Bidmytrip

At 8,126 meters, Nanga Parbat has delivered the summer season’s first major 8000m success.

On 30 June 2026, Seven Summit Treks announced a successful summit on Nanga Parbat in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region. The ascent marked an important opening to the Summer 2026 8000m season, on one of the most demanding peaks in the world.

Nanga Parbat is the ninth-highest mountain in the world and one of Pakistan’s most formidable 8000m peaks. Located at the western end of the Himalayas, it has long held a serious place in mountaineering history because of its scale, exposure, and demanding climbing conditions.

THE ROPE-FIXING TEAM

Mingtemba Sherpa (NP)
Pasang Dukpa Sherpa (NP)
Dawa Rinji Sherpa (NP)
Pasang Nurbu Sherpa “Makpa” (NP)
Pasang Nurbu Sherpa (NP)

Their work on the route helped make the summit push possible for the wider team.

THE SUMMIT TEAM

Tao Hu (CN)
Antonina Samoilova (UA)
Mindaugas Satkauskas (LT)
Abbas Ali Mehdi (PK)
Dawa Sherpa (NP)
Dendi Sherpa (NP)
Lakpa Temba Sherpa (NP)

This success was not only about reaching the top. It was also about coordination, rope fixing, local logistics, high-altitude support, and the teamwork behind every major 8000m expedition.

Congratulations to the climbers, Sherpas, high-altitude workers, and support staff for this major success on Nanga Parbat.

Eighteen ascents, eighteen flights, and 19,424 meters of uphill vertical gain in 24 hours on Slogen Mountain in Norway.

Between June 7 and 8, 2026, Italian paraglider pilot Aaron Durogati turned the steep Norwegian peak into a repeating endurance course. The idea was simple on paper: climb up, launch by paraglider, fly back down, land, pack, and begin again.

THE RECORD

Durogati completed the challenge in 23 hours, 42 minutes and 32 seconds, finishing 18 full ascents of Slogen. Each lap gained roughly 1,080 meters of elevation, starting near the base of Slogen before climbing sharply toward the launch point.

By the end, he had gained 19,424 meters of positive elevation. That is more than twice the height of Mount Everest in uphill movement, all within a single day.

WHAT MADE IT HIKE-AND-FLY

This was not only a climbing effort and not only a flying effort. Hike-and-fly combines both: the athlete moves uphill on foot while carrying flying equipment, then descends by paraglider before repeating the cycle.

On Slogen, that meant managing endurance, weather, landing, packing, launching, and focus over nearly 24 hours. The long daylight of Norway’s summer helped, but the repetition made the record physically and mentally demanding.

A NEW BENCHMARK

Durogati’s 19,424-meter total surpassed the previous 24-hour hike-and-fly record of 17,534 meters, set by Tanguy Renaud-Goud in 2024.

With 18 ascents and 18 flights on the same mountain, his record became one of the most striking endurance performances of June 2026, pushing modern hike-and-fly into a new range of vertical gain.

Two brothers climbed the 4,600-meter Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat and reached the summit, but the descent turned their historic victory into tragedy.

On June 27, 1970, Reinhold and Günther Messner stood on the 8,126-meter summit of Nanga Parbat after climbing one of the most intimidating walls in Himalayan mountaineering.

Rising from the Rupal Valley on the mountain’s south side, the Rupal Face had defeated earlier attempts and was seen as one of the great unsolved problems of the 8,000-meter peaks.

THE RUPAL FACE

The climb was part of a 1970 expedition led by Karl Maria Herrligkoffer, with a plan to force a route up the huge southern wall. For weeks, the team used traditional siege tactics, laying fixed ropes and establishing high camps on the dangerous face.

But on the evening of June 26, a red rocket from Base Camp signaled worsening weather and forced a sudden change in plans.

THE PUSH TO 8,126 METERS

Believing the weather window was closing, Reinhold launched a summit bid in the early hours of June 27. Günther followed spontaneously, catching up to his brother high on the mountain.

Without supplemental oxygen, and with little margin for error, they pushed through the exhausting upper face.

Late in the afternoon, the brothers reached the summit together.

It was a landmark moment in Himalayan climbing, proving that massive technical faces on 8,000-meter peaks could be climbed.

DESCENT AND TRAGEDY

Victory was brief. Günther was exhausted and struggling with altitude, making a return down the Rupal Face extremely dangerous.

The brothers moved onto the Diamir Face instead, beginning what became the first traverse of Nanga Parbat.

They survived freezing nights high on the mountain without proper shelter, moving through unknown descent terrain as frostbite, hunger, and exhaustion worsened.

On June 29, near the lower Diamir side, the brothers became separated. Reinhold moved ahead to scout a safer path through avalanche-prone terrain.

An ice avalanche swept the area where Günther had been following. Reinhold searched for him, but Günther was gone.

A LEGACY OF TRIUMPH AND LOSS

Severely frostbitten and exhausted, Reinhold eventually staggered down the Diamir Valley until local villagers found him.

The 1970 ascent of the Rupal Face remains one of Himalayan climbing’s greatest breakthroughs, but its legacy is forever tied to the tragic loss of Günther Messner.