Willy Merkl (6 October 1900 – 15/17 July 1934) was a

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mountain climber who is most notable for his attempt to lead a

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team up the

Nanga Parbat Nanga Parbat () (; ), known locally as Diamer (), is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth and its summit is at above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-a ...

(the Naked Mountain) in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

in 1932. His team were known to be very experienced in

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and

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an mountain expeditions. Merkl and Fritz Bechtold Betchold had also climbed in the

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in 1929. However, they were unprepared for the trials of the Himalayas. Despite being forced to turn back in 1932, the team did make excellent progress and found a way through the Rakhiot Peak and the main ridge.Mountaineering > Nanga Parbat. Hindu Kush Trails. http://www.hindukushtrails.com/mountaineering-nanga-parbat.php. June, 2012 In 1934 he led another expedition up the same mountain that proved to be fatal. Although this expedition was better prepared and financed by

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, due in large part to the Nazis' desire to symbolically 'conquer any peak', the weather proved too strong and overtook the climbers. On July 6, the team was at a good point to attempt the final stretch of the climb. Had the climbers set out right then, some could have likely been well on their way to the top. However, Merkl wanted the entire team to arrive at the same time, so they waited a day to rest the group, assuming all would be well. Instead, the next day saw the beginning of a snowstorm and blizzard that lasted for nine days. When it let up, Merkl, two other members of the team, and six

Sherpa SHERPA (Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access) is an organisation originally set up in 2002 to run and manage the SHERPA Project. History SHERPA began as an endeavour to support the establishment of a number of open ...

s were dead. It is apparent that their deaths had been slow and extremely arduous, caused by an extended exposure to the cold and starvation. The frozen bodies of Merkl and Sherpa Gaylay were found in 1938 after another German expedition stumbled upon the snow cave in which they had taken refuge. Karl Herrligkoffer, Merkl's half-brother, initiated and then led the ''Willy-Merkl-Gedächtnisexpedition'', the 1953 German–Austrian Nanga Parbat expedition which was the first to reach the summit.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merkl, Willy 1900 births 1934 deaths Deaths on Nanga Parbat German military personnel of World War I German mountain climbers Mountaineering deaths Sport deaths in Pakistan People from Schmalkalden-Meiningen