If you caught the latest episode of The Rest of Everest you heard lead climber Ben Clark discuss his next adventure, returning to Sichuan Province of China to tackle an unclimbed peak. When that episode was recorded, Ben was just hours from leaving on his next adventure, but promised to provide us with more details in the future.
Well, thanks to this entry over at the Hardwear Sessions Blog we have a clearer idea of what Ben, and his climbing partner Josh Butson, have in mind.
The two climbers will be taking on The Barbarian, an 18,949 foot mountain that has turned back five previous attempts at reaching it’s summit from the West Face. Judging from the picture here, it looks like it’ll be no small feat to top out on this beast.
Just getting to the mountain will be an adventure in and of itself. Flying from the United States to China, most likely into Beijing. From there, they pair will fly to Chengdu, where they will take a ten hour bus ride to Rilong township before embarking on a five day trek to the mountain itself. There, they will challenges the 7000 foot East Face of the Barbarian, which has an imposing 3000 foot granite wall.
Ben and Josh have been in this region climbing before, and those climbs were detailed in the “Wild Horses” Bonus Podcasts over at The Rest of Everest. But this time they’re going back to an even more remote area. As Ben put it:
“We have no maps, they are not available. No one has ever touched the wall. We have only the attached photo, our experiences pioneering new routes in this valley last year and a backpack stocked full enough to carry us through a minimum of fifteen days of pioneering a truly unique mountain.”
Now that’s the true spirit of adventure. I can’t wait to hear more about this climb both in the Hardwear Sessions Blog and on The Rest of Everest, as Jon sent a nice HD video camera along for the ride. Good luck Ben and Josh! Climb safely!
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God speed brother. I wish you guys the best of luck. I have just recently found The rest of Everest Podcast and now I cant put it dwn. You are one hardcore dude. Be Blessed and come home safe!!!!!