The Urdok ridge is a high mountain ridge which follows the continuation of the southwest ridge of

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 ...

. Two main chains of 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 ...

range meet on this ridge. Along the Urdok ridge, there are several peaks. From north to south these include: Urdok I (7,250 also known as Urdok Kangri I), and an unnamed peak (7,136 m), before the ridge reaches the Abruzzi Saddle

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 ...

(6,782 m). The Abruzzi Saddle marks the boundary between the Gasherbrum group and the

Sia Kangri Sia Kangri (7,422 m, 24,350 ft) is a mountain in the Baltoro Muztagh in the Karakoram. Its summit lies on the border of Pakistan and China. About a kilometer southeast of the Sia Kangri summit is the tri point where territories controlled ...

massif. Continuing south, the ridge rises to Urdok II (7,082 m) and Urdok III (6,950 m) before reaching

. Some recognize Urdok II as Sia Kangri North.

Nomenclature

In 1934,

Günter Oskar Dyhrenfurth Gunter or Günter may refer to: * Gunter rig, a type of sailing rig, especially in small boats * Gunter Annex, Alabama, a United States Air Force installation * Gunter, Texas, city in the United States * the former German name of the village of ...

explored the region while looking for access points to climb Gasherbrum I. He named the Urdok ridge as it drops off to the northeast towards the

Urdok Glacier The Urdok Glacier is found in the eastern Karakoram along the Shaksgam Valley or Trans-Karakoram Tract. It separates the Siachen Muztagh in the east from the Baltoro Muztagh in the west. In the west and south, the glacier is framed by Gasherbrum I ...

. The glacier was already known by this name on the Chinese side of the Karakoram at this time.

Climbing history

There is little recorded history of climbs of mountains of this group.

Urdok I

Urdok I was climbed for the first time in 1975 by an Austrian expedition led by Hanns Schell. While ''enroute'' to

, the expedition detoured to summit Urdok I, summitting Gasherbrum I several days later.

Urdok II

In 2018, Luis Stitzinger led a team from Amical alpin to be the first to summit Urdok II. After considerable snow fell at base camp, the team abandoned the expedition, and moved to summit Gasherbrum I.

References

Mountain ranges of the Karakoram Gilgit-Baltistan geography stubs {{NorthernAreas-geo-stub