David Goettler is still waiting for good weather on Nanga Parbat for his alpine-style push up the Rupal Face. However, partner Mike Arnold ran out of time and had to leave. Goettler has now paired up with Boris Langenstein and Tiphaine Duperier of France.
Nanga Parbat veterans
Neither Langenstein nor Duperier is new to Nanga Parbat. Back in 2019, Duperier reached 7,800m while Langenstein summited. He then started skiing down from 50m below the top, at the first point where skiing was possible. Duperier joined him at 7,800m as he descended, and they skied down the rest of the way together.
Tiphaine Duperier on Nanga Parbat’s Kinshoffer Route in 2019. Photo: Boris Langenstein/American Alpine Journal
At the time, the French skiers were competing to complete the first ski descent of Nanga Parbat. They were vying with Russians Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkin (who were in the midst of their Death Zone Freeride project) and their Italian partner Cala Cimenti.
On their first summit push, the Russian-Italian trio turned around at 8,000m and skied down overnight by the light of their headlamps. Lazo and Cimenti summited on a second try and skied down but also began a little below the summit.
Langenstein and Duperier skied Gasherbrum II in 2021, with teammates Guillaume Pierrel and Aurelia Lanoe. Check the video below:
First ski descent of the Rupal Face?
On Nanga Parbat, the French skiers have kept quiet about their plans, while Goettler shares only partial information. In 2019, Duperier and Langenstein climbed the normal Kinshoffer Route on the Diamir side of the mountain. During their descent, they used a steep variation (previously opened by German Luis Stitzinger) to avoid the vertical sections of the Kinshoffer Wall.
Mike Arnold has confirmed that, like on all his previous attempts, Goettler will try to climb Nanga Parbat from the Rupal side, up the Schell route. So will Duperier and Langenstein.
“This face is hard to see in one glance. You have to stop and spend some time, east to west, scanning its monstrosity,” said Arnold, himself a skier, about the Rupal Face. “This mountain demands everything and a window of four to five days…to ascend and descend, alpine style, skiing/flying, and without supplemental O2.”
Arnold added that if Goettler and the French pair get the long weather window they’re waiting for, “I believe they have a great chance!”
While Duperier and Langenstein intend to ski down the face, Arnold’s words suggest that Goettler might try to paraglide.
Nanga Parbat has never had even a partial ski descent down its mighty Rupal Face. Previous skiers Hans Kammerlander and Diego Wellig in 1990 and Luis Stitzinger in 2008 used the Kinshoffer Route.
Meanwhile, on the Diamir side
Two more skiers are currently on Nanga Parbat. Anna Tybor of Poland and Tom Lafaille of France want to ski down the Kinshoffer Route, although conditions are not helping.
“The current conditions on Nanga Parbat are not easy,” Tybor wrote on Friday. “Securing the route to the second camp took much more time than we expected. But…we managed to reach C2 at 5,900m, where we spent the night.”
Now, the couple is back in Base Camp, awaiting good weather before their next acclimatization climb to C3. “If everything goes well, we plan the summit attack at the end of the month,” said Tybor.
Tybor has previously skied Manaslu and Broad Peak. He teamed up with Tom Lafaille, his current partner, on the Broad Peak venture.
