Parmassi and Nanga Parbat: “Only Guitler and I will climb Raubal”

La Robal for Mike Arnold. The 34-year-old American mountaineer – but Canadian by birth – will not attempt to reach the summit by climbing the world’s largest face in Nanga Parbat, where only his expedition companions Hervé Parmassi and German David Guetler will go.

Affirmations in the al-Qaeda camp

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“The idea of ​​Mike leaving the group was already predictable,” Parmassi explains on a satellite phone from Shell Root Base Camp, where inclement weather and constant snowfall prevented the group of mountaineers from climbing the trail for days. Rubal to acclimatize even more than 6 thousand. “The decision was made by all of us. On the other hand, Mike’s main objective, in this case, was to come with us to Nanga Parbat first of all to gain experience, and I must say that during these two weeks he did a lot.” For Arnold, like the other athletes on The North Face, this was not the first experience at altitude with Goettler.

“They did go to Nepal, even at that time to let Mike (famous in the United States for having, at twenty-seven, become the youngest mountain guide in the country; so) to begin understanding how to train to handle an 8000er according to our style, the Lightweight. The days we had with us now were, for example, an addition.” However, Barmasse paints more than a positive picture of Arnold’s acclimatization to the 8000ers. “He has proven to be a very prepared athlete, with great endurance skills, and looking to the future, I don’t think he will have problems Climbing the mountains for a distance of eight thousand meters. However, like all good mountaineers, he too decided to take one step at a time, without moving forward. Among other things, he is also an excellent skater, in fact, we brought the equipment with us. We would have liked to look for some nearby mountains in order to descend, but unfortunately that was not possible because despite a lot of snow (which keeps falling), the so-called bottom is missing.”