Patagonia Climbing Ambassador Matt Helliker, together with climbing partners Nick Bullock and Pete Benson, recently returned from their attempt to climb the 2300-meter southeast ridge of Annapurna III. Theirs was the sixth attempt of the route, and a tenacious attempt at that. After their first sortie became mired in logistical challenges (which included everything from missing partners to exploding volcanoes) the group returned in October of this year to have another go. A fine description of their chosen line is offered by the folks at DMM Climbing, fellow sponsors of the team's attempt: "Annapurna III's 2300 metre southeast ridge featured in an Alpinist 4 article titled Unclimbed - a 'to do list' of nine objectives in keeping with the spirit of exploratory alpinism. Conrad Anker, writing about his attempt to climb the south-east ridge, said: 'Every mountain has a line that defines it; this line becomes the goal for climbers….This is the unclimbed 2300m southeast ridge of Annapurna III. . . . My hope for this amazing route is that it will be climbed by fair means. If climbing were about finding a solution to an engineering problem it would cease to be an art.'"
via www.thecleanestline.com