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Gasherbrum I

geography Maturity 7-9 Next article →

Gasherbrum I is a truly grand mountain. It is the 11th highest peak in the whole world. This mountain sits in the Karakoram region of the Himalaya. It is located near the border of two countries. One side is the Shigar District in Pakistan. The other side is the Xinjiang province of China. It is part of a group called the Gasherbrum Massif.

Some people call this mountain Hidden Peak. This name was given by William Martin Conway in 1892. The mountain stays hidden behind other peaks in its group. You cannot see it easily from the Baltoro glacier. Another name for it is K5. T.G. Montgomerie gave it this name in 1856. He saw the peaks from more than 200 km away. The name Gasherbrum actually means beautiful mountain in the Balti language.

Many teams have tried to climb to the top. The first successful climb happened on July 5, 1958. An American team led by Nicholas B. Clinch reached the summit. They climbed up a path called Roch ridge. In 1975, Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler climbed it in a new way. They used a style called alpine style. This was the first time anyone did this on an 8000-metre peak.

Climbing this mountain is a very big task. In 1982, Marie-José Vallençant became the first woman to reach the top. That same year, Sylvain Saudan made the first ski descent. He skied from the summit all the way to base camp. In 1983, Jerzy Kukuczka and Wojciech Kurtyka climbed it without extra oxygen. In 2012, Adam Bielecki made the first winter ascent. He also did not use extra oxygen to help him breathe.

Mountains like this one are full of history. People have found many new paths to the top over the years. In 2017, two Czech climbers found a new route. They named this path Satisfaction! after a friend. Some climbers have also traveled across two peaks in one trip. In 1984, Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander did this. They went from Gasherbrum II to Gasherbrum I without going back to base.

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