Thomas Huber of Germany, teaming with Americans Jon Griffin and Tad McCrea, climbed a new route in Pakistan’s remote Choktoi Valley at the end of summer. Huber recently described the experience as being “on the edge of this world.”
The Choktoi Valley includes the Latok Peaks; Huber has climbed there several times before. This time, the trio summited a previously unclimbed point, the northern rocky tower of Suma Brakk, a 6,150m spire that the team has named Eye Ri. They estimate the difficulty at 5.11/A3, with an average steepness of 70º.
Last unclimbed spire
Suma Brakk has three spiky points, and only the northern spire remained unclimbed. The central and southern peaks had been climbed before, among others, by Huber’s brother Alexander and Fabian Buhl.
The three spikes of Suma Brakk. Photo: Tad McCrea
Apart from that, the information is sketchy. We have no details on the route, and it’s unclear when the climb took place, because the team has not shared news for months.
“The last five days have been incredible — intense, wild, crazy. The mountain, the climbing, the whole experience,” Thomas Huber wrote on social media just yesterday. However, the climb did not take place recently.
Latok III
The expedition, supported by a Cutting Edge Grant, traveled to the Choktoi Valley in July. Their main goal then was Latok III. However, their climb was interrupted when they were asked to help Laura Dalhmeier, a friend of Huber’s. A falling rock struck her while she was climbing Laila Peak.
In the end, the blow was fatal. Dalhmeier was found dead in a place that was extremely difficult to access. Following her own wishes, it was decided that her body would remain on the mountain. Then, the climbers returned to the Choktoi Valley.
“I’ll be offline and will be in touch sometime in September at the latest,” Huber wrote at the beginning of August. The next post was published three weeks ago, and the team has been home since the end of September.
Apparently, Huber is sharing bits of information and pictures on separate Instagram posts. This is a trend among some climbers, who trickle out information slowly with the idea of maintaining a steady flow of visitors to their social media feed.
