Limits are made to be broken. There are no competitions in the mountains, but there are walls to climb that no one has ever explored.
One of these involves the ipresa of U.S. mountaineers Matt Cornell, Jackson Marvell and Alan Rousseau made an alpine-style ascent of the immense, stunning north face of the Jannu, Nepalese Himalaya. The seven-day ascent was unabashedly called “visionary” and “perhaps the best alpine-style ascent in decades.”
The team began climbing the 7710-meter mountain early in the morning of Oct. 7 and reached the summit on the 12th. An additional bivouac was required before descending to base camp, rappelling near the ascent line, the next day. The last 200 meters are in common with the SO Ridge route, while other sections are in common with the Russian Direct, opened in capsule style and using fixed ropes in 2004 by a determined Russian expedition led by Alexander Odintsov.
The new route is called Round Trip Ticket and in its 2,700 meters exceeds difficulties estimated around M7 AI5+ A0. Writing on his Instagram profile, Rousseau explained, “The steepest and most difficult section was from 7,000 to 7,500 meters. This recessed part of the north face has never been climbed before. This is where we experienced some of the most intensely wonderful mixed pitches we have all had the pleasure of climbing before.” Success now comes after 2 previous failed attempts, the first by Marvell and Rousseau in 2021, the second by Cornell and Rousseau in 2022.
Cornell, Marvell, and Rousseau, who have previously climbed big routes together such as Aim for the bushes on the east face of Mount Dickey in Alaska’s Ruth Gorge, dug deep into their experience to climb the mountain. Cornell said they had been “consumed by climbing, we lost the meaning of individuality.”
