Nanga Parbat
Interesting facts
- Guinness World Records lists it as the fastest-growing mountain on Earth, rising by about 7 mm a year.
- It is one of only two mountains in the world's top twenty for both height and prominence, ranking ninth and fourteenth; the other is Everest.
- After his solo summit in 1953, Hermann Buhl spent the night standing on a narrow ledge and regained his top camp 40 hours after leaving it, without bottled oxygen.
- In June 1937 an avalanche buried Camp IV below Rakhiot Peak, killing seven German climbers and nine Sherpas, almost the entire expedition.
- In 1970 Reinhold and Günther Messner first climbed the Rupal Face and descended the far side; Günther died in an avalanche, his remains found in 2005.
- Eight years later Reinhold Messner returned to the Diamir Face and made the first completely solo ascent of any 8,000 m peak.
- Heinrich Harrer came here on a 1939 reconnaissance; interned by the British when war broke out, his escape across Tibet became the book Seven Years in Tibet.
- The 10 km Mazeno Ridge was first climbed in 2012 by Scots Sandy Allan and Rick Allen after 18 days of continuous climbing, winning the Piolet d'Or.
- In July 2024 a climber reached the summit from base camp in 15 hours and 18 minutes without supplementary oxygen, a speed record.
Why it is worth it
Nanga Parbat, 8,126 m, is the ninth-highest mountain in the world and the western cornerstone of the Himalaya, rising just south of the great bend of the Indus in Gilgit-Baltistan, in the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir. Few mountains stand so far above their surroundings. On the south side the Rupal Face climbs about 4,600 m from its foot, often called the highest mountain face on Earth; on the north the Rakhiot flank rises some 7,000 m from the Indus in just 25 km. The name comes from Sanskrit for naked mountain, after the steep south face where snow rarely settles; locally it is Diamer, the mountain of God.
It was also one of the first great Himalayan peaks to be tried, and one of the deadliest. The British climber Albert Mummery vanished on its slopes in 1895. In the 1930s German teams, barred from Everest, made it their national objective and suffered repeated deadly losses, most notoriously in 1934; the toll earned it the name Killer Mountain. The first ascent finally came on 3 July 1953, when the Austrian Hermann Buhl went on alone for the final stretch and reached the summit late in the evening, a climb that became mountaineering legend. The first winter ascent was made on 26 February 2016 by Ali Sadpara, Alex Txikon and Simone Moro. In June 2013 militants attacked the Diamir base camp and killed ten foreign climbers and a Pakistani guide.
For non-climbers the mountain is seen best from Fairy Meadows, locally Joot, a grassy clearing at about 3,300 m among pine forest on the Rakhiot side, protected as part of Nanga Parbat National Park. Locals have run camping sites and wooden huts here since 1992, and the season lasts from April to the end of September. The white wall filling the view is, strictly, the North Peak at 7,816 m; the true summit is hidden behind it. Many visitors continue on foot to the Rakhiot base camp beneath the glaciers.
Reaching Fairy Meadows is an adventure in itself. From Raikot Bridge on the Karakoram Highway, local drivers take visitors by jeep up a narrow gravel track, one of the most dangerous roads anywhere and open only to local vehicles, to the village of Tattu in about 90 minutes; from there it is a hike of three to four hours. Check any permit requirements before going.
Getting there
Jaglot and Chilas, on the Karakoram Highway, are each about 50 km from the summit, and Gilgit is about 80 km away. Gilgit Airport (GIL) is about 79 km away; the main international gateway is Islamabad (ISB), about 247 km away in a straight line and much further by road. Raikot Bridge, the starting point for Fairy Meadows, is about 28 km from the summit.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Nanga Parbat, known in Shina as Diamer, is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth with its summit at 8,126 m (26,660 ft) above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Nanga Parbat is the westernmost major peak of the Himalayas, and thus in the traditional view of the Himalayas as bounded by the Indus and Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra rivers, it is the western anchor of the entire mountain range.
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