Salient wrote: ↑Sun Mar 21, 2021 9:38 amThe mountain has been getting easier in modern times (as all mountains have been) thanks to modern technologies.
Great post and I'm discussing this further not to debate, but because it is interesting.
A lot of technical climbs are actually becoming a lot harder. This is especially true in much of the Andes and Himalaya, but in other ranges too such as the Alps.
Melting ice and glaciers have increased a lot of the difficulty on many mountains such as in the Cordillera Blanca and the Huayhuash. Some of the harder peaks in both ranges have had hardly any ascents in recent decades due to the difficult and dangerous conditions. Peaks like Jirishanca, Yerupaja, and Suila Grande are almost a suicide mission now days.
Even outside the rugged peaks even peaks such as several of the Ecuador volcanoes have significantly gotten harder (though they still won't rate high on the difficulty scale compared to other world mountains).
The same is true of some of the technical Himalayan routes. They are becoming more dangerous and difficult. Even some of the standard routes on 8000ers are becoming more difficult and dangerous.
Even in the Alps some of the routes are starting to "fall apart" as the ice melts. The North Face of the Eiger, for example, is becoming increasingly dangerous to climb in summer.
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Anyway it is great that you mention those other peaks.
(Cesare Maestri ruined it tho)
A lot of his bolts have been chopped, so the route is much harder again.
such as the high point of Myanmar, Hkakabo Razi which has only ever been climbed once.
Twice, but the second party never returned.
Anyway, another peak that could be mentioned is Kawa Korpo. 19 deaths and zero ascents, making its death rate infinity. Climbing is now banned, but none of the major peaks in the range have been climbed successfully, despite several attempts.
If anyone is curious, the mountain with the highest death rate, but that has a long climbing history (Kawa Korpo has an infinity death rate, but a shorter climbing history) is Gongga Shan. It has a 66% death rate (deaths to successful summits) beating Annapurna by a long shot.
Amazingly Gongga Shan (known as Minya Konka at the time) was first climbed by an American team in 1932. To this day there have only been nine ascents of the mountain (by 32 climbers) despite it being one of the first mountains China opened to foreign mountaineering expeditions. It is amazing that it was pulled off in 1932. Sadly, the 1932 American ascent seems to be mostly forgotten, but it was one of the most impressive mountaineering achievments in history.
Gongga Shan is probably not a candidate for the hardest mountain in the world, but it is a candidate for at least one of the most dangerous.