The Alien Wall Opened on Karakoram Peak
A change in plans leads to the first ascent of a 1,000-metre alpine rock route
Mid-summer alpine climbing is game on in many of the world’s great mountain ranges, including the Alps and Himalayas. Two first ascents of note were made over the past few weeks.
On Mont Blanc’s Roi du Siam, a 3,632-metre peak, mountain guides Niccolo Bruni and Gianluca Marra made the first ascent of Calcul du Roi. The new 300-metre 5.10 was often looked at by climbers, and even attempted, but never completed.
And in the Karakoram, Symon Welfringer, Matteo della Bordella and Silvan Schupbach made the first ascent of Baintha Kabata (6,290 m) after bailing on their attempt to establish a climb on The Ogre. Their new 1,000-metre route is called The Alien Wall and goes at 7a/M5. In 2008, Canadian Maxime Turgeon and American Colin Haley made the first ascent of the Turgeon-Haley South Ridge on Baintha Kabata, a 1,200-metre V 5.9 M5. Read about their first ascent in the American Alpine Journal here.
Welfringer said they named their climb The Alien Wall because of “extraterrestrial incursions that we observed during our stay.” UFO sightings are nothing new in the Himalaya/Karakoram regions. Famous mountaineers Reinhold Messner and Doug Scott had an encounter during an expedition to Chamlang, which you can hear about in a film below.
UFO Life
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