is which now, but not the one immediately left of the icefall taken by the Bonatti route but the right hand skyline as viewed from Concordia.

We got to around 7000/7100 metres.

See if you can find the Fosco Maraini book detailing the account of the first ascent.

Bob

In reply to TobyA:

Just had a passing conversation with one of the guys developing next generation O2 kit with demand metering (x4 efficiency gain i.e. 22hrs per cylinder) in Cham this week. Very interesting stuff.

Completing big traverses using O2 in the next couple of years might be more feasible than many think.

In reply to Anonymous: Sorry that was me.

In reply to Tom Chamberlain:

I think Jannu Northface is still unclimbed...

In Himalaya, there are so many goals for extremely skilled mountaineers, there are nearly uncountable...

Well, I admire Tomaz Humar, who is, on my opinion, probably the "greatest" of all alpinists in the moment. It will be interesting what he will do in future... Maybe he will return to Nanga Parbat and try Rupal Face once more...

How about the so called 'fantasy ridge' on Everest. Heard it's very dangerous, but I think it's the last line on E.

In reply to Ed:

I thought some team had managed that, at least as far as the NE ridge?