This Europe: Climber from the Low Countries denies telling tall story

A nasty rumour has been doing the rounds among the burgeoning mountaineering community of the Netherlands.

Ronald Naar, the most successful mountaineer Europe's flattest country has known to date and who has conquered every big peak, including Everest, lied about his ascent of the Himalayan peak Nanga Parbat in 1981, if two of his fellow expedition members and ex-friends are to be believed.

Few sporting feats fire the Dutch – two thirds of whom live on land below sea level – quite like mountaineering prowess. Ronald Naar's solo scaling of the 8,125m mountain in Pakistan at the age of 26 was lauded as one of the greatest sporting achievements on record.

After almost dying in the effort – to this day his hands are swollen and disfigured – he received a hero's welcome and became a celebrity, filling lecture halls and writing books on that and other tests of true grit and endurance.

But now Frank Moll, the cameraman of the five-man expedition, who did not make it to the top, says his former friend never conquered Nanga Parbat, known as The Naked Peak. "There's no evidence to show he really got there except his word and I find it extraordinary a man who values publicity like Ronald does not bother to take any pictures at the top. After all, he had a little camera I gave him but he seemed to have forgotten to use it," he said.

Mr Naar claimed to have found a roll of film lost by a previous Swiss expedition at the top, which helped to show he had been there. But critics claim he picked up the roll at a base camp. The time he claims it took him to make the final ascent of Nanga Parbat has also been questioned by an expedition member, who dropped out because of exhaustion close to the summit.

Mr Naar, 48, who is now preparing a four-member exhibition to the Himalayas next year, told the media: "This is all about jealousy 20 years after I climbed that mountain; the thing is I have been more successful than some of my rivals and they are jealous because I sell more books and fill more lecture halls than they do. Sadly my family is suffering from all the rancour. My youngest son who is only ten has been teased unmercifully at school."

The bizarre feud between the biggest names in Dutch mountaineering follows years of accusations against another famous Dutch mountaineer, Bart Vos, whose feats in conquering some of the world's peaks have also been publicly doubted by critics within the sport.

Prominent mountaineers in the Netherlands are now demanding that sworn affidavits be taken after record-breaking mountain climbs. Until now, the honesty of participants has been the only evidence.

But the argument today is that the tradition of ''scouts' honour,'' in a world where commercial success goes hand in hand with such feats, has become outdated, and is making the pressure to "embroider the truth" irresistible.