Gasherbrum

Gasherbrum group as seen from the ISS
Broad Peak, 12th highest of the world
Gasherbrum II, 13th highest of the world
Gasherbrum Group with Gasherbrum IV, Gasherbrum V, and Gasherbrum VI

Gasherbrum is a remote group of peaks located at the northeastern end of the Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram range of the Himalaya on the border of the Chinese-administered Shaksgam Valley and the Gilgit-Baltistan territory of Pakistan. The massif contains three of the world's 8,000 metre peaks (if one includes Broad Peak). Gasherbrum is often claimed to mean "Shining Wall", presumably a reference to the highly visible face of Gasherbrum IV; but in fact it comes from "rgasha" (beautiful) + "brum" (mountain) in Balti, hence it actually means "beautiful mountain".

Peak metres feet Latitude (N) Longitude (E) Prominence (m)
Gasherbrum I 8,080 26,509 35°43′27″ 76°41′48″ 2,155
Broad Peak 8,047 26,400 35°48′35″ 76°34′06″ 1,701
Gasherbrum II 8,035 26,362 35°45′27″ 76°39′15″ 1,523
Gasherbrum III 7,952 26,089 35°45′34″ 76°38′31″ 355
Gasherbrum IV 7,925 26,001 35°45′39″ 76°37′00″ 725
Gasherbrum V 7,147 23,448 35°43′45″ 76°36′48″ 654
Gasherbrum VI 6,979 22,897 35°42′30″ 76°37′54″ 520

In 1856, Thomas George Montgomerie, a British Royal Engineers lieutenant and a member of the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, sighted a group of high peaks in the Karakoram from more than 200 km away. He named five of these peaks K1, K2, K3, K4 and K5 where the K denotes Karakoram. Today, K1 is known as Masherbrum, K3 as Broad Peak, K4 as Gasherbrum II and K5 as Gasherbrum I. Only K2, the second highest mountain in the world, has kept Montgomerie's name.

History of conquest

Mountain altitude first ascent
Gasherbrum I 8068 m 1958 by P. K. Schoening, A. J. Kauffman (USA)
Broad Peak (if included in group) 8047 m 1957 by M. Schmuck, F. Wintersteller, K. Diemberger and H. Buhl (Austria)
Gasherbrum II 8035 m 1956 by F. Moravec, S. Larch, H. Willenpart (Austria)
Gasherbrum III 7952 m 1975 by W. Rutkiewicz, A. Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz, J. Onyszkiewicz and K. Zdzitowiecki (Poland)
Gasherbrum IV 7925 m 1958 by W. Bonatti and C. Mauri (Italy)
Gasherbrum V 7147 m 2014 by S. Nakjong and A. Chi Young (Korea)
Gasherbrum VI 7001 m Unclimbed, attempted 1998 by French group (2 dead) and by Danish group (Bo Belvedere Christensen, Mads Granlien and Jan Mathorne reaching 6200 m)

On March 9, 2012 two Polish mountaineers made the first winter ascent of Gasherbrum I. The climbers - Adam Bielecki (aged 28) and Janusz Gołąb (aged 43) - summited the peak without supplementary oxygen.[1]

See also

Sources

References

Coordinates: 35°43′N 76°42′E / 35.717°N 76.700°E / 35.717; 76.700

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