Annals Of Achievement–Jannu Conquered: Hail to the Russians! Yesterday, two exhausted, freezing, climbers scrabbled up the last few meters of stubborn rock and stood at the top of Jannu. They were the first ever to arrive there via the unyielding 3000 meter face on the north side, and in doing so polished off one of the greatest team climbing feats in the history of Himalayan adventure. For the full context, the full skinny on why this is such a kickass achievement, check out this wrap-up over at Explorer’s Web. Simply put, there are a lot of experts who consider scaling the north face of Jannu–which is akin to going up El Capitan at 22,000-feet plus–the most difficult climbing problem in the Himalaya. A lot of great climbers have tried it, but none could withstand the onslaught of exhaustion, bad weather and flying rocks. All these factors made this particular climb a transcendent climb, something really special that puts to shame all those tourists trudging up the fixed ropes on Everest. According to Ex Web:

“French climbing ace Pierre Béghin attempted a route up the center of the north face in 1982. “It was the most moving experience I had ever had in the Himalaya because of the harshness of the wall,” he later wrote. “None of us had ever seen such a cold, steep face.”

Except perhaps those other crazy Russians over on Everest’s North Central Wall…



“I’m trying to pretend I’m in the sun on El Cap at Yosemite, but I can’t feel any of my toes…”