Nanga Parbat, winter attempt. The Italian Simone la Terra and the experienced Pakistani mountaineer Mehrban Karim attempted Nanga Parbat (8,125m) via the Diamir Face. They reached the standard base camp on December 3 and established Camp 1 on the Kinshofer Route at 6,000m on December 10 in temperatures of -35°C. Strong winter winds were a constant hassle, and during the night of December 21 the base camp kitchen tent blew away with everything in it. At that point la Terra called off the expedition. The Diamir side of Nanga Parbat faces northwest and receives little winter sunshine; the team reported seeing the sun only once in December.

To date there have been several calendar-winter attempts on Nanga Parbat, the best by a Polish expedition to the Diamir Face, where, on February 11, 1997, Krzysztof Pankiewiez and Zbigniew Trzmiel retreated just 250m below the summit with severe frostbite.

LINDSAY Griffin, MountainINFO Editor, adapted from www.alpinist.com