Riegler brothers return to Darwo Chhok in Karakorum

"This magnificent wall hasn't been climbed yet. We'll return, seeing that we've fallen in love with the beauty and charm of this mountain." This is what Martin and Florian Riegler told us in 2008 immediately after their trip to the Karakorum where they had been refuted by the virgin Darwo Chhok Peak and now the two South Tyrolean alpinists have now kept their promise and are currently Pakistan bound to attempt this beautiful 5850m high mountain once again.

Protected by a 1000m high granite shield, four years ago the SW Face proved inaccessible above all due the terrible weather conditions. After various vicissitudes the brothers were forced to abandon their attempt after circa 300m of arduous climbing, but the idea of returning to this mountain never left them and on 8 July the two departed, together with Austrians Monika Mehlmauer and Christoph Mohl, to give the mountain another go.

Before concentrating on this objective the four plan to acclimatise on nearby 5130m high Ya Chhish Peak, a mountain on which in 2008 the "Rieglerbrothers" had completed the first single-day traverse. Just like four years ago the challenge - to establish a new big wall at high altitude - is enormous and, using their words once again, once again it will prove "extremely difficult."<