Gasherbrum II
K4
Gasherbrum II from basecamp
Elevation	8,035 m (26,362 ft)[1] Ranked 13th (5th in Pakistan)
Prominence	1,523 m (4,997 ft)[1]
Listing	Eight-thousander Ultra
Location
Gasherbrum II Location on  Pakistan/ China border
Location	Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan/ Xinjiang, China
Range	Karakoram
Coordinates	35°45′30″N 76°39′12″E / 35.75833°N 76.65333°E / 35.75833; 76.65333Coordinates: 35°45′30″N 76°39′12″E / 35.75833°N 76.65333°E / 35.75833; 76.65333[1]
Climbing
First ascent	July 7, 1956 by Moravec, Larch and Willenpart,  Austria
Easiest route	Snow/ice climb

Gasherbrum II (Urdu: گاشر برم -2; simplified Chinese: 加舒尔布鲁木II峰; traditional Chinese: 加舒爾布魯木II峰; pinyin: Jiāshūěrbùlǔmù II Fēng), also known as K4, is the 13th highest mountain on Earth, located on the border of Gilgit–Baltistan province, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China. At 8,035 metres (26,362 ft), Gasherbrum II is the third highest peak of the Gasherbrum massif, located in the Karakoram range of the Himalaya.^[2]

The standard climbing route is via the southwest ridge as it is relatively free of objective hazards such as ice falls and avalanches. A typical expedition lasts 7 to 8 weeks with climbing permits costing about US$7,500 for five climbers.

Gasherbrum II was first climbed on July 7, 1956 by Fritz Moravec, Josef Larch and Hans Willenpart of an Austrian expedition.

Time Line[link]

• 1956 First ascent
• 1975 Second ascent by a French group, 19 years after the first ascent. This expedition also saw the first death on the Gasherbrum. Three other expeditions summit including a Polish women's team headed by Wanda Rutkiewicz.
• 1979 A Chilean and a German expedition succeed in the sixth and seventh ascents. The Chilean was the first latinamerican ascent to an eight-thousander
• 1982 Reinhold Messner reaches the top with two Pakistanis, Nazir Sabir and Sher Khan.
• 1983 Jerzy Kukuczka with Wojciech Kurtyka eastern ridge ascent, new route. Alpine style ascent without the aid of oxygen.
• 1984 Messner and Hans Kammerlander traverse Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II without returning to base camp in between.
• 1984 First descent by ski by team CAF Besançon (France) led by Daniel Croisot, summit by Wim Pasquier and Patrice Bournat, ski from the summit, joined by Dr Dominique Dock from 7800m, totally skied the face down to base-camp set at 5200m. 1 month after meeting with Messner and Kammerlander, returning from their 2 summits.
• 2005 Ski descent by Jørgen Aamot (Norway) and Frederik Ericsson (Sweden)
• 2007 Three Italians, Karl Unterkircher, Daniele Bernasconi and Michele Compagnoni, reach the top opening a new way on the north face, in alpine style.
• 2011 First winter ascent by Simone Moro, Denis Urubko and Cory Richards in alpine style.

See also[link]

• List of mountains in Pakistan
• Highest Mountains of the World
• Hassan sadpara

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Moravec, Fritz (1958) Weisse Berge, Schwarze Menschen.

External links[link]

• Gasherbrum II on Peakware
• Gasherbrum II: A Journey to 26,360 Feet in the Karakoram
• Gasherbrum II-express debrief: The first German ski descent of G2; a 17 hour roundtrip

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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 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".

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[link]

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]

Missing team[link]

On March 11, a second team attempting to scale Gasherbrum I was reported as missing^[2]. The team, composed of Gerfried Goschl from Austria, Cedric Hahlen from Switzerland, and porter Nizar Hussain from Pakistan, were last reported to be seen by Bielecki and Gołąb a few hundred metres away.

Bad weather continues to delay any air or ground rescue missions and concern about the fate of the climbers is high.

See also[link]

• Concordia, Pakistan
• Eight-thousander
• List of highest mountains
• List of mountains in Pakistan

Sources[link]

• 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

References[link]

Coordinates: 35°43′N 76°42′E / 35.717°N 76.7°E / 35.717; 76.7

Simone Moro (born 27 October 1967) is an Italian alpinist. He has climbed several 8000m peaks without using supplementary oxygen. ^[1]

Early life[link]

Born in Bergamo (Italy) from a middle-class family, he grew up in the borough of Valtesse, and was strongly supported by his father in his passion for the mountains. His father was a climber and biker at a high level and also created a lively and international environment around him ^[1]. He started climbing the Presolana and other massifs of the Alpi Bergamasche at 13, however he continued his studies until graduating cum laude at the university.

Mountain climbing career[link]

Simone Moro began his climbing activity in the Grigne, near his home city, and in the Dolomites. His father was his first Mentor followed by Alberto Cosonni and Bruno Tassi ^[2]. In this period he was primarily involved in rock climbing, an activity that has never left. In 1992 he participated to his first Himalayan expedition to Mount Everest. One year later Moro climbed Aconcagua, achieving the first winter summit of that peak. During his career he has attempted a number of mountains including Cerro Mirador and Makalu in 1993; Shisha Pangma and summited Lhotse in 1994, Kangchenjunga in 1995; Fitz Roy, Dhaulagiri and summited Shisha Pangma in 1996; summited again Lhotse in 1997 and tried Annapurna in December 1997 (avalanche buried his guide from Kazakhstan Anatoli Boukreev); tried Everest again in 1998; summited four peaks Pik Lenin (7134), Peak Korzhenevskaya (7105), Ismoil Somoni Peak (7495, formerly known as Pik Kommunizma), Pik Khan Tengri (7010) with young Kazakhstan guide Denis Urubko; then summited with him Everest in 2000 and Marble Wall in winter 2001; tried traverse Everest-Lhotse in 2001; summited three peaks: Mount Vinson, Cho Oyu and Everest in 2002; summited three peaks: Broad Peak, Elbrus and Kilimanjaro in 2003, summited Baruntse along a new route and tried Shisha Pangma and Annapurna in 2004; Batura and Batokshi peaks in 2005, Broad Peak in winter 2006 and 2007. In 2005 he achieved the first winter summit of Shisha Pangma, with Piotr Morawski. In 2006 he completed the solo, south-north traverse of Everest descending from the top in 4 hours^{[citation needed]}.

Moro in 1996 climbed the west wall of Fitz Roy (3341m in Patagonia) in 25 hours from the base to the summit and back to the base. In 1996 he climbed Shisha Pangma South (8008m) without oxygen in 27 hours using skis in the descent from 7100 meters. In Winter 1997 he attempted the South face of Annapurna. During this attempt his climbing companions Anatoli Boukreev and Dimitri Sobolev were lost under an avalanche. In 2008 he achieved (with Herve Barmasse) the first ascent of Beka Brakai Chhok (6950 m Karakorum). The climbing was performed in pure alpine style and in 43 hours.

In January 2009 Moro completed the first winter ascent of Makalu with Denis Urubko.[1]

In February 2011 Moro completed the first winter ascent of Gasherbrum II with Denis Urubko and Cory Richards.[2]

In May 2001 during an attempt on the wall of Lhotse at 8000 he abandoned the climb to search, rescue and save English alpinist Tom Moores. Moro was recipient of the Fair Play Pierre de Coubertin trophy from UNESCO, the Civilian Gold Medal from Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and the David A. Sowles Memorial Award from the American Alpine Club.

1. 1994,1997 — Lhotse
2. 2002 — Cho Oyu
3. 2005 — Shisha Pangma First winter ascent
4. 2009 — Makalu First winter ascent
5. 2000,2002,2006,2010 — Mount Everest
6. 2011 — Gasherbrum II First winter ascent

Bibliography[link]

• Simone Moro, Cometa sull'Annapurna, Corbaccio Editore
• Simone Moro, "8000 metri di vita" (ITA/ENG Version), Grafica & Arte Editore

References[link]

1. Interview, L’Eco di Bergamo, January 23, 2003
2. Interview, Simone Moro dalle falesie agli 8000, PlanetMountain

External links[link]

• Simone Moro homepage
• PlanetMountain
• Simone Moro And Denis Urubko - FIRST MAKALU WINTER - Notice: February 10, 2009 in Spanish