Gasherbrum I

Gasherbrum I, first recorded as K5 and later called Hidden Peak, stands 8,080 meters (26,510 feet) above sea level, making it the eleventh tallest mountain on Earth. It sits on the border between Pakistan’s Shigar District in Gilgit-Baltistan and China’s Tashkurgan in Xinjiang, within the Gasherbrum Massif of the Karakoram range. The name “Gasherbrum” is often said to mean “Shining Wall,” referencing the bright face of nearby Gasherbrum IV, but it actually comes from the Balti words “rgasha” (beautiful) and “brum” (mountain), so it translates to “beautiful mountain.” In 1856, during the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, T.G. Montgomerie spotted the Karakoram peaks from over 200 kilometers away and designated this one K5, the fifth peak of the range. William Martin Conway gave it the alternate name Hidden Peak in 1892, because its position behind other Gasherbrum peaks keeps it out of sight for most of the journey along the Baltoro glacier.

The first ascent came on July 5, 1958, when Pete Schoening and Andy Kauffman reached the summit as part of an eight-man American expedition led by Nicholas B. Clinch. The team also included Richard K. Irvin, Tom Nevison, Tom McCormack, Bob Swift, and Gil Roberts. A 1934 international expedition organized by Swiss climber G.O. Dyhrenfurth explored both Gasherbrum I and II, with two climbers reaching 6,300 meters. A French team in 1936 got to 6,900 meters. In 1958, the American team, which included Pakistani army captains Mohammad Akram and S.T.H. Rizvi, made the first ascent via the Roch ridge. Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler summited in 1975 via a new northwest route, doing so in pure alpine style over three days—the first time an 8,000-meter peak was climbed that way. The next day, a three-person Austrian team led by Hanns Schell reached the top on the American route. In 1977, Slovenians Nejc Zaplotnik and Andrej Stremfelj made the fourth successful ascent on a new route, though team member Drago Bregar died. Frenchmen Maurice Barrard and Georges Narbaud achieved the fifth ascent in 1980, pioneering the South Ridge. A Japanese team followed the Clinch route with fixed ropes in 1981 for the sixth ascent. In 1982, Germans Michael Dacher, Siegfried Hupfauer, and Günter Sturm summited via a new north face route; that same year, French climber Marie-José Vallençant became the first woman to reach the summit, and her husband, Swiss Sylvain Saudan, made the first ski descent from the top of an 8,000-meter peak all the way to base camp. In 1983, Jerzy Kukuczka and Wojciech Kurtyka opened a new route in alpine style without supplemental oxygen, and separate Swiss and Spanish teams also succeeded. Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander traversed Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I in 1984 without returning to base camp. Benoît Chamoux made a solo ascent in 1985, and on July 14, Italian Giampiero Di Federico soloed a new route on the northwest face. Magnus Rydén and Johan Åkerström summited in 1997. In 2003, nineteen people reached the summit, while four died on the mountain, including Mohammad Oraz. On March 9, 2012, Poles Adam Bielecki and Janusz Gołąb completed the first winter ascent without supplementary oxygen; that same day, three climbers from another expedition—Austrian Gerfried Göschl, Swiss Cedric Hählen, and Pakistani Nisar Hussain Sadpara—went missing on a new route, likely blown off by strong winds, and were never found. On July 7, 2013, Artur Hajzer died after falling in the Japanese Couloir during a summit attempt. On July 21, 2013, Spaniards Abel Alonso, Xebi Gomez, and Álvaro Paredes reached the top but disappeared in a storm while descending. On July 30, 2017, Czechs Marek Holeček and Zdeněk Hák established a new route called “Satisfaction!” up the Southwest Face in a six-day alpine-style ascent without supplemental oxygen, dedicated to the memory of Zdeněk Hrubý.