UKC

A bit of channel flicking on the TV tonight, watched a few seconds of Vertical Limit, said K2 was the hardest mountain to climb.

Three suggestions, K2, Torre Egger, Gasherbrum IV.

Any other contenders?

In reply to Rick Graham:

Moel Siabod

In reply to Rick Graham:

Ulvertanna or Annapurna?

In reply to Rick Graham:

Olympus Mons. Just the approach is desperate.

In reply to Rick Graham:

Moel Famau on a Sunday afternoon. Avoid.

In reply to Rick Graham:

Ogre?

In reply to Rick Graham:

Cerro Murallon a contender, hard and remote Patagonia.

https://www.pataclimb.com/climbingareas/murallon.html

In reply to Rick Graham:

It's not the highest, but I wouldn't fancy trying to summit this:

youtube.com/watch?v=IQjCkjoEpa4&

In reply to Rick Graham:



Is Torre Egger really harder than Cerro Torre (by the easiest route)?

In reply to Rick Graham:

G4 is a good call. Beautiful mountain too.

T.

In reply to Rick Graham:



G4 - yes, no easy way up, many attempts, many failures
Baintha Brakk (The Ogre) - quarter century to get a 2nd ascent despite many attempts
Nameless Trango - no easy way up without hard rock/aid (whereas Great Trango Tower has an alpine route up it)
K7

There are dozens of biggish peaks in the Karakoram that would be contenders but they never get attempted so it's not comparing apples with apples. e.g Hachindar Chish, Sosbun Brak,

There are others that are hard but made impossible through red tape/politics e.g Masherbrum is hard from three sides but the original easier route is off-limits.


PS.
- Ulvetanna in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, has a relatively easy way up the 'back' side that was the route of FA. Mostly snow and ice with a relatively short rock step, not bigwall climbing.
- the Ragni route on the west face of Cerro Torre got around 100 ascents in a day a few years ago, so I think it's fallen off the list, unfortunately.

In reply to Damo:



Yes, but the north face is pretty mind boggling given the arctic environment. I once attended a talk by Robert Caspersen on his first ascent of the Norwegian Route (A4, 5.10, 960 m). At the end of the talk he asked if there were any questions. The response was utter silence as the audience was stunned by the almost unearthly feat.

In reply to Rick Graham:

Nanga Parbat?

In reply to Stefan Jacobsen:


Sure, but 'hard to climb' really means all over, not just one side. The north face is VERY hard to climb, but the mountain is not.

'arctic environment'? In the Antarctic?

In reply to ROSP:


Amical have mass-guided Nanga Parbat at least twice, which I think rules it out.

In reply to Rick Graham:

pico cristobal colon

5th most prominent peak in the world

not technically the hardest as far as i can see, but even getting to the bottom of it is said to be too dangerous at present, given its location in FARC controlled territory in colombia...

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:



Got climbed last January, by someone who is on here occasionally.

In reply to Damo:

right! i stand corrected- is the current improvement in relations with the FARC opening up parts of the country to travel then?

it looks an amazing destination- the highest coastal mountains in the world?

but will have to look elsewhere for the hardest one then...

In reply to Damo:

Fair point! I retract my entry!

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Other mountain areas in Colombia have been opened and climbed in during recent years, but the situation for the Santa Marta still doesn't look good, FARC or otherwise.

Anyway, here is a report from the trip I mentioned, which was in Dec '15, not Jan '16 as I wrote above:

https://www.ii.uib.no/~petter/mountains/5000mtn/Cristobal/Trip-report.html

In reply to Rick Graham:

Reading the original post literally, I'd suggest the hardest mountains to climb are the mountains with the most red tape, rather than being the most technically difficult. For example those along the Pakistani-Indian border, or in Eastern Tibet. Zero chance of getting a permit for anything entirely in Bhutan.

In reply to Rick Graham:

Stack an Armin on St Kilda is pretty tricky, what with access, sea-state, guano and climbing to contend with.

In reply to Rick Graham:

I watched a film a few years back about a group of climbers trying to climb an active volcano in South America which was spewing out rocks and larva about every 15 mins.. There were fridge sized rocks falling at random out of the sky all around them. In daylight they could try to avoid being hit, but when they camped at altitude it became terrifying, and they gave up and retreated the next morning. None of them was hurt but someone in another expedition was killed.

Technically not hard, but your chances of reaching the summit and returning were low. Hard on your nerves.

I don't know if it's ever been climbed.

In reply to Rick Graham:

Latok 1. First and only ascent in 1979 and since then no one has come close.

In reply to Damo:


one of John Biggar's trips- well, if it was going to be anyone, it would be him!

i was in the huayhuash with John a bit back on one of his trips.

actually, thinking about it, it was 2005. that's an alarmingly long time ago...


edit- had a read- very interesting report- i wonder if they'll get back to settle the debate?

In reply to MG:


Stac Lee's harder, I'm pretty sure.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:


Yes a fair bit harder, the Ragni route (west face) on cerro torre isn't really that hard at all by todays standards, apart from the final pitch which varies from normal ice to the horrible rimey stuff. No such route exists on egger, they all sound desperate

In reply to Rick Graham:

Ball's Pyramid ticks a few boxes.

In reply to Rick Graham:

No idea what grade this would go at, but getting there would be some effort.

http://unusualplaces.org/urup-island/

In reply to Trangia:

Sounds like Sangay in Ecuador, maybe?

I think Bonington climbed that...?