UKC

In the light of the attempts in the Ueli Steck Annapurna threads to put the significance of his solo of the south face in context, I wonder what are, say, the top ten most significant, history making, groundbreaking high altitude alpine style ascents in mountaineering history.

Off the top of my head:

'75 Messner/Habeler,G1
'78 Messner solo,Nanga Parbat
'80 Messner solo, Everest
'84 Messner/Kammerlander, G1/2 Traverse
'84 Bohigas/Lucas, Annapurna South Face
'85 Kurtyka/Schauer G4 West Face
'86 Troillet/Loretan Everest North Face
'99 Humar Solo, Dhaulagiri South Face
'06 House/Anderson Nanga Parbat Rupal Face
'13 Steck solo, Annapurna South Face

Other/alternative candidates?

In reply to Robert Durran: G-II winter ascent; Moro, Urubko and Richards.

In reply to Robert Durran:

Hermann Buhl's ascent of Nanga Parbat, '53.

In reply to Robert Durran:
Nt sure of your entry criteria - but how about Banks and Patey on Rakaposhi ?

In reply to Robert Durran:

Tomo Cesan solo Lhotse south face....












i'll get my coat!

In reply to Robert Durran: The first ascent of Broad Peak was made on June 9, 1957 by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl. They climbed without the aid of supplemental oxygen and had no high altitude porters, nor base camp support. They were the only members of their team. Not until Messner and Habeler climbed Gash 1 was anything similar tried at this altitude, though that of course was not a first ascent of the mountain.

Reincarnation by Denis Urubko and Boris Dedeshko on Cho Oyu maybe?

http://aaj.americanalpineclub.org/features/features-2010/reincarnation-by-d...

I especially like the 5th photo in the AAJ article where Urubko is bracing the tent against the force of avalanches on the descent. Says it all...

In reply to JdotP:

Wow. That must be a candidate!

In reply to andyathome:

Not alpine style?

In reply to mbh:

Not strictly alpine style but certainly one of the great achievements.

In reply to Robert Durran: What about Tilman and Shipton?

In reply to Robert Durran:

Scott, McIntyre, and Baxter Jones, South face of Shishapangma, 1982. Pretty much a single-push alpine-style ascent.

Assume that by high altitude you mean 8,000m+? Otherwise Boardman/Tasker on Changabang and Fowler/Saunders on Spantik would need recognition for their technicality.

In reply to Jamie B:

I nearly included that in my ten!

I was assuming 8000m or almost so (G4). Basically climbs where altitude would be as big a factor as technicality.

In reply to MG:

Specific climb?

In reply to Robert Durran: Don't know the history well enough but think they did some remarkable things?

In reply to Robert Durran:

Don't know much about it, but Mark Twight cites Stremfelj and Prezelj on the South Ridge of Kangchenjunga in 1991.

In reply to JdotP:

Great story and well told. Thanks for posting that.

In reply to Robert Durran: I may have missed the point. New ish to climbing anorachyness but what about the Mazeno Ridge Sandy and Rick Allen?

In reply to Robert Durran:

'13 Cookson solo, Psykovsky's Sequins

People don't rate it as highly as Messner and all that crew, but that's just because British climbers are ignorantly prejudiced against the Moors.

In reply to puppythedog:

Good point! (and Kathy O'Dowd!)

In reply to puppythedog:

Good shout, from my knowledge.

In reply to JdotP: Sorry Kathy, I quickly googled because I was supposed to be in bed and could only remember Sandy.

In reply to puppythedog:

A stubborn "last great problem" and obviously an impressive effort, but does it actually move things on from where Messner was in the '80s?

In reply to Robert Durran: How would define moved on. It was massive, a massive deal and I would argue that might be enough to count. It's your thread and to an extent your rules but it seems a world apart from what has been done to me. On the other hand I didn't suggest Kenton's Everest Horseshoe because I think it hasn't moved anything on.

In reply to Robert Durran:



77, Stremfelj/Zaplotnik, G1 Southwest ridge new route

In reply to Jamie B:


This ascent won the inaugural Piolet d'or in 91:

"We began the ascent alone from BC. In the morning, the leader and the expedition doctor helped us carry some equipement to the base of the climb. In the first part we belayed only three pitches. I could comapre the difficulties with those of the Supercouloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul. A storm during the night dropped 15 centimeters of snow. The third day we left the south ridge due to fierce wind and avoided a part of the ridge by climbing up the southwest face. The last part of the route, in proximity to the Russiand Route, was very demanding. When ascending, the Russians used fixed ropes, the remains of which we found on the face. We climbed mostly unroped, exept for short passage where we symbolically belayed with a piece of their fixed rope.
Though we climbed in the area that had been climbed in before, we did not know it. Also, we did not expect such difficulties. Having surmounted them, we realized that the ascent route was too demanding to descent without rope. We had to descent a different route. We lost our rucksack, sleeping bags, and the cooker, as we head left them below the summit on our way up. Descending, we found old Polish ropes, but the second part of the descent led us across unexplored groud to the plateau. Here a friend, who happened to be in a camp that night on Kangch's normal route, helped us, giving us directions over the radio until the batteries finally died.
That we were members of a large Slovenian expedition, that from this point the route was marked, and that in an emergency help was available, were the only – and not unimported – deviations from the pure alpine style as embodied by Kurtyka and Schauer on GIV. I belive that we would have managed the ascent without all this, but the psychological relief it provided cannot be denied. On the other hand, the ascent stands out as exeptional due to the high attitude of the peak."

In reply to puppythedog:

I was trying to list ten routes which were a step forward from what had been done before. Is the Mazeno Ridge a step forward from, say, Messner's traverse of G1 and G2 nearly thirty years earlier? Others are certainly far better qualified to say than me.

In reply to Robert Durran: I'm really not competent to say. I really am new to climbing anorachy. I would love if I could buy an Encyclopedia Britanica style book or series of books that listed and described all significant climbing event's/firsts etc. All I have to go on at the moment is threads like this on the forum and biographies/books and linked articles.

In reply to Robert Durran:

I wouldn't put Mazeno Ridge in the top 10 either. It was an incredible climb and a massive achievement to finish the route. Chabot and Swenson had previously traversed all the Mazeno Peaks but not managed the summit previously though. This means that last year's ascent was more about 'finishing' the route rather than putting up a new one. It was still obviously an outstanding ascent but IMO maybe less 'great' compared to the others listed in the original post for that reason.

In reply to Mr. Lee: So by this definition when the North Ridge of Latok gets "finished" it won't be a big thing?

Was the Rupal Face simply finishing a route? Previous attempts got to 7,500m, so I guess the remaining little bit was just finishing it off?

In reply to Matt_b:

House/Anderson actually didn't repeat their previous line to 7500m. My point is that if we are talking top 10 greatest *EVER* Himalayan climbs then surely those which have done them with little knowledge of the route are arguably more audacious?

In reply to Mr. Lee: Sound like sensible points. Maybe what is needed is to understand how we concieve of a top ten;

Originality in the action? By originality of the route, the style?
Audacity?
Technicality/difficulty?
When it happened?

In reply to Robert Durran:

Surely, Nanda Devi by Tilman and Odell in 1936. Highest mountain then climbed, and years ahead of its time in style.

In reply to Robert Durran:

This probably fails to qualify on several counts but I've always been awed by it, mind you, know zip about himalayan climbing

http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/the-first-attempt-on-latok-i-north-rid...

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: good call..
how about Kangchenjunga 1979?
http://www.summitpost.org/kangchenjunga-north-face-first-ascent-route/79437

In reply to Robert Durran: May sound obvious but Hillary and Norgays topping out on Everest was pretty significant.

In reply to Bloodfire: 'alpine style' in the OP

In reply to Bloodfire: youtube.com/watch?v=74B41eAXLiM&

In reply to Robert Durran:

Just watched an interview with Loretan and he recons the two craziest things he did were the traverse of Annapurna in 1984 and the winter ascent of Dhaulagiri in 1985. According to Twight's EA (page 95) they climbed the Dhaulagiri in a day and a half with no packs and few candy bars each. And this was a winter ascent in December!