Nanga Parbat in winter, Moro and Urubko aim to climb route attempted by Messner and Eisendle

Simone Moro and Denis Urubko are revving their engines and getting an idea of their Nanga Parbat, in its winter vest via the Diamir face. The news is that the project is taking form and, as Moro writes in today's report, he and Urubko spent the night at 5300m/5400m (a height usually used for a summer Camp 2) in temperatures down to -30°C. More importantly though, they have decided not to ascend the Kinshofer route but instead try the line attempted by Reinhold Messner and Hans Peter Eisendle in 2000. This choice means they will be able to save time fixing ropes which the Kinshofer route would have required, and also implies that, should things turn for the best, it might result in a new route or finishing variation to the line imagined by Messner/Eisendle… The adventure and exploration continues!


13/12/2011 - Nanga Parbat Diamir Face Base Camp

We've just returned to Base Camp. We slept in below -30°C and hearing Denis tremble and curse due to the cold doesn't happen all to often. We spent the night in a Camp which could have been Camp 2 for a summer expedition, and we decided to reach this altitude directly from Base Camp to test our engines and keep ourselves warm by being constantly on the move.

Denis and I have decided NOT to climb the Kinshofer route but instead attempt another line, probably the route which Messner attempted with Hans Peter Eisendle in 2000. The Kinshoffer would require too much time because we'd have to fix ropes all over the place which is something we prefer not to do.

This is why we decided to ascend to Camp 1 yesterday on the Kinshoffer line, collect the gear we had previously stashed and continue up for the same distance into the valley between Nanga and Ganalo, climbing to the left of the moraine/glacier.

We reached an altitude of circa 5300/5400m which offered a spectacular view onto Nanga and the face where Lafaille traced his route in 2003. I'd never seen this during the day because Jean Cristophe and I climbed at night in poor conditions.

This morning we wanted to ascend to the Col at 6000m but the weather was bad (as Gabl had forecast) and it started to snow. We opted to descend because there's a section which takes 4/5 minutes to cross and is exposed to an extremely dangerous serac and if there is fresh snow up there, it's a bit like playing Russian roulette. This serac is the one to the left of the Kinshoffer gully…

Simone Moro

- Nanga Parbat in winter, Moro and Urubko travel towards their dream
- Nanga Parbat winter expedition, the first video of Simone Moro and Denis Urubko