Masherbrum ( ur, ; formerly known as K1) is a mountain located in the Ghanche District, Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan. At , it is the 22nd highest mountain in the world and the 9th highest in Pakistan. It was the first mapped peak 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 the ...

mountain range, hence the designation "K1".

Etymology

Although "brum" means mountain in Balti, the origin of "masher" is less clear. Some have suggested that it derives from "Mashedar", meaning a muzzle-loader, due to the characteristic curvature of its summit as viewed from Baltoro Glacier. In Persian, "masheh" means both matchlock and trigger, and "dar" is a suffix meaning "having". Others have noted that "Masha" means lady, and "Masherbrum" is the "Queen of Peaks". Still others have noted that "Masher" means "no sunlight", in reference to the year-round snow cover at the summit.

Geography

Masherbrum is the highest peak of the

Masherbrum Mountains __NOTOC__ The Masherbrum Mountains ( ur, ) are a subrange of the Karakoram mountains, located in Ghanche District in the Baltistan region of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Geography The Masherbrum Mountains are located on the south side of the ...

, a subrange of the Karakoram range. It is a large and striking peak, which is somewhat overshadowed by the nearby peaks of the main range of the Karakoram which includes four of the fourteen

Eight-thousander The International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) recognises eight-thousanders as the 14 mountains that are more than in height above sea level, and are considered to be sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no ...

s, namely K2, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II. The Masherbrum Mountains lie to the south of the Baltoro Glacier and the main range of the Karakoram lies to the north of the Baltoro. The main range is the

continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

of southern Asia. Rivers to the south flow into the Arabian Sea. Rivers to the north flow into the Tarim Basin. The Baltoro Glacier is the route most commonly used to access the 8000m peaks of the Karakoram, and many trekkers also travel on the Baltoro. Masherbrum also lies at the north end of the Hushe Valley, which serves as the southern approach to the peak.

Climbing history

In 1856,

Thomas Montgomerie Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas George Montgomerie FRS (1830–1878) was a British surveyor who participated in the Great Trigonometric Survey of India as a lieutenant in the 1850s. He was the person to label K2, the second highest mountain in the w ...

, a British Royal Engineers lieutenant, noticed a tall mountain in the Karakorams and called it K1 (denoting peak 1 of the Karakorams; K2 was the name he gave to the nearby peak behind K1 when viewed from Harmukh). To the local people of the area, it is known as Masherbrum. Masherbrum was reconnoitered in 1911 by

Fanny Bullock Workman Fanny Bullock Workman (January 8, 1859 – January 22, 1925) was an American geographer, cartographer, explorer, travel writer, and mountaineer, notably in the Himalayas. She was one of the first female professional mountaineers; she not only e ...

and her husband, Dr. William H. Workman. It was first attempted in 1938 from the south, by a group led by James Waller which included

Dawa Thondup Dawa Thondup (also Da Thondup) was a Sherpa mountaineer. He had been a porter on the 1933 British Mount Everest expedition, he survived the 1934 Nanga Parbat climbing disaster, and he was a team member on a 1935 expedition led by James Waller an ...

and

J. O. M. Roberts Lieutenant Colonel James Owen Merion Roberts MVO MBE MC (21 September 1916 – 1 November 1997) was one of the greatest Himalayan mountaineer-explorers of the twentieth century; a highly decorated British Army officer who achieved his grea ...

. The attempt failed just short of the summit, when J.B. Harrison and R.A. Hodgkin, severely frostbitten, had to return due to bad weather. After two more failed expeditions, in 1955 and 1957, Masherbrum was first climbed in 1960 by George Irving Bell and Willi Unsoeld, led by the former, in an American-Pakistani expedition including Nick Clinch.In Memoriam section
of the '' American Alpine Journal'', 2001 They succeeded in climbing the southeast face route that had stymied the earlier parties. Th
Himalayan Index
lists three additional ascents and six additional failed attempts on Masherbrum. The ascents include two by additional routes, the NW Face and the NW Ridge/N Face. In her book ''Voyage au Bout du Vide: Une Cordėe Alpine au Masherbrum'', the French mountaineer Christine de Colombel provides a dramatic account of her 1980 attempt, with David Belden, to ascend Masherbrum in alpine style. Their three-month expedition, bedeviled by bad weather, ended in failure when avalanches swept their camp and injured de Colombel, leading to a desperate three-day retreat in whiteout conditions.

References

Sources

* H. Adams Carter, "Balti Place Names in the Karakoram", American Alpine Journal 49 (1975), p. 53. * Jill Neate, ''High Asia: An Illustrated History of the 7000 Metre Peaks'',
Himalayan Index

External links