"Life is brought down to the basics: if you are warm, regular, healthy, not thirsty or hungry, then you are not on a mountain... Climbing at altitude is like hitting your head against a brick wall - it's great when you stop."

Chris Darwin

Big routes going down

Annapurna South Face, showing Ueli Steck's route (solid line), 1970 British route to its left, 1981 Japanese route to its right. Source: . Credit: Himalayan Masala,  Licensed under: Public Domain.
Annapurna South Face, showing Ueli Steck's route (solid line), 1970 British route to its left, 1981 Japanese route to its right. Source: Himalayan Masala. Credit: Himalayan Masala, Licensed under: Public Domain.

There has been some really big ascents during the fall of 2013. The most famous one is surely Ueli Steck's lightning fast solo of , dubbed one of the more significant ascents ever. However, handful of other world-class ascents also took place during the same Himalayan fall season.

Ueli Steck soloed the difficult face along the route made famous by epic 1992 attempt by Pierre Beghin and Jean-Christophe Lafaille which ended in Beghin loosing his life.

The other highlight of the fall is the newest creation of Mick Fowler and Paul Ramsden. The pair had previously won Piolet d'Or for their stunning ascent of Siguniang (Inside LineSiguniang Shan6250mNorth faceED+; VII/AI6/M61500m). This time around, they climbed previously unclimbed SW faceKishtwar Kailash6451mSW faceED; Sco VI1500m in Indian Himalayas. The peak is located in disputed Kashmir area which has kept it off limits for foreign climbers since mid 90's.

Less attention was paid to rare ascent of beautiful Peine ProlongéeGauri Shankar7145mGauri, South sideED+; WI5+ M5 A11900m in Rolwaling Himal of Nepal. The peak has only been climbed a handful of times previously and all routes are difficult.

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