At the tail end of the Karakoram season, Tom Livingstone of the UK and Ales Cesen of Slovenia opened a new route on the West Ridge of 7,958m Gasherbrum III. Back at home, the climbers have shared their thoughts on the feat.
The pair climbed in alpine style for seven days, and their resulting route, called Edge of Entropy, was only the mountain’s third complete ascent.
Climbing on mixed terrain and windy conditions. Photo: Tom Livingstone
Real-altitude challenge
Both climbers have excelled in highly technical routes on big mountains around the world, but Livingstone had dreamed for years about combining that extreme difficulty and the purity of style with the thin air of 8,000 meters.
“What is the hardest route you can climb, at the highest altitude? How far can you push it?” Livingstone wondered. In his own words:
Altitude is a huge challenge. It destroys you. Although I say ‘good effort’ to those who ascend mountains with supplemental oxygen, a track in the snow, tents in place, Sherpa support, fixed ropes and other teams around…They’re a universe apart from our practice of alpinism.
On the West Ridge of Gasherbrum III. Photo: Tom Livingstone
Gasherbrum III falls just 42m short of an 8,000’er, but as Livingstone points out, it is the 15th highest peak on Earth*. However, these measly few meters have left GIII off the collectors’ list, and its technical difficulty and the messy approach up the tricky Gasherbrum Glacier make it rarely visited and little climbed. It is the perfect candidate for two serious alpinists. Livingstone and Cesen made their first attempt in 2022; this summer, they returned to finish the job.
Gasherbrum III with the West Ridge to the left. To the right, Gasherbrum II, whose normal route the climbers chose for their descent. Photo: Tom Livingstone
(*NOTE: Altitude lists vary with selection criteria. For instance, Eberhard Jurgalski’s 8000ers.com considers Gasherbrum III a subpeak of Gasherbrum II rather than an independent peak because it lacks enough prominence.)
Livingstone’s hardest route ever
The climbers went up Gasherbrum III’s West Ridge, a route previously attempted by a Scottish team in 1985. They climbed the route in one push and reached the summit on August 4.
“We pushed on a door to what we wondered was possible, shedding expectations, worries, and ideas,” Livingstone reflected. “Alpinism is such a beautiful trap of what you want and what you need.”
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“The route was one of the more difficult that I’ve ever climbed, a culmination of a decade.”
Although the team has not yet written a complete report, Livingstone mentioned that their third bivy, sitting and without a tent at 7,800m, was memorable.
Ice couloir on Gasherbrum III. Photo: Tom Livingstone
Alpine-style purists might argue about their descent since the climbers chose to traverse to Gasherbrum II’s normal route and used the fixed ropes.
“That changed our style a little but made sense,” Livingstone said.
The normal route of Gasherbrum II with Camp 1 at the bottom and Gasherbrum III behind, partially covered by clouds. Photo: Alex Gavan
As they went down the normal route, Livingstone and Cesen left their tent at Camp 1 on the Gasherbrum Glacier to be used by the only team left, a Russian group led by Sergey Nilov. Nilov was retrieving the body of Dmitry Golovchenko, who died last year as he and Nilov attempted a new route on Gasherbrum IV, the most technical peak in the area.
