Two Scottish climbers have become the first to reach the peak of a mountain in the Himalayas via what has been described as a "knife-edged" ridge.

Sandy Allan, from Newtonmore in the Highlands and Rick Allen, from Aberdeen, reached the summit of Nanga Parbat on Sunday by climbing along the Mazeno Ridge – something which has never been done before.

The climbers kept everyone updated about their progress on their blog, Mazeno Ridge 2012.

The blog states that the ridge is the longest on any 800m peak and is considered to be "one of the most coveted goals left in the Himalayas".

After establishing Base Camp at the height of 4900 metres in mid June, and the usual acclimatisation period, the climbers set off for the summit on July 2.

On Sunday the pair reached the 8126m high summit.

The news came from South African alpinist Cathy O'Dowd who was climbing with the pair.

She took to Twitter to say: "On the 15th of July at 18:12h Rick and Sandy reached the summit! On the 19th of July they arrived safely back at Base Camp. Everyone safe and well!"

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