History of Winter Climbing Nanga Parbat | Episode 3
Winter 2012-13 was the ‘busiest’ winter season on Nanga Parbat, when four teams attempted the mountain from Diamir and Rupal sides. While Diamir teams underwent usual hardships of Killer Mountain, the situation on Rupal face was more intense.
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| Tomek Mackiewicz on Nanga Parbat in winter 2013 |
14. 'Justice for All' Third Attempt 2012-13
After two unsuccessful attempts on Diamir side, Tomek Mackiewicz and Marek Klonowski went for Rupal face in winter 2013. They arrived at Base Camp after the start of calendar winter season. ABC was established on December 24th, C1 on January 3rd and C2 on 13th. After due rest and hint of improvement in weather, they went up again on 19th. After spending nights in established camps and multiple bivouacs at 6000m, 6100m and 6600m, they set up C3 on 27th and decided to wait there for an improvement in weather.
On February 1st, Marek decided to abandon the climb, owing to the challenging conditions, whereas Tomek opted to stay in bivouac at 6100m. After fighting severe cold and wind for several days and climbing as high as 7400m, Tomek made it back to Base Camp on 8th. It was only the second instance that a team managed to go above 7000m on Nanga Parbat in winter.
15. US-Hungarian Expedition 2012-13
American Ian Overton and Hungarians David Klein and Zoltan Robert were on Nanga Parbat’s Diamir side in winter 2012-13. Their plan was to climb the line attempted by Reinhold Messner, Hubert Messner, Hanspeter Eisendle and Wolfgang Tomaseth in 2000 (and also by Simone & Denis in winter 2011-12).
Unfortunately, Zoltan suffered frostbite on his toes during trek to BC and couldn’t participate in climb. After his early departure, the chances of team’s success were almost non-existent. Ian and David made a half-attempt to go up the mountain, but eventually the expedition was abandoned on February 10th. The highest point reached by David and Ian was around 5400m.
16. Joel Wischnewski’s Disappearance 2012-13
French climber Joel Wischnewski became the first victim of winter Nanga Parbat, who went missing after February 6th. He was on Rupal face to attempt a direct route up the SE Pillar. Joel reached the Base Camp on January 9th and established two camps at 4150m and 4300m, in next couple of weeks.
With a forecast of three good days, Joel left C2 on February 6th, never to be heard again. All efforts to reach and find the missing climber went in vain. However, his body was recovered from the mountain, after snowmelt uncovered his remains, in October. It’s assumed that he was hit by an avalanche, while moving between camps.
The Italian-French duo, Daniel Nardi and Elisabeth Revol, was the second team on Diamir side, last year. Having reached the Base Camp on January 7th, they acclimatized on Ganalo Peak (6608m) before attempting the Mummery Rib in alpine style.
On January 28th, they reached 6400m but were forced to turn back because of high winds and bad weather. Before abandoning the expedition, the duo made another attempt on Mummery Rib, but couldn’t go above 6000m.
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