First ascent of Meru Peak with Simon Gietl
Together with Roger Schäli and Mathieu Maynadier, Simon Gietl has made the first ascent of the south-east face of the 6660m Meru Peak in the Indian Garhwal Himalayas. The first attempt in 2019 was unsuccessful and this time too, alpine dangers and challenging protection made the project a difficult one
Story by bergundsteigen.com, Images by Daniel Hug
On 13 May, the South Tyrolean Fischer athlete and world-class mountaineer Simon Gietl, together with the Frenchman Mathieu Maynadier and the Swiss Roger Schäli, climbed the south-east face of the 6660-metre-high Meru Peak in the Indian Garhwal Himalayas and opened a new route. The first ascenders climbed the 800-metre-long “Goldfish” route (M6+, A1) in alpine style, while the ascent to Camp 1 and Camp 2 was done on touring skis.
The first ascent was made at the second attempt after Maynadier and Schäli had to turn back in the upper third of the wall in fall 2019 with their rope partner at the time, Sean Villanueva, due to weather conditions.
This year's expedition also seemed to be under a bad star due to adverse weather conditions. The approach from Camp 1 to Camp 2 was increasingly prone to avalanches, parts of the route were heavily snowed out and finding the way through the labyrinth of crevasses was a challenge. On May 11, the three-rope team took advantage of a long-awaited weather window and set off directly from Base Camp Tapovan (4300 m) to Camp C2 (5800 m).
"The particular difficulty of the route was a combination of the technical climbing difficulties, the demanding protection, the high altitude and the alpine dangers."
Simon Gietl, Fischer-Athlete and alpinist
On May 12, Simon Gietl and Roger Schäli advanced to the first rock band with their climbing equipment, deposited the ropes and laid an ascent track through the steep snowfield. Maynadier used the day to recover from an illness. The next day, the team started up the wall at three o'clock in the morning. At 11 p.m., an exposed cornice at an altitude of 6,500 meters offered the opportunity to set up a bivouac.
After a short and uncomfortable night for three in a two-man tent, the summit was tackled. “The ascent was very intense and time-consuming,” says Simon Gietl. “At times, we had to clear the rock of up to half a meter of fresh snow before we could lay an intermediate belay. And there was no ice to set the occasional ice screw. There was a constant threat of alpine dangers, such as cornices breaking off. We also knew that the weather window would be very short“.
After a further three pitches in the icy wind, their route led to the ridge cornice and finally - after a further 200 meters in altitude - over a steep snow-ice flank to the summit of Meru Peak. They abseiled down the same route, C2 and C1, and celebrated the new route on India's most famous six-thousander in style.
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