{"id":22008,"date":"2016-02-26T17:05:52","date_gmt":"2016-02-27T00:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=22008"},"modified":"2016-03-29T05:59:46","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T11:59:46","slug":"nanga-parbat-1st-winter-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/26\/nanga-parbat-1st-winter-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"Nanga Parbat 1st winter Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nanga<\/a>SUMMMMITTTTT!!!<\/p>\n

It “only” took 31 attempts over 27 years but the first winter ascent of the world’s ninth highest peak, Nanga Parbat, at 8,126 meters or 26,660 feet, has finally occurred. At 3:37 pm local time February 26, 2016, three of four climbers who banded together after team after team stopped, quit or left in frustration\u00a0or mystery, summited the Killer Mountain. All the climbers are now back in\u00a0their Camp 4 at 7100 meters.<\/p>\n

The team of\u00a0Alex Txikon and Ali Sadpara stayed together as did\u00a0Simone Moro and\u00a0Tamara Lunger but they joined forces after\u00a0Moro\/Lunger abandoned their original\u00a0plans due to dangerous serac and crevasse conditions on the Messner Route. They had reached 5800 meters on the Diamer Face.<\/p>\n

Alex Txikon, Ali Sadpara and Daniel Nardi were the so-called International Team and set out from the beginning to climb in the traditional siege\u00a0style using\u00a0fixed ropes but not using supplemental\u00a0oxygen on what is considered the normal route on Nanga.<\/p>\n

In a bit of drama, Italian Daniel Nardi, apparently stormed out of base camp after Spaniard\u00a0Alex Txikon shared with the world that Nardi allegedly\u00a0had not paid his share of the bills for the expedition. All of\u00a0this played out in a series of dueling tweets, Facebook and blog posts with the end result of Nardi leaving\u00a0the team.<\/p>\n

A long Season<\/h3>\n

\"nanga<\/a>Many of the teams arrived back in December 2015 with the aim to climb quickly during the expected narrow\u00a0weather windows. Some\u00a0teams tried to acclimatize on other peaks, including as far away as South America, in order to attempt\u00a0Nanga in alpine style, but all of these strategies proved unsuccessful as the weather had other ideas.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons Nanga has proved so difficult to summit in the winter is summed up in one word: weather. And this winter proved to be no exception. There were long periods\u00a0of high winds and heavy snow, plus a few serious avalanches that took out routes and camps. When a window appeared it was short and sometimes nothing close\u00a0to what was predicted. So the climbers remained flexible and focused. In the end, the summit team was on the mountain for two and half months.<\/p>\n

Summit Push<\/h3>\n

\"Nanga<\/a>After several false starts, a window was forecasted for February 24-26 so the team jumped on it leaving base camp on February 22nd <\/sup>\u00a0knowing they would be climbing at\u00a0the end\u00a0of a storm. They spent a night at Camp 2 at 6100 meters after climbing for 10 hours. But instead of moving higher, high winds that were anticipated arrived and they stayed\u00a0for another night and a half.<\/p>\n

This effort is even more impressive as the climbers had not been able to acclimatize as they would have preferred due to weather and avalanches. Txikon and Sadpara had reached 6700m, and Moro and\u00a0Lunger had touched\u00a06100m.<\/p>\n

Leaving their tents in the middle of the night on the 24th<\/sup>, they climbed to Camp 3 at 6700 meters. Finally on February 25th, they established the high point for everyone on the summit team and camped that night at 7100 meters overlooking a steep drop-off that creates the Bazhin Basin, and the route to the summit, still 1000 meters higher.<\/p>\n

They left for the summit at 6:00 am local time on February 26. Climbing steadily all four alpinists reached the summit ridge.\u00a0Tamara Lunger who was battling illness all day choose to stay on the summit ridge while the others topped out.<\/p>\n

Alex Txikon’s base camp team received a radio call from the summit team and posted thiis on his Facebook<\/a> account and blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3:37pm (in Pakistan). SUMMIT! We just got the confirmation by walkie: Alex Txikon, Ali Sadpara and Simone Moro<\/a> have reached the top of NANGA PARBAT (8.126m) FOR THE FIRST TIME IN WINTER. Tamara Lunger<\/a>stopped some meters below. Will spend night in C4 (7.200m) and tomorrow will be back in BC. Then they\u2019ll have completed THE FIRST WINTER ASCENT OF NANGA PARBAT. Congratulations for such an excellent job!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and then on their return\u00a0to 7100 meters:<\/p>\n

Extremely tired, Alex Txikon, Ali Sadpara, Simone Moro<\/a> and Tamara Lunger<\/a> have already reached C4 (7.200m). Feel obviously happy and satisfyed, but admit that today’s work was “very hard and long”; that the summit-trapeze is “steeper than expected” and terrain was “really icy” on the last couloir. On the other hand, it was just extreme fatigue and early-morning-pukes what made Lunger desist not very far away from summit. Tomorrow will begin to descend at 10:00am.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Congratulations<\/h3>\n