Epic New Climb on Mighty Meru
Goldfish is a new 800-metre M6 A1 up one of alpinism's most iconic mountains
Three climbers have established a new route on Meru (6,600 m), one of the most famous peaks in India’s Garhwal Himalayas. Italian climber Simon Gietl, along with French climber Mathieu Maynadier and Swiss climber Roger Schäli recently made the first ascent of the 800-metre Goldfish M6+ A1.
Gietl, Maynadier and Schäli found challenging conditions on the glacier and dealt with dangerous avalanche conditions. The final few hundred metres was steep and exposed, but they succeeded in reaching the summit at 9 a.m. on May 13. The route had been attempted in 2019 by Schäli, Maynadier and Sean Villanueva.
The Shark’s Fin route was the first line up the mountain, it was first climbed in October 2011 by Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk three years after nearly succeeding. The climb took them eight days up and three down. Their ascent is recognized by Guinness World Records as the first ascent of Meru.
The first serious attempts to climb Meru was by American Mugs Stump in 1986 and 1988, but both were threatened by big avalanches. A dozen more attempts were made by climbers like Johnny Dawes, Scott Backes, Nick Bullock, Pete Takeda and others. The first ascent of Meru Central, a lower peak, was by Valery Babanov in 2001. In 2015, the feature film Meru was released.
Meru 2015 film trailer
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