ISLAMABAD:Pakistani climber Ali Sadpara on Friday became one of three mountaineers in the world to make the first-ever...
ISLAMABAD:Pakistani climber Ali Sadpara on Friday became one of three mountaineers in the world to make the first-ever successful winter ascent of “Killer Mountain” Nanga Parbat, which at 8,126 meters is Pakistan’s second highest mountain peak after K2 and the world’s ninth highest.
“Ali Sadpara (Pakistan),Alex Txikon (Spain), and Simone Moro (Italy) have reached the top of Nanga Parbat,” Karrar Haidri, spokespersonof the Alpine Club of Pakistan said in a statement, confirming it was the first time the summit has been reached during winter months.
He said a fourth climber, Tamara Lunger of Spain, had been forced to halt the climb some metres beneath the summit.
Nanga Parbat earned its grisly nickname of “Killer Mountain” after more than 30 climbers died trying to conquer it before the first successful summit in 1953.
Its fearsome Rupal Face, rising more than 4,000 metres from base to top, presents one of the most difficult — and tantalising — challenges in climbing.
The climbers will spend Friday night at Camp 4 at 7,200 metres, and return to base camp tomorrow, Haidri said, adding that only then will they have completed the ascent.
Northern Pakistan is a magnet for mountaineers and is home to some of the tallest mountains in the world, including K2 — at 8,611 metres, the world’s second highest peak, but often deemed a more challenging climb than the highest, Mount Everest.
Nestled between the western end of the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush mountains and the Karakoram range, Gilgit-Baltistan houses 18 of the world’s 50 highest peaks.
It is also home to three of the world’s seven longest glaciers outside the polar regions. Hundreds of its mountains have never been climbed.