February 4th, Nanga Parbat Base Camp, 4230mt above sea level, -10C, snowing heavily.
The boys anticipate to reach the summit on Thursday, hence they would need to leave base camp tomorrow Sunday, even though the conditions are not very good, but as they climb higher they expect to have good weather in the next days.
In a regular update from basecamp the boys are keen and ready to go if given the final green light from the weather guru Karl Garl.
“Today should be the last day at base camp. It’s snowing as forecasted, and the next 2 days the weather won’t be very nice either and winds will be very strong at high altitude. But wednesday and thursday the wind is supposed to calm down, and especially thursday should be a beautiful day. If we leave tomorrow we should reach the summit exactly by thursday. We are using the same tactics as a year ago for Gasherbrum II: we leave with bad weather and hopefully summit with a blue sky. Today I will call Karl Gabl for the last weather report and if he gives us a green light… then we are really leaving tomorrow morning.
Following a little ritual I have had for years, today I washed and shaved thoroughly before setting off for the summit push. It is my way of respecting the spirituality of the mountain. Just like in Nepal, a buddhist country, you are asked to be purified before you enter Buddha’s temple, so do I for every mountain that I start to climb. It is my way of paying my respects to the mountain and also a benevolent feeling of wellness before we set off for our week of isolation. – Simone
Story: Simone Moro/Denis Urubko
Photo: Matteo Zanga