The mountain Nanga Parbat does not have a clearly cut top. From the base camp underneath,
the summit cannot be seen. |
Mountain ridge close to Nanga Parbat
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The snow piles up as huge masses in places it can fall, then works loose along steep
slopes causing stonefalls, avalanches and mud torrents. The major part of the route is a multikilometer trek via the snowy
gentle slopes, although there are enough steep rises too. Here is how Ivan Dusharin
describes some episodes of the ascent: |
Dusharin: "The section between the
first and the second camps is the most difficult section of the whole route. The altitude
difference is considerable, approximately one thousand meters of rise with steepness being
50-60 degrees. The route mainly goes through the rocks on the ice. About 100 meters prior
to a snow-covered arch, there is a sharp traverse to the left, then you jumar up. After
that, the route goes towards rocks. Here it begins... |
A rocky wall is in front, completely vertical, of an interior angle type, severely
partitioned. All the cracks are filled with ice. Some sections of the wall have an
overhanging relief. There are actually 120m of vertical rocks here. The rocks are covered
with old ropes that are very dangerous to use. Racks of metallic ladders with aluminum
cross-beams have been staked hanging on the cable. You have already worked 6-7 hrs or so
on steep ice and now are coming up to such "plumb lines". |
Slopes of Nanga Parbat
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When you look from underneath all that looks like a gentle slope of rocks with snow and it
should be easily passed through. It appeared to be quite different. The approach to the
ropes is 80 degrees of very abrupt ice and it is accumulated serious ice. You should press
the crampons points against the ice, hammer them in for all they are to keep balance. I am
coming up the rock, and a hail of ice chips is falling down thick and fast on me. Here you
cannot pass by without making frozen ice drops fall. You split off pieces of ice with
crampons and they fly down. We were forced to wait for Andrei and Carlos to move forward a
bit.
In spite of ropes it is difficult to ascend using only one jumar - the section is quite
long. Utilizing the hanging ladders is dangerous too. However there's no other way. You
are forced to crawl up in crampons, securing yourself with a rope. Crampons grab all these
cables, cross-beams are not fixed, all this shifts aside and you hang in somewhat
unbalanced position. If you put the front teeth of the crampons on a beam it turns out to
be a long foot lever and the ankle simply does not endure the load. Additionally you carry
20kg rucksack. Generally this is acrobatic fun that makes you feel exhausted. Moreover,
small stones and rather sizable pieces of ice permanently fall down. You should have a
helmet on while passing this area. All this happens at the altitude of above 6,000 m.
There is not enough air, your stamina passes away.
Carlos is standing firmly on the wall and indicating the ropes that can be used. I chose
one, fastened to it and began ascending. Soon I realized that there is nothing for the
crampons to hook over, not a single fissure nor a slot. I move up more than half a wall
with big difficulty and saw that I had nothing to hold on to. But if I do not grab, I am
pushed to the right side to the ladders although the rope is on the left. I caught the
ladder trying to overthrow the rope to the right. I am not successful because of the large
ledge. I found myself in an uncomfortable position - the ladder goes up, the rope loaded
with my body weight - to the left. So I began going up along the ladder. It is no doubt a
tight-rope walking: crampons stick to everything. I feel I'm getting weak, don't know what
to do next. I am forced to take off the rucksack in free hang and hook it over the
carabiner. I feel better immediately. I am overcoming a negative angle slope, hands just
holding the ladder and haphazardly pressing crampons against the wall.
I got to a small inclined ledge covered with snow and started waiting for the rest of
guys. In a half an hour Sasha Dosaev appeared from underneath. I explained the situation
to him and he helped me to pull up our two rucksacks. Without his rucksack he easily
ascended to me. He said: 'I didn't think it was so serious.' But Slava can jam up here for
a long time. Sasha remained to wait for Slava and I started moving up further. The same
ladders are above me, however I move uphill using the rail rope. I passed 20m, than swung
like a pendulum towards the main route, to the place where ladders were available. I
started going upstairs, but here the cable of one of the ladder steps popped into a
crampons lug and I jammed. I can move neither one way nor another. The situation is rotten
- I am hanging on the rope. What shall I do?
Once again I am fixing myself, taking off the rucksack, hanging it over, turning upside
down, unhooking the cable to release my legs. It may repeat, therefore I am taking the
crampons off, attaching them to the rucksack, putting the rucksack on and moving up the
ladder without crampons. It is more pleasant. Finally the ladders went over, and a snow
and ice slope started. The rope is fixed but you need crampons as well. It is risky to put
on crampons in a hanging position: what if you let them go? So I was forced to do without
them covering about 40m of a snow and ice slope. Then goes a relatively smooth platform.
The tents of Japanese and Koreans are on it. A bit higher Carlos and Andrei Mariev are
making the spot. I fell 1hr behind them. I explain the situation. We agreed that Andrei
would go to help the guys. He put on all the equipment once again and went down. An hour
later he came back carrying Slava's rucksack. In two hour Sasha and Slava appeared. This
was the way we were overcoming that very hard space.
The majority of time the weather was indefinite, variable. It would clear up, then it
would snow heavily and the avalanches would start rumbling here and there. We were about
to be wiped off by one of them. The four of us were moving up from the second camp to the
third one spreading to a long chain. Carlos, the leader, already approached the 3rd camp,
I was going to the fourth. Evening was coming and all of a sudden the wind rose and the
snow began to fall heavily. Through breaks in clouds I saw Carlos traversing the slope in
front of and above me. The visibility was episodical. Here somebody is yelling: "Look
out! The avalanche!" We lay down where we were. A small avalanche caught us and moved
farther. Nothing is wrong, but the snow is everywhere and forced itself beyond the scruff
of the neck.
My imagination depicts the situation: we are still at the beginning of the slope, this
snowy slope covers the vast area and a snowfield above is expanding. The snow is
accumulating and we can be wiped off and it can affect even a tent at the third camp. The
danger is real. Haze is everywhere, it is snowing hard. I hear the rustle of moving
avalanches around. I am discussing over the wireless the state of affairs with Andrei
Volkov who is in the third camp. We won't be able to go as far as the third camp and I let
out a yell: "Go down!" I hear Sasha's respond: "Avalanche!" Repeating
"Avalanche" I am falling down in the snow leaving my walkie-talkie switched on.
Here the avalanche is covering us. The radio was almost knocked out of my hands. I was
lucky to have it on a lace. God knows what Luba Shvedova thought listening to it over the
radio in the base camp.
The avalanche didn't wipe us off. I quickly started descending onto the ridge. It was
relatively safe there. Where are the guys? I noticed a descending point, then another one
appears. That means that the boys didn't brood when I shouted to them to go down, although
Andrei had two or three ropes to go and he would find himself in camp 3. Considering the
energy consumption it would be more logical for him to move to the third camp. That's what
I like the guys for: if an order is given they carry it out, even if it means that
four-hour work is in vain. I realized that they were descending and pretty quickly rolled
down over those rocks to the second camp. Things came to a pretty pass. The snow stuffed
everything including our trunks. We got soaked and frozen slightly. We had to stay
overnight in a wet tent. As the result, Sasha Dosaev got cold and was not able to ascend
later."
Dusharin: "Before dawn we went out for a summit attempt and passed by a huge snow
field with fissures plunging in the snow. When the sun rose, we were at the bottom of the
pillar just before the summit. Approximately a kilometer of a snowy steep slope was left.
Here we took turns to tramp the route. The slope traverses up, turning to the right
between rocks, then the snow sets in. The structure of the snow is heavy. When we saw the
Japanese and Koreans moving up from underneath we were surprised at how slowly they moved.
When we arrived we understood that the snow structure didn't allow us to move fast. The
upper layer of the snow is smoothed out with the winds, there is a crust, but it doesn't
sustain your body weight and you fall through. The snow under the crust is fluffy and
therefore you plunge in very deep. You need to go up but there's no bearing. You have to
form steps, search for the hard spots. The strength passes away. You pull a leg up almost
above your ear to step up. This hard work takes power and time away.
The mountain quickly destroys the traces of those who moved on its slopes. Not a single
trace, nothing at all. You are forced to build up the path all over again. That tramping
job made us exhausted. Drowsiness attacked us; we wanted to sleep. At the moment of
respite I fell on the ice axe and fainted immediately. I fell into a light sleep. 5-10
seconds passed and I began moving forward being in snow up to my ears. There were two
reasons for that. Bad weather and avalanches made us retreat to the previous camp, so we
didn't get enough sleep. The normal procedure of getting acclimatized was violated.
Normally it is recommended to stay in the camp that is situated not more than 1000m from
the peak, to stay overnight, to go down and then start your summit attempt from the base
camp. This order is often broken with Nanga Parbat because of the fact that you better not
cross again a dangerous portion of the route before the 2nd camp. We did this in the same
way. Our infirmity is the result of it. It's only the residual acclimatization that one
gets within previous climbing that helps. Inexperienced climbers have nothing to do here. |
Ivan Dusharin near the 4th camp
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That is why Carlos and I felt better than Andrei Mariev. He had less climbing experience
and lagged behind. In the long run, the slope was over and we came out onto rocks. We
began looking for the peak but there appeared to be a few of them. Together with Carlos we
were wandering around and finally found it. It was covered with a variety of flags, there
were some things scattered around, the evidence that people were here. We reached the peak
on July 13 at 14:45. Traditionally we took photos and video, contacted the base camp over
the radio and recorded our address for the Togliatti local radio station. What I said then
was: "For the first time Russians are on the Nanga Parbat summit and from here
congratulate all people of Togliatti with the 260th anniversary of their town, the ascent
is dedicated to the city and memory of our friends. May you have happiness, peace,
prosperity and success, let you win out in your life and business. |
It is typical of Nanga-Parbat that it very sharply towers over all surrounding peaks. It
is the most western eight-thousander in the Himalayas, it cuts short abruptly further to
the river Indus, then goes a wide gap without large mountains. It means that it is sort of
singled out of the Greater Himalaya range. Therefore all the mountains around it are at
least 1000…1500m lower. There are practically no mountains covered with snow beside
Nanga Parbat. Only Nanga Parbat mountain-mass shows up white, the rest is rock ridges. The
closest 8,000 meter peaks - K2, Gasherbrum, Broad Peak - are in clouds. I saw a gigantic
heap of clouds in a distance and understood that it was K2. I sent my regards to it. |
We started moving down almost exceeding the limit of human endurance. When you go down you
do not see the ground under your feet. You have a feeling as if you took off the earth
soaring over the valley which was way below. There was a huge dark cloud hanging over the
valley. The sun went through it making double rainbow, a sunbeam penetrated into the
cloud. The entire valley of the Diamir Gorge was illuminated with the sun. A kind of
unrealistic fabulous sight. The weather went bad, the snow fell heavily, wind rose. It
looked as if the mountain washed itself once again. It tidied everything up, leaving no
signs of our presence on it.
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