Eternal Flame on Nameless Tower receives German team free ascent

In August a small German expedition comprised of Julius Brunner, Sebastian Gantz, Hanna Kallweit and Rosa Windelband made a team free ascent of the famous Eternal Flame on Nameless Tower (Trango Tower, Karakoram, 6239m). The four climbers from Dresden succeeded in free climbing the entire 650m line, with difficulties up to 7c+ at over 6,000 meters. The four were helped up to the Sun Terrace by Vallerie Hähnel and Lioba Rößler.

Writing to planetmountain after their redpoint, they explained "Our shared goal was that every pitch would be free climbed by at least one of us – and we are happy to have achieved exactly that. On August 11, 2025, at 4:00 p.m., we stood on the summit of the Nameless Tower.

Thanks to an exceptionally long spell of stable weather, we were able to spend more time on the wall than expected, which allowed Julius Brunner to eventually redpoint all pitches of the route. Nevertheless, the ascent remains above all a team achievement, made possible by our shared dream, mutual support, everyone’s determination, and logistics tailored to the team."

Eternal Flame, first climbed in 1989 by Kurt Albert, Wolfgang Güllich, Christoph Stiegler, and Milan Sýkora, is considered one of the most impressive big wall routes worldwide. The first redpoint ascent was achieved by Alexander and Thomas Huber, followed by Edu Marin, then Barbara Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher. For us it was a very special experience to follow in these historic footsteps and to master, all together, the challenge of free climbing at high altitude on such a beautiful mountain."

Team free: a team free ascent means every pitch of a route is led and climbed free by at least one member of the team. As big wall veteran Nico Favresse explains, "Although some consider it better style for one person to free every pitch of a route, the team free ascent provides a totally unique bonding dimension."

Nameless Tower
Nameless Tower, or more simply known as Trango Tower, was first ascended in 1976 by the British climbers Joe Brown, Mo Anthoine, Martin Boysen, and Malcolm Howells after an epic unsuccessful attempt the previous year. Mo Anthoine and Martin Boysen reached the summit on 8 July while Joe Brown and Malcolm Howells summited the next day in worsening weather. The British route was graded VI, 5.10 A2, 1100m with circa 80% climbed free - at the time it involved some of the hardest rock climbing ever achieved at altitude. The Tower received its second ascent 11 years later by a Yugoslav team led by Slavko Cankar.