Nanga Parbat | 9 Things To Know About Nanga Parbat

Introduction:

Pakistan has many beautiful places like Neelu Valley, Islamabad, etc. and Nanga Parbat is one of them. Nanga Parbat is a mountain located in the Diamer District of Pakistan’s Gilgit Baltistan. The mountain is also known as Diamer due to its location in Diamer District.

Nanga Parbat is one of the highest mountains in the world. It is the ninth highest mountain globally, with a total height of 8,126 meters above sea level. It is the western anchor of the Himalayas. The mountain is also known as Diamer or Deo Mir by the locals, which means “Huge Mountains”.

The name of the mountain Nanga Parbat is derived from the Sanskrit words Nanga and Parbat. The combined meaning of these two words is “Naked Mountain”. In this article, you will get to know the top 10 things about the Nanga Parbat –

Things To Know About Nanga Parbat:

• Elevation of Nanga Parbat
• The tallest mountain in Pakistan
• Location
• The reason behind the name Nanga Parbat
• Climbing history
• First ascent
• Winter climbing
• Disasters
• Appearances

 

Elevation of Nanga Parbat:

The first and one of the most important things everyone should know about any mountain is its height or elevation. The Nanga Parbat’s elevation is about 8,126 meters, making Nanga Parbat the ninth highest mountain globally. 

The tallest mountain in Pakistan:

The tallest mountain in Pakistan is known as K2. K2 mountain is located on China – Pakistan border and the tallest mountain in Pakistan. The elevation of the K2 mountain is about 8,611 meters high. The mountain is also the highest point of the Karakoram Range, and also it is the point in both Pakistan and Xinjiang.

The name of the mountain is K2 which is derived from the notation used by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of British India. The survey of the Karakoram was made for the very first time by Thomas Montgomerie. He sketched the two most prominent peaks, labelling them K1 and K2. K2 is located northwest of the Karakoram range. It is located in the Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous Country of Xinjiang, China. 

Location of Nanga Parbat:

The Nanga Parbat is located at the south of the Indus River in the Diamer District of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan. At the north of the Nanga Parbat, the western end of the Karakoram range is located. 

The reason behind the name Nanga Parbat:

Nanga Parbat’s name derived from the two Sanskrit words Nanga and Parvata, which means “Naked Mountains” The Punjabi name of the Parbat is Diamer, or Deo Mir means “huge mountain”. 

Climbing history:

The Nanga Parbat was discovered by Europeans. A man Albert F. Mummery led an expedition to the peak, but he reached up to 6,100 m on the Diamer Face in 1895.

Mummery and two Gurkha Companions later died with him reconnoitring the Rakhiot Face. The German focused on Kanchenjunga initially, but its steep faces were more complicated than Mount Everest. In 1932, the Germans expedition to Nanga Parbat was initially led by Willy Merkl.

The expedition was also referred to as a German-American expedition. In 1934, Willy Merkl led another expedition; it was better prepared, and also it was financed by the New Nazi Government. On the same route used by Willy Merkl, Karl Wien led another expedition to the mountain in 1937. Due to heavy snowfall, progress was made very slowly.

On June 14, an avalanche was overrun on camp IV below Rakhiot Peak, in which seven Germans and nine Sherpas were killed. 

First Ascent:

On July 3, 1953, an Australian climber Hermann Buhl climbed the Nanga Parbat. The Parbat was climbed for the very first time. Buhl was a member of a German-American team; he climbed the Parbat via Rakhiot Flank. The half brother of Willy Merkl organized the expedition with Karl Herrligoffer. Peter Aschenbrenner was the leader of the expedition.

Peter also participated in the 1932 and 1934 attempts. During the final push, for the final 1,300 meters, Buhl continued alone after his companion turned back. Under the influence of the drug pervitin, tea from coca leaves, and padutin, at 7:00 p.m., Buhl reached the summit.

The climbing was more challenging than he had anticipated, and also, it was time-consuming. During the climbing, Buhl lost his crampon. He was forced to bivouac.

He was exhausted, holding a small handhold with his one hand. It was complicated, but he had to manage his balance. I was very fortunate to have a calm night and not so wind chilled. The next day of setting out after 40 hours, at 7:00 p.m., he finally reached his high camp.

It was more difficult to climb due to the ascent was made without oxygen. Buhl is the only man to have made the first ascent of an 8,000-meter peak alone.

 

Winter Climbing:

On February 26, 2016, the Nanga Parbat was climbed for the first time by a team consisting of Ali Sadpara, Alex Txikon, and Simone Moro. On January 25, 2018, the Polish Mackiewicz and Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol made the second winter ascent.

 

Attacks:

A Lithuanian, two Slovaks, two Chinese, a Chinese-American, one Nepali and three Ukrainians and a Pakistani guide were shot and killed at base camp by 15 extremist militants on June 23, 2013. Another foreign victim was injured in the attack at around 1 a.m., claimed by the Taliban’s local branch.

 

Appearances:

On Jan 14, 2010, a movie by Joseph Vilsmaier released about the 1970 expedition of brother Gunther Messner and Reinhold Messner. Hans Ertl, who participated in climbing up to 6,500 m to camp 5, directed a film in 1953 called Nanga Parbat 1953.

It was a documentary film. Ertl was also the cinematographer of the film. Film The Climb covers Hermann Buhl’s story making the first ascent was released in 1986 by Donal Shebib.

The book Tigers Of The Snow was written by Jonathan Neale about the 1934 Nanga Parbat ascent. Neale interviewed many old Sherpas and also the last man alive on Nanga Parbat in 1934.

Book went wrong on the expedition, the background of German politics in the early 1930s, and the hardships and passion for life in the Sherpa valleys. A fictional city Nanga Parbat in the DC Universe, is also named after Nanga Parbat.