Winter on the Mummery Spur: Tom Ballard and Daniele Nardi's Final Stand

On the gargantuan Diamir Face of Nanga Parbat (8,126m), a central rock rib known as the Mummery Spur rises like an arrow toward the summit snowfields. Named after pioneer British mountaineer Albert F. Mummery, who vanished on its icy flanks in 1895, the spur is one of the most perilous features in the Himalayas: a knife-edge spine flanked by hanging seracs and swept by catastrophic avalanches. For more than a century, the route resisted all ascents. In winter, when temperatures drop below minus forty degrees Celsius and hurricane-force winds scour the rock, it was universally regarded as suicidal.

Yet for Italian alpinist Daniele Nardi, the Mummery Spur was not merely a climbing route; it was an artistic obsession. Nardi had attempted the spur in winter four times between 2013 and 2016. In late 2018, he returned for a fifth campaign, joined by 30-year-old British solo phenomenon Tom Ballard.

Pure Alpine Style in the Winter Tempest

Rejecting commercial tactics, supplemental bottled oxygen, and large high-altitude support teams, Ballard and Nardi committed to pure, lightweight alpine style. Arriving at Diamir Base Camp in late December 2018, they faced savage winter storms from the outset.

Moving between narrow weather windows, the two climbers fixed minimal ropes through the dangerous lower couloir, dodging cascading spindrift and falling ice. With Ballard’s world-class mixed-climbing technique and Nardi’s high-altitude winter stamina, they pressed relentlessly upward along the razor-sharp crest of the spur. By mid-February, they had established Camp 4 at approximately 6,300 metres, perched precariously on a frozen ledge overlooking the vast Diamir basin.

The Final Silence and the Drone Discovery

On February 24, 2019, Nardi made radio contact with Base Camp, reporting that they were pinned down by deteriorating weather and bitter cold, but were determined to hold their position. It was their final transmission. Over the following days, dense blizzards swallowed the mountain, cutting off all communication.

When the storm cleared, a dramatic international rescue effort was organized. Basque mountaineer Alex Txikon and his team were flown to Nanga Parbat by Pakistani Army helicopters, deploying specialized camera drones to search the inaccessible couloirs of the face. On March 9, 2019, high-resolution optics spotted the silhouettes of two climbers hanging from their safety ropes on the rocky rib at 5,900 metres. Tom Ballard and Daniele Nardi had succumbed to severe exposure and avalanches, forever frozen on the mountain they had dared to challenge with uncompromising purity.