On this day, 24 September 1975, 🇬🇧 Doug Scott and 🇬🇧 Dougal Haston reached the summit of Mount Everest (8,848 m), completing the first ascent of the mountain’s South-West Face, one of the great unresolved problems of Himalayan climbing at the time. Led by 🇬🇧 Chris Bonington, the British expedition succeeded where five earlier attempts on the face had failed. Bonington himself had led an unsuccessful British attempt in 1972, when extreme winds and cold stopped the team high on the mountain. The 1975 expedition returned with a large and experienced team, including Scott, Haston, Peter Boardman, Nick Estcourt, Paul “Tut” Braithwaite, Martin Boysen and Mick Burke, supported by a strong Sherpa team led by Pertemba and Ang Phu. It was a major siege-style undertaking: about 20 tons of food and equipment were transported to Nepal before camps were established through the Khumbu Icefall, across the Western Cwm and progressively higher on the South-West Face. Base Camp was established on 22 August; Camp V, at about 7,825 metres, followed on 16 September. The decisive obstacle was the great Rock Band, a wall of steep mixed ground guarding the upper face. On 20 September, Braithwaite and Estcourt finally found a way through a deeply cut gully, overcoming difficult mixed climbing and an ice-covered chockstone before escaping along a precarious ramp. Their breakthrough opened the route that had stopped earlier expeditions. Two days later, Scott, Haston and their support team established Camp VI at roughly 8,320 metres above the Rock Band; on 23 September, Scott and Haston fixed around 400 metres of rope across the upper traverse. On 24 September, the pair left Camp VI for the summit. Haston’s oxygen system froze early in the climb, while deep unconsolidated snow slowed them in the South Summit gully. They reached the South Summit during the afternoon and, despite the late hour, continued along Everest’s summit ridge. At around 6:00 p.m., Scott and Haston stood on the highest point on Earth, completing the first ascent of the South-West Face. Darkness overtook them on the descent. Near 8,750 metres, with their bottled oxygen exhausted and their headlamps no longer useful, they dug themselves into the snow and endured an extraordinary unplanned bivouac. Scott was without a full down suit; both men suffered hallucinations during the night, yet remarkably survived without serious frostbite and descended to Camp VI the following morning. The bivouac became almost as legendary as the climb itself. Two days later, 🇬🇧 Peter Boardman and 🇳🇵 Pertemba Sherpa repeated the route to the summit. On their descent they encountered Mick Burke, still climbing upward with his film camera. Burke continued alone toward the summit as the weather rapidly deteriorated. Boardman and Pertemba waited for him near the South Summit for more than an hour, but he never returned and was never seen again. Whether Burke actually reached the summit remains unknown. The 1975 British Everest Expedition entered mountaineering history because one of its most intimidating faces had finally been solved. It was an achievement built on meticulous organisation, difficult high-altitude climbing, enormous Sherpa support and collective effort, yet the climb was shadowed by the loss of Mick Burke. Photo showing Dougal Haston climbing near the Hillary Step, 24.09.1975. ©: Doug Scott.

Twelve days have passed since Nims died, but my heart still refuses to believe it. Of all people, I never imagined the mountains would take him. He had survived storms, brutal winters, war zones and impossible situations on his way to countless summits. His legacy was never without controversy, and history will judge every part of it. But one truth cannot be denied: Nims changed how the world viewed the 8,000-metre peaks. Before him, climbing all 14 in less than a year seemed unimaginable. He completed them in just six months and six days, supported by a strong Nepali team, and showed the world what was possible. Even after twelve days, it is difficult to write his name in the past tense. Whatever debates surround his life, Nirmal Purja will always be remembered as the man who changed modern high-altitude mountaineering forever. Photo ©: Nimsdai Purja Archives.

On this day, 9 August 1978, Italian (South Tyrolian) mountaineer Reinhold Messner reached the 8,126-metre summit of Nanga Parbat completely alone. Climbing without supplementary oxygen or support from teammates, he opened a new route on the right side of the Diamir Face. It became the first complete solo ascent of an 8,000-metre mountain. Nanga Parbat was deeply personal for Messner. Eight years earlier, he had climbed its enormous Rupal Face with his younger brother Günther. After reaching the summit, they descended towards the Diamir side, where Günther disappeared, apparently swept away by an avalanche. Reinhold survived the descent but suffered frostbite. Messner returned in 1978 with a very different vision of high-altitude climbing: minimal equipment, no bottled oxygen and as little outside support as possible. Earlier that year, he and Peter Habeler had made the first ascent of Everest without supplementary oxygen. On Nanga Parbat, Messner went one step further, he climbed without a partner at all. His 1978 line was separate from the route by which he had escaped the mountain in 1970. After reaching the summit alone, he descended through the Mummery Rib area, completing one of the boldest climbs in mountaineering history. Photo showing Reinhold Messner on the summit of Nanga Parbat (8126 m), 09.08.1978. ©: Reinhold Messner Archives.