Gasherbrum
Gasherbrum (Urdu: گاشر برم) 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 Broad Peak is included). Although the word "Gasherbrum" is often claimed to mean "Shining Wall", presumably a reference to the highly visible face of Gasherbrum IV, it comes from "rgasha" (beautiful) + "brum" (mountain) in Balti, hence it actually means "beautiful mountain".
Geography
| 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 |
| Gasherbrum VII | 6,955 | 22,818 | 39°44'19" | 76°36'0" | 165 |
| Gasherbrum Twins | 6,912 and 6,877 | 22,677 and 22,562 | 35°34'13" | 76°35'36" | 162 |
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 Gasherbrum IV, K4 as Gasherbrum II and K5 as Gasherbrum I. Only K2, the second highest mountain in the world, has retained Montgomerie's name. Broad Peak was thought to miss out on a K-number as it was hidden from Montgomerie's view by the Gasherbrum group.
Climbing History
| Mountain | altitude | first ascent |
|---|---|---|
| Gasherbrum I | 8068 m | 1958 by P. K. Schoening and 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 a French group (two dead) and a Danish group (Bo Belvedere Christensen, Mads Granlien and Jan Mathorne reaching 6200 m) |
| Gasherbrum VII | 6755 m | Unclimbed, disputed attempt by Maria Luisa Ercalani in 1986, solo attempt by Walter Hölzler of Germany southern face retreated 200 meters below the summit due to avalanche risk |
| Gasherbrum Twins | Unclimbed |
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) – made the ascent without supplementary oxygen.[1]
See also
Sources
- H. Adams Carter, "Balti Place Names in the Karakoram", American Alpine Journal 49 (1975), p. 53.
- Mount Qogori (K2) {scale 1:100,000}; edited and mapped by Mi Desheng (Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology), the Xi´an Cartographic Publishing House.
- Dreams of Tibet: the pundits