The Aosta Valley, between 10 and 20 January, on Nanga Parbat for the first winter in a face of frozen snow and rock of almost 4500 meters
For months he had announced that he was preparing a “complex” winter expedition to Pakistan. Now Hervè Barmasse has decided to confirm what the goal is: “Together with the German David Goettler and the American Mike Arnold, we will try to climb the Rupal del Nanga Parbat (8126 meters), a wall of snow, ice and rock almost 4500 meters high. . It is the highest wall in the world, no one has ever succeeded in the coldest season “. For the 44-year-old mountaineer from Valle d’Aosta, a member like the other two of Team The North Face, this is the second 8000er in his career after the 2017 Shisha Pangma, always ascended and descended with Goettler in the record time of 13 hours.
Barmasse, why the Rupal?
“After last January Nirmal Purja and the Nepalese Sherpas arrived on K2, the only one of the 14 8000m peaks ever violated in winter, I said to myself: now what remains to be done? But to do in my style …” .
“When they made it, I was very happy. I was especially happy for the Sherpas, who finally conquered the limelight after having been protagonists for decades, yes, but often pushed aside, of the Himalayan expeditions and the Karakoram of mountaineers. Westerners. But my idea of challenge is to climb a very difficult mountain in winter without dirtying it or “covering it” with plastic, without using fixed ropes, or using oxygen (used on K2 by everyone except Purja; ed) “.
Which way do you plan to try?
“For now, given the means available, it is unthinkable to think of going a new route in winter. To date we know four of them. One, a little sideways, is the Schell Route. The other made Steve House famous: the he climbed alpine style in 2005 in seven days (always in summer). Then there is the one that was established by Jerzy Kukuczka and Carlos Carsolio. The fourth is the Messner route, which Reinhold climbed in 1970 together with his brother Gunther who then unfortunately he died during the descent. We will concentrate on the latter two “.
“They are the most direct and, in my opinion, the most passable in winter. The route established by House is technically more difficult, but in the cold it is a climb that is too technical for now, there are no such sophisticated materials that can allow you to climb it” .
What advice would you ask Messner?
“For the upper part, the one between 7200 and 8200 meters. The first is quite easy, but above it is more technical. Even if we will discover the difficulties of those altitudes at that moment there. Among other things, the last part it is the one that always remains in the shade, so it seems that we will face the biggest problems beyond 7800 meters. Of course, it’s a bit strange … “.
“At that altitude we will have already climbed over 4000 meters of wall, since we will start from 3500 of the base camp. In another mountain, Everest included, we would have already reached the summit, this time we will still have to face the most complicated moment”.
What climbing times does it foresee?
“It will depend on the weather conditions. Ideally between 10 and 20 January we would like to try the summit. The perfect plan is two nights up and one down, in the worst case three and two. night. Taking advantage of our ability to be quite fast even at those altitudes, the idea is to try to climb in the sun instead of being sheltered in the tent at night. Normally even in winter we leave at night for the top, but this time we will try to use a different tactic “.
Speaking of sport, what effort can your climbing the Rupal be compared to?
“For the sense of fatigue and exhaustion caused, but also for the level of aerobic strength and endurance required, I would say the Ironman. And then there is also the very high intensity, which in the case of this expedition is given by the altitude. The strength needed to maintain rhythms like those that David, Mike and I have planned is indispensable and is comparable to that of the Ironman.A further factor is the great resistance to all those hours spent always climbing, and always climbing. That’s why I would like to go up and down in a maximum of five days, because we also have to calculate the descent “.
Descent that those who are not familiar with mountaineering think little about.
“Not having fixed ropes available, we will have to reach the summit without exhausting our energies, on the contrary. We will have to be very lucid because then, going down, we will have to climb in the opposite direction. By virtue of all this, if at worst the ascent and descent should last five days I would compare it to five Ironman, but with an additional 25 kilos on the shoulders, that is the “weight” of the very high altitude. at 8000 I don’t go at that rate. If I manage to go to one thousand meters in 4 hours, I’m already a bolt of lightning. If the last day of climbing we will reach one hundred meters per hour … “.
December 27 – 08:25
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