Samaya x Mathieu Maynadier
ASCENT OF MERU VIA ITS SOUTH FACE
Following an initial attempt to climb Meru via its south face in 2019, Mathieu Maynadier returned to India and achieved this feat 4 years later, in May 2023, accompanied by Simon Gietl and Roger Schaeli. For Samaya, the mountaineer looks back on the progress of his ascent, from base camp to the top of the route, at an altitude of over 6,000 meters.
How did you approach this second attempt?
Mathieu Maynadier: For our first try, we had arrived at the beginning of September and it started snowing for 2 weeks. We couldn't do anything. This year, we left in mid-April. I was with Simon Gietl and Roger Schaeli, with whom I get along really well. Normally, it’s a very touristy area up to base camp, the trail is already broken. This time, we had to make several round trips to break the trail because it had snowed just before we arrived. It was a bit tedious because we had a lot of instability. It wasn't very bad weather, but never really nice either. It snowed every afternoon and we had trouble finding the right window. We still managed to acclimatize without getting too scared, except when we got caught in a storm. There are more and more of them in the Himalayas, with lightning at 7000 meters, which is a bit new and stressful.
How did the ascent go?
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MM: I was in great shape during the entire acclimatization, but the night we finally got the window, I fell ill. We took a rest day, which was a bit stressful because we were at the end of the weather window. I felt a bit responsible for the others and didn't want to ruin everything. We had a great atmosphere in the team and we really wanted to do it together. Our cameraman gave me some medicine and I was able to set off again the next day. The summit is at 6600, with 300-400 meter snow slopes, then a first rock bastion, 200 meters of mixed terrain, and a final rock bastion that we didn't really know how to approach. We finally passed the snow slopes and climbed to the first mixed bastion where we thought we would sleep. Since the weather was nice and we were feeling okay, we traversed the entire mixed section. Roger got motivated despite our fatigue, he did a final pitch that brought us to a mushroom where we slept. Above us, there was a bastion, very short in terms of length but we knew it was super steep, and from below, we had spotted some slabs, a big roof with snow stuck underneath. I started the first pitch and finally, on the right, there was a tunnel under the roof that we went through. We then had two spectacular pitches left and we topped out.
Why the name "Goldfish"?
MM: We named this route that way in reference to Shark’s Fin, the route on central Meru. We tried to be super honest about all the grades. We graded it M6+, but a true M6+. It’s not M4 graded as M6 because it’s at 6000 meters. It’s a debate, but I try to be very rigorous about the grades. Regardless, they were pure pitches, great climbing.
©Photographs taken by Daniel Hug (@terragraphy)
