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Humar arrives at Nanga Parbat
09:09 a.m. EDT Jun 25, 2003
ExplorersWeb just received news from the expedition that Tomaz Humar and his team have arrived at Nanga Parbat, sans some cargo, however. The Pakistani authorities are holding it back for inspection and the expedition writes that it will arrive, “with considerable delay.” For the most part the team is well, but a few are suffering from some minor altitude ailments and some minor stomach bugs.
Tomaz and the team will acclimatize on the Messner Route before going for his solo ascent on a new route up the Rupal Face.
Humar’s latest update:
Ljubljana, June 25, 2003 – A little over a week after Tomaž Humar’s expedition left Slovenia from Ljubljana Airport, they finally reached the base of the Himalayan mountain Nanga Parbat. It took them three days to reach the mountain because of minor complications with the permits and the cargo. Most of the problems they encountered on their journey had to do with poor roads, which had been thoroughly damaged by earthquakes in the beginning of the year. Despite these problems they reached their destination. Except for some minor indigestion problems, all of the expedition members are feeling well.
Base Camp was set on a glacier moraine beneath the face, at the altitude of 3200 m. Some of the expedition members are experiencing slight altitude problems, which are probably a consequence of a long and straining walk from the village of Tashering to Base Camp. The expedition arrived to Tashering by jeep. All the equipment is undamaged, although the cargo has caused some problems as the Pakistani authorities held it back due to precise examination, and will arrive to Base Camp with considerable delay.
The weather conditions on the mountain are varying: in the night from June 22 to 23 the sky was clear, but it clouded in the morning; it started raining and snowing higher up in the mountain. The temperatures in Base Camp oscillate during the day. The mountaineers from Kazakhstan reached the summit along the Kinshofer route a few days ago. Despite occasional rain the weather is fair enough to continue with the expedition according to plan: ascent to camp ABC at the altitude of 4.500 m is anticipated, as well as the transport of food and equipment to Camp II at 5.200 m.
There has been a lot of interest in Humar’s exploit. Pakistani Mountaineering Association organized a press conference for Tomaž Humar and his team during their stay in Islamabad, as the locals feel that visits from mountaineers are positive signs of their connection to the world. Judging by the number of visitors of Humar’s web pages, there has been considerable attention paid to the expedition, as more than 16.000 people visited the page till today, which makes for an average of 1.300 visitors per day. There have been over three million hits since the page has been set up.
As Slovene daily newspaper Dnevnik reports, Reinhold Messner, the first person to ascend the mountain (together with his brother), also announced the intent of a repeated ascent of Nanga Parbat. His motive is to search for his brother’s remains, as he was killed on the mountain in 1970. Messner hopes that Humar’s ascent will provide him with new information on the mountain, which would make his search easier.
Image of a pit stop while en route to Nanga Parbat's base camp courtesy of Humar.com.
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