The Nanga Parbat is an extremely high massif which lies in the western portion of the Himalayas, in Northwestern Kashmir, Pakistan. It is one of the highest mountain in the world, measuring 8,126 m (26,660 ft) high, constituting a real challenge for climbers, especially because of the danger it implies getting to the summit. It is located south of the Indus River in the Diamer District of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistani-administered Kashmir. Karakoram Mountain Range lies to the north. Nanga Parbat mountain sides are very steep. On the south, it has the highest mountain face in the world, rising to a height of 4,600 m (15,090 ft) above its base; it is called the Rupal face.
Physical Description
Nanga Parbat is a long ridge which extends from the southwest to the northeast. This longitudinal massif consists of an enormous bulk of ice and rock. It has three faces: the Diamir, Rakhiot, and Rupal faces. The southwestern portion of this main ridge is known as the Mazeno Wall, which has a number of lower peaks. The main ridge stretches northeastward in an arc-like fashion, featuring the Rakhiot Peak, with 7,070 m (23,200 ft) of altitude. The south and southeast side of the ridge is dominated by the Rupal Face. The north/northwest side of the mountain is more complex and it descends to the Indus River. Near the base of the Rupal Face, there is a glacial lake called Latbo, lying above a seasonal shepherds' village of the same name.
Geology
Like the rest of the Himalayas range, the Nanga Parbat is one of the youngest mountain on the planet. Its orogenesis began some 50 million years ago, during the Terciary period of the Cenezoic Era. It is the product of the collision and subduction of the Indian plate against the Eurasian plate, being folded up and uplifted along with the rest of the Himalaya Mountain Range. It consists of sedimentary, metamorphic, and plutonic igneous rocks, which have been exposed and raised to high altitude. The bedding of the rock is horizontal on the south and inclined on the north, with folds and thrusts overturned toward the south.
Climbing Expeditions
The first climbing expedition to Nanga Parbat was led by the German Willy Merkl in 1932. Willy Merkl led an eight-man German team, which included an American climber called Rand Herron. While the team were all strong climbers, none had Himalayan experience. Bad weather and extremely low temperature prevented the team from progressing far beyond the Rakhiot Peak northeast of the Nanga Parbat summit. Rakhiot Peak was reached by Peter Aschenbrenner and Herbert Kunigk. These climbers established the feasibility of a route to the Nanga Parbat crest via Rakhiot Peak.
More than two decades had gone by, when, on July 3, 1953, the Austrian climber Hermann Buhl became the first man to successfully reach the summit of Nanga Parbat. That year, on May 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay had already climbed the Mt. Everest. The second ascent of Nanga Parbat was carried out by the German climbers Toni Kinshofer, Siegfried Löw, and A. Mannhardt in 1962, was via the Diamir Face. In 1970, Günther and Reinhold Messner made the third ascent to the summit of the massif and the first ascent of the Rupal Face.
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| Above, a view of Nanga Parbat from Fairy Meadows. This is the Raikhot face. |
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| The Rupal face of Nanga Parbat, which is the south face. |