Samaya x Mathieu Maynadier
SOUTH FACE ASCENT OF MERU
Following a first attempt to climb Meru via its south face in 2019, Mathieu Maynadier returned to India and achieved the feat 4 years later, in May 2023, accompanied by Simon Gietl and Roger Schaeli. For Samaya, the mountaineer looks back on the course of his ascent, from base camp to the summit of the route, at an altitude of over 6,000 meters.
How did you feel about this second attempt?
Mathieu Maynadier : For our first try, we arrived at the beginning of September and it snowed 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 on really well. Normally, it's a very touristy area up to the base camp, and the trail is already made. In this case, we had to go back and forth several times to set the trail because it had snowed just before we arrived. It was a bit tricky because we had a lot of instability. The weather wasn't too bad, but it was never really nice. It snowed every afternoon and we had trouble finding the right window. But we managed to acclimatize without getting too scared, except when we got caught in a thunderstorm. There are more and more of these in the Himalayas, with lightning at 7000m, which is a bit new and stressful.
How did the climb go?
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MM I was in really good shape throughout the acclimatization, but the night we finally got the slot, I got sick. We took a day off, which was a bit stressful because we were at the end of the weather window. I had a bit of responsibility for the others and I didn't want to mess things up. 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 snow slopes of 300-400 meters, then a first rocky bastion, 200 meters of mixed slope and a last rocky bastion that we weren't sure how to tackle. We finally passed the snow slopes, and climbed up to the first mixed bastion where we thought we'd sleep. As the weather was fine and we weren't too bad, we went through the whole mixed section. Roger got motivated despite our tiredness, and did one last pitch that took us to a mushroom on which we slept. Above, there was a bastion, very short in length but we knew it was super steep, and from below, we'd spotted some slabs, a big roof with snow stuck underneath. I went for the first pitch and finally, on the right, there was a tunnel under the roof, which we went through. We then had two collector pitches left and headed out.
Why the name "Goldfish"?
MM We named this route after Shark's Fin, the route over the central Meru. We tried to be super honest about all the ratings. We rated it M6+, but a real M6+. It's not M4 rated M6 because it's at 6000. It's a matter of debate, but I try to be hyper-rigorous about quotations. Anyway, they were pure pitches, great climbing.
Photos by Daniel Hug (@terragraphy)
