Nanga Parbat Overview - Peakware.com Convenient Center: Chilas, Pakistan Nanga Parbat, whose name means Naked Mountain, is the ninth highest mountain in the world, and the westernmost mountain of the Himalayas. Its vast snowy face is a powerful spectacle when seen from the arid Indus Valley, approaching the mountain from the west. Here the mountain towers in isolation over 22,000 feet from the valley floor. The mountain is easy to reach (China's Karakoram Highway approaches the base of the mountain from the north), but is not so easy to climb. Unstable glaciers and frequent storms and avalanches have proved hazardous, most notably to the German party who first attempted the peak. Herman Buhl successfully reached the summit, but this was only after having lost eleven climbers and fifteen porters during the ascent. Many other climbers have subsequently been killed on this mountain. Fast Facts About Nanga Parbat - 9th Highest Mountain Nanga Parbat: 9th Highest Mountain in the World Fast Facts About Nanga Parbat Nanga Parbat, 9th-highest mountain in the world, is also one of the most dangerous and difficult of the 8,000-meter peaks to successfully climb.

Photograph copyright Yasir Nisar/Getty Images Elevation: 26,658 feet (8,125 meters) Prominence: 15,118 feet (4,608 meters) Location: Pakistan, Asia Coordinates: 35.2375 N / 74.589167 W First Ascent: Solo ascent by Hermann Buhl (Austria), July 3, 1953 FAST FACTS Nanga Parbat means "Naked Mountain" in Urdu. The name the locals call the peak is Diamir, which translates to "king of mountains." 9th Highest Mountain in World Nanga Parbat is the 9th highest mountain and the 14th most prominent mountain in the world. The mountain lies at the western end of the Himalayan Range in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan . It has three major faces--Diamir, Rakhiot, and Rupal.

Rupal Face: Highest in World The Rupal Face on the mountain's southern flank is considered the world's highest mountain face, rising 15,090 feet (4,600 meters) from its base to the icy summit of Nanga Parbat. Albert Mummery described the wall: "The astounding difficulties of the southern face may be realized by the fact that the gigantic rock-ridges, the dangers of the hanging glacier and the steep ice of the north-west face-one of the most terri­fying faces of a mountain I have ever seen-are preferable to the south face." continue reading below our video 10 Best Teams in the History of Baseball The Killer Mountain Nanga Parbat is considered the second hardest 8,000-meter peak after K2 , the second highest peak in the world, as well as one of the most dangerous. After 31 people died attempting to climb Nanga Parbat before it's 1953 first ascent, it was nicknamed the "Killer Mountain." Nanga Parbat is the third-most dangerous 8,000-meter peak with a death rate of 22.3% of climbers dying on the mountain.

As of 2012 there are at least 68 climber deaths on Nanga Parbat. 1895: Mummery's Tragic Attempt First attempt to climb Nanga Parbat was in 1895 by Alfred Mummery's group , which reached at elevation of 6,100 meters on the Diamir Face. Mummery and two Gurkha climbers died in an avalanche while doing a reconnaissance of the Rakhiot Face, ending the expedition. 1953: First Ascent Solo by Hermann Buhl The first ascent of Nanga Parbat was a solo climb by the legendary Austrian climber Hermann Buhl on July 3, 1953. Buhl, after his companions turned back, reached the summit at seven o'clock in the evening and was forced to bivouac standing up on a narrow ledge, dozing fitfully with his hand clasping a lone handhold . After a calm windless night, he descended the next day without his ice axe , which he inadvertently left on the summit and with only one crampon , reaching high camp at seven in the evening after a 40-hour climb.

Buhl also climbed without extra oxygen and is the only person to make the first ascent of an 8,000-meter peak solo. Buhl's route up the Rakhiot Flank or East Ridge has been repeated only once, in 1971 by Ivan Fiala and Michael Orolin. 1970: Tragedy on the Rupal Face The towering Rupal Face was climbed by Italian Reinhold Messner , one of the greatest Himalayan climbers, and his brother Günther Messner in 1970, doing the third ascent of Nanga Parbat. While the pair was descending the back side of Nanga Parbat, Günther was killed in an avalanche. His remains were found on the Diamir Face in 2005. Messner Solos Nanga Parbat In 1978 Reinhold Messner , the first person to climb the Seven Summits solo-climbed the Diamir Face--the first complete solo ascent of the mountain since Herman Buhl only soloed the upper part of his route. In 1984 French climber Lilliane Barrard is the first woman to summit Nanga Parbet.

2005: Alpine Style on Rupal Face In 2005, Americans Vince Anderson and Steve House climb the Central Pillar of the Rupal Face in five days and then took two days to descend. Their alpine-style ascent is one the boldest Himalayan ascents to date. Steve House Quote from 2005 "Summit day was physically one of the hardest days I have ever had in the mountains. We had climbed for five days with very limited chance for recovery. Fortunately the weather was perfect. But I was not sure that we would succeed until we arrived just below the south summit at over 8,000 meters and could see the last easy meters to the top." Steve House on the first ascent of the Rupal Face Central Pillar in 2005.

2013: Terrorist Attack Kills 11 An attack on June 23, 2013 at Nanga Parbat's Base Camp by 15 to 20 Taliban terrorists dressed as Gilgit paramilitary officers killed ten climbers, including a Lithuanian, three Ukrainians, two Slovakians, two Chinese, and a Chinese-American and Nepali as well as a Sherpa guide, and a Pakistani cook, totaling 11 victims. The militants came in the night, rousing the climbers from their tents, then tying them up, taking their money and shooting them. Nanga Parbat | mountain, Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan | Britannica.com mountain, Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan Written By: Alternative Titles: Diamir, Nanga Parbati I Similar Topics Mayon Volcano Nanga Parbat, also called Diamir, one of the world’s tallest mountains, 26,660 feet (8,126 metres) high, situated in the western Himalayas 17 miles (27 km) west-southwest of Astor, in the Pakistani-administered sector of the Kashmir region.

The mountain’s steep south wall rises nearly 15,000 feet (4,600 metres) above the valley immediately below, and the north side drops about 23,000 feet (7,000 metres) to the Indus River . Nanga Parbat. Daniel Martin The British Alpine climber Albert F. Mummery led the first attempt to ascend the glacier- and snow-covered mountain in 1895, but he died in the attempt. At least 30 more climbers (mostly German-led) also perished on Nanga Parbat because of the severe weather conditions and frequent avalanches before the Austrian climber Hermann Buhl reached the top in 1953. The Kashmiri name Nanga Parbat is derived from the Sanskrit words nagna parvata, meaning “naked mountain.” Diamir is a local name for the peak and means “king of the mountains.” Learn More in these related articles: in Pakistan: The Himalayan and Karakoram ranges ...(6,000 metres) above sea level.

Four of the region’s peaks exceed 26,000 feet (8,000 metres), and many rise to heights of more than 15,000 feet (4,500 metres). These include such towering peaks as Nanga Parbat (26,660 feet [8,126 metres]) and K2, also called Godwin Austen (28,251 feet [8,611 metres]), in the Northern Areas. in Himalayas ...halfway around the world from North Africa to the Pacific Ocean coast of Southeast Asia. The Himalayas themselves stretch uninterruptedly for about 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from west to east between Nanga Parbat (26,660 feet [8,126 metres]), in the Pakistani-administered portion of the Kashmir region, and Namjagbarwa (Namcha Barwa) Peak (25,445 feet [7,756 metres]), in the Tibet Autonomous...

5 References found in Britannica Articles Assorted References contribution to Indus River (in Indus River: Physical features ) feature of Himalayas (in Himalayas ) significance in mountaineering (in mountaineering: History ) External Links Corrections? Updates? Help us improve this article! Contact our editors with your feedback. MEDIA FOR: You have successfully emailed this. Error when sending the email. Try again later. Edit Mode Mountain, Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan Tips for Editing Submit Tips For Editing We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles. You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind. Encyclopædia Britannica articles are written in a neutral objective tone for a general audience. You may find it helpful to search within the site to see how similar or related subjects are covered. Any text you add should be original, not copied from other sources. At the bottom of the article, feel free to list any sources that support your changes, so that we can fully understand their context. (Internet URLs are the best.) Your contribution may be further edited by our staff, and its publication is subject to our final approval.

Unfortunately, our editorial approach may not be able to accommodate all contributions. Submit Thank You for Your Contribution! Our editors will review what you've submitted, and if it meets our criteria, we'll add it to the article. Please note that our editors may make some formatting changes or correct spelling or grammatical errors, and may also contact you if any clarifications are needed. Uh Oh There was a problem with your submission. Please try again later. Close Date Published: June 30, 2008 URL: Access Date: January 19, 2017 Share Nanga Parbat : Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering : SummitPost 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 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 Unclimbed; Mummery reached 6100m in 1895. Route never attempted since.

Descent: Reinhold Messner, 1970 First Ascent: Toni Kinshofer, Siegfried Löw and Anderl Mannhardt, 1962 First solo ascent: Krzysztof Wielicki First Ski Descent: Hans Kammerlander, Diego Wellig, 1990 Kinshofer Route Photos Near Bezhin Gap with summit pyramid in background Diamir Face First Ascent: Reinhold Messner, solo, 1978 Czech Route First Ascent: Andrej Belica, Joseph Just, Marian Zatko, Juraj Zatko, 1978 (to north summit) North-East Face First Ascent: Reinhold Messner, Hubert Messner, Hanspete Eisendle, Wolfgang Tomaseth climbed to 7500m where their route met the 1978 Czech Route 'Tom and Martina' Route First Ascent: Jean Christophe Lafaille, 2003 The Rakhiot (North) Face Rakhiot Glacier and East Ridge First Ascent: Hermann Buhl, 1953 Japanese Route First Ascent: Hiroshi Sakai, Yukio Yabe

, Takeshi Akiyama, 1996 Rakhiot Face - Pilar Val Fiemme Unclimbed.

Attempted once in 1988 by an Italian team Nanga Parbat massif from Fairy Meadows The Mazeno Ridge Unclimbed; attempts made in 1979, 1992, 1993, 1995 and 2004. All the Mazeno Peaks have been traversed however nobody has continued to Nanga Parbat’s summit. More About the First Ascent Buhl on the Summit The first summit in 1953 by Hermann Buhl was from the north via the Rakhiot Glacier and East Ridge. Buhl formed part of a large German-Austrian expedition led by Dr Karl Herrligkoffer (although leadership was transferred to Peter Aschenbrenner upon reaching base camp) that was wracked by disorganisation. Sherpas from Nepal never arrived and there was a drastic shortage of high altitude porters that severely limited the siege attempt with higher camps never formed. Bad weather, altitude sickness and porter strikes had led to many members (including Buhl’s most regular climbing partner Kuno Reiner) throwing in the towel and descending to base camp.

When four climbers Otto Kempter, Walter Frauenberger, Hans Ertl and Hermann Buhl made a last push for the summit from camp III (20125ft) with a small elite of high altitude porters they had been under persistent orders from base camp to abandon their attempt and descend immediately - to which they firmly refused. Beyond camp IV (22000ft) only the younger Kempter and Buhl continued as Camp V (22640ft) had never been properly established and there was only one small tent pitched. On summit day Buhl left ahead of Kempter who did not rise for the appointed 2.30am departure. Kempter eventually followed one hour after but never caught up and soon turned around leaving Buhl the task of climbing solo to the summit. Buhl reached the summit (without bottled oxygen) at 7.30pm shortly before sunset after 17 hours of climbing. Having only descended a short distance before nightfall he was forced to bivouac in the open at 26000ft until sunrise, which he amazingly survived. This was the highest ever bivi at the time.

Next morning he continued his descent arriving at camp V 41 hours after his departure exhausted, feet frostbitten and suffering wild hallucinations. Three days later he reached base camp by which time many of the party had already packed up and left. The only other expedition to repeat Buhl's route were a Czech team in 1971. Having been pinned in camp IV on Rakhiot Peak for three weeks the team were able to make camps V and VI. From camp VI on the Silbersattel Ivan Fiala and Michael Orolin reached the main summit while other members reached the southeast peak (7600m / 24925 ft) above the Silbersattal and the foresummit (7850m / 25760 ft) above the Bazhin Gap. Memoral at the Rakhiot BC First Ascent of the Rupal Face The 4th Face of Nanga Parbat - Reinhold Messner The first ascent of the Rupal Face was as much of an epic as the first ascent from the North side by Hermann Buhl.

Having sieged the mountain via the South-South-East Spur, Reinhold and Günther Messner climbed to the summit from camp V at 7200m (23625 ft). After leaving camp at 3am they reached the summit by 5pm via the Merkl couloir (named after one of Germany's most famous climbers who died on Nanga Parbat in the 1950s). The pair then descended and bivouacked just above the Merkl couloir at 7925m (26000 ft). Günther's conditions was rapidly deteriorating and rather than risk descending the couloir, where there was no fixed rope, the pair decided to descend the Diamir Face. They reached 6250m (20500 ft) by nightfall on the Mummery Rib. The following day they continued their descent with Reinhold continuing ahead. After waiting for some time for his brother he backtracked to fin him only to discover he had been buried by an avalanche. After hours of searching, Reinhold continued his descent to the Diamir valley.

Messner's account of this incident involving his brother's death was disputed by some, casting a further shadow over the climb's achievement. In 2005 however, Günther's remains were found on the Diamir Face, corroborating Reinhold's story. The day after the Messners' ascent Peter Scholz and Felix Kuen reached the summit via the same route. With the pair having part fixed ropes in the Merkl couloir they descended back to camp V. More info on the 1970 ascent ExWeb Messner brothers' special: Remains found at Nanga Parbat suspected Asian The Central Pillar In 2005 Steve House and Vince Anderson made what is arguably one of the greatest climbs in Himalayan mountaineering history when they completed a first ascent of the central pillar of the Rupal Face Alpine-style. They went on to win the Piolet d’Or that same year. They completed the climb in five days and took a further two days to descend down the Messner Route. The route was graded at US VII 5.9 M5 X WI4. This was actually Steve House’s Third attempt at Nanga Parbat.

His first attempt had been in 1990 when he was only 19 and part of a 19-member Slovenian expedition that successfully climbed the Schell Route. House unfortunately only reached c.6400m. His second attempt was with Bruce Miller in 2004 when they made a bold attempt at the Direct South East Face. The pair reached c.7550m before House’s altitude sickness forced a retreat. In 2005 House had planned to attempt the same route but then decided to follow the more direct Central Pillar during the climb amidst excellent weather. The Mazeno Ridge Nanga Parbat (L) & Mazeno Peak (R) The Mazeno ridge is the longest ridge on any 8000m mountain and includes eight 7000m peaks. Contrary to often incorrect information on the net, all the Mazeno peaks have now been climbed although nobody has managed to traverse the ridge and continue to the summit of Nanga Parbat. The best attempt to date was that by Doug Chabot and Steve Swenson in summer 2004.

They managed a full 10km traverse of all the Mazeno peaks to the point where the ridge meets the Schell Route at 6940m. First ascents were made of Peak 7060m, Peak 7120m (Mazeno Peak), Peak 7100m and Peak 7070m. Illness and exhaustion forced them to descend. Previous attempts included that by Doug Scott in 1992 that climbed the first three peaks. Scott also attempted the ridge in 1993 and 1995 but got no higher. Wojciech Kurtyka and Erhard Loretan made an attempt in 1997. The Diamir Face Getting There Nanga Parbat is the most easily accessible of all 8000m mountains with base camps reachable in as little as two days from Gilgit. The north face is visible from the Karakoram highway which is the main artery between Islamabad and Rawalpindi to the south and the Chinese border to the north. Islamabad is the international gateway for those arriving by air.

Emirates also fly to Lahore and Peshawar however Islamabad is in close proximity to the start of the KKH and also has onward flights to Gilgit. Karachi in the south of Pakistan is sometimes cheaper to fly to but connecting Karachi to Islamabad flights cost around Rs50,000 meaning any saving is immediately lost. Step 1:Reaching Gilgit Nanga Parbat from the KKH PIA opperate daily flights between Islamabad and Gilgit the largest town in the Northern Areas. Seats sell quickly and it is advisable to book as far ahead as possible. Tickets can be booked online or at international or national PIA offices. Daily buses travel between Pir Wadhai bus station in Rawalpindi and Gilgit along the KKH. Buses pass through Mansehra (change here for Muzzafarabad and the Kaghan valley), Besham (change here if heading to/from Swat or Chitral) and the Indus Kohistan region and eventually Gilgit. The Northern Areas Transport Company (NATCO) is the largest company and has several services a day. Masherbrum Tours and the Silk Road Transport Company also run several buses.

Book seats early else you will have the joys of experiencing a night with no sleep on the back seat. The 573km trip takes atleast 14 hours. From China & the north Gilgit can also be reached from China with the trip from Kashgar to Sost taking 2 nights with an overnight stop in Tashkurgan. Hi-Ace vans travel between Sost and Gilgit throughout the day leaving as soon as they are full. There is now a direct bus between Tashkurgan and Gilgit, however, if travelling from China, it is better to buy a ticket to Sost only then take local transport to Gilgit as the international bus sits in the customs yard at Sost for a couple of hours while luggage is checked before continuing to Gilgit. The Chinese side of the KKH (called the "Sino-Pakistani Highway" by the Chinese" has been a distaster area for the last couple of years due to roadworks. Rather than repair small sections of road at a time as most countries do, the Chinese labour force likes to dig up great strectes at a time. The journey to the border therefore means a lot of off-road travel.

The road works have also unfortunately caused significant soil errosion either side of the road that will be irreversable. From Chitral Vehicles leave Chitral (in the Hindukush ) for Gilgit at least once a week, the journey taking about 16 hours by Land Cruiser. The road crosses the Shandur Pass (3,734m/12,251ft), which is passable for an even shorter period than the Lowari Pass. Otherwise Private Landcruisers can be hired for the journey which allows you to plan your own itinerary. From India A fortnightly bus service started on April 7th 2005 between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad however, it is not available to foreigners. Only Indians and Pakistanis can take the bus. For those crossing from India the border crossing of Wagah, east of Lahore, is still the main point of entry. Step 2:Reaching Base Camp Jeep track to Jhel The north face is reached via Fairly Meadows from the Raikot Bridge on the KKH. This is a large steel bridge that spans the Indus River.

Raikot is easy to reach from either Gilgit or Chilas as regular minivans ply the route between these towns. Jeeps are also easy to arrange in Gilgit. At Raikot though you will need to change to local Jeep transport as the Jeep track to Tato is a private road. The local Jeep monopoly means that the trip is not cheap. In 2007 the prices rose to 2000/3500Rs one-way/return. For the return leg you either need to agree a date to be picked up or wait in Tato for someone to come up the hill. The Jeep track has been widened in the last few years and is no longer the death trap that it used to be. From Tato walk to Fairy Meadows in a few hours along a broad, obvious path. Initially the incline is gentle but becomes steeper as you approach Fairy Meadows. During this climb the landscape transforms from an arid one to rich conifer forest. Those requiring porters should easily be able to sort something in Tato or Jhel.

The Raikot Face from Fairy Meadows Nanga Parbat from a village adjacent to Fairy Meadow Fairy Meadows Cottage From Fairy Meadows it is an easy day's walk to base camp via the village of Beyal. The way is easy to navigate, bearing south for the entirety. I managed it without a map (just the Lonely Planet trekking guidebook description). From Fairy Meadows the path initially hugs the edge of the terrace above the Raikot Glacier's terminus, overlooking the valley and glacier but soon moves away from it. The trail passes through chir pine and fur forest with a birch-lined stream for 30 minutes. The trail is braded in places but the paths soon meet up again. Beyal After approximately 90 minutes you arrive at Beyal (3500m). There's plenty of accommodation at Beyal however I found the setting of Fairy Meadows to pleasanter. Plus there wasn't the constant sound of chopping wood (Beyal was undergoing a 'construction boom' when I was there in 2006). From Beyal the trail becomes steeper and soon climbs to a large boulder aptly known as "View Point" (3667m).

From here there are great views of both the Nanga Parbat Massif and the Chongra peaks together with the vast broken glaciers that flow from their flanks. The Rakaposhi-Haramosh range is also visible in the distance to the North-east. Ignore the path that descends to the glacier from the boulder as this way is no longer used due to surges in the Ganalo Glacier. The route stays right and soon winds back and forth through birch trees to the top of the moraine. From here the path briefly flattens out before reaching the Ganalo Glacier. The way across the Ganalo Glacier is marked by cairns and no glacier experience is required for the crossing. The glacier is covered in scree and rubble and there is no chance of falling in any crevasses. If you do get lost, just look for the path ascending from the south side of the glacier and head for it. The base camp is just a short walk beyond the Ganalo Glacier. Views from Rakhiot Base Camp Rupal Face The West Side The trek to base camp begins at a village called Bunar which is approximately 12km west of Rakhiot Bridge.

From Bunar follow the Bunar valley south 12km to Halaley Bridge. From here the Diamir Valley ascends SE to the Diamir Glacier. Red Tape Visas A valid visa is required. Visas are NOT issued at the airport and must be obtained prior to arrival. Some embassies such as those in Central Asia are reluctant to issue visas and advise you to obtain them from your home country. A single-entry tourist visa is valid for 3 months from the date of arrival in pakistan and for 6 months from the date of issue. Some visas are only valid for 3 months from the date of issue so check if necessary when applying. Visa prices vary. Americans pay the most for their visa whilst Japanese get theirs free! Visa extensions and reentry stamps used to almost impossible to obtain however the process has become remarkably easier in the last few years. Gilgit DC is an obvious place to try. Permits Nanga Parbat is not in a restricted zone and no trekking permit is required. Climbing Royalties The Ministry of Tourism has decided to maintain the 50% reduction in mountaineering royalty fees for peaks above 6500m for 2009.

Royalties have been 50% now since 2002 with the intention of attracting more expeditions to Pakistan. Royalties per expedition are based on a party of 7. Persons additional to this number will be subject to an additional royalty fee. Current royalties are listed below for Nanaga Parbat and other peaks on the masif. No liaison officer is currently required! Royalties are only 5% for winter attempts! Peak Facing down the Taliban on the Himalayas' killer mountain | World news | The Guardian The Observer Facing down the Taliban on the Himalayas' killer mountain Last June, 11 climbers were shot on one of the world's highest mountains. So why is Simone Moro now chancing a winter ascent of Nanga Parbat? He talks to Ed Douglas about fear, extreme cold and refusing to be cowed by the Taliban So many ways to die: Simone Moro on Everest last April. Photograph: Jonathan Griffith Share on Messenger Close When climber Zhang Jingchuan saw the gunmen breaking laptops and phones they'd grabbed from the tents, he knew he was about to die. The men threatening him weren't ordinary thieves.

The 42-year-old former soldier had been settling in for the night of 22 June 2013, below the vast Diamir face of Nanga Parbat , an 8,126m mountain in Pakistan, when 16 armed men dressed in local paramilitary fatigues stormed into base camp. Still shocked from his ordeal, Zhang Jingchuan told journalists as he arrived home in Kunming how he was forced from his tent in his thermal underwear and bare feet, had his hands bound and was ordered to kneel. His two companions, leading Chinese mountaineers Yang Chunfeng and Rao Jianfeng, were already outside in the freezing cold with the barrel of a Kalashnikov held to their heads. While the gunmen looked for other foreigners, Zhang suggested to his friends they make a run for it. Yang tried to reassure him that it was just an armed robbery and they'd soon be let go. By the time the gunmen began destroying the laptops they'd collected – and Zhang knew this was no robbery – it was too late.

Most of the 50 or so foreigners with a climbing permit were up on the mountain, but the attackers managed to round up 11 foreigners from a disparate range of countries: three Ukrainians, two Slovaks, three Chinese, a Lithuanian, a Chinese-American and a Sherpa from Nepal. The half-dozen local men working as cooks for the expeditions had been confined to a mess tent and told to stay quiet until the attackers had fled. But 28-year-old Ali Hussain from Hushe in Baltistan wasn't so lucky. When the attackers discovered he was Shia, he was forced to kneel alongside the 11 climbers. What exactly happened next in those hours of darkness and the real intentions of the armed gang are still uncertain. Pakistani investigators have claimed it was a kidnapping gone wrong. If that really is the case, it went wrong very quickly. "After they searched everyone, the massacre began," Zhang said. "A shot was aimed at my head." Eleven men where killed. The bullet grazed his scalp and Zhang collapsed, bleeding from his wound. When he regained consciousness, he knew his only chance was to act.

Freeing his hands, he sprinted into the darkness, zigzagging as he had been trained to do for 30 metres, before jumping into a ravine. He stayed hidden for 40 minutes, shivering in the cold as the gunmen hunted him, and then crept back into camp, found warm clothes and a satellite phone and went to raise the alarm. Nanga Parbat in Pakistan is known as the Killer Mountain because of its history of tragedy and loss. Photograph: Alamy The Pakistani authorities were quick to respond, sending a helicopter at first light. The Taliban claimed the murders were retaliation for the death in a US drone strike of the Taliban leader Wali ur-Rehman . Within days security forces announced they knew the identities of the men who carried out the attack – a faction of the Taliban based around the nearby town of Chilas. As the net tightened, two Army officers and a senior police officer investigating the massacre were ambushed driving through Chilas and shot dead. Those believed responsible for the Nanga Parbat and Chilas killings are now in custody and awaiting trial. Temporary closures to tourists visiting the Nanga Parbat region have been lifted.

But the damage to Pakistan's already anaemic adventure tourism industry has been done. Until then, trekkers and climbers from all over the world had continued to visit Pakistan's high mountains, believing them to be comparatively safe from the violence that has devastated other areas. Not any more. Manzoor Hussain , president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, called it "a fatal blow" to his attempts to persuade foreigners to visit. "We are still in shock," he said "and we've had to apologise to so many mountaineers across the world." As though climbing Nanga Parbat was not dangerous enough, the prospect of doing so with the threat of terrorist attack hanging over base camp is far too much for most climbers to contemplate. Under such conditions, climbing Nanga Parbat in the frozen depths of a Himalayan winter looks like insanity. Meet Simone Moro . Six months after the attack, he is soaking up California's winter sunshine. The 46-year-old Italian mountaineer is here to run the North Face 50-mile ultra-marathon.

For most athletes this would be the climax to a season's training but for Moro it's just final preparation for the far more extreme and perilous challenge of climbing Nanga Parbat in winter and in defiance of the Taliban. And for Pakistan's impoverished region of Gilgit-Baltistan, his arrival – alongside two other small teams – to attempt the mountain this winter has a lot more riding on it than mere sporting history. Final journey: the coffins of Peter Sperka and Anton Dobes, two climbers killed at Nanga Parbat, arrive at Bratislava Airport. Photograph: Getty Just 14 mountains exceed 8,000m, strung like jewels across the arc of the Himalaya, and there is no crueller game in world mountaineering than climbing them in winter. The cold is endless and bitterly intense, so intense your bones ache. Temperatures can plunge to -50C, making frostbite more likely than not. The wind scours ice into glass, hunting out any weak spot in clothing or shelter. For many years climbing these giants in winter was the speciality of one nation – Poland. Something about the Eastern European psyche allowed them to cope in such miserable conditions.

That changed with Moro. He was the first non-Polish climber to achieve a first ascent in winter on an eight-thousander – Shisha Pangma in Tibet, in 2005. Since then the Italian has notched two more – Makalu in 2009, the world's fifth-highest peak and, in 2011, Gasherbrum II, the first of Pakistan's five eight-thousanders to be climbed in winter. Only two other men have three first winter ascents: both Poles, both mountaineering legends. Jerzy Kukuczka died in 1989, climbing in Nepal. Krzysztof Wielicki, the first person to climb Everest in winter, is still leading expeditions in his mid-60s, but his best climbing days are behind him. And because there are now just two eight-thousanders left to be done in winter, Moro has the chance to make a fourth first ascent and set a record that will never be broken. The bad news is that those two peaks are K2 and Nanga Parbat.

K2's reputation for savagery has only been burnished in recent years following the disaster in 2008 when 11 climbers died in just one day. Even now, in an era when novices are guided up Everest, years still go by when no one climbs K2 – and that's in summer, when the sun warms the upper slopes a little. Moro believes it's possible to climb K2 in winter, but he won't be going there, thanks to a psychic intervention from his wife Barbara Zwerger. "The day after I reached the summit of Gasherbrum II," he says, "my wife dreamed I was dying during the first winter ascent of K2. She never told me to do anything in our relationship before – don't climb this, don't climb that – but this was the first and only time she's said to me, if you can, don't go to K2. And she's good at predicting.

It's happened before that she's had a dream about something and it's come true." So that only leaves Nanga Parbat, a peak whose gothic history, even before the Taliban attacked, is so crammed with tales of tragedy and loss that road signs on the Karakoram Highway refer to it as the Killer Mountain. There have been just 350 ascents since it was first climbed in 1953 and 69 fatalities. Just a day's drive from Islamabad, at the western limit of the Himalaya, the peak towers above the Indus in glorious isolation, which presents challenges that are all its own. "Nanga Parbat is not protected by any other mountain," Moro says. "It's like an island – this huge, huge peak. It's the biggest mountain on the planet, not in terms of height, of course, but the difference in height between base camp and the summit. On Shisha Pangma it was only 2km. On Gasherbrum II it was 3km. The top of Nanga Parbat is 4.5km above base camp. So you have no shelter from the wind and you need twice the time to reach the top.

This is why no one has done it in winter." It's not for want of trying. There have been 16 separate attempts to climb Nanga Parbat in winter, including one by Moro in 2012. That year ferocious storms blocked his progress before he was halfway up. This year the odds are even longer – he reckons on a 10 or 15% chance of success – thanks to the extra and very current threat from the Taliban. How does Moro cope with the prospect of sharing a mountain with the Taliban? "This is what I'm thinking," he says. "When someone robs a bank, usually, the next time, if you want to continue this activity, you go to another bank. If I was a terrorist, knowing how much attention there is on Nanga Parbat, it wouldn't be the best decision to go to Nanga Parbat.' To limit the risks still further, he has chosen to climb from the more difficult southern side of the peak, known as the Rupal face. Unlike the Diamir face to the north, there is only one way to approach base camp on this side of the mountain.

"And in winter," Moro says, "you can't hide the way the terrorists did in summer. Plus, it gets more sun in winter, so we will be a bit warmer." Then he adds: "But for sure, I will not have just an ice axe in base camp." 'Everyone’s going to die sooner or later. I don’t want to be a potato, stuck in the ground till something eats me': Simone Moro. Photograph: Jonathan Griffith His physical preparation has been both intense and highly scientific. As a physiology graduate who specialised in hypoxia (lack of oxygen), Moro is obsessed with his metabolism. Unlike many climbers, he doesn't put on weight in readiness for an expedition. "I'm not superlight – 69kg – but then I have to wade through snow up to my hips." He trains relentlessly, running up to 140km a week and rock climbing to a high standard. "But in the end," he says, "it's not these factors that mean success or failure, it's psychology.

The hardware has to be ready, but it's the software that the real key." Missing from Moro's team on Nanga Parbat will be his great friend and longstanding climbing partner Denis Urubko, the man the Italian regards as "a younger brother". The Kazakh has been with Moro on many previous winter triumphs and attempts – but not this time. "He's super-afraid of terrorists," Moro says. "He told me that living in Kazakhstan he's become afraid of Muslim extremists. He knew some of the people who were killed last summer." Moro will instead be climbing with German mountaineer David Goettler. When asked what he admires about Eastern Europeans, Moro replies: "They're quite rude. They don't do this false politeness. They're very straight. They either love you or hate you. They're pure and honest, there's no double game. This is very important at high altitude." These, of course, are many of the qualities Moro exhibits himself. In an era of exploration that often has more to do with marketing than pushing boundaries, the Italian stands out as a maverick over-achiever who speaks his mind.

If he's known at all in this country it's as the climber who on Everest last May called a Sherpa "a motherfucker" after an altercation over crossing ropes at 7,200m, prompting a violent reaction that ended with Moro and his companions, Swiss climber Ueli Steck and British photographer Jon Griffith, fleeing. "I apologised for that [word]," Moro says. "But a bad word, one single bad word, after someone has tried to hurt your partner, that's understandable." Moro returned to Everest within days, at the controls of a helicopter, working as a rescue pilot. Among the first people he evacuated was one of the Sherpas who had led the attack on him. "You can't justify violence, especially on a mountain. The biggest dangers are always human – more than avalanche, more than crevasses. We don't know our own limits and don't stop before it's too late. Then there's the stupidity of terrorists and bandits. Those are dangers we should fear more. "I'm doing something more dangerous than playing the guitar, that's true. But everybody reading this will die sooner or later. I'm trying to push that date as far back as possible.

That's why I fail so often. But equally I don't want to be a potato, stuck in the ground until something eats me. I want to enjoy my life and in the mountains I'm happy – a happy husband and a happy father. I'm 46. I've done 50 expeditions, including 12 in winter. Altogether I've spent 13 years of my life in the most dangerous places on earth. That doesn't happen altogether by luck. Don't you think?" American Tyler Armstrong and father Kevin break record by reaching peak of Argentina's 22,841ft mount Aconcagua Published: 27 Dec 2013 Inside the Nanga Parbat Murders | Outside Online Inside the Nanga Parbat Murders One of the worst massacres in mountaineering history happened this summer in Pakistan. Will it happen again? South side of Nanga Parbat, the eighth highest mountain in the World. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto Nanga Parbat, earth's ninth tallest mountain.

On the evening of June 22, some 16 to 20 local villagers disguised as Gilgit paramilitary officers hiked into base camp on the Diamir side of Pakistan’s 26,660-foot Nanga Parbat, the ninth-tallest mountain on earth, shouting in English: “Taliban! Al Quaeda! Surrender! Some fifty climbers from many different countries were on the mountain at the time, and more than a dozen were hanging out at base, waiting for better weather and acclimatizing before heading up to higher camps. The intruders roused these mountaineers from their tents, tied them up, and forced them onto their knees at gunpoint. The attackers first demanded money. Interviewed by Peter Miller for National Geographic, Sehr Khan, a Pakistani climber in camp at the time, recalled one of the men saying, “We know you can speak English. Ask them who has money in their tents.” Khan continued: “Everybody was scared. We all said, ‘Yes, we have money.’ The foreigners said, ‘Yes, we have Euros.

Yes, we have dollars.’ And, one by one, they took climbers to their different tents and collected the money.” The intruders next destroyed all the cell phones, satellite phones, and two-way radios they could find. “[S]uddenly, I heard the sound of shooting,” Kahn recounted. “I looked a little up and what I saw was this poor Ukrainian guy, who had been tied with me, I saw him sitting down. Then after that moment, the shooting started in bursts. Brrrr. Brrrr. Brrrr. Three times like that. Then the leader, this stupid ugly man, said, ‘Now stop firing. Don’t fire anybody.’ Then that son of a bitch came in between the dead bodies and he personally shot them one by one. Dun. Dun. Dun. Afterward we heard slogans, like ‘Allahu Akbar,’ ‘Salam Zindabad,’ ‘Osama bin Laden Zindabad.’” Several of the climbers pleaded, “I am not American! I am not American!,” to no avail.

In the midst of the carnage, one of the few survivors heard an assassin proclaim, “Today, these people are revenge for Osama bin Laden.” Yet only one of the victims was an American citizen, and he was Chinese-born. Two others were Chinese, three were Ukrainians, two Slovaks, one Lithuanian, and one a Sherpa from Nepal. The cook was a Pakistani. In all, 11 people were killed. Within days of the massacre, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a Sunni Muslim branch unaffiliated with the Afghan Taliban, claimed responsibility for the deed. A spokesman said that the motive was revenge for the death, by an American drone strike, of the group’s second-in-command, and that the action had been carried out by a splinter faction of the TTP called the Jundul Hafsa. The Pakistani cook was apparently shot because the attackers assumed he was Shia. Sher Kahn believes he survived only because his name sounded to the killers like a Sunni cognomen, even though Khan is actually an Ismaili Shia.

Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto In the more than two-century-long history of mountaineering, the murder of more than two or three climbers under any circumstances was utterly unprecedented. In fact, the killing of backcountry adventurers is so rare an event that the isolated examples resonate long afterward. In 1998, mountaineer and explorer Ned Gillette was shot and killed in his tent while trekking in Kashmir. But what was originally thought to be a terrorist act turned out to be a simple robbery gone wrong. Others were reminded of the four young American climbers who were shot out of their bivouac on a big wall in Kyrgyzstan in 2000, then taken captive, as chronicled by Greg Child in Outside and his book, Over the Edge . But in that case, the climbers were useful to the Kyrgyz insurgents who seized them only as hostages to be used as bargaining chips with the government—not as victims in a Muslim vendetta against the United States. The Nanga Parbat massacre, however, bore spooky similarities to the 1995 kidnapping of six foreign tourists in Kashmir by a militant Islamic group called Al-Faran. In that case, one American managed to escape.

The beheaded body of a Norwegian hostage was later discovered, but the other four victims were never seen again. A captured rebel not involved in the Al-Faran kidnapping later reported that he had heard that the four were shot to death after the kidnappers’ demands fell on deaf ears. Nonetheless, the Nanga Parbat tragedy struck many observers as heralding a new and darker order of threat to adventurers afoot in Muslim countries. “It’s a game-changer, for sure,” claims one savvy observer of Central Asia. “I found myself more disturbed by this tragedy than anything that’s come down in quite a while,” says Seattle-based climber Steve Swenson. “It’s the first time I’ve told myself, ‘Whoa, I’ve gotta pay attention now.’” “I was deeply shocked and surprised,” adds Doug Chabot. “This came out of left field. But once I thought about it, I realized that this was a logical place for this sort of thing to happen.” Swenson is a veteran of 11 mountaineering expeditions to Pakistan and is writing a memoir interweaving his climbs with the geopolitics of the region.

Chabot, Swenson’s frequent partner, has gone on nine climbing expeditions to Pakistan himself; in addition, he is the co-founder of the Iqra Fund, an organization dedicated to furthering girls’ education in that country. The impact on the Pakistan’ s tourism business, on which thousands of merchants and porters depend for their livelihood, promises to be both profound and long-lasting. “This is a great tragedy for Pakistan,” says Nazir Sabir, one of his country’s leading climbers and the head of Pakistan’s top trekking company. “I have talked to most of the operators,” reports Sabir, three weeks after the massacre. “Ninety percent of their trips are canceled.” For Sabir, it was a personal tragedy as well, for he knew the three Chinese climbers and the Sherpa well. But many questions remain unanswered. If the Jundul Hafsa had struck to avenge the killing of Osama Bin Laden and American drone strikes on Sunni targets, why did they so readily kill non-Americans, even Chinese? Some observers speculate that the killers intended to disrupt the political bond between Pakistan and China, jointly planning a major dam project in the Diamir region.

And there are strong indications that the Jundul Hafsa (or allied factions of the TTP) were responsible for a pair of attacks on buses in the Gilgit region in 2012, in which a total of almost sixty Shia were systematically identified and executed. Others speculate that the poorly educated and mostly illiterate villagers who carried out the killings may have viewed all non-Muslims as “Westerners,” making little distinction between a Lithuanian or a Slovak and the Americans who launch drones against Taliban targets. As of July 22, the Pakistan government, under its new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, appears to be making a concerted effort to round up the murderers. Sixteen have been identified by name, and four arrested. Doug Chabot believes that the Nanga Parbat incident has little to do with Sunni-Shia enmity. Both he and Steve Swenson cite the numerous IED and suicide attacks in which innocent Pakistanis—many of them Sunni women and children—are killed along with the targeted victims.

Voicing his outrage in an open letter to the the American Alpine Club, Manzoor Hussain, the president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, wrote, “It appears that the mission of these enemies of humanity is to kill everyone living, including themselves, for reasons beyond our comprehension.” Did the climbers at Nanga Parbat base camp just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Does the massacre mean that the several dozen expeditions now ensconced on the Baltoro Glacier in quest of the summits of the four other 8,000-meter peaks in Pakistan are equally vulnerable? The Diamir base camp lies at an altitude of 13,000 feet, only a three-day hike up the valley. To reach Concordia on the Baltoro at 15,000 feet, near which climbers establish their base camps, requires a rugged six-day trek through dangerously glaciated terrain. That inaccessibility in and of itself may impose a margin of safety for the climbers on the Baltoro. In addition, as Swenson and Chabot point out, there are very few terrorists in that part of Pakistan, and their arrival there would not go unnoticed by the strong military presence in the region.

In the aftermath of the massacre, nearly all the climbers on Nanga Parbat were immediately evacuated, leaving only a Romanian team on the opposite Rupal side of the peak—safer ground and harder to get to. Proceeding with their attempt, the Romanians placed four members on the summit on July 19. Meanwhile, it was business as usual on the Baltoro. As of July 22, a handful of climbers had reached the summits of Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I, and Gasherbrum II, but others had perished in the attempt, including the great Polish pioneer Artur Hajzer. Hope is giving out for three Iranians stranded without food, water, or tents at 25,600 feet on Broad Peak. On the formidable K2, some climbers had reached Camp III at 23,600 feet, but all the expedition members are now biding their time as they hope for a good-weather window to make their summit bids. Among their number is Mike Horn, the accomplished polar explorer, who with his fellow Swiss partner Fred Roux hopes not only to climb the world’s second-highest mountain but to paraglide from the summit down to base camp.

Whether or not the Baltoro climbers are ignoring a new form of terrorism in Pakistan remains to be seen. Doug Chabot is not optimistic. “I’m worried that climbers are the new easy target,” he says. “We’re unarmed, we have lots of money, and we’re high-profile.” According to Chabot, “The Jundul Hafsa are essentially a gang—like the Bloods and the Crips. There’s no overall leadership of the Taliban, and once the U. S. pulls out of Afghanistan in 2014, all these small gangs will be fighting for power and territory across both countries. It’s going to be a free-for-all. With the Nanga Parbat killings, the Jundul were saying, ‘We own this place.’” Nanga Parbat - Naked mountain | Gigaplaces.com Nanga Parbat Naked mountain Monumental Nanga Parbat (8 125 m asl) is a mountain with a number of nteresting facts. With its massif ends the highest mountain range of the world – Himalayas. Behind Indus, which passes by it, lies Karakoram to the north and Hindu Kush to the east.

The mountain itself belongs, together with K2, among the most dangerous mountains in the world. Famous southern Rupal face is 4.6 kilometers high. The surroundings is very interesting for hiking, but it unfortunately is not very secure part of Paksitan. ____Místo zmíněno v...____ Nanga Parbat (8125 m) Nanga Parbat on the horizon In Gilgit it takes some time before your luggage gets loaded into a small minibus and three passengers get crammed to double seats /not very nice specialty of Pakistani/. It then continues 11 km to the south, where it joins KKH and then another 27 kilometers downstream to the confluence of Gilgit with Indus. Here the bus crosses the river Gilgit over the relatively shaky bridge and slowly turns into the canyon Rondu through the arid plain. From this plan is absolutely stunning view of Nanga Parbat, which exceeds the surroundings by around seven kilometers. This place is interesting also by the fact that the confluence of Indus river with Giglit is regarded as the place where the three highest mountains in the world meet - Himalaya, Karakoram and HinduKush.

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Question: Mount Nanga Parbat is in which country?
Answer: Pakistan