Asia, Pakistan, Nanga Parbat Attempt

Publication Year: 1990.

Nanga Parbat Attempt. We were Davorin and Luka Kamicar, Sandi Marincic and I. On June 13, we left Chilas for Base Camp, accompanied by 23 porters. We reached it four days later. In Base Camp there was a Korean expedition, which had been there for three weeks, and a German one. We had originally wanted to try the 1978 Messner route on the Diamir Face, but after we had had a look at it, we were much less enthusiastic. Séracs kept falling without any time schedule and large avalanches swept the route. We decided to join the Korean and Germans on the usual Diamir Face route. On June 18, we carried to Camp I at 5100 meters and continued on up the fixed ropes nearly to Camp II at 5600 meters before returning to Base Camp. After two days of rest, we made an acclimatization climb to 5800 meters on Ganalo Peak. Two days later, one of the Koreans, Kim Kwang-Ho, fell to his death on the face of Nanga Parbat. We climbed to Camp I, found him and brought him to the valley. The accident made us decide to return. The conditions on the face were too risky; the weather continued bad.

Vlasta Kunaver, Planinska zveza Slovenije