Nanga Parbat

Description

Nanga Parbat, whose name means Naked Mountain, is the ninth highest mountain in the world, and the westernmost mountain of the Himalayas. Its vast snowy face is a powerful spectacle when seen from the arid Indus Valley, approaching the mountain from the west. Here the mountain towers in isolation over 22,000 feet from the valley floor. The mountain is easy to reach (China's Karakoram Highway approaches the base of the mountain from the north), but is not so easy to climb. Unstable glaciers and frequent storms and avalanches have proved hazardous, most notably to the German party who first attempted the peak. Herman Buhl successfully reached the summit, but this was only after having lost eleven climbers and fifteen porters during the ascent. Many other climbers have subsequently been killed on this mountain.