ISLAMABAD, July 26: Zsolt Torok was camping on the Rupal face of the mighty Nanga Parbat planning for his Romanian expedition’s assault on the fearsome peak when he heard on radio that terrorists had massacred 10 mountaineers on the Diamer face of the peak on June 22.

Instantly, he reached for his satellite phone and called his wife to say the horrific violence cannot deter him from leading his team to assault the Nanga Parbat, known to climbers as “the killer mountain”.

Indeed, his next call four weeks later to his wife, and their two-year-old son, came from the top of the 8,126 metres high peak.

“We had put too much effort and soul into this expedition,” Zsolt Torok told Dawn after a debriefing session at the Alpine Club of Pakistan of his team’s triumph here on Friday.

“There is very little money (in the climbing sport) but a lot of satisfaction,” said the 40-year-old who gave up dentistry to follow his dream as a professional climber.

Ferocious mountains scare the mountaineers crazy about climbing, not the crazy people who kill innocent men, women and children at bus stands and railway stations, he said.

Zsolt himself became crazier climber after he failed to scale the Broad Peak last year, his first attempt at a so-called 8,000der, peaks above 8,000 metres high. His expedition’s July 19, 2013 victory marked Romanian climbers’ second triumph over the fearsome Nanga Parbat from the Schell route on the Rupal face after the last success in 1990.

Of the three faces of the Nanga Parbat, the Rupal face is the hardest and most challenging climb. Seldom climbers chose the Rupal face to summit Nanga Parbat. There had been several unsuccessful attempts through this route because of the tough climb. The route was named after Hanns Schell who scaled Nanga Parbat top in 1976.

Two Romanian expeditions had failed to reach the summit through this route before the July 19 victory.

The Romanian expedition arrived in Islamabad on June 6, and set up their base camp for the Nanga Parbat attempt at 4,700 metres on June 11.

After several acclimatization hikes, the expedition’s five-member teams set up Camp I at 5,100 metres, Camp II at 6,000 metres and then Camp III at 6,600 metres by June 22, the day terrorists killed ten foreign climbers at the Diamer Base Camp, a few days trek away.

Despite requests from the Romanian Embassy in Islamabad to descend and return home for their safety, the climbers decided to continue climbing.

“We had come too close to turn back then. The Alpine Club of Pakistan encouraged us to continue climbing. The government of Gilgit-Baltistan enhanced our security and deployed a contingent of police, who became our close friends and prayed for our successful attempt and safe return. Their kind behaviour towards us (foreigners) was overwhelming,” said Zsolt Torok.

The expedition started climbing again on July 6 but high winds forced them to descend back to their base camp. A week later, five climbers, Vlad Dima Teofil, Salasan Aurel Stefan, Gane Marius and Adamcsek Bruno Silviu and the team leader Torok, returned to Camp I on July 12.

Later when the weather calmed, they pushed to Camp V at 7,300 metres. But Adamcsek Bruno Silviu had to be sent back for health reasons.

On July 17, Salasan Aurel climbed solo over the ice ridges at 7,400 metres. The next day the other three team members caught up with him and climbed as high as 7,500 metres together. On July 19, the four split in to two teams for the final assault on the summit.

After ten hours of hard and tenacious climbing, the members reached the summit on July 19.

But the mission was far from finished. The descent was equally treacherous and it took the Romanians four days to reach the base camp safely.

“I was so exhausted that I could not lift my rucksack. We spent a night at 7,500 metres. Worst, we had to climb a 100 metres rock crop, which seemed impossible because it was very dangerous. One false step meant certain death,” recalled Zsolt Torok.

The Nanga Parbat was the first 8,000 plus summit for the 28 years old professional climber Salasan Aurel.

“It was very difficult but big success,” said Salasan who sat for 40 minutes at the top absorbing the breathtaking view.

Scaling 8,000ders was not his dream, said Zsolt Torok.

“We prefer to climb peaks that are special and difficult, even if they are less than 8, 000 metres high,” he said.

That is what he plans for the next year, bring an expedition to the 7,925 metres high Gasherbrum IV. This 6th highest peak in Pakistan was last scaled by a Korean team in 1999.