Wien, 1958, 2nd edition. 224 pp, photos. In German. A very scarce book, and essential for 8000 meter peak book collectors. The first ascent of Gasherbrum II. DJ, Near Fine.
Author was the leader of the 1956 expedition that made the first ascent of Gasherbrum II in the Mustagh Baltoro region of the Karakoram mountains. With a summit reaching to 8035m, Gasherbrum II is the 13th highest mountain on earth. The first 90 pages of this book are on the Gasherbrum II expedition. The last 130 pages are on his travels in East Africa including a mountaineering ascent of Kilimanjaro & a visit to Mt Kenya.
Gasherbrum in local language means 'Shining Wall'. There are six Gasherbrum Peaks. Gasherbrum II, (8035 meters/26,361ft), the shining mountain on the Karakoram range is the second highest peak among the Gasherbrum Peaks.
The first ascent was made the an Austrian team led by Fritz Moravec along with Josef Larch and Hans Willenpart on July 8th, 1956. They set up a base camp on the south Gasherbrum glacier. Camp I was set up at 6005 meters. It was here that the party was forced to stay for ten days because of a severe storm. Consequently, they lost a large supply store in an avalanche.
History of Gasherbrum II
1889-1929 The international expedition headed by the Swiss G.O. Dyhrenfurth studies possible ways to the top of the Gasherbrum II and gets to 6250 meters on the south flank.
1956: First ascent via the southwest spur by an Austrian expedition headed by F. Moravec. Fritz Moravec along with Josef Larch and Hans Willenpart starts from a bivouac at 7700 meters via the east spur to the summit on 7th.
July 1975: Second ascent by a French group, 19 years after the first ascent. During this expedition, the first victim at the Gasherbrum has to be lamented. In this year, three expeditions get to the summit, among others a Polish women team headed by W. Rutkiewicz.
1979: A Chilean and a German expedition succeeded in the 6th and 7th ascent.
1982: Reinhold Messner summits with two Pakistanis.
1984: During the legendary double ascent of two 8000 peaks, Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander get to the summit of Gasherbrum II and afterwards Hidden Peak (Gasherbrum I). Counting and registration is more complicated during the following years because some illegal teams got to the summit. Both peaks belong to the less frequently climbed 8000 peaks. Per year, only 2 to 3 permits are given.
