Tamara Lunger

It was close in two respects. Tamara Lunger only narrowly missed the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat, then the 29-year-old South Tyrolean just escaped with her life. Just below the 8,125-meter-high summit, Tamara exhaustedly informed her Italian teammate Simone Moro that she would be able to climb up to the highest point but would not come down without help. Shortly afterwards, she turned around. Simone, the Spaniard Alex Txikon and the Pakistani Muhammad Ali (also known as “Ali Sadpara” – called after his home village) reached the summit without her. On the descent, Lunger lost her balance after jumping across a crevasse near the highest camp. She slid around 200 meters towards the abyss until she came to hold in loose snow with good luck. Meanwhile, the climber is back home in South Tyrol.

Tamara, first of all congratulations on your performance! Have you meanwhile recovered from the strains?

Thanks, Stefan. I must say that I have overcome the strains of the “near-summit” but not yet the consequences of my fall. My ankle is still swollen. I will get it checked up on Monday, but there is certainly something torn.

Tamara with Simone Moro

The weather on the summit day was perfect, but the path to the highest point was long, and you had to climb about 1,000 meters in altitude each on the ascent and descent. How high did you estimate the chance to reach the highest point before leaving Camp 4?

To be honest, I told Simone on the eve of our final push: “The summit is very close. We certainly will rock it!” I really knew it with absolute certainty. And even though it didn’t work for me, it was rather bad luck that I had a bit poorer physical condition on that day.

Simone said, you were just 60, 70 meters below the summit. How hard was it for you to decide to turn around?

Not at all. I had to vomit the whole day, and the strong wind had robbed much of my energy. When I got to my turning point and I saw Ali already on the summit waving to me, this one sentence suddenly crossed my mind: “If you climb to the top, you will never again see your loved ones.” Without hesitation, I turned around and got out because I knew I could slip and fall to death at every step from the summit to Camp 4. We had not even one meter of rope, so help wouldn’t have been possible, and the other team members were groggy too.

Ali (l.) And Simone (r.) on the summit

Although you had vomited in the morning of the summit day, you set off. Did you hope that the problems would disappear by and by?

Even before that, I felt that I hadn’t a good day in terms of my musculature, but I was still hoping that it would ease off. When I vomited for the first time, I felt almost free, but with every sip and with every bite it recurred, and I lost more and more of my power. I knew this would not change today.

Do you think that a lack of acclimatization caused your physical problems?

May be. After all, Simone and I had previously slept only one night at Camp 2 (at about 6,100 meters). But the whole ascent itself could have been the reason. I was hardly able to sleep because we four had only two sleeping-mats. And we still had to fix ropes from Camp 3 to 4 which took us time and energy.

On descent

The image of the different ascent routes, that Alex has published, shows that you left Simone’s and Alex’ route just below the summit and turned aside. Why?

I tried to avoid the wind, in vain. My feet were already so cold, and I wanted to replace the batteries in my sole heating system. I had no chance, it was too cold, and I did not dare take off my mittens.

In what condition did you reach Camp 4?

I was beat, I had chills all night. The scary moments during my fall had cost me additional energy and nerves.

Successful team: Tamara, Simone, Alex and Ali (from r. to l.)

How do you feel about Nanga Parbat after your return to South Tyrol, which experiences did you gain?

It was a dream. Everything happened as it should happen. And a lot has happened within these three months. After Daniele Nardi’s departure, we all felt free. It’s not that I can’t stand him – on the contrary. But there was no harmony in Base Camp which was absolutely sickening. That wore me down. I must be free in mind when I want to do something. Afterwards the team was perfect, all four climbers were equal, and the weather was good. Then we only had to keep cool. I do not begrudge my team the success. I know what we have invested. And I’m very proud of myself that I had the courage to go with my gut. I see it as a gift to have this ability. And I will keep it like a treasure so that it will show me the right way again and again – my way.

Simone announced that he would stop winter climbing on eight-thousanders. And you?

It’s too early to tell.

Successful team: Alex, Tamara, Simone and Ali (from l. to r.)

Nanga Parbat will soon be able again to hibernate undisturbed. After the 8,125-meter-high mountain in Pakistan had increasingly become the object of desire of professional climbers from around the world in recent winters, calm should return to the eight-thousander in the cold season. Another of the “last great problems” of mountaineering is solved after the Italian Simone Moro, the Spaniard Alex Txikon and the Pakistani Muhammad Ali have made the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat last Friday. Ali climbed through rocky terrain to the highest point, the other two through an icy couloir. The fourth team member, the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger, turned around about 100 meters below the summit. She also chose a different path in the summit area than Simone and Alex. The 29-year-old was finally completely exhausted after she had vomited in the morning of the summit day.

Also the descend a feat of strength

Ali (l.) and Alex (r.) on the summit

The way from Camp 4 at about 7,100 meters to the summit was “very hard and long”, Alex Txikon said, adding that the summit trapeze was “steeper than expected” and the last couloir “really icy”. After another night in the last high camp, the four climbers descended to Base Camp at 4,300 meters in one go – another show of strength.
The team of four, which had been formed only late in season, wrote high mountaineering history. In the past decades, more than 30 expeditions had failed in winter on Nanga Parbat. 13 of the 14 eight-thousanders have now been scaled during the cold season. Only K 2, with 8,611 meters the second highest mountain on earth, remains unclimbed in winter.

First great winter success for Ali and Txikon

The different ascent routes

The 40-year-old Muhammad Ali, also known as Ali “Sadpara” (named after his home village), is the first Pakistani who succeeded in climbing an eight-thousander in winter. For the 34-year-old Alex Txikon Nanga Parbat was number eleven in his collection of eight-thousanders and his first great success in winter. In 2011 and 2012, Alex had tried in vain to climb Gasherbrum I in winter. On the second attempt, his team comrades, the Austrian Gerfried Göschl, the Swiss Cedric Hählen and the Pakistani Nisar Hussain had disappeared during a summit attempt. In winter 2015, Txikon had reached an altitude of 7,850 meters on Nanga Parbat, along with Muhammad Ali and the Italian Daniele Nardi. This winter, Nardi had also joined the team, but – as reported – had left in dispute later.

“King of winter climbing”

Ali (l.) and Simone (r.) on top of Nanga Parbat

Simone Moro is the “king of winter climbing” in high altitude. He has now scaled four eight-thousanders for the first time in winter. Before his coup on Nanga Parbat the Italian had managed this feat on Shishapangma (in 2005), Makalu (in 2009) and Gasherbrum II (in 2011). “When you are attempting any Himalayan mountain in winter, you feel not simply like a mountaineer but like an explorer”, Simone told me in an interview more than a year ago. “You are not performing a climb, you enter the unknown. It’s pure ancient alpinism.”

Summit of Nanga Parbat, seen today in the morning from Base Camp

They did it! The Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Pakistani Ali Sadpara and the Italian Simone Moro have made history making the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat. “3:37 p.m (in Pakistan). SUMMIT! We just got the confirmation by walkie: Alex Txikon, Ali Sadpara and Simone Moro have reached the top of Nanga Parbat for the first time in Winter. Tamara Lunger stopped some meters below. Will spend night in Camp 4 (7.200m) and tomorrow will be back in Base Camp”, Igune Mariezkurrena writes from Diamir Base Camp on Facebook. Congratulation to all climbers on this amazing performance – and a safe descent!

Ali, Alex, Simone and Tamara (from l. to. r.)

For Simone, it was already the fourth time that he first climbed an eighthousander in winter. Before doing it today on Nanga Parbat, he had succeeded on Shishapangma (in 2005), Makalu (in 2009) und Gasherbrum II (in 2011).
Now K 2 remains the only of the 14 eight-thousanders that has never been climbed in winter so far.

Update 16.45 MEZ: Alex, Ali, Simone and Tamara have safely arrived in Camp 4 at about 7,100 meters.

Update 27.2.: All climbers are safe and sound back in Base Camp. This completes the summit success on Nanga Parbat. “Tired but very happy! Ready to go to bed and recover a bit”, is said on Tamara’s Facebook account. Reportedly she had turned around at about 8,000 meters. Nevertheless, well done, Tamara! A part of the summit success is yours.

Camp 4 in the Bazhin basin

Showdown on Nanga Parbat! The international team on the Diamir side has reached Camp 4, around 7,100 meters high, in the Bazhin Basin. Tomorrow morning the Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Pakistani Ali Sadpara, the Italian Simone Moro and the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger will set off for their summit push to complete the first winter ascent of the 8,125-meter-high mountain – although the wind will probably slow down only on Friday night. “Optimum wind conditions are expected  for 26th night and will remain throughout 27th, but waiting until then would suppose to spend one ‘extra’ night in Camp 4 at above 7,000 m”, Igone Mariezkurrena reports from Base Camp. “So, although tonight and even tomorrow morning wind will blow at 35km/h and from Northwest – therefore Nanga’s summit trapeze will not protect them –, the four members have debated and decided to set out for the summit at 5:30 to 6:00 (local time), avoiding exposure to extremely low temperatures.” Godspeed and good luck!

Within reach? More than 1400 m difference in altitude are still missing

The Nanga train is rolling again. After they had been stuck in Camp 2 at 6,100 meters for a day due to strong winds, the Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Pakistani Ali Sadpara, the Italian Simone Moro and the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger today ascended on the Kinshofer route – the normal route on the Diamir side of Nanga Parbat – to Camp 3 at 6,700 meters. “The summit looks really close from here”, Simone radioed to Base Camp. On Thursday, the quartet wants to reach the last scheduled high camp at 7,200 meters. If everything matches, the four climbers plan to set off for their summit attempt on Friday.

“Dinner is served”

The weather forecast is favorable. Quiet winter weather is expected for Friday and Saturday : clear view, no snowfall, little wind – actually best conditions for the first winter ascent of the 8,125-meter-high mountain in Pakistan. But the international team has still to climb more than 1,400 meters to the highest point. It’s a long and hard road. Not for nothing more than two dozen attempts to climb Nanga Parbat in winter have failed so far. So fingers crossed!

Departure for summit attempt: Ali, Alex, Tamara and Simone (from l. to r.)

The weather window on Nanga Parbat opens. “Looks like the window is here, the good one, the definitive one”, Igone Mariezkurrena writes from the Base Camp on the Diamir side of the 8,125-meter-high mountain in Pakistan. “The one that, if everything goes OK and bodies respond, can give Alex Txikon, Ali Sadpara, Simone Moro and Tamara Lunger the chance for pushing for this still unclimbed Nanga Parbat winter summit.” Early this morning the quartet set off from Base Camp and climbed on the Kinshofer route directly to Camp 2 at 6,100 meters.

Low wind

After three weeks of bad weather in Base Camp that had reduced the climbers more or less to inaction, weathermen expect stable winter weather on Nanga Parbat without precipitation. Starting Wednesday, the strong wind in the summit region should slow down. Alex, Ali, Simone and Tamara hope that the storm has blown most of fresh snow out of the upper parts of the route. In recent days, many avalanches have swept down (watch the video below). But the climbers will obtain assurance only on their ascent. The same applies to the question of how well acclimatized the four summit aspirants still are.

Heading home

There are no more candidates left on Nanga Parbat. Last week – when I, absolutely offline, had a good romp skiing in Tyrol – Tomek Mackiewicz abandoned his plan to return to Base Camp and dare another summit attempt. The Pole, for whom a crowdfunding campaign brought in nearly 6,000 Euro, is now heading back. Reportedly, the Brazilian-born US citizen Cleo Weidlich has also decided to strike the tent on the Rupal side after two of her three Nepalese Climbing Sherpas have left the expedition. We can only speculate about the reasons. Cleo, Pema Tshiring Sherpa, Temba Bhote und Dawa Sangay Sherpa had arrived on Nanga Parbat only at the end of January. Shortly afterwards, the bad weather had begun. Like the climbers on the Diamir side, Weidlich and the three Sherpas should hardly have left the Base Camp.

Avalanche on Nanga Parbat

It’s snowing and snowing and snowing on Nanga Parbat. An ascent to higher altitudes is out of the question. 25 centimeters of snow has fallen within one day, the Spaniard Alex Txikon writes on Facebook. The risk of avalanches is accordingly high. Therefore Alex, the Pakistani Muhammad Ali – called Ali “Sadpara” (he comes from this village) –, the Italian Simone Moro and the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger are still forced to twiddle their thumbs in Base Camp. Even with an improvement in the weather, the international team would have to acclimatize again due to the long compulsory break before they can seriously think about a summit attempt – not to mention the necessary work to break the trail again. Nevertheless it doesn’t get boring on Nanga Parbat because the dispute between Txikon and Italian Daniele Nardi, who has meanwhile departed, is turning into a kind of “divorce battle”.

“Grave offense”

Digging out

Txikon sent emails to the Italian Embassy in Islamabad and the Alpine Club of Pakistan. In it, he accused Nardi that he “still hasn’t satisfied his payment obligations here in Pakistan”. “It is not only an accusation, it is the truth”, Txikon’s girlfriend Igone Mariezkurrena (who is doing the public relations for him) wrote me from Base Camp after I had asked her about the backgrounds. “Daniele Nardi hasn’t paid part of his debt with the agency and left BC without paying Ali ‘Sadpara’ one rupee for his work (neither did he last year). As team leader, Alex felt himself obliged to report the situation because keeping quiet would be supporting this grave offense towards people who honorably worked for him.”

“Stunned”

Daniele’s reply was not long in coming. “I’m stunned”, Nardi said. “I understand neither the hostility nor the choice of means, the timing, the manner and the content of his writing.” Only the leader of the expedition had negotiated with the Pakistani agency. He himself had paid his part in recent months, said Daniele, adding that he had promised at his departure to implement all outstanding financial obligations after his return.
Gradually the question arises what is worse: the weather or the soap opera on Nanga Parbat?

Tamara Lunger

The adjourned game on Nanga Parbat continues. 15 centimeters of fresh snow cover the Base Camp on the Diamir side. Alex Txikon, Ali Sadpara, Simone Moro and Tamara Lunger may be forced to postpone their acclimatization climb they actually planned for Sunday. A reconciliation between the Spaniard Txikon and the Italians Daniele Nardi seems unlikely. “YES, cooperation is finished”, Alex writes to me from Base Camp. “Although tried to give more than one chance to this cooperation, it was finally impossible.” The dispute also stresses Tamara Lunger. The 29-year-old South Tyrolean has already climbed two eight-thousanders: In 2010, as the youngest woman ever, Lhotse (with supplementary oxygen) and in 2014 K 2 (without breathing mask). On Nanga Parbat, she once again forms a team with the Italian Simone Moro. Last year, both had to abandon their attempt on Manaslu due to heavy snowfall. I have contacted Tamara in Nanga Parbat Base Camp.

Tamara, the bad weather has forced you to stay in Base Camp for days. How do you spend your time and keep yourself fit?

I had to cope with some health problems because I had a bad cough. So it was not so bad for me that everything went like that. And then, of course, we tried every day to keep the trail to Camp 1 open. But in fact your physical condition doesn’t get better if you only sit in Base Camp doing nothing. Your body is getting more ponderous. On the days without any chance to go out, I always have the opportunity to write my book, to film, just enjoy the sun or talk to all the men here about women. 

On winter expeditions, patience is even more in demand than during expeditions in the other seasons. Is it hard for you to wait?

I must honestly say: yes. But it’s so important for me to reach this summit in winter that I actually take three months to achieve my aim and don’t put myself under any pressure. I am here to stand on top of Nanga Parbat. I’ll try anything, and I know that Simone Moro is the best climbing partner I can have. In this last period, I’ve already learned a lot from him, particularly concerning winter climbing. We get along very well, and I’m happy to be here and to have this opportunity.

Doing the trail-breaking

You both have given up your plan to ascend on the Messner route. Tomek Mackiewicz and Elisabeth Revol had climbed on this route within striking distance to the summit. What caused you to change your plan?

When Tomek and Elisabeth tried to reach the summit, we were along with them in Camp 2. We had to wait there for two days because of the weather, and unfortunately our food ran short. Despite the good weather window, we decided to go down. Upon their return from the summit attempt, Tomek and Elisabeth advised us against climbing the route because there was a dangerous serac that could collapse at any moment.

What conditions do you expect now on the Kinshofer route?

It should be quite good and hard. We have tried to maintain the trail up to Camp 1. From Camp 1 to Camp 3 it’s quite icy. The strong wind was very helpful there.

Simone and you joined forces with Alex Txikon and Co. Does that also mean that you’ll do the summit push together? Or will you then try to reach the highest point in separate rope parties?

It’s too early to tell. Anyway, we’ll set off together, and we are already looking forward to doing it. We all are on the ball and have a lot of fun together.

Three teams have already left the mountain. How much time are you willing to spend on Nanga Parbat?

Until the end of winter. I feel quite a lot of positive things. Until now, we had to fight numerous problems, but here it’s more a love story: The prince has to fight for a long time until he gets his princess. But hold your horses!

Lunger, Moro, Sadpara, Txikon (from r. to l.)

Many commentators in the media – by the way I don’t – talk about a race on Nanga Parbat. What do you think about that?

If there was one, then it’s over now! And I am very happy and looking forward to whatever comes. And the media are really taking the easy way. Some of them construe their own reality putting things together, listen to just one opinion or speculate, but don’t know what they are doing here. Many of the disputes, disagreements and differences here in Base Camp arose thanks to and for the media. Climbers are reported from outside as being good or evil, behaving right or wrong. And we ourselves who sit here in Base Camp are only astonished, but don’t have any influence of some things that happen.

But I must say, it has opened my eyes. This is not the right place for climbers who only come here to please the world outside, to report exciting stories to get as many likes, clicks or God knows what else. Among other things, we have to struggle to survive. In the icy cold, a stupid mistake may lead to death. And your comrades will hardly be able to help. Everything we do here has its value. But we too have a certain value which sometimes seems really fragile.

How do you deal with the disagreements between Alex and Daniele, which the Spaniard has made public?

I am, or rather, those who are still here are suffering from these disagreements. A particular person has played a dirty game and now has to live with the consequences.

Is it for you a special situation as the only woman among men on the Diamir side?

I have Igone (Mariezkurrena), the girlfriend of Alex, as my support here. Sometimes it is quite pleasant to be only among women. With the men you can only talk about the same two themes: women and what’s hanging between men’s legs.

Update 8 February: Italian Daniele Nardi abandoned his expedition and left Nanga Parbat Base Camp.

Upwards with snowshoes

Harmony is different from what’s obviously going on in Diamir Base Camp on Nanga Parbat. “The collaboration between [the Spaniard] Alex Txikon and Italian Daniele Nardi has become impossible due to obvious and ongoing disagreements about how to proceed during the expedition”, it says on Txikon’s website. There were “different working patterns and priorities” as well as “conflicting interpretations of some events, and also differences regarding the behavior in Base Camp”. It remains to be seen whether the two wranglers are able to overcome their differences or it’s too late to mend their ties. It is striking in any case, that Nardi was absent from the latest trip of the team. On Monday, Txikon, Tamara Lunger, Simone Moro and Ali Sadpara had used a wind break to climb with snowshoes up to 5,100 meters.

Strong wind and snow

Cleo Weidlich with climbers of “Nanga Dream” team

An enduring improvement of the weather is not in sight during the next seven days. In addition to strong winds, new snowfalls are expected almost daily. The climbers will have to sit out the bad weather. Not an easy task considering that two climbers in Diamir Base Camp have problems with each other. There is still no news from Cleo Weidlich’s team on the Rupal side. As reported, the American born in Brazil arrived only one and a half weeks ago along with the Nepalese Pema Tshiring Sherpa, Temba Bhote and Sherpa Dawa Sangay – at a time when the Polish “Nanga Dream” team was already about to depart.

No picnic

A giant, ploughing a lonely furrow

One or another may have wondered why so many expeditions have already failed on Nanga Parbat. First of all, winter climbing on eight-thousanders is an extreme challenge. So far only 40 summit successes (22 of them by Polish “Ice Warriors”) have been recorded in calendar winter, 43 additional in meteorological winter which begins on 1 December. Winter climbers have to deal not only with icy cold but also with even thinner air because in winter the oxygen partial pressure at high altitude is lower than in other seasons. In addition, the days are shorter and the nights so cold that a very early start is rarely possible. It snows more often – and the jet stream is blowing. In this respect, Nanga Parbat is a villain. This eight-thousanders rises about 7,000 meters rises from the Indus valley to the summit in just 25 kilometers, far and wide no other high mountains, which could hold off the strong winds.

The summit, seen form Camp 3

“Only five are left. We don’t give up now“, Tamara Lunger writes on Facebook. The 29-year-old South Tyrolean mountaineer and her Italian team partner Simone Moro hope for better weather on Nanga Pabat. Snowfall is predicted until the weekend, in addition a strong wind is blowing at the 8125-meter-high summit, which currently makes an ascent impossible. The other team still staying in Base Camp, the Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Italian Daniele Nardi and the Pakistani Ali Sadpara, are also waiting for an end of the bad weather.

The trio has secured the Kinshofer route, the normal route, with fixed ropes up to Camp 3 at 6,700 meters. “The hardest job is already done, we’ve got the route and our minds amplely prepared for going for summit push as soon as weather gives us a proper chance“, writes Alex adding that it will not be necessary to fix anything else further up to the summit “if conditions do not change“. But exactly that might be the problem if it should continue snowing heavily over the coming days.

Never again to Nanga Parbat?

The Pole Tomek Mackiewicz and the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol have started their journey home. Both had reached an altitude of about 7,500 meters during their summit attempt late last week, before they had been driven back by the freezing cold. Tomek was afterwards so frustrated that he announced he would not return to Nanga Parbat any more and perhaps even give up his Himalayan mountaineering career. Mackiewicz had tried to scale the ninth highest mountain for six consecutive winters but had always failed. Meanwhile there is increasing information that the Polish “Nanga Dream“ team has also abandoned its expedition on the Rupal side of the mountain. Marek Klonowski and Pavel Dunaj had climbed up to 7,500 meters on the Schell route late last week.

Update 1 p.m.: Tamara Lunger and Simone will switch over to the Kinshofer Route and join forces with Alex Txikon and Co. “I think together we can help and motivate better and maybe we are able to do a big thing!“, Tamara writes on Facebook.

Elisabeth Revol and Tomek Mackiewicz

Reporting about what happened today on Nanga Parbat was a bitl like fishing in murky waters. I tried to make out from the wildly swirling information on the Internet where the climbers on the mountain currently were. The sun has long since set in Pakistan, so I’m assuming that the mountaineers have sought protection in their tents. It is still unclear how far the Pole Tomek Mackiewicz and the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol have climbed up during their first summit attempt. The Pakistani Arslan Ahmed, who had joined the team but had to leave because of health problems, had contact with Tomek for the last time at 10.30 local time. “They were at 7400 meters, and he said we are close”, Arslan writes to me. Since then, all attempts to call Mackiewicz and Revol by satellite phone have been unsuccessful. Reportedly, the two climbers had left the Messner route and turned to the Buhl route towards the summit – the long way that Hermann Buhl took during the first ascent in 1953. On his legendary solo climb, Buhl had overcome an altitude of 1,300 meters on his summit day and afterwards survived a bivouac below 8,000 meters just standing.

“Nanga Dream” team at 7,200 meters

On the other side of the mountain, the Rupal side, the Polish “Nanga Dream” team has made good progress on the Schell route today. Their GPS tracking device shows that they have climbed up to 7,200 meters – that is until the Mazeno Ridge, from where they can look down to the Diamir side of the mountain. If everything works perfectly, the team could reach the summit tomorrow, Saturday.

The Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Italians Daniele Nardi and the Pakistani Ali Sadpara today climbed on the Kinshofer route in one go from Base Camp to Camp 2 at 6,100 meters. The Italians Simone Moro and Tamara Lunger, who had ascended on the Messner route, have returned to Base Camp. They said, the wind picked up and the bad weather might come sooner than expected. Actually, the stable winter weather on Nanga Parbat should continue until Sunday. It remains exciting.

Update 17.30: Arslan Ahmed was able to contact Tomek and Elisabeth. They “are fine, resting in Camp 4. They are very tired”, Arslan writes on Twitter, adding that he is not allowed to say more.

Tomek Mackiewicz on ascent

The first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat is in the air – say my gut instincts. Sunny days and clear nights are expected on the eighth highest mountain on earth until the weekend. The wind is to calm down, to a speed of just ten kilometers per hour on Friday. That sounds like ideal conditions for a summit attempt – if we can still speak of it in winter at all. After all, the temperature at the 8,125-meter-high summit is about minus 40 degrees Celsius. Maybe the reason for my optimistic gut feeling is simply that the teams on Nanga Parbat are currently rather stingy with information. Almost as if they are fully focused on climbing and don’t want to be distracted by „public relations“.

Short weather window

Elisabeth Revol in Camp 2

For days, we have not heard anything from the Italian duo Simone Moro and Tamara Lunger, who are ascending on the Messner route on the Diamir side of the mountain. The Pole Tomek Mackiewicz and the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol, climbing on the same route, are more communicative. From Camp 2 at 6,000 meters, Tomek today talked via satellite phone with the Polish Radio journalist Bartosz Styrna. Gusts of wind with a speed of up to 100 km/h had pulled at their tent, Mackiewicz said. They plan to climb further up tomorrow. “We have only a very short time frame of two to three days maximum”, said Tomek. “We have to fight. It will be an uphill struggle.”

Bielecki and Czech left

The Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Italian Daniele Nardi and the Pakistani Ali Sadpara are also expecting this hard fight on the Kinshofer route, the normal route. They have climbed up to an altitude of 6,500 meters and fixed the route where needed. Nardi got off lightly from a fall near Camp 2. The Polish climbers Adam Bielecki and Jacek Czech, who had actually announced to join their forces with the trio, have meanwhile abandoned their expedition and left the Base Camp. Bielecki believed that he had no more chance to reach the summit due to his hand injury after an 80-meter-fall some days ago.
On the Rupal side of Nanga Parbat, the “Nanga Dream” team is working their way up the Southsouthwest ridge. Even from these mountaineers, we hear next to nothing. I am standing firm on this: There is something in the air.

Update 21 January: Tomek and Elisabeth pitched their Camp 4 at 7,200 meters. If things work out, they could reach the summit on Friday or Saturday. The calm winter weather is to continue. So keep your fingers crossed! Meanwhile Simone and Tamara descended to Base Camp.

Nanga Parbat

Joining forces is a recipe for success – also in mountaineering. You only need to recall the legendary first ascent of the Eiger North Face in 1938, when the Germans Anderl Heckmair and Ludwig Voerg and the Austrians Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek started their climbs as two teams of two, banded together in the wall and were successful. Also now on Nanga Parbat, two of the five expedition teams on the mountain have joined their forces in order to have better chances for the first winter ascent on the ninth highest mountain on earth. “Plan A – quick alpine style push – failed due to weather. Plan B – regaining acclimatization and climbing “alpine style like” – failed too due to Jacek’s health issue. By the way he is himself again. It’s time for plan C”, the Polish climber Adam Bielecki writes on Facebook.
Bielecki and his compatriot Jacek Czech are now going to cooperate with the Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Italian Daniele Nardi and the Pakistani Ali Sadpara. The international trio had announced to climb via the Kinshofer route, the normal route on the Diamir side of the mountain – in traditional style, means establishing high camps. Within the next three days, they intend to fix ropes up to Camp 3 at 6,700 meters, writes Bielecki.

“Nanga Dreamers” at 6,200 meters

Last week in their home country Poland, Adam and Jacek received an ironic honor for mountaineers, a “bronze egg”. They were “awarded” for calling their winter project “Nanga Revolution” without making clear what they actually mean by this – “a mountaineering revolution or an Islamic”. In contrast, the name of the Polish team on the Rupal side, “Nanga Dream”, appears clear – less, however, the add-on “Justice for all”. The “Nanga Dreamers” have meanwhile reached an altitude of about 6,200 meters on the Schell route.

Acclimatizing above 7,000 meters

Elisabeth Revol in icy high camp

The Pole Tomek Mackiewicz and the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol have reached the highest altitude of all expeditions so far. The two “rubber ducks” – another strange team’s name – slept in Camp 3 at about 6,700 meters and planned to climb up to 7,200 meters for further acclimatization. Last winter, both had ascended to an altitude of about 7,800 meters on Nanga Parbat, when they were forced back by icy cold and wind. This height range was also reached by Txikon, Nardi and the Pakistani Muhammad Ali in March 2015: They lost their way on the Kinshofer route and had to descend because Muhammad suffered from high altitude sickness.

Winter world champion Poland

Twelve of the 14 eight-thousanders have already been climbed in winter, only K 2 and Nanga Parbat defied all attempts. Without doubt, Poland is the world champion in winter climbing on the highest mountains. Nine first winter ascents of eight thousanders were made by pure Polish expedition teams. In another case, a Polish climber was involved (Piotr Morawski on Shishapangma in 2005).
Denis Urubko has ensured that we now can say with complete justification that Polish climbers took part in all twelve (!) winter first ascents on eight-thousanders. The native Kazakh, then Russian, and recently also owner of a Polish passport belonged to the first winter ascenders of Makalu and Gasherbrum II, which were made by non-Polish teams. In the ironical climber’s awarding in Poland that I mentioned before, Urubko was also “honoured” – with a view to his new citizenship and his passion for winter ascents: He got a “red egg with hammer and sickle”.

Jacek Czech climbing on an icy slope

There will hardly be record temperatures on Nanga Parbat this winter, and if, then only low ones. “Unfortunately January weather on Nanga is extremely bad in comparison to the previous two years”, writes the Polish climber Adam Bielecki, who, along with his compatriot Jacek Czech, wants to climb on the Diamir side of the mountain via the Kinshofer route to the 8,125-meter-high summit, doing it in Alpine style: without bottled oxygen and without fixed high camps. “So far there wasn’t a single day with weather good enough to attempt a summit attack.” In the last few days, the thermometer dropped below minus 40 degrees Celsius. In addition, strong winds blew and it was snowing. These days, Bielecki and Czech want to climb up to a minimum altitude of 7,000 meters, “in order to regain acclimatization which would allow us to wait for better weather”. That sounds as if the two Poles can imagine not descending to Base Camp once more before their first summit attempt. Before traveling to Pakistan, Adam and Jacek had already acclimatized at the 6,893-meter-high volcano Ojos del Salado in Chile.

Descend to recover

Nanga Parbat

Tomek Mackiewicz from Poland and the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol, just now shivering with cold in their camp at 6,000 meters, most definitely intend to descend to Base Camp to recover again. But first they want to climb up on the Messner route up to 7,000 meters on Friday, when conditions are suitable. The Pakistani Arslan Ahmed, the third member of the “Rubber Duck” team, has so far stayed back due to health problems. The trio wants to complete the Messner route, in Alpine style too. The route was opened up to an altitude of 7,500 meters by the South Tyroleans Reinhold and Hubert Messner, Hanspeter Eisendle and Wolfgang Tomaseth in 2000.

Very Icy

Simone Moro on the ridge of Ganalo Peak

The Italian duo Tamara Lunger and Simone Moro is also planning to reach the top on this slope of the eight-thousander, which so far has never been scaled in winter. Both have now completed their acclimatization on the 6608-meter-high Ganalo Peak in the Nanga Parbat massif. The fourth team on the Diamir side of the mountain – the Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Italian Daniele Nardi and the Pakistani Ali Sadpara – has pitched their Camp 1 on the Kinshofer route at 4,850 meters. “The highest and steepest slopes look much more icy than last year”, writes Alex. On the Rupal side of Nanga Parbat, the Polish “Nanga Dream” team, which is led by Marek Klonowski, climbed up to a height of about 6,000 meters on the “Schell route”.

No race?

For the coming weekend, calm winter weather is expected on the ninth highest mountain on earth: no snowfall, less wind, temperatures around minus 30 degrees – a good chance to work their way further up. Simone Moro doesn’t want to speak of a race for the first winter ascent of Nanga parbat: “Everybody has the same goal and it isn’t ‘who is the first on the summit’ but try to do climb till the summit. Whoever will be able to do, first, second or tenth, would realize a dream that had been tried and dreamed from the best high altitude mountaineers of the last 30 years.” I think any climber on Nanga Parbat would probably sign this statement, but do they all really think that way? It can hardly be opposed that each winter expedition that failed – meanwhile more than two dozen – has increased the prestige value of the project. And thus the market value too.

Andie MacDowell with a real groundhog

What are Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell actually doing this winter? Perhaps the two Hollywood stars are traveling to Pakistan to shoot a remake of their blockbuster “Groundhog Day” that is set in the world of high altitude climbers. After all, the same match on Nanga Parbat is repeated year after year: Several expeditions arrive at the different base camps to climb the “Naked Mountain” for the first time in winter. And again and again they return home exhausted and empty-handed two months later. 27 expeditions ended this way. This winter, another five teams will tackle the 8,125-meter-high mountain, which is – apart from K 2 – the only eight-thousander which has never been climbed in the cold season. Two of the current climbing teams have the Murray/MacDowell pattern – even if the name of one of these expeditions sounds more like a Disney movie.

Rubber ducks

Elisabeth Revol in Camp 4 at 7,000 meters

The male lead in the “rubber duck” team is played by Tomek Mackiewicz. For the sixth year in a row, the mountaineer from Poland is trying to first climb Nanga Parbat in winter. For the third time, he will be doing this along with the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol. Last winter on the Diamir side of the mountain, both reached an altitude of about 7,800 meters before extreme cold and strong winds forced them back. “When I reached out, I could ‘feel’ the summit with the touch of my finger. It was very close”, Revol said then. This year, the Pakistani Arslan Ahmed Ansari is completing the team. The “rubber ducks” want to finish the Messner route, climbing it in Alpine style. In 2000, the South Tyroleans Reinhold and Hubert Messner, Hanspeter Eisendle and Wolfgang Tomaseth had opened this route up to an altitude of 7,500 meters.

Powerful engine

Tamara and Simone in Manaslu base camp

The other “Groundhog Day” team will also try to climb this route. “I want to see if the route Denis Urubko and I had identified as possible during the winter of 2012 is the right one”, says Simone Moro. The Italian is a real specialist for winter expeditions. He made three first winter ascents on eight-thousanders so far: on Shishapangma (2005), Makalu (2009) and Gasherbrum II (2011). The 48-year-old will tackle Nanga Parbat for the third time. The 29-year-old South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger takes the female role in this team. Last winter, Tamara and Simone went for the first time on a joint expedition. Masses of snow forced them back on Manaslu. Although they had not even climbed further up than Camp 1 at 5,700 meters, Tamara returned home with a smile in her face, says Moro and praises his rope partner’s performance: “Tamara has an engine that I have seen in very few men.”

Familiar faces

Nanga Parbat (seen from Diamir base camp)

Some of the climbers of the three other teams who try to climb the mountain this winter seem to have a special Nanga Parbat engine. Among the nine members of the Polish “Justice for all” expedition, who want to climb the Schell route on the Rupal side of the mountain, are some repeaters. This also applies to the Spaniard Alex Txikon, the Italian Daniele Nardi and the Pakistani Ali Sadpara who are familiar faces on Nanga Parbat. They want to use the Kinshofer route on the Diamir side – in traditional climbing style, i.e. with high camps. The fourth member of this team is the Polish climber Janusz Golab, who – along with his compatriot Adam Bielecki – had climbed the eight-thousander Gasherbrum I for the first time in winter in 2012.
Janusz is going to meet his former climbing partner in Nanga Parbat Base Camp: Bielecki, who was also among the climbers who, in 2013, first climbed Broad Peak in winter, will be accompanied by Jacek Czech. The two Poles also want to climb the mountain on the Kinshofer route, however in Alpine style.
Thus everything is prepared for a new episode of “Groundhog Day” on Nanga Parbat. But maybe this time there will be the kind of happy ending that Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell have submitted in their Hollywood blockbuster.