# Gasherbrum

Gasherbrum (Urdu: گاشر برم) is a remote group of peaks situated at the northeastern end of the Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram mountain range. The peaks are located within the border region of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China. The massif contains three of the world's 8,000 metre peaks (if Broad Peak is included). The highly visible face of Gasherbrum IV has gained the nickname the "Shining Wall" and this has often been claimed as the meaning of the word "Gasherbrum". However the name Gasherbrum comes from "rgasha" (beautiful) + "brum" (mountain) in Balti, hence it actually means "beautiful mountain".

## Geography

The Gasherbrum range forms the continental divide of southern Asia; drainage to the north and east flows into the Tarim Basin, drainage to the south and west flows into the Arabian Sea.
| Peak | Elevation | Prominence (m) | Latitude (N) | Longitude (E) |
| Gasherbrum I | 8,080 metres (26,509 ft) | 2,155 | 35°43′27″ | 76°41′48″ |
| Broad Peak | 8,047 metres (26,401 ft) | 1,701 | 35°48′35″ | 76°34′06″ |
| Gasherbrum II | 8,035 metres (26,362 ft) | 1,523 | 35°45′27″ | 76°39′15″ |
| Gasherbrum III | 7,952 metres (26,089 ft) | 355 | 35°45′34″ | 76°38′31″ |
| Gasherbrum IV | 7,925 metres (26,001 ft) | 725 | 35°45′39″ | 76°37′00″ |
| Gasherbrum V | 7,147 metres (23,448 ft) | 654 | 35°43′45″ | 76°36′48″ |
| Gasherbrum VI | 6,979 metres (22,897 ft) | 520 | 35°42′30″ | 76°37′54″ |
| Gasherbrum VII | 6,955 metres (22,818 ft) | 165 | 39°44'19" | 76°36'0" |
| Gasherbrum Twins | 6,912 metres (22,677 ft) and 6,877 metres (22,562 ft) | 162 | 35°34'13" | 76°35'36" |

## History

In 1856, Thomas George Montgomerie, a British Royal Engineers lieutenant and a member of the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, sighted a group of high peaks in the Karakoram from more than 200 km away. He named five of these peaks K1, K2, K3, K4 and K5, where the "K" denotes Karakoram. Today, K1 is known as Masherbrum, K3 as Gasherbrum IV, K4 as Gasherbrum II and K5 as Gasherbrum I. Only K2, the second highest mountain in the world, has retained Montgomerie's name. Broad Peak was thought to miss out on a K-number as it was hidden from Montgomerie's view by Masherbrum.

## Climbing history

| Mountain | altitude | first ascent | first winter ascent |
| Gasherbrum I | 8068 m | 1958 by Pete Schoening and A. J. Kauffman (USA) | 2012 by Adam Bielecki, Janusz Gołąb [pl] (Poland) |
| Broad Peak (if included in group) | 8047 m | 1957 by Marcus Schmuck, Fritz Wintersteller, Kurt Diemberger and Hermann Buhl (Austria) | 2013 by Adam Bielecki, Artur Małek, Maciej Berbeka, Tomasz Kowalski [pl] (Poland) |
| Gasherbrum II | 8035 m | 1956 by Fritz Moravec, S. Larch, H. Willenpart (Austria) | 2011 by Simone Moro (Italy), Denis Urubko (Kazakhstan), Cory Richards (United States) |
| Gasherbrum III | 7952 m | 1975 by Wanda Rutkiewicz, Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz, Janusz Onyszkiewicz and Krzysztof Zdzitowiecki [pl] (Poland) | Unclimbed in winter |
| Gasherbrum IV | 7925 m | 1958 by Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri (Italy) | Unclimbed in winter |
| Gasherbrum V | 7147 m | 2014 by S. Nakjong and A. Chi Young (Korea) | Unclimbed in winter |
| Gasherbrum VI | 7001 m | Unclimbed, attempted 1998 by a French group (two dead) and a Danish group (Bo Belvedere Christensen, Mads Granlien and Jan Mathorne reaching 6200 m) | Unclimbed in winter |
| Gasherbrum VII | 6755 m | 2019 by Cala Cimenti (Italy) | Unclimbed in winter |
| Gasherbrum Twins | | Unclimbed | Unclimbed in winter |