Simon Messner completes solo ascent of unclimbed Geshot Peak / Toshe III in Pakistan

On 29 June 2019 Simon Messner soloed Toshe III, a 6200-meter mountain that rises above the Bunar valley circa 18km southwest of Nanga Parbat, known locally as Geshot Peak. The 29-year-old South Tyrolean mountaineer had traveled to Pakistan with Günther Göberl, Robert Neumeyer and his father, world-famous mountaineer Reinhold Messner, and the initial plan was to climb the mountain together, but due to difficult snow conditions the others chose not to continue.

Talking to planetmountain.com, Simon Messner explained "The weather has been really poor this June, it’s rained or snowed almost every afternoon... this was also an important factor for the team and convinced me to try to climb fast and light in order to avoid the bad weather. And it worked. Even though I had to break the trail all by myself, sometimes wading through knee-deep snow! What a beautiful mountain. I don't know any other 6200-meter peak that has as many seracs as Geshot Peak."

Simon ascended to ABC located at about 4600 meters on his own, then set off early on 29 June, requiring 5.5 hours to reach the summit at 9:30 am. Avalanche danger made the descent arduous, but nevertheless he managed to return to base camp safely later that day.

Simon concluded by saying "The great thing was to how happy the locals of the Bunar valley were that “their" mountain had been climbed. On the way back I received wreaths of flowers in every village, that really made me happy!"

Links: FB Simon Messner, www.simon-messner.com, Salewa