Barmasse on Nanga Parbat: “A hateful night without fixed ropes”

Frost, very strong wind and a perceived temperature close to 40 degrees below zero. Despite this, the day and night spent – at 6,200, at camp 2 – by Hervè Barmasse and David Goettler on the Rupal face of Nanga Parbat, as the Aosta Valley mountaineer himself says, was positive. “In fact, it’s strange to say it, after what we have been through”, explains the athlete of Team The North Face from the satellite. “Each additional night spent at high altitude is functional to the acclimatization process. Of course, while we were up there, the thoughts were different ”. All turned to the weather: “The night before, once we got to 6,200, we decided to see the conditions of the next day and then decide. The logistics were limited to say the least, three square meters total on the crest, with thousands of meters of precipice on both sides. The tent occupied two of them, we had a square meter left. This means: one night in three positions: two sideways and the third supine, plus this very strong wind that made the tent flap “. Then Barmasse also admits an error of assessment: “I had brought too little food, an extra freeze-dried meal wouldn’t have hurt. But when we made the backpack we thought, of course, to be as light as possible “.

Difficult night, therefore, “but in the end we didn’t have it badly, a mountaineer is used to waiting, patience. Now I evaluate this experience positively, I think about the desire and motivation that David and I have and that not even conditions like those of the night on the crest have affected ”. Also because tackling a peak in alpine style means repeating exactly the same effort, but on the contrary, at the time of the descent, having no fixed ropes available: “It was a hateful night, besides the cold that remains inside you despite you put on everything to cover yourself, because you think about the need to get out of there, and the thought of having to do it without aids and only with our strength, there was indeed. But the man-mountain confrontation, to be honest, stealing a bit of Walter Bonatti’s words, must be this. Loyal, lawful means, do not soil the mountain and go towards what may be unexpected events or variable weather, worse than expected “.