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Broad Peak

geography Maturity 7-9 Next article →

Broad Peak is a giant mountain in the Karakoram range. It sits right on the border of Pakistan and China. This mountain is one of the eight-thousanders. That means it is over 8,000 meters high. It is the 12th highest mountain on our whole planet. The name fits the mountain very well. The summit is very wide and long. It stretches for more than 1.5 kilometers. This makes the top look like a broad, flat ridge.

This mountain is part of a group called the Gasherbrum massif. It actually has five different summits. Three of these peaks are very high. They are Broad Peak, Rocky Summit, and Broad Peak Central. All three reach above 8,000 meters. The other two peaks are Broad Peak North and Kharut Kangri. These two are a bit lower. The mountain is located near another famous peak called K2.

People have been trying to climb this mountain for a long time. An Austrian team first reached the top in June 1957. The team included Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl. They climbed up the West Spur. They did not use extra oxygen to help them breathe. They also did not have help from high-altitude porters. It was a very tough way to climb.

Many different people have made history on this peak. In 1984, Krzysztof Wielicki climbed it in just one day. He did this in about 21.5 hours. In 2013, a Polish team made the first winter ascent. This was a very hard job because it was so cold. In 2016, a man named Antoine Girard flew a paraglider over the summit. This was the first time a paraglider flew above an 8,000-meter peak.

Climbing Broad Peak is a big goal for many. In 2019, a 17-year-old named Shehroze Kashif climbed it. He became the youngest person ever to reach the summit. He was also the youngest person from Pakistan to do so. Other climbers like Nirmal Purja have used this mountain for big records. He climbed it as part of a plan to climb all 14 highest peaks. The mountain remains a place of great wonder and hard work.

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