2019 Ballard & Nardi Nanga Parbat Mummery Spur Winter Expedition

Italy🏔️ 4 Peaks

Daniele Nardi

Daniele Nardi was born on June 24, 1976, in Sezze, in the province of Latina, Italy. From his early climbing years in the Central Apennines and the Alps, Nardi developed an obsession with the purest, most uncompromising forms of high-altitude mountaineering: light, independent, and executed under the harshest seasonal conditions. In the 2000s, Nardi achieved major successes on the world's highest peaks, summiting Mount Everest (8,848m), K2 (8,611m), Broad Peak (8,051m), and Nanga Parbat (8,126m) without supplemental oxygen. In 2013, he completed a bold technical new route on the Northwest Face of Bhagirathi III (6,454m) in India, which earned him a Piolet d'Or nomination. Yet Nardi's true obsession was the 'King of Mountains': Nanga Parbat, and specifically the direct Mummery Spur on its Diamir Face. Between 2013 and 2019, Nardi launched five separate winter expeditions to Nanga Parbat, determined to become the first human to conquer the Mummery Spur in winter. In January 2016, climbing alongside Basque alpinist Alex Txikon and Pakistani legend Muhammad Ali Sadpara, Nardi reached 6,700 metres before tactical differences led him to descend, shortly before the historic first winter summit of the mountain. In the winter of 2018–2019, Nardi returned for his final attempt, partnering with young British solo ace Tom Ballard. Moving in pure alpine style without high-altitude porters or oxygen, the pair reached 6,300 metres on the Mummery Spur amidst howling winds and heavy snowfall. After their final transmission on February 24, 2019, a dramatic multi-national rescue mission was mounted. On March 9, 2019, their bodies were located high on the spur. Daniele Nardi remains a revered symbol of romantic passion, ethical purity, and unyielding romantic courage in extreme alpine climbing.

United Kingdom🏔️ 5 Peaks

Tom Ballard

Thomas 'Tom' Ballard was born on October 16, 1988, in Belper, Derbyshire, England. The son of legendary Scottish mountaineer Alison Hargreaves and Jim Ballard, Tom was introduced to extreme climbing from infancy, bivouacking in high alpine huts while his mother conquered the great north faces of Europe. Following his mother's tragic death on K2 in 1995, Ballard made the high mountains his life's sole devotion, developing an intensely private, purist approach to solo climbing. Living in a camper van across the European Alps with minimal financial support, Ballard honed unmatched physical dexterity on vertical rock and thin mixed ice. In the winter of 2014–2015, Ballard launched his audacious 'Starlight and Storms' project: attempting to solo all Six Great North Faces of the Alps (Cima Grande di Lavaredo, Piz Badile, Petit Dru, Matterhorn, Grandes Jorasses, and the Eiger) in a single winter season. Moving fast and light without support teams, Ballard completed the hexalogy on March 19, 2015, atop the Grandes Jorasses, becoming the first person in mountaineering history to solo all six north faces in a single winter. Turning his sights to the Greater Ranges, Ballard established extreme new dry-tooling and mixed routes across the Dolomites, including 'Titanic' (M5/A3) on the Eiger and groundbreaking lines in Val di Fassa. In early 2019, Ballard joined Italian winter specialist Daniele Nardi to attempt the unclimbed Mummery Spur on the Diamir Face of Nanga Parbat (8,126m) in pure alpine style in winter. On February 24, 2019, after reaching an altitude of approximately 6,300 metres amidst brutal sub-zero storms, Ballard and Nardi made their final radio contact from Camp 4. Despite an extensive search operation coordinated with Spanish climber Alex Txikon using high-powered drones and telescopes, the two climbers were spotted on March 9, 2019, hanging from their ropes high on the Mummery Spur, having succumbed to hypothermia and avalanches. Ballard is remembered as one of the purest solo alpine talents of the modern era.