Edu Marin Repeats Eternal Flame – a Huge 5.13 in the Himalayas
This is only the second free ascent since the Huber brothers in 2009. He was supported by his father and brother
Edu Marin has made the second free ascent of Eternal Flame on Nameless “Trango” Tower in Pakistan’s Karakoram range. The 650-metre route has 24 pitches and tops out at 6,251 metres.
Marin climbed the famous big-mountain route with his father and brother. “I have spent 28 days on the wall and I have sent it in a single push,” he said. “Being the three together at the top of the Nameless Tower has been incredible.”
Alex and Thomas Huber made the first free ascent in 2009. The German brothers managed 5.13 crack climbing at over 6,000 meters for a total of half a dozen 5.12 or harder pitches. It was established in 1989 by the German team of Kurt Albert, Wolfgang Güllich, Christoph Stiegler and Milan Sykora, who freed about 80 per cent of the route up to 5.12, but they couldn’t free four pitches.
The Swiss climber Denis Burdet freed two more pitches (5.12d and 5.13a) in 2003, and Iker Pou found a possible free-climbing solution to the bolt ladder on the 10th pitch in 2005, but was unable to redpoint his 5.13b variation because of poor weather.
Alex Huber said after their ascent: “There’s no doubt we were extremely lucky. The weather was great, which meant…the cracks which were free of ice. I take my hat off to the achievement and free climbing instinct of the first ascenders…[who] have passed on the best and most beautiful free climb on the globe. We are thrilled that we could play a little part in developing this route!” At the time, this was one of the biggest news stories in the world of climbing. Read Huber’s full report in the American Alpine Journal.
Marin, who’s established a 14-pitch 5.15a, had attempted Eternal Flame on a previous expedition. He said, “Eternal Flame is the beginning of a new path for me.”
First Free Ascent
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