The Sharkís fin route on Mount Meru had spurned several previous attempts.
The North Face® Athletes Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Otzurk got close in 2008, the team gets within 100 meters of the summit, but no further. A two-day rappel brings the team to safety. Conrad, Jimmy and Renan reprised their 2008 epic and become the first team in over 30 attempts to complete the Sharkís Fin in October 2011.
On Sunday October 2nd 2011, the team reached the summit of the previously unclimbed Shark's Fin route on the North-West (NW) face of Meru (20,700ft).
In the game of high-altitude, big wall mountaineering, the Shark's Fin lies right on the boundary of what is possible. This win didn't come easily - it was Jimmy and Renan's 2nd and Conrad's 3rd trip to the remote Garhwal Himalaya of India to attempt this route.
The North Face® product innovators developed a head-to-toe system of apparel for each athlete’s climbing style and the environmental conditions of the Shark’s Fin.
Congratulations to The North Face® Athletes Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk!
On Sunday October 2nd, the team reached the summit of the previously unclimbed Shark’s Fin route on the NW face of Meru (20,700ft). In the game of high-altitude, big wall mountaineering, the Shark’s Fin lies right on the boundary of what is possible. This win didn’t come easily – it was Jimmy and Renan’s 2nd and Conrad’s 3rd trip to the remote Garhwal Himalaya of India to attempt this route.
After two weeks of traveling, organizing, trekking and humping loads to advanced base camp, The North Face® Athletes Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk and Conrad Anker have managed to scorch their way up the bottom part of this route in a 6 day push.
After spending a two days building basecamp and sorting through mountains of gear, we carried loads up to our ABC below our route on Meru. The clouds and mist parted along the 6 hour trek up to our ABC and we scanned familiar reference points on the route, the filter pitches of steep snow and ice, the alpine ridge, the traverse pitches with the tricky hauling, the overhanging headwall, the House of Cards pitch and others. The route and all its challenges were coming back to us. It was exciting to see the icy blade of granite again after 3 years and our anticipation began to build for what would be in store for us in the days ahead.
Ten years to a child seems like eternity. A decade in the chapter of an adult is one chapter in life. On the timeline of humanity, it is inconsequential. In a cosmic and geologic timeframe it is a period of time so small it is unrecognizable. For Jimmy and I, it is a decade of sharing adventures around the world. One peak, Meru, in the Garhwal Himal, is an adventure we are drawn to.
The North Face® Athletes Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk return to the Garwhal Himalaya in Northern India to climb and summit the Shark’s Fin, a 5,000 foot rock and ice feature that no one has summited to this day.
