Yesterday was a busy on Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world at 8126 meters (26,660 ft). Not only did the mountain see its first confirmed summits of the season, but rumors also appeared indicating that Nims Purja arrived in Base Camp, possibly signaling that his attempt to summit all 14 8000-meter peaks in a single seven month period isn’t over yet.
We’ll start with an update on the summit push that we’ve been monitoring closely over the past few days. In yesterday’s update we indicated that the team of Sergi Mingote, Moesses Fiamoncini, Ali Sadpara, Stefi Troguet, Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkin were approaching the top of the mountain and that their GPS trackers indicated they were not far from the summit.
When that story posted there was still no confirmation that they had reached the top however and it would take a few more hours before that happened. Now, those same trackers for Troguet, Mingote, and Cimenti all indicate that that the team reached the main summit, which is also being reported by Explorers Web too.
After the climbers topped out yesterday after a very long and exhausting push, it appears that they descended back to Camp 4 to rest. It now seems today they are back on the move and heading down the mountain, possibly all the way back to Base Camp. Mingote did take time to update his Facebook page however confirming that he had reached the top.
While ExWeb was the first to report on the Nanga Summits, the site shared another juicy bit of news as well. They are reporting a rumor –– and it is important to note that it is just a rumor at this point –– that Nirmal Purja has arrived on Nanga Parbat. We’ve been following Purja’s exploits since before the spring climbing season in the Himalaya,
then tracking his movements as he knocked off six 8000-meter peaks over the span of about a single month. His goal has been to go to Pakistan this summer and climb another five mountains, including Nanga Parbat, K2, Broad Peak, and Gasherbrum I and II.
It has appeared that this attempt may get put on hold due to a lack of funding, but it seems things may be back on track. If he is successful in this summer push, Nims hopes to return to the Himalaya this fall and summit three more 8000-meter mountains in Tibet as well.
Only a few updates from K2 today, where Adrian Ballinger and his team narrowly avoided an avalanche on their way to Camp 1 for their first acclimatization rotation. Adrian and team have only been in BC a few days, but already they are heading up the mountain.
Ahead of them is Mike Horn and Fred Roux, who reached Camp 2 yesterday after 12 hours of climbing. They spent the night there and are reportedly feeling very good amidst excellent weather. The Madison Mountaineering team also held their puja on K2 and will begin heading up the mountain in the next day or two.
That’s all for today. With the July 4th celebration taking place in the U.S. today, there won’t be any further updates on the site. Back to the usual schedule tomorrow however.
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