Nanga Parbat

The Nanga Parbat massif (the name means 'Naked Mountain' in Kashmir), in the southernmost part of the Northern Areas, has a 4500m (14,760 ft) wall that is so steep even snow refuses to stick. The same can be said of a large number of climbers - they've been dropping from the scene for years. Beside it is a stomach-churning track that climbs up a valley and then over a pass. It regularly claimed jeeps over the side until the route was improved in 1987. Undaunted? Last one to the top is a rotten egg.