Rising to 4,509m above the rainforests of Papua New Guinea, Mt. Wilhelm is the highest in the country. Due to its glaciated past, Mt. Wilhelm comes with scenic lakes and several steep rock faces—the latter not covered in the dense rainforest that smothers lower-elevation walls at this latitude. Wilhelm’s beauty and height turned the mountain into a somewhat popular trekking destination long ago, but locals, travel agents, and mountaineering databases all were in agreement: Technical rock climbing likely had never taken place there.

Gaby Lappe, Clemens Pischel, and I visited the area in July with rock climbing as our goal. After ascending from the village of Keglsugl to the beautiful Pindaunde Lakes, halfway up the mountain, we first established Muglo dude po (UIAA V+, “The Direct Ascent”) on Point 4,054m, finishing the route on July 10. This subpeak is located just above the Mt. WilhelmTrack (trekking route), and the route involved three technical pitches (fully bolted) in addition to 60m of scrambling. We then moved on to Mt. Wilhelm, where we established Kammoro dumara (140m, UIAA VI+, “Where Earth Meets Sky”) on the northeast wall. The route climbs four pitches (fully bolted) from UIAA IV–VI+ in a direct line to the summit.

More information, including maps and topos, can be found in the linked PDF/through a linked PDF at the AAJ website.

–Kai Maluck, Germany