Bend Climber Claims First Ascent in the Himalaya

This past Friday Bend's Chris Wright, a local climbing guide, and partner Geoff Unger topped on what they suspect is a first ascent on the Lunag Massif in the Khumbu Himal region of Southeast Asia.
The pair were climbing fast and light in alpine style on the 5,777 meter peak (18,953 feet) and called the 350-meter route (1,148 feet) "WI4/M3."
That's pretty hard. "WI" is a water ice rating and a WI4 grade translates to near-vercial ice climbing. "M" is a grade for mixed rock and ice climbing and M3 is said to feel like 5.7 rock climbing. Remember though, that this is at nearly 19,000 feet in the bitter cold in the middle of nowhere. That's burly.

Wright and Unger have been in Nepal just shy of two weeks, and, with one first ascent in the bag, they are hoping to climb another route in the region before returning to Bend in early December.
You can follow their trip on their blog, which they update sporadically.
The two friends won the Copp-Dash Inspire Award, a grant which covered a large chunk of the cost of the expedition.