Posted: Jun 26, 2009 04:58 am EDT
(K2Climb.net) A small crew of international climbers is currently attempting GIII and GIV: more than a hundred will try GII (and/or GI).

While most Gasherbrum climbers shoot for the two 8000ers - GI (Hidden Peak) and GII - their “lesser” cousins GIII, GIV and GV provide a higher degree of exposure and difficulty, plus a number of unclimbed faces and ridges. Moreover GVI, located at the edge of the range, is probably virgin.

Little is known about the lesser Gasherbrums, so here goes a skinny on the range.

Gasherbrum III (7952m)

Don Bowie (Can), Bruce Normand (Scotland), Guy McKinnon (NZ), Billy Pierson (US) and David Fält (Sweden), hope to ascend GIII - a peak first climbed by a strong Polish team led by the legendary lady-climber Wanda Rutkiewicz.

Obtaining resources and permits was no easy task for Communist Poland during the Cold War and the team fought for the ascent long before reaching BC. Read more about the climb on Summit Post. A second ascent was completed 29 years later by Basque (Spanish) Alberto Iñurrategi and Jon Beloki.

The 2009 international team hopes to attempt the SW Ridge via a new route.

Gasherbrum IV (7,925m)

The 2009 mountaineers further hope to climb the East Face on Gasherbrum IV via a new route. First climbed in 1958 by Bonatti and Mauri via its dangerous NE ridge; GIV's better-known feature is the 3000 meter tall West face.

Commonly known as the “Shining wall” for its reflection of the evening sun; the wall provides an extremely difficult climb on mixed terrain. Its first complete (and confirmed) ascent yet was achieved by Kurtyka and Schauer in 1985. The climbers used everything for the task, reaching the summit ridge in bad weather, exhausted and hallucinating. They actually didn’t reach the highest point of the summit ridge, but traversed to the North ridge for descent - which took another three days.

Story updated Jun28th, 2009: There is another GIV's west face ascent filed up in the American Alpine Journal. Korean Sun-dae Cho led a team up the West face via the west rib back in 1997. The climbers reported on very tough conditions, constant avalanches, and lack of gear. Volunteers Hak-Jae Yoo, Tong-Kwan Kim, Jung-Ho Bang reportedly reached the summit ridge on July 18th. The expedition's claim met some skepticism since there was no summit proof (the team member carrying the rolls of film allegedly lost his backpack on descent) and two out of the three summiteers were on their first Himalayan experience and had never climbed above 2,000 meters high before. Read more on Google Books - AAJ 1998.

Ferran Latorre about GIV: a road to the past

Any way you climb them, "the other Gasherbrums" offer difficulty, isolation and scarce summit probabilities. The award is true adventure and some of the best high altitude climbs in Pakistan - if not the world.

“Climbing GIV is a return to the past of sorts,” recalls Spaniard Ferran Latorre, who climbed the American route up the NW ridge to the summit ridge last year. “It was like climbing an 8000er (only 75 meters lower) back in the pioneers' times."

Ferrán teamed up with Alberto Iñurrategi (returning to the range following his GIII ascent), Juan Vallejo, Jose Carlos Tamayo and Mikel Zabalza. “We were alone on the mountain, exploring the terrain, forced to choose a relatively light style, in a small team of good friends – and first-class climbers.”

“GIV is also one of the most beautiful mountains on earth, not only because of its shape, but also because it is located in a privileged site, at the very head of Concordia,” Ferran added. “In fact, it’s lucky that GIV is not an 8,000er - it has remained out of the circuit, available for climbers whose motivation is the pure beauty of a superb peak difficult to ascend from every side.”

“Finally – well, it’s Bonatti’s mountain,” Latorre told ExWeb last week. “That’s an extra charm for mountaineering romantics like me.”

Gasherbrum V (7,100m)

According to BlankontheMap, Gasherbrum V has several summits. Only the Eastern point (7,100m) has been topped-out, by Japanese Mukaide, Sakaguchi and Sato in 1978.

“The central summits remain unclimbed at the time of this site’s latest update,” Blankonthemap stated.

Unclimbed: Gasherbrum VI (7,003m)

The French website, specialized on Pakistan peaks, also states that to its knowledge there has neither been a complete ascent of Gasherbrum VI (7,003m), known also as Chochordin Peak.

According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Tourism, German Dirk Grunert with three partners have applied for a GVI permit this year, in addition to G1 and G2.

Located in the heart of the Karakoram Range (at the NE end of the Baltoro glacier and south of Broad Peak), the Gasherbrums form a semi-circle around a glacier which shares its name.

There are six Gasherbrum peaks, all more than 7,000 meters tall. Most visited are GI/Hidden Peak (8,068m) and GII (8,035m). GIV (7,925m) towers in the middle, well visible all the way from far Baltoro. The range name translates Beautiful Mountains in Balti language.

Considered one of the "easiest" 8000ers; GII is by no means safe, as a July 18, 2007 avalanche showed. A slide took place above C2 at around 6,700m, struck four climbers, and killed two.

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