Despite being forced to turn back, the team did make excellent progress and found a way through the Rakhiot Peak and the main ridge.

However, Merkl wanted the entire team to arrive at the same time, so they waited a day to rest the group, assuming all would be well.

It is apparent that their deaths had been slow and extremely arduous, caused by an extended exposure to cold and starvation.

[5] Merkl's frozen body, and that of Sherpa Gaylay, were found in 1938 after another German expedition stumbled upon the snow cave in which they had taken refuge.

[5] Karl Herrligkoffer, Merkl's half-brother, initiated and then led the Willy-Merkl-Gedächtnisexpedition, the 1953 German–Austrian Nanga Parbat expedition which was the first to reach the summit.