MILLET team conquers new route on Tahu Rutum
Team MILLET athlete Symon Welfringer, together with Belgians Siebe Vanhee and Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, has made the first ascent of the west face of Tahu Rutum, a remote 6,651-meter peak in Pakistan’s Karakoram.
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The team established The Leopard of Higher Ground, a new 1,500-meter route up the mountain’s unclimbed west face, connecting the lower rock face to the summit spire via a series of steep snow traverses.
To reach the summit, the climbers spent 13 days on the wall, alternating capsule-style big wall techniques with classic mountaineering. During the ascent, they hauled portaledges, static ropes, and gear across extremely complex terrain, characterized by rock, snow, and mixed climbing. All pitches were free-climbed.
Tahu Rutum, also known locally as Taa Hurutum, dominates the glaciers of Pakistan’s Hispar region. Its silhouette, reminiscent of the famous Patagonian peaks, has made it one of the most coveted and difficult objectives in the Karakoram. Prior to this feat, the mountain had been climbed only once, in 1977, by a Japanese expedition along the southwest ridge.
For Siebe Vanhee, the dream of climbing the West Face began in 2014, when he met the late American mountaineer Kyle Dempster. Dempster, who passed away in Pakistan in 2016, attempted this same face solo in 2008, spending 23 days on the mountain and stopping about 200 meters from the summit. Since that story, Tahu Rutum has remained one of Vanhee’s most significant objectives.
The 2026 expedition and the choice of the line
In May 2026, Vanhee assembled a team consisting of French climber Symon Welfringer of the MILLET team, British climber Pete Whittaker, and compatriot Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll. The four left Europe on May 25 for a 45-day expedition.
Once they reached base camp, however, Whittaker developed symptoms of altitude sickness and was forced to retreat. Vanhee, Villanueva O’Driscoll, and Welfringer continued the expedition as a three-person roped party.
The ascent began on June 15th. Rather than choosing the more direct glacial approach from the left, the trio decided to tackle the lower rock face from the right, aiming to connect to the main spire via snow-covered slopes. This choice resulted in a particularly challenging line: eight initial pitches on unstable rock, followed by snow traverses and difficult terrain for hauling gear, before even reaching the large upper headwall.
The ascent began on June 15th. Rather than choosing the more direct glacial approach from the left, the trio decided to tackle the lower rock face from the right, aiming to connect to the main spire via snow-covered slopes. This choice resulted in a particularly challenging line: eight initial pitches on unstable rock, followed by snow traverses and difficult terrain for hauling gear, before even reaching the large upper headwall.
To complete the entire route free, the team adopted a capsule-style strategy, carrying portaledges, food, fuel and all the equipment needed to stay up to 15 days on the face. This solution allowed climbers to resist periods of bad weather and immediately resume the climb in favorable windows.
“I already knew the mountains of Pakistan from several previous expeditions,” explains Symon Welfringer, a MILLET team member. “This, however, was my first experience of high-altitude big wall climbing. It was amazing to combine traditional mountaineering techniques with those of a big wall. The strategy worked perfectly, allowing us to weather a three-day snowstorm without having to abandon the face. It’s an approach that opens up enormous possibilities for new free ascents.”
The last days towards the summit
On the eleventh day, the team established the fourth portaledge camp at the base of the main face, at an altitude of 6,260 meters. Despite over a week of demanding climbing, hauling, and constant exposure, the hardest section of the route still lay ahead.
On day twelfth, the climbers fixed 400 meters of static ropes and tackled the most technically challenging section of the entire climb: a steep, overhanging section above 6,000 meters, with free climbing up to grade 7b. For the team, this was the expedition’s highlight.
The following day, despite the intense fatigue accumulated after seven consecutive days without rest, the weather conditions remained favorable. On June 27, Vanhee, Villanueva O’Driscoll, and Welfringer re-reached the highest point they had reached the previous day and continued to the summit, reaching the summit amid clear skies and a spectacular view of the Karakoram mountains.
A decisive episode and the meaning of the street name
One of the expedition’s most delicate episodes occurred during the recovery of the equipment. A bag got stuck in a particularly difficult section of the wall, and Siebe Vanhee lowered himself to free it.
“It was one of the most intense moments of the entire expedition,” says Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll. “While Symon was hauling in the gear, the haulbag got stuck. Siebe descended to free it, but suddenly the haul rope snapped on a sharp edge. Luckily, he managed to grab the haulbag before it fell. If he had fallen, we would have lost much of our essential gear, and the climb would likely have ended there.”
The name The Leopard of Higher Ground pays homage to both the mountain and Kyle Dempster. In the local language, Taa Hurutum means “home of the snow leopard,” while Higher Ground Coffee was the name of the coffee shop Dempster ran in Salt Lake City.
During the ascent, the new route crossed paths with part of Dempster’s solo attempt in 2008. The team even found three of the original belays left by the American climber.
According to the team, this represents the second overall ascent of Tahu Rutum, the first of the west face, and the first success on the mountain in nearly fifty years, since the only ascent in 1977.
Ascension Summary
- Mountain: Tahu Rutum / Taa Hurutum
- Altitude: 6,651 m
- Location: Karakoram, Pakistan, near Hispar Glacier
- Route: The Leopard of Higher Ground
- Face: Parete Ovest
- Development: 1,500 m
- Alpinist: Siebe Vanhee, Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll, Symon Welfringer
- Date: 27 giugno 2026
- Total time on the wall: 15 days (including 2 days of descent)
- Style: Spedizione big wall in stile capsula in alta quota
- Free Climbing: Team Free Ascent – Any pitch climbed free
- Maximum difficulty: 7b
- High Camp: Fourth portaledge camp established at 6,260 m
- Previous known ascent of the mountain: Japanese expedition, 1977, via the southwest ridge
- Previous attempt on the West Face: Kyle Dempster, solo, 2008
