The Rupal face of Nanga Parbat

If mountains really have a soul, Nanga Parbat obviously suffers from a full-blown winter depression. Year after year the eight-thousander in Pakistan rebuffs climbers who try to climb it first in the cold season. Almost as if to say: “Get off my back! If you bother me, see where that will get you! “ Now, this winter’s second summit attempt also failed. On the Rupal side, the south side of the mountain, Russians Nickolay Totmjanin, Valery Shamalo, Serguey Kondrashkin and Victor Koval had to turn around from Camp 4 at 7150 meters. The four climbers from St. Petersburg had tried to sit a snow storm out, with wind speeds of 100 km/h. No chance.
“We managed to return to BC in bad weather. All safe and sound”, they tweeted on Russian Climb. “Nothing real in such wind. You can fly to K 2 at once.” This is obviously an exaggeration, but gives an idea of how much the Russians must have been shaken up in their tent in high camp. K 2 is about 190 kilometers away as the crow flies. The second highest mountain in the world and Nanga Parbat are the only of the 14 eight-thousanders, which have never been climbed in winter so far.

Together is better

A lot of tracking work on the Diamir side (© www.alextxikon.com)

In mid-January, the Polish climber Tomek Mackiewicz and the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol – as reported – had reached a considerable height of 7800 meters on the Diamir side, the north side of Nanga Parbat, before they were forced back by cold and storm. Afterwards the two climbers departed. The Italian Daniele Nardi stayed. Two weeks ago during his first attempt, Daniele made it up to 5950 meters on the Mummery Rib – named after the British mountaineer Albert Frederick Mummery, who disappeared on Nanga Parbat in 1895. The Iranians Mahmood Hashemi, Reza Bahadorani and Iraj Maani said that they would work together with the team of the Basque climber Alex Txikon to fix ropes on the Kinshofer route up to Camp 3 at about 6800 meters in the next few days. “Everything depends on the weather,” Reza Bahadorani said. And on the mood of Nanga Parbat, which is usually bad in winter.

Rupal side of Nanga Parbat (© The North Face)

“He who says patience, says courage, endurance, strength”, Baroness Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach once wrote. Of course the Austrian writer, who lived from 1830 to 1913, meant it generally. But with her words she described almost exactly the characteristics that are needed to climb an eight-thousander such as Nanga Parbat in winter. After more than two dozen unsuccessful winter expeditions, courageous, persistant and strong climbers try again to scale the ninth highest mountain on earth this winter. Currently, the attempt of the Russians Nickolay Totmjanin, Valery Shamalo, Serguey Kondrashkin and Victor Koval on the Rupal side, the south side of Nanga Parbat, seems to be the most promising try. After all, they worked up to an altitude of 7150 meters. “The whole route is about eight km. We fixed already 700 meters of very hard winter ice”, the four climbers from St. Petersburg wrote on Twitter. They said they encountered that type of ice almost everywhere above 6,000 meters. Dangerous blue ice was also one of the reasons why Tomek Mackiewicz from Poland and German David Goettler had returned on this route at 7,200 meters in winter 2014.

In short: Too risky

Elisabeth Revol in Camp 4 at 7,000 meters

This year, Tomek switched to the north flank of the mountain that looked more promising. His summit attempt with the Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol on the Diamir side ended – as reported – at 7,800 meters. Only Zbigniew Trzmiel from Poland climbed 50 meter higher on Nanga Parbat in winter, during his failed attempt in 1997.
“We had no chance to reach the top”, Mackiewicz said. “Too cold, too windy, the weather too unpredictable – in short too risky”, Revol summarized after her return to France the reasons why they turned around 300 meters below the summit.  “When I reached out, I could ‘feel’ the summit with the touch of my finger. It was very close. My heartbeat increased, but we were to remain calm. It was frustrating; wasn’t easy to turn around, especially when you look at all the progress made ​​so far.” When  descending a snow bridge collapsed under Tomek, the climber from Poland fell 50 meters deep into a crevasse. Mackiewicz was lucky. He survived with thigh muscle and rib injuries and was able to free himself out of the crevasse with Elizabeth’s help. For Mackiewicz and Revol the expedition was completed. Both travelled home. The Italian Daniele Nardi stays on the Diamir side. He will be now joined by an Iranian team as well as by the Basque Alex Txikon who – in a team with two Pakistani climbers – also wants to scale Nanga Parbat first time in winter. Will there be enough courage, endurance and strength? So far, the mountain has held even the most patient winter candidates at bay.