UK, 2004, 1st UK edition. 208 pp, 48 color & 18 b/w photos, sketches, appendix. This the first full account of the 1st ascent of Broad Peak (aka K3 and Faichan Kangri) in 1957 by Marcus Schmuck, Fritz Wintersteller, Hermann Buhl and Kurt Diemberger, drawing on the climbing diaries of Schmuck and Wintersteller and accounts written by Buhl. None of this material has ever been published before.
The account is supported by conversations with Kurt Diemberger and with Qader Saeed, who was the expedition's Pakistani liaison officer. The book includes an account of Buhl's last climb and death on Chogolisa, from the protocol written by the surviving team members on the day Diemberger returned to Base Camp after the accident. The book begins with a history of Broad Peak, including the first ever drawing of the mountain (from Martin Conway's expedition of 1892), the first ever photograph (from the Eckenstein expedition of 1902) and Vittorio Sella's panorama from the Duke of Abruzzi expedition of 1909.
There is also an account of the first attempt on the Peak by the Karl Herrligkoffer expedition of 1954. The book ends with an Appendix of all summit climbs from 1957-2004. The photos from the 1957 expedition are almost entirely from previously unpublished work of Schmuck and Wintersteller. New Hardcover with dust jacket. SIGNED BY Richard Sale, Fritz Wintersteller and Marcus Schmuck (who is now deceased).
One of the most impressive Himalayan ascents of the last century was Austrian party of Marcus Schmuck, Fritz Wintersteller, Kurt Diemberger and Hermann Buhl’s 1957 first ascent of Pakistan’s 8,047 m Broad Peak.This was achieved by a small team without artificial oxygen who ferried all the loads to the high camps. The trip ended with the tragic death of top Austrian climber Hermann Buhl, who fell through a cornice duringa reconnaissance of Chogolisa.
Now, this book by Richard Sale, Broad Peak, discusses the dynamics between the climbers themselves and the effect of Buhl’s death on the way the trip has been reported. In the past, the roles ofthe massively strong Schmuck and the talented Wintersteller have been downplayed, even though they performed brilliantly as a team and made the first ascent of the peak. Another little recognized aspect of such trips is the role played by liaison officers. On the 1957 expedition, a dashing young Pakistani infantry officer, Quader Saeed was the liaison officer.
Saeed emigrated to Toronto in 1971 and now runs a grocery store there. Saeed instantly liked the climbers, an impression made stronger when Buhl had a pair of boots flown to Rawalpindi from Austria because the expedition had none that fit him. Saeed saved the men from difficulties on several occasions. “I had to explain to them that we were five men and that there were forty porters and we were a long way from any help. They demanded sunglasses, and one of the climbers said,‘be tough, tell them no.’ Instead, I asked the porters why they needed these glasses now, when they had never needed them before, in all their travels in exactly the same areas. We had to pay them for the glasses, but avoided a conflict.”
Saeed was devastated by the death of Buhl, and tears still come to his eyes when he describes Diemberger coming to the camp with the news. Saeed stays in touch with Schmuck and Wintersteller and visits their homes in Austria every few years. He has two photographsof himself and Schmuck climbing on Broad Peak on the wall of his store and follows the climbing news about Broad Peak. Saeed greeted Sales’ book enthusiastically because,according to him, it is the first book to set the record straight about one of the most impressive ascents in Pakistan’s history and one of hismost treasured memories. Shortlisted for the 2005 Boardman Tasker Award.
