Overview
Raikhot Face of Nanga Parbat
Nanga Parbat is located in the Northern Areas of Pakistan and is the Western bastion of the Himalaya. It is the nineth highest mountain in the world and the second highest in Pakistan after
K2. Steeped in a history matched by few others in Asia it has staged some of the greatest Himalayan ascents of all time. From Hermann Buhl’s solo first ascent in 1953 via the Upper North ridge to Gunther and
Reinhold Messner’s first ascent of the Rupal Face in 1970 via the South South East Spur, Messner’s solo climb of the Diamir Face in 1978, and more recently
Vince Anderson and
Steve House’s Alpine-style ascent of the Central Pillar of the Rupal Face. These epic climbs continue to inspire climbers to attempt yearly what is considered to be the second hardest 8000m mountain after
K2.
Nanga Parbat is a truly awesome spectacle. The south face is the largest in the world extending over four kilometres above base camp. To date there have only been five ascents from the south. Nanga Parbat means "Naked Mountain" in Hindi/Urdu and is with reference to the south face's exposed rock buttresses. The north face is equally intimidating. In contrast to the south face’s steep rock and ice the snowy north face is guarded by a broad barrier of seracs that extend the width of the mountain. Climbers before the Second World War were convinced that the only way to climb the mountain was from the north via a long arc extending over Rakhiot Peak (7010m), between the two summits of Silberzacken and finally to the summit of Nanga Parbat thereby avoiding a more direct ascent of the north face. The route was dangerously prone to avalanche and exposed to bad weather. 31 people died attempting to climb the mountain leading to it acquiring the infamous name of the “Killer Mountain”. Nowadays it is not such a killer and there are other peaks that could inherit the nickname (eg Ultar or Batura I). Hermann Buhl’s summit route has only been repeated once (Slovak, 1971) to this day. His ascent marked only the third 8000m ascent after
Annapurna I (1950) and
Everest and was the only first summit of all the 8000ers to be done without oxygen and of course solo. Most attempts nowadays are via the Westerly Diamir face which is generally considered to be the easiest and safest with the Kinshofer Route the normal route. Nanga Parbat as of 2005, had received 263 ascents by 261 individuals (Messner and SP Member
Qudrat Ali have climbed it twice) at a price of 62 deaths. Sixteen women have summited the mountain. Numerous challenging lines still await. The most difficult is an ascent of Nanga Parbat via the unclimbed Mazeno Ridge which constitutes the longest ridge in the world. A number of expeditions have made ‘attempts’ on the mountain during winter but to no avail.
The Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat
Nanga Parbat massif from the air
Nanga Parbat has three faces with three long ridges dividing these. The Diamir (West) face is by far the most popular face attempted by teams with a minority attempting the huge Rupal (south face). The Rakhiot (north) face has received sporadic attempts over the decades with only two routes completed. Between the vast faces are three extensive ridges. The Mazeno Ridge divides the Diamir and Rupal Faces and is described below. Between the Rupal and Rakhiot faces is a long ridge that descends to Siberzacken then to Rakhiot Peak, and the Chongra Peaks. Dividing the Diamir and Rakhiot Faces is a ridge that descends a short distance from the main summit to Nanga Parbat North then continues to descend to Ganalo Peak.
The Rupal (South) Face
The Rupal Face
South South East Spur (Messner Route)
First Ascent: Reinhold Messner, Gunther Messner, Peter Scholz and Felix Kuen,
1970
Upper South West Ridge (Schell Route)
First Ascent: Gimpel, Schauer, Schell and Sturm, 1976
South East Pillar
First Ascent: Zygmunt Heinrich, Jerzy Kukuczka, Carlos Carsolio and Slavomir Lobodzinski, 1982
Direct South –East Face
Unclimbed; Steve house and Bruce Miller reached c.7550m in
2004
Direct South East Face - Central Pillar
First Ascent: Steve House & Vince Anderson, 2005
Grade: 5.9, M5 X, WI4
South Face Direct
Unclimbed; Attempted by Tomaž Humar in 2005; Reached 6300m
The Diamir (West) Face
Mummery Rib
Unclimbed; Mummery reached 6100m in 1895. Route never attempted since.
Descent: Reinhold Messner, 1970
Diamir Flank (Kinshofer Route)
First Ascent: Toni Kinshofer, Siegfried Löw and Anderl Mannhardt, 1962
First solo ascent: Krzysztof Wielicki
First Ski Descent: Hans Kammerlander, Diego Wellig, 1990
Year Team Route Summit? Significance Description
1895 British Mummery Rib N First attempt led by Alfred Mummery. Reached 6100m on the Diamir face. Mummery and two Gurkha companions later died reconnoitring the Rakhiot Face
1930s German N Six German expeditions attempt the maintain, all of which end in failure with dozens dying in avalanches and storms. Among them some of Germany's finest climbers Willi Merkl and Willo Welzenbach perished on the mountain.
1950 British ? N Two more deaths after a three British make a failed winter attempt
1953 German East Ridge Y 1st Ascent First ascent by Austrian Hermann Buhl (member of a Austrian-German team led by Karl Herligkoffer) via the East Ridge from the Rakhiot side. From a Camp at 6900m beneath the Silberzacken (Silver Col) Buhl climbed solo after his companions turned back and summited a staggering 40 hours later. He was forced to bivi at 7900m following the summit before descending next day to 6900m.
1962 German Kinshofer Route Y 2nd ascent & 1st ascent of Diamir Face Second ascent by Toni Kinshofer, Siegfried Löw and Anderl Mannhardt via a buttress to the left side of the Diamir face (the Diamir Flank). The route (the Kinshofer Route) has become the normal route of ascent in recent years
1970 German Messner Route Y 3rd ascent & 1st ascent of Rupal Face Reinhold and Günther Messner make a first ascent the Rupal Face via the SSE Spur and Merkl Couloir. They descended the Mummery Rib on the Diamir Face with Günther being killed by an avalanche on route. Peter Scholz and Felix Kuen summited the day after the Messners and descended back down the Merkl couloir. Previous German expeditions in 1960 and 1968 had tried and failed at this route.
1971 Slovak East Ridge Y 4th ascent & only climbers ever to repeat Buhl's route Ivan Fiala and Michael Orolin summit Nanga Parbat via Buhl's 1953 route while other expedion members climb the SE peak (7600m / 24925 ft) above the Silbersattal and the foresummit (7850m / 25760 ft) above the Bazhin Gap
1976 Austrian Schell Route Y 5th ascent via new route Gimpel, Schauer, Schell and Sturm climb the Rupal face via the Mazeno Col (c.6940m) and Southwest Ridge. The route had been reconnoitred in 1975 by a German expedition however bad weather had stopped them. The Germans returned to the route in 1976 but their attempt was aborted when Wastl Arnold fell to his death.
1978 Czech N/A 1st ascent of north peak A six man team successfully made a 1st ascent of Nanga Parbat's North peak (7816m / 25644 ft)
Austrian Kinshofer Route Y Five climbers made the second ascent of the Kinshofer route
Reinhold Messner Diamir Face Y New route & 1st solo ascent, 1st Alpine style ascent Messner solos the right side of the Diamir Face. This was the first completely solo climb on the mountain (Buhl only soloed the latter part of his climb) and also the first in a modern Alpine style. He previously acclimatised on Ganalo Peak (6600m)
1979 French Mazeno Ridge N First attempt of the Mazeno Ridge. Hampered by bad weather and only managed to climb the first Mazeno peak
1981 Dutch Schell Route Y Only one member, Ronald Naar reached the main summit
Italian Kinshofer Route Y Four camps were made and three climbers made the third ascent via the Kinshofer route.
1982 International Team SE Buttress N New Route to S Summit Siege attempt of the SE Spur, in which five camps were established on the mountain. From camp V four climbers attempted the south summit but three soon gave up leaving only Ueli Buhler to continue alone. With no bivouac gear he was forced to spend an unsheltered night on the mountain before reaching the south summit of Nanga Parbat at noon the following day. He was unable to continue to the main summit and descended to reach camp V by 6pm with seriously frozen hands and feet.
1984 French Kinshofer Route N French climber Lilliane Barrard becomes the first woman to climb Nanga Parbat, accompanied by her husband Maurice Barrard. They climbed the Kinshofer route in an alpine style above camp 1.
1985 Principally Polish SE Buttress Y Completion of the SE Spur to the Main summit Poles Zygmunt Heinrich, Jerzy Kukuczka, Mexican Carlos Carsolio and American Slavomir Lobodzinski climbed Ueli Buhler's SE Spur but finished on the main summit as opposed to the south summit. Kukuczka fell 600m during the descent but was remarkably only stunned. Piotr Kalmus was less fortunate and was struck by an avalanche between camp 1 and 2.
Polish Kinshofer Route Y 1st ladies-only ascent Anna Czerwifiska, Krystyna Palmowska and Wanda Rutkiewicz reached the summit with no porter support
1988 Italian Rakhiot Face N New Route Attempt From an ABC at 4500m six climbers ascended to a buttress at 6500m in ten days fixing 1600m of rope. At that point they gave up because of a strong rise in temperature. Throughout the climb there were great objective dangers with avalanches continuously sweeping the face.
1989-9 Polish Messner Route N 1st winter attempt Maciej Berbeka, Piotr Konopka and Andrzej Osika reached a high point of 6800m but the attempt was abandoned amidst deteriorating weather.
1990 Austrian / Swiss Kinshofer Route Y 1st ski descent Austrian Hans Kammerlander and Swiss Diego Wellig reached the summit then, from the North summit 100m below the main summit, skiied back down to base camp. Sections needed to rappelled or rock climbed down. Skiing was very difficult because of the couloir's steepness and the intermittent rock bands.
1990-1 Anglo-Polish Messner Route N Winter attempt Amidst increasing strong winds and deteriorating weather the team reached a high point of 6600m. During the attempt the base was flattened by a pressure wave of an avalanche high on the Rupal wall. Fortunately no one was hurt.
1992 - Mazeno Ridge N Doug Scott attempts Nanga Parbat via the Mazeno Ridge. Fails but climbs three Mazeno peaks
1995 International Mazeno Ridge N Wojciech Kurtyka (Polish), Andrew Lock (Australian) and Rick Allen (UK) managed to traverse the first three Mazeno peaks but then decided to retreat.
1996 Japanese Route Japanese Route Y North Face new route A Japanese team established a direct route to the Silbersattel upon where they continued to the summit via a similar route as Hermann Buhl's.
Krzysztof Wielicki Kinshofer Route Y 1st Solo ascent of the route Krzysztof Wielicki made the first solo ascent of the Kinshofer Route and became the fifth man to summit all the 8000 mountains. He climbed continuous for 48 hours then descended 5800m the same day as summiting.
British Kinshofer Route N Winter attempt Reached a point below 6000m then retreated.
Polish Kinshofer Route N Winter attempt Polish expedition to the Diamir Face come very close to making the first ascent in winter of any 8000m mountain in Pakistan. Krzysztof Pankiewiez and Zbigniew Trzmiel retreat just 250 meters below the summit with severe frostbite Unfortunately the team needed evacuating from BC by helicopter due to frostbite injuries.
2000 German NE Face N New Route to 7500m Reinhold Messner, Hubert Messner, Hanspete Eisendle, Wolfgang Tomaseth climbed to 7500m where the route met with the 1978 Czech route at 7500m but went no further due to poor snow conditions.
2003 Jean Christophe Lafaille Tom and Martina Route Y New Route Jean Christophe Lafaille climbs a new route on the Diamir Face via a spur to the left of the Kinshofer route that meets Kinshofer two thirds up. For the first part of the climb Lafaille has joined by Simone Moro but descended on route to camp 4 at 7400m due to acclimatisation difficulties. For the latter half of the climb Lafaille was joined by Ed Viesturs who had climbed the Kinshofer route and rendezvoused at camp 3
2004 Steve House / Bruce Miller Direct SE Face N New Route Attempt Attempted a new route on the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat reaching c.7550m before House's altitude sickness forced a retreat.
Doug Chabot / Steve Swenson Mazeno Ridge N Traversed all the Mazeno peaks but then descended the Schell Route
2005 Korean Messner Route Y 2nd Ascent of Messner Route Koreans make a south-north traverse ascending via the Messner route on the Rupal Face and then descending the Kinshofer Route on the Diamir Face
Tomaž Humar New route on Rupal Face N New Route Attempt Pakistani military helicopters rescue renowned Slovenian mountaineer Tomaž Humar, stuck under a narrow ice ledge at 5900m for six days having descended from 6300m. One of the few successful rescues carried out at such high altitude
American Central Pillar Y New Route Vince Anderson and Steve House climb the Central Pillar of the Rupal Face Alpine-style in six days. They were later award that Piet-Dor. More direct than the Messner's route the climb has been heralded as one of the greatest ascents of all time
2006-7 José Antonio Delgado Sucre ? Y José Antonio Delgado Sucre, an elite high altitude climber from Venezuela, dies a few days after making the summit, where he was caught by bad weather for 6 straight days and was not able to make his way down. He was the only Venezuelan climber, and one of the few Latin Americans, to have summited five eight-thousanders.
Polish Schell Route N Winter attempt Polish winter attempt of the Schell Route fails
