BURSTAt the end of September, a Kyrgyzstan alpine team made the country’s first ascent on record of Nameless Tower (6,239 m) in Pakistan’s Karakoram, climbing the iconic Eternal Flame on the tower’s south face.
The expedition, which included Mikhail Danichkin, Timur Akbashev, Aidar Akbashev, Zarina Kutanova, and Aleksei Pototsky, was led by Mikhail Mikhailov, who was part of the 2004 north face ascent of Jannu, If you’re a lover of hard alpine climbs, then that Jannu route is worth reading about. It climbed 72 vertical pitches over 3,250 metres of terrain and was graded ABO+ VIA3+.
Eternal Flame was first climbed in September 1989 by Kurt Albert, Wolfgang Güllich, Christoph Stiegler, and Milan Sýkora, Alexander and Thomas Huber made the first free ascent, followed by Edu Marin and, later, Barbara Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher. Eternal Flame is among the Karakoram’s most celebrated big-wall routes.
Nameless Tower was first climbed in 1976 by British climbers Joe Brown, Mo Anthoine, Martin Boysen, and Malcolm Howells, via a 1,100-metre VI, 5.10 A2. A Yugoslav team made the second ascent in 1987. The second and third ascents were made in 1987, with the opening of two new routes: The Slovenian Route, better known as the Yugoslav Route, a pure, clean, logical crack route on the south-southeast face; and the Great Overhanging Dihedral Route, a wild line up the western pillar.
Burning the Flame
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