Nanga Parbat is one of the deadliest mountains in the world. Not only is it dangerous, but it is also one of the tallest mountains in the world. It would not be wrong, in any sense, to say that Nanga Parbat can prove to be a nightmare to anyone who has not yet ascended peaks above 8000 meters. The mountain gets its name “Killer Mountain” due to the high death rates in the area. The death rate has increased in the past years. While K2 is the most dangerous mountain in Pakistan, Nanga Parbat is the second most dangerous place, not just in Pakistan but in the world.
Moreover, many have failed to climb Nanga Parbat because of its bad weather and geographical conditions. It is surprising for many to know about the deaths in Nanga Parbat as this mountain has one of the highest recorded deaths among all the other mountains in the world. In this article, we will be discussing the deaths in Nanga Parbat. Stay tuned till the end of this article to learn more about Nanga Parbat, the deaths in the peak, and more!
Deaths in Nanga Parbat
Deaths in Nanga Parbat are not a new thing. This mountain is the ninth-highest in the world, standing tall at 8,126 m (26,660 ft) above sea level. Not only is the mountain tall, but it is also just as big of a nightmare for mountaineers. The mountain has perished a recorded number of 84 mountaineers for a century.
The causes of death, however, are varied. We have listed several mountain climbers who have died in Nanga Parbat below.
Death in Nanga Parbat 1985
The first recorded death in Nanga Parbat was on 24th August 1985. Famous English author and mountaineer Albert F. Mummery passed away with two Gurkhas, Ragobir Thapa, and Goman Singh, in an avalanche. The team was one of the earliest to discover and travel to Nanga Parbat.
Death in Nanga Parbat 1934
After the tragedy in 1985, there was a higher number of deaths in 1934 with the passing of 10 mountaineers. A lot of these mountaineers were from the German-American Nazi team of mountain climbers. Famous German mountaineers Willy Merkl, Wilhelm Welzenbach, Ulrich Wieland, and Alfred Drexel were some of the climbers from the Nazi team to die in Nanga Parbat in 1934. Likewise, there were many other mountain climbers from the British team, like Nima Nurbu, Pinju Norbu, Nima Tashi, Dorje Nima, Sherpa Dakshi, and Sherpa Gyali, who died on the mountain the same year. The deaths of all these mountaineers occurred between the 8th of June and the 17th of July.
Death in Nanga Parbat 1937
Sixteen mountaineers died during their expedition to Nanga Parbat in 1937, including Karl Wien, Martin Pfeffer, Peter Müllritter, Günther Hepp, Hans Hartmann, Adolf Göttner, Pert Fankhauser, Tigmay Pasang Norbu, Nima Tsering I, Nima Tsering II, Mingma Tsering, Karmi, Gyalgen Monjo, Chong Karma, and Ang Tshering II. All the deaths were caused due to an avalanche.
Death in Nanga Parbat 1950
Two British mountaineers, John W. Thornley and William H. Crace died due to unknown circumstances on 4th December 1950 during their expedition to Nanga Parbat.
Death in Nanga Parbat 1962, 1970, 1971and 1976
In 1962, German mountaineer Siegfried (Sigi) Löw fell the deadly Nanga Parbat and died immediately. Likewise, in 1970 and 1972, Italian mountaineer Günther Messner and Pakistani summiteer Näbi Mantas Hunza passed away due to an avalanche and a fall, respectively.
Again in 1976, Austrian summiteer Sebastian (Wastl) Arnold died on the mountain due to a fall.
Death in Nanga Parbat 1977
American mountain climbers Robert Broughton and George Bogel died in Nanga Parbat in 1977 due to an avalanche.
Death in Nanga Parbat 1982 and 1983
There was a total of 8 deaths in the years 1982 and 1983. Pakistani mountaineers Matloob Hassan Nuri and Ali Sheikh, along with Swiss climbers Peter Hiltbrand and Peter Forrer, died due to a fall, avalanche, and altitude sickness, respectively, on their way to ascend Nanga Parbat.
Similarly, in 1983, Japanese mountaineers Yuichiro Takamori, Nobuyoshi Yamada, Satoshi Iida, and Kazuo Shimura.
Death in Nanga Parbat 1984 and 1985
Japanese expeditors Takashi Kogure, Nobuyuki Imakyurei, Shigeoh Hida, and Fuji Tsunoda died from an avalanche in the Nanga Parbat. Another Japanese mountaineer Hiromi Kameda died due to a fall in the same year, i.e., 1984.
In 1985, Piotr Kalmus died after an avalanche.
Death in Nanga Parbat 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, and 1998
There were a total of 10 deaths in between the years 1989 to 1998. 1989 Korean mountaineer Kwang-ho Kim died in Nanga Parbat due to a fall in June. Likewise, Japanese Tetsuya Baba died the following month because of the Lightning strike.
Osami Nakajima and Chang-gi Park both perished in a fall in 1990. In 1993, there was only one death in Nanga Parbat, whose victim was a South Korean mount climber Chun-moon Ahn. The same for 1994 when only a Spanish mountaineer, Antonio Lopez, has been recorded to have died on the mountain.
However, in 1994, two Romanian mountaineers died due to an avalanche. And the death decreased to a person each in 1997 and 1998 with the death of Joan Colet and Hideki Ohmiya.
Death in Nanga Parbat between 2004 and 2009
Seven mountaineers died in Nanga Parbat during a decade from years 2004 and 2009. The victims included Mi-young Go, Wolfgang Kölblinger, Saman Nemati, Karl Unterkircher, Naohiro Ozawa, José Antonio Delgado, and Günter Jung.
Death in Nanga Parbat Taliban Attack 2013
After almost two decades of low death rate, 2013 marked the highest number of deaths in Nanga Parbat after the tragedy of 1937. Unfortunately, eleven mountaineers from Nepal, China, Ukraine, Argentina, Lithuania, Pakistan, and Slovakia were killed in the Diamir base camp by the Taliban. All the deaths occurred on 22 June 2013.
Additionally, French expeditor Joel Wischnewski died on 6 February 2013 in an avalanche.
Deaths in Nanga Parbat between 2017 and 2019
Alberto Zerain and Mariano Galvan died on 24 June 2017 due to an avalanche. Likewise, Polish mountaineer Tomasz Mackiewicz was the only person to die in Nanga Parbat in 2018.
Due to unknown circumstances, the recent deaths in Nanga Parbat are those of Tom Ballard and Daniele Nardi on 24 February 2019.
Is Nanga Parbat deadlier than Mt. K2 and Mt. Everest?
Nanga Parbat is the ninth tallest mountain with a comparatively lower death rate than Mt. K2 and Mt. Everest. In Pakistan, however, this mountain is considered the second most dangerous mountain, with a death rate above 20%.
Likewise, Mt. Everest is a little more dangerous than Nanga Parbat because of its height. Nanga Parbat has a very high chance of killing mountaineers due to the excessive avalanches, ice falls, and unexpected accidents due to the fall of the mountaineers in such steep and dark mountains. The rocky mountain walls have never had ruth for any of its climbers.
Moreover, anyone who has climbed Nanga Parbat has faced its riskiness and deadly nature. Though a fair amount of mountaineers have been successful in climbing the mountain, there aren’t as many people who have summited the mountain without any trouble.
Nanga Parbat Killer Mountain
Nanga Parbat is famously known as a killer mountain because of the number of fatalities and accidents. While many have even been reported to have gone missing and died from unknown circumstances, many mountaineers have been sacrificed due to the destructive nature of the mountain.
In total, 85 people have perished in Nanga Parbat, the last death recorded in 2019. The summit has been known to test the boundaries and capability of even the best mountaineers in the world.
Despite multiple tries in the past since the late 1800s, the first time a mountaineer had ever been successful in climbing Nanga Parbat was on July 3, 1953.
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