Willy Merkl

Willy Merkl (1900 to 1934) was a German mountain climber, most notable for leading attempts on Nanga Parbat in the Himalaya. In 1932 his experienced Alpine team, which included Fritz Bechtold, with whom he had climbed in the Caucasus in 1929, was forced to turn back but found a way through Rakhiot Peak and the main ridge. In 1934 he led a better prepared expedition financed by Nazi Germany. Merkl wanted the whole team to arrive at the same time, so they waited a day to rest, and the next day a snowstorm and blizzard began that lasted nine days; when it let up Merkl, two other members of the team and six Sherpas were dead of extended exposure to the cold and starvation.