Gasherbrum IV ( ur, گاشر برم -4; ),
surveyed as K3, is the
17th highest mountain on
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...
and the
6th highest in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. It is one of the peaks in the
Gasherbrum massif.
The
Gasherbrums are a remote group of
peaks located at the northeastern end of the
Baltoro Glacier in the
Karakoram
The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under t ...
range of the
Himalaya
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...
. The
massif contains three of the world's
8,000 metre peaks (if one includes
Broad Peak). Gasherbrum is often claimed to mean "Shining Wall", presumably a reference to the highly visible west face of Gasherbrum IV; but in fact, it comes from "rgasha" (beautiful) and "brum" (mountain) in
Balti, hence it actually means "beautiful mountain."
[H. Adams Carter, "Balti Place Names in the Karakoram", ''American Alpine Journal'' 49 (1975), p. 53.]
Notable ascents and attempts
* 1958 First ascent by
Walter Bonatti and
Carlo Mauri on an Italian expedition led by
Riccardo Cassin via the northeast ridge and the north summit. Traversing the pinnacled ridge to the main summit was considered the crux of the climb.
* 1985 First ascent of the high west face ("Shining Wall") by
Wojciech Kurtyka (Poland) and (Austria). However, bad weather, depletion of food and fuel, and extreme exhaustion forced them to stop at the north summit.
The editors of
''Climbing'' magazine considered it the greatest achievement of mountaineering in the twentieth century.
* 1986 First ascent of the northwest ridge by
Greg Child,
Tim Macartney-Snape and Tom Hargis, involving an open bivouac on the north summit. This was the second ascent of Gasherbrum IV.
* 1997 First complete ascent of the west face by a Korean team, via the central spur. Bang Jung-ho, Kim Tong-kwan and Yoo Huk-jae reached the summit after a sieged ascent quoted as 5.10 A3.
* 1999 Second ascent of the northwest ridge by Kang Yeon-ryong and Yun Chi-won, part of a 13-member Korean team.
* 2008 Third ascent of the northwest ridge by a Spanish team composed of Alberto Iñurrategi, Juan Vallejo, José Carlos Tamayo, Mikel Zabalza, and Ferran Latorre.
The team did not get to the main summit, but stopped at a minor peak a short distance from the true summit.
See also
*
List of mountains in Pakistan
*
List of highest mountains
Currently, There are at least 108 mountains on Earth with elevations of or greater above sea level. The vast majority of these mountains are located on the edge of the Indian and Eurasian plates in China, India, Nepal and Pakistan.
The ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gasherbrum Iv
Mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan
Seven-thousanders of the Karakoram