Nanga Parbat

Before Hermann Buhl reached the summit on July 3, 1953, Nanga Parbat had claimed 31 lives—more than any other mountain in the world at that time. The German expeditions of 1934 and 1937 ended in disasters that shook the mountaineering community: in 1934, Willy Merkl and eight others perished in a storm; in 1937, an avalanche buried 16 climbers and Sherpas in their tents. The mountain became known as the ‘Killer Mountain’ and the ‘Man-Eater,’ a symbol of the Himalaya’s lethal power.

Buhl’s solo ascent broke the curse through sheer will. Departing Camp V at 2:30 a.m. and fueled by the stimulant Pervitin, he reached the summit alone at 7:00 p.m.—far too late for a safe descent. Caught by darkness, he survived the night standing on a tiny ledge at 7,900 meters, one hand gripping a rock. He reached camp 40 hours after setting out, and remains the only person to have made the first ascent of an 8,000-meter peak alone. The Killer Mountain had finally been conquered, but never tamed.

Nanga Parbat is unique among the 8,000-meter peaks: an isolated massif surrounded by river valleys that separate it from all other mountains. The Indus River flows 7,000 meters below the summit on its northern side, creating one of Earth’s deepest gorges. This isolation means the mountain generates its own weather and presents three entirely different characters depending on your approach.

The Rakhiot Face on the north, accessed via Fairy Meadows, is where Buhl made his historic climb—a complex route over the Silver Saddle and Silver Plateau. The Diamir Face to the west became the ‘normal route’ after Toni Kinshofer’s 1962 ascent. But the Rupal Face on the south defies comprehension: at 4,600 vertical meters from valley to summit, it is the highest mountain wall on Earth. When Reinhold Messner and his brother Günther climbed it in 1970, making the first traverse of the mountain, it entered mountaineering legend. Günther died on the Diamir Face during their desperate descent.

For 27 years after the first winter attempt in 1988, Nanga Parbat resisted all winter assaults. Over 31 expeditions failed, often turned back by the jet-stream winds that scour the ‘naked’ summit with particular fury in winter months. The mountain’s exposed position at the western end of the Himalaya makes it a target for storms that other peaks avoid.

On February 26, 2016, history was finally made. Italian veteran Simone Moro, Spanish climber Alex Txikon, and Pakistani mountaineer Muhammad Ali Sadpara—whose home village lies in the shadow of K2—reached the summit at 3:37 p.m. Tamara Lunger stopped just meters short, too exhausted to continue. Ali Sadpara became the first Pakistani to summit an 8,000-meter peak in winter, and the triumphant team marked Nanga Parbat as the 13th of the 14 eight-thousanders to fall to winter ascent. Only K2 remained—a challenge Ali Sadpara would attempt, and lose his life pursuing, in 2021.