A strong Polish team is preparing to climb Nanga Parbat in the next few weeks. The team believes that climate change is affecting the climbing seasons and hopes they’ll find better conditions (and no crowds) on a mountain that is usually climbed in early summer.
The team comprises Artur Malek, Marek Chmielarski, Marek Olczak, Pawel Michalski, Rafal Fronia, and Wojtek Flaczynski.
Adapting to changing climate
“We need to change our habits and evolve in the mountains, just as the whole world is evolving,” Fronia wrote on social media. “Climate change is causing the mountains to melt and fall apart. They become extremely dangerous, especially in the summer when the rocks get loose and fall.”
Fronia goes on to explain that in this “golden era” of commercial Himalayan climbing there is no room for tents in the higher camps and no silence in the peak season.
Expedition banner. Photo: Rafal Fronia
A previous off-season attempt failed
The Polish climbers will have plenty of silence and the mountain to themselves. However, good conditions are not guaranteed. The Polish climbers are not the first to come up with the idea of climbing Nanga Parbat in autumn.
In August 2022, Mingma G of Imagine Nepal also placed his bets on an off-season attempt. The climb didn’t go as planned. On the Kinshoffer route, the team was pushed back by rockfall below Camp 2. They switched to the Messner route but, once again, constant avalanches prevented the team from launching a summit push. Eventually, Mingma G aborted the expedition.
The Polish team will reach Base Camp later than Imagine Nepal’s 2022 expedition. Perhaps they’ll find better conditions.
Raw ice and crevasses on the Messner route of Nanga Parbat in late August 2022. Photo: Mingma G
