Gasherbrum II

Gasherbrum II
	High camp on G II at 5900 m altitude. Left the G III, apparently in the fall line of the southwest ridge. In the middle the summit of the G II, next to it the G East
height	8034 m
location	Xinjiang ( PR China ), ; Gilgit-Baltistan ( Pakistan )
Mountain range	Gasherbrum Group ( Karakoram )
Dominance	5.53 km → Hidden Peak
Notch height	1524 m ↓ Gasherbrum La ( 6510 m )
Coordinates	35 ° 45 ′ 31 ″ N , 76 ° 39 ′ 10 ″ E Coordinates: 35 ° 45 ′ 31 ″ N , 76 ° 39 ′ 10 ″ E
First ascent	July 7, 1956 Austrian expedition
Normal way	Southwest ridge - east ridge (summit pyramid) Alpine tour (glaciated)

At 8034 m , the Gasherbrum II (formerly K4 ; Chinese 加舒尔布鲁木山, Pinyin Jiāshū'ěrbùlǔmù Shān ) is the thirteenth highest mountain on earth. He belongs to the Gasherbrum group in the Karakoram , which lies southeast of the K2 in the border area of the People's Republic of China and Pakistan .

geography

The Gasherbrum II is the main summit of the so-called Gasherbrum group proper . It extends in a west-east direction and forms an approximately 7600 m high ridge on which the summit pyramid of Gasherbrum II sits enthroned in the middle. In the west, on this ridge, sits the summit pyramid of Gasherbrum III , which is considered a secondary summit of Gasherbrum II. East of the G-II summit is Gasherbrum II Ost , which has a rounded summit shape. The secondary peaks G III and G East are sometimes referred to as relatively independent main peaks. The east ridge descends to Gasherbrum La, a 6500 m high pass that connects Gasherbrum II with the north face of Gasherbrum I (Hidden Peak) . In the west, G III is followed by Gasherbrum IV , an independent mountain that also belongs to the partial massif of the actual Gasherbrum group.

Ascent history

The first ascent took place on July 7, 1956 by three participants in an Austrian expedition led by Fritz Moravec . In addition to Moravec itself, Josef Larch and Hans Willenpart also reached the summit. With this they opened today's normal route over the southwest ridge. Below the summit pyramid there is a traverse to the east, the summit is reached via the southeast ridge of the pyramid.

In the summer of 1983 the two Poles Jerzy Kukuczka and Wojciech Kurtyka climbed Gasherbrum II over the east ridge. To acclimatize, they first climbed to the previously unclimbed Gasherbrum Ost, which they reached on June 24th. After a bivouac on the summit, they descended to the base camp in order to climb the G II a few days later. On the way to the main summit (July 1st) they crossed the Gasherbrum Ost. By descending to the base camp on the normal route, they also managed to cross the Gasherbrum II for the first time. The ascent was done in alpine style .

In 1984 the mountaineers Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander managed to cross the Gasherbrum II and then the Hidden Peak, also in alpine style. This crossing is still considered to be one of the most outstanding achievements in high-altitude mountaineering . The director Werner Herzog accompanied Messner and Kammerlander with a camera team to the base camp and documented the crossing in the film Gasherbrum - The Shining Mountain . In 1996, the French mountaineer Jean-Christophe Lafaille managed to climb both peaks single-handedly without descending to base camp. On Gasherbrum II he chose the normal route for ascent and descent, while he had previously climbed the GI via a new route.

On July 7, 2006, a Swiss expedition managed to climb the north face of Gasherbrum II for the first time. The mountaineers Ueli Steck , Hans Mitterer and Cedric Hählen reached the 7758 m high east summit . Due to the danger of avalanches, they decided to forego the further descent and ascent over the ridge to the main summit.

Exactly 50 years after Moravec's first ascent, the two young Munich extreme ski mountaineers Benedikt Böhm and Sebastian Haag , advised by Kammerlander, planned their record attempt in the ascent of Gasherbrum II with subsequent ski descent without depots or support in the high camps. On August 3, 2006, under the guidance of mountain guide Luis Stitzinger , they started the ascent from the base camp at 5900 m altitude. In the upper area, the ascent was made difficult by fresh snow. The subsequent descent to the summit to the starting point took place when there was a high risk of avalanches, without taking off the skis and without abseiling. The team needed just under 17 hours for the entire alpine-style tour.

In 2007 the Italians Karl Unterkircher , Daniele Bernasconi and Michele Compagnoni mastered the complete ascent of the north face for the first time and reached the summit on July 20th. They committed the northeast pillar in the direct line of the summit fall . During an acclimatization ascent, the lower part of the wall was secured with fixed ropes and an interim storage facility was set up at 6000 m . The actual ascent began on July 18 from the base camp and was carried out in alpine style from the intermediate camp . While Bernasconi and Unterkircher fully climbed the pillar, Michele Compagnoni, nephew of K2 first climber Achille Compagnoni , crossed at 7,850 m to the southwest ridge to cover the last 200 meters on the normal route. At 8 p.m. local time at the summit, it was decided for safety reasons to descend via the normal route on the south side.

On February 2, 2011 Simone Moro , Denis Urubko and Cory Richards reached the summit of Gasherbrum II. This makes Gasherbrum II the first of the four eight-thousanders in the Karakoram and the five eight-thousanders in Pakistan to be climbed in winter.

On July 16, 2018, Felix Berg and Adam Bielicki reached the summit of Gasherbrum II via a new variant through the west face.

literature

Fritz Moravec: White mountains, black people. From the Himalayas to the giant craters of Africa , Austria. Bundesverlag, Vienna 1958.
Rollo Steffens: Fascination Karakoram. The wild mountains of Asia. Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 2000.