Nanga Parbat: Rakiot Face - The Tragic death of Karl Unterkircher

Below is a quote from Alpinist.com about the situation on Nanga Parbat's Rakiot Face right now. Another website, explorersweb.com, is reporting that Nones and Kerhrer, who have now requested a helicopter rescue at 6600m, have two days of food and fuel and the the weather forecast for tomorrow is not a great one. Let's all hope for a break in the weather, a successful rescue, either from Mondinelli in base camp or again the astounding Pakistani helicopter pilots. I write this very saddened by the tragic news of another friend's, Karl Unterkircher, death.

We leave for the Rupal Face next week, for sure a little weighed down by Karl's death.
I am busy sorting out more gear, this time from CAMP USA (www.camp-usa.com), and finishing last minute arrangements for my Pumori clients for October.

"Two Italian alpinists on Nanga Parbat, Walter Nones and Simon Kerhrer, requested a helicopter rescue after their attempt to descend again came to a standstill. Nones and Kerher are the surviving teammates of Karl Unterkircher, who was lost in a crevasse six days ago on the mountain (read the July 16, 2008 Newswire). This morning, they left their bivouac at around 7000m, but soon faced bad weather and poor visibility. From another bivouac at around 6600m, they called rescue coordinators in base camp. "We don't see anything. It is to dangerous to continue," Nones and Kerher said. "We used our skis on some parts of the descent, but the fact that we only have two ice screws and two crampons left makes it difficult to cross the crevasses."