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Eternal Flame is one of the world’s hardest big-wall climbs. The 2,100-foot line harbors difficulties up to 7c+/5.13a at an elevation of over 20,000 feet, creating a challenging combination of nails-hard rock climbing, big-wall logistics, and high-alpine conditions.

This year [σ.σ. 2022], two parties made rare free ascents of the route on Pakistan’s Nameless Tower, put up by Wolfgang Güllich, Kurt Albert, Christof Stiegler, and Milan Sykora in 1989 at 5.12c A2, and first freed by Alex and Thomas Huber at 5.13a in 2009.

Edu Marín, accompanied by his brother and 70-year-old father, topped out July 20 after spending a grueling 28 days on the route, much of it stuck alone in sub-freezing conditions high on the wall. Only a few days later, Barbara “Babsi” Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher made their own free ascent, without a single fall and in one continuous onsight push, summiting July 23. They swapped leads for most of the route’s easier pitches, but each led the four hardest pitches, rated 5.12d to 5.13a.