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 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 ...

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 at elevation above sea level. The first ascent of this mountain was in June 1957, accomplished by

Fritz Wintersteller Fritz Wintersteller (21 October 1927 – 15 September 2018) was an Austrian climber who made the first ascent of Broad Peak together with Hermann Buhl, Kurt Diemberger, and Marcus Schmuck in 1957. Although never a professional climber, he climbe ...

Marcus Schmuck Marcus Schmuck (18 April 1925 – 21 August 2005) was an Austrian mountaineer. In 1957, together with Hermann Buhl he organized the expedition, firstly envisaged and initiated by Buhl, to climb the world's 12th highest peak, the Broad Peak (8,047& ...

Kurt Diemberger Kurt Diemberger (born 16 March 1932) is an Austrian mountaineer and author of several books. He is the only living person who has made the first ascents on two mountains over 8,000 metres: of Broad Peak in 1957 and of Dhaulagiri in 1960. In 2013, ...

, and

Hermann Buhl Hermann Buhl (21 September 1924 – 27 June 1957) was an Austrian mountaineer. His accomplishments include the first ascents of Nanga Parbat in 1953 and Broad Peak in 1957. Buhl is the father of Austrian-German writer, publisher, and freelan ...

as part of an Austrian expedition.

Geography

Broad Peak is part of the

Gasherbrum Gasherbrum () is a remote group of mountain, peaks situated at the northeastern end of the Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram mountain range. The peaks are located within the border region of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China. T ...

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 ...

Baltistan Baltistan (); also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet, is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit-Baltistan and constitutes a northern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a dispute bet ...

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 Broad Peak Central is a secondary peak of the Broad Peak, which is also referred to as a relatively independent main peak. It belongs to the Gasherbrum massif. Due to its visual independence, it was long disputed whether it was the 15th eight-t ...

(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 Baltis are a Tibetic ethnic group who are native to the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit−Baltistan and the Indian-administered territory of Ladakh, predominantly in the Kargil district with smaller concentrations present in ...

. The English name was introduced in 1892 by the British explorer Martin Conway, in reference to the similarly named

Breithorn The Breithorn ( German for literally "broad horn"; 13,661 ft. or 4,160 m) is a mountain range of the Pennine Alps with its highest peak of the same name (but also called ''Breithorn (Western Summit)''), located on the border between Switze ...

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

, and

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 Élisabeth Revol (born 29 April 1979) is a French mountaineer. In January 2018, Revol became the first woman to climb Nanga Parbat in winter; on the descent, she was rescued, while her teammate Tomasz Mackiewicz died, an event which was widel ...

made solo ascents of Broad Peak,

Gasherbrum I Gasherbrum I, originally surveyed as K5, and also known as Hidden Peak, is the 11th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is located between Shigar District in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan and Tashkurgan in the Xi ...

and

Gasherbrum II Gasherbrum II (; ; ); surveyed as K4, is the 13th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is the third-highest peak of the Gasherbrum massif, and is located in the Karakoram, on the border between Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan and ...

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 Cristina "El Grio" Castagna (23 December 1977 – 18 July 2009) was an Italian mountaineer and the first Italian woman to climb Makalu. She died in 2009 on Broad Peak, after reaching the summit. Early life Castagna was born near San Quiri ...

. 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 Maciej Berbeka (17 October 1954 – 6 March 2013) was a Polish mountaineer and mountain guide. Berbeka made the first-ever winter ascent of three eight-thousanders: Manaslu, on 12 January 1984 with Ryszard Gajewski, and Cho Oyu, on 12 Fe ...

Adam Bielecki Adam Radosław Bielecki (born 12 May 1983) is a Polish alpine and high-altitude climber, known for the first winter ascents of the eight-thousanders: Gasherbrum I and Broad Peak. In his book ''Spod zamarzniętych powiek'', written with co-author D ...

Tomasz Kowalski Tomasz Kowalski (born 14 September 1992) is a Polish footballer who plays as a midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of th ...

and

Artur Małek Artur is a cognate to the common male given name Arthur meaning "bear-like", or “of honour”. It is believed to possibly be descended from the Roman surname Artorius or the Celtic bear-goddess Artio or more probably from the Celtic word ''a ...

made the

first winter ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in 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 and climbers focused ...

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 Krzysztof Jerzy Wielicki (Polish pronunciation: ; born 5 January 1950) is a Polish mountaineer, regarded as one of the greatest Polish climbers in history. He is the 5th man to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders and the first ever to climb Mount ...

, 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 Shehroze Kashif (; born 11 March 2002) is a Pakistani mountaineer who became the youngest climber in the world to summit K2 on 27 July 2021. He became the youngest Pakistani to summit Mount Everest on 11 May 2021. After the successful summit of M ...

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 Krystyna Palmowska (11 November 1948 – 15 June 2025) was a Polish mountaineer and engineer. Palmowska became known for her mountaineering expeditions in the late 1970s and 1980s, where she was recognized as one of Poland's most notable female ...

. *1984 Broad Peak climbed in one-day (solo) by

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 Òscar Cadiach i Puig (born 1952 in Barcelona) is a Spanish mountaineer. He has climbed all the 14 eight-thousanders.

Alberto Soncini Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...

and

Lluís Ràfols Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

were the first to reach the summit from the Chinese side. *1994 On July 9,

Carlos Carsolio Carlos Carsolio Larrea (born 4 October 1962 in Mexico City) is a Mexican mountain climber. Carsolio is known for being the fourth man (first non-European) and the second youngest to climb the world's 14 eight-thousanders, all of them without s ...

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,

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 Nirmal Purja (known as Nims or Nimsdai) (; born 25 July 1983) is a Nepal-born naturalised British mountaineer. Prior to taking on a career in mountaineering, he served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas followed by the Special Boa ...

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

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 Skyang Kangri (), or Staircase Peak, is a high mountain peak of the Baltoro Muztagh, a subrange of the Karakoram range. It lies on the Pakistan–China border, about northeast of K2, the world's second-highest mountain. The name "Staircase P ...

Geography

Etymology

Climbing history

Timeline

Passes

See also

References

Further reading