UKC

Americans Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renen Osturk have made the first ascent of the much sought-after direct line up the Shark's Fin on the northeast side of Meru Peak in the Indian Gangotri mountains.


They reached the summit on 2 October after spending 12 days on the route. On a previous...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=64602

In reply to UKC News:

stellar effort!

I watched the video of the first attempt and I'm pretty sure it ended on a note something like "This is miserable, I'm never ever coming back here again" ....it's funny, but once that bug bites you, it's only a matter of time

I'm psyched to see the film of this.

In reply to UKC News:

This sounds really impressive. I'm guessing its something of a last great problem as it's one of the few things in the Himalayas I'd actually heard of.

No mention of British attempts on this montain, have there been any? I thought I'd seen a picture of Jamie Fisher abbing off it?

In reply to UKC News:

Incredible mountain, incredible ascent. Can you imagine being on that fin!

Mick

In reply to UKC News:

Here's the full film: vimeo.com/3047612

In reply to Tyler:

Dawes and Pritchard tried it back in the early '90s and got pretty close. Dawes dropped a boot and they had to retreat. They were climbing as a three but I can't remember the guy's name. It's in Deep Play, I think. There have been other British attempts.

In reply to UKC News:

Amazing, (Ill forgive the cheeky TNF bits)... the videos are great

In reply to Tyler:
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Jules Cartwright, Matt Dickinson and Jon Bracey went in about 2002 I think? I seem to remember Matt saying he had a bit of a Road to Damascus moment and didn't get on the route. Dunno how far Jules and Jon got. Sounds like the kind of route where 3 people make sense getting all that aid gear up there...

In reply to tomski3: just had a look in the book and dawes, pritchard and Bob Drury tried Bhagirathi, Pritchard tried the Shark's fin with Phillip Lloyd.

DUnc

In reply to Tom Briggs:

Did Jules try it twice?

He definitely tried it in 1998 with Jamie Fisher, Owain Jones and Nick Bullock.

They won the Nick Estcourt Award. You can read about their report online.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

Here:

http://www.nickestcourtaward.org/Forms/1997Report_Meru-Sharksfin.pdf

In reply to UKC News: Congrats.

In reply to UKC News: Great effort, i'm super pleased for Anker having tried that much and getting it done in the end.

Always thought that although beautiful, its very much a flawed line though. i.e. no continuity of climbing style/difficulty, and in no way a line of weakness. In the end its really had to be forced. Its been blown up in everyones minds due to the amount of attempts. There's gazillions of lines like that to go.

Still, super pleased for them all. Good work!

Will

In reply to UKC News: "After trekking above Galmuk..."

Gaumukh, I think (the snout of the Gangotri glacier). Having hiked a bit in that region, I can testify that it is completely gorgeous, and well worth visiting even if you don't intend to climb anything (esp. if you go beyond Gaumukh into higher, less visited territory).

Inspiring ascent.

I was talking with someone yesterday who happened to know the local who runs the weather station at Gamukh (glacier snout) about 10km from the Shark's Fin. She informed him that the three Americans had summited since he wasn't aware and was waiting for news. Amazing how news can travel around the whole world in a few keystrokes and not make it 10km down the galcier!

Alan

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide: weren't one or both of the Benson twins on one of the attempt aswell?

In reply to UKC News:

Congrats to Jimmy Chin and Renen Osturk. Guess the third times the charm. Imagine traversing all those snow fields the Czechs had to cross to join the original route. Looks like a few potential lines left.