Broad Peak (; ) is one of the

eight-thousander The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being more than in height above sea level, and sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no precise defin ...

s, and is located in the Karakoram range spanning

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative units of Pakistan, administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has b ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It is the 12th highest mountain in the world with elevation above sea level. The first ascent of this mountain was in June 1957, accomplished by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl as part of an Austrian expedition.

Geography

Broad Peak is part of the Gasherbrum

massif A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...

in Baltistan situated on the border of

and

. It is located in the

Karakoram The Karakoram () is a mountain range in the Kashmir region spanning the border of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwestern extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range is withi ...

mountain range, approximately from K2. The peak's name aptly describes its physical characteristics, with a summit that extends over 1.5 kilometers (7⁄8 miles) in length, giving it the appearance of a "broad peak." Three of the mountain's five summits are

s: Broad Peak (8051 m), Rocky Summit (8028 m), Broad Peak Central (8011 m), with Broad Peak North (7490 m), and Kharut Kangri (6942 m) being the other two peaks.

Etymology

The literal translation of "Broad Peak" to ''Falchan Kangri'' is not used among the Balti people. The English name was introduced in 1892 by the British explorer Martin Conway, in reference to the similarly named Breithorn in the Alps.

Climbing history

The

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

of Broad Peak was achieved between June 8 and 9, 1957 by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl of an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n expedition led by Marcus Schmuck. A first attempt by the team was made on May 29 where Fritz Wintersteller and Kurt Diemberger reached the forepeak (8,030 m). The first ascent took the West Spur and was accomplished without the aid of supplemental oxygen, high-altitude porters, or base camp support. In July 2007, an Austrian mountaineering team climbed Broad Peak and retrieved the corpse of Markus Kronthaler, who had died on the mountain one year before, from over 8,000 metres. In 2008, French mountaineer Élisabeth Revol made solo ascents of Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II within 16 days and without the aid of supplemental oxygen. In the winter and summer of 2009, there were no summits. There was one winter expedition by a Polish-Canadian team. In the summer there was one fatality, Cristina Castagna. In the summer of 2012, five members of "Koroška 8000", a Slovenian team led by Gregor Lačen, summitted the mountain without supplementary oxygen or high-altitude porters. They established a route in deep snow from Camp 4 to the summit, used by seven additional climbers from other expeditions. All summitted on July 31, 2012. On March 5, 2013 Maciej Berbeka, Adam Bielecki, Tomasz Kowalski and Artur Małek made the first winter ascent and conquered the mountain peak without oxygen during the winter. Broad Peak was the twelfth eight-thousander summited in wintertime and the tenth eight-thousander first summitted in winter by the Polish climbers. During the descent, Maciej Berbeka and Tomasz Kowalski did not reach Camp 4 (at 7400 m) and were pronounced missing. On March 7, the head of the expedition Krzysztof Wielicki, said there are "no chances at all" of finding alive 58-year-old Maciej Berbeka and 27-year-old Tomasz Kowalski. On March 8 both climbers were declared dead and the expedition was ended. In July 2013, a group of five Iranian climbers attempted to ascend through a new route from the southwestern face. Three of them — Aidin Bozorgi, Pouya Keivan, and Mojtaba Jarahi — ascended successfully but during the descent all three of them were lost and declared dead. On July 23, 2016, Frenchman Antoine Girard's paraglider flight over Broad Peak was the first time a paraglider had flown above an 8,000-metre summit. On July 14, 2019, 17-year-old Shehroze Kashif from Pakistan became the youngest ever to summit this peak.

Timeline

*1954 First attempt by Dr. Karl Herrligkoffer of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

on the SW side that failed due to a storm and extreme cold. *1957 First ascent by an Austrian expedition. *1982

Reinhold Messner Reinhold Andreas Messner (; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from the German-speaking province of South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent o ...

summits. *1983 First ascent by a woman, Krystyna Palmowska. *1984 Broad Peak climbed in one-day (solo) by Krzysztof Wielicki in 21.5 hours; the first one-day ascent of an 8000-meter peak. *1988 March 6, Maciej Berbeka climbs to the 'Rocky Summit' (8028 m), becoming the first person to reach one of the summits of Broad Peak over 8000m during the winter. *1992 On August 4, Enric Dalmau Ferré, Òscar Cadiach, Alberto Soncini and Lluís Ràfols were the first to reach the summit from the Chinese side. *1994 On July 9, Carlos Carsolio reached the summit, establishing a new solo route now known as ''Route Carsolio''. *1997 On July 7,

Anatoli Boukreev Anatoli Nikolaevich Boukreev (; January 16, 1958 – December 25, 1997) was a Kazakh mountaineer who made ascents of 10 of the 14 eight-thousander peaks—those above —without supplemental oxygen. From 1989 through 1997, he made 18 successful as ...

achieved a solo ascent. *2013 On March 5, first winter ascent by Polish expedition. * 2013 July, Aidin Bozorgi, Pouya Keivan, and Mojtaba Jarahi of Iran ascended through a new route, named ''Route'' ''Iran''. *2014 Hunza Expedition to Broad Peak made the summit on 23 July 2014, Karim Hayat reached to main summit and Naseer Uddin turned back from Rocky summit. Karim Hayat became the first person from his village who reached 8000 m. *2019 July 14, Shehroze Kashif at the age of 17 became the youngest ever to summit this peak. He also became the youngest Pakistani to reach this altitude. *2019 July 26, Nirmal Purja summits Broad-Peak with his team 'Elite Exped', as part of his expedition to climb all 14 peaks exceeding 8000m in a record time of less than 7 months. *2023 Nirmal Purja and Migma G summit Broad Peak as part of an effort to climb all 14 8,000 meter peaks with supplemental oxygen.

Passes

Windy Gap is a -high

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

at east of K2, north of Broad Peak, and south of Skyang Kangri.

References

External links

Broad Peak on Himalaya-Info.org (German)Broad Peak on SummitpostFirst Ascent: The official Website of the Austrian OEAV Karakoram expedition 1957 on BroadPeak.org
{{Eight-thousander Eight-thousanders of the Karakoram Mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan Mountains of Xinjiang China–Pakistan border International mountains of Asia Broad Peak