Renowned Nepali climbers have ended their Nanga Parbat summit attempt on Saturday as a massive avalanche almost swept away expedition leader Mingma Gyalje Sherpa aka Mingma G and record breaking climber Chhiring Sherpa.
“Mingma G and I were heading to Camp I to check out route and gears, when a massive avalanche burst through Messner route. It was a close call,” Chhiring Sherpa told Everest Chronicle from Chilas, Pakistan. “So we decided to call off the expedition as it was not safe to proceed.”
As the team posted themselves at the base camp for summit, Chhiring says that avalanches had been very frequent. On a bad weather day, there would be up to 3 avalanches.
“The rope was fixed. We had dropped oxygen at Camp II. We had planned for summit push on September 2. But the weather continued to deteriorate. In addition to avalanche, there was constant rock fall on the route,” said Chhiring, who set a world record for the fastest climb of K2 last month. He further adds that avalanches had swept away all climbing gears from the Camp I when they reached it for route checking.
Nanga Parbat is known as “the Killer Mountain” due to its high fatality rate. The mountain has a steep ascent, unstable glaciers, avalanches, and storms during the summer.
Eight foreign climbers and 12 Nepali guides were set to attempt the mountain on the first week of September. The team were already late by two months. Nanga Parbat is usually attempted on June or early July.
After two weeks of being in Nanga Parbat summit seeking for a favorable weather window, the 20 climbers have decided to call off the expedition. The weather in Karakorum mountains is extremely erratic but this year the weather in all of Pakistan has been devastating.
This year, Pakistan suffered an extended and strong monsoon since June 2022 resulting in extreme flooding. Incessant rain have exacted a terrible toll on human life, and destroyed roads, bridges and houses. Pakistan declared a national emergency on August 25 as the death toll from floods approaches 1,000 and around 33 million people have been displaced. Thousands more need to be evacuated, as the rivers keep rising.
