Broad Peak

Broad Peak (Balti: ཕ༹ལ་ཆན་གངས་རི་།, romanized: Falchan Kangri, lit. 'Broad Peak'; Urdu: بروڈ پیک) is one of the eight-thousanders, and is located in the Karakoram range spanning Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China. It is the 12th highest mountain in the world with 8,051 metres (26,414 ft) elevation above sea level. The first ascent of this mountain was in June 1957, accomplished by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl as part of an Austrian expedition.
Broad Peak is part of the Gasherbrum massif in Baltistan situated on the border of Pakistan and China. It is located in the Karakoram mountain range, approximately eight kilometres (five miles) from K2. The peak's name aptly describes its physical characteristics, with a summit that extends over 1.5 kilometers (7⁄8 miles) in length, giving it the appearance of a "broad peak."
Three of the mountain's five summits are eight-thousanders: Broad Peak (8051 m), Rocky Summit (8028 m), Broad Peak Central (8011 m), with Broad Peak North (7490 m), and Kharut Kangri (6942 m) being the other two peaks.
The literal translation of "Broad Peak" to Falchan Kangri is not used among the Balti people. The English name was introduced in 1892 by the British explorer Martin Conway, in reference to the similarly named Breithorn in the Alps.
The first ascent of Broad Peak was achieved between June 8 and 9, 1957 by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl of an Austrian expedition led by Marcus Schmuck. A first attempt by the team was made on May 29 where Fritz Wintersteller and Kurt Diemberger reached the forepeak (8,030 m). The first ascent took the West Spur and was accomplished without the aid of supplemental oxygen, high-altitude porters, or base camp support.
In July 2007, an Austrian mountaineering team climbed Broad Peak and retrieved the corpse of Markus Kronthaler, who had died on the mountain one year before, from over 8,000 metres.
In 2008, French mountaineer Élisabeth Revol made solo ascents of Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II within 16 days and without the aid of supplemental oxygen.
In the winter and summer of 2009, there were no summits. There was one winter expedition by a Polish-Canadian team. In the summer there was one fatality, Cristina Castagna.
In the summer of 2012, five members of "Koroška 8000", a Slovenian team led by Gregor Lačen, summitted the mountain without supplementary oxygen or high-altitude porters. They established a route in deep snow from Camp 4 to the summit, used by seven additional climbers from other expeditions. All summitted on July 31, 2012.
On March 5, 2013 Maciej Berbeka, Adam Bielecki, Tomasz Kowalski and Artur Małek made the first winter ascent and conquered the mountain peak without oxygen during the winter. Broad Peak was the twelfth eight-thousander summited in wintertime and the tenth eight-thousander first summitted in winter by the Polish climbers. During the descent, Maciej Berbeka and Tomasz Kowalski did not reach Camp 4 (at 7400 m) and were pronounced missing. On March 7, the head of the expedition Krzysztof Wielicki, said there are "no chances at all" of finding alive 58-year-old Maciej Berbeka and 27-year-old Tomasz Kowalski. On March 8 both climbers were declared dead and the expedition was ended.
In July 2013, a group of five Iranian climbers attempted to ascend through a new route from the southwestern face. Three of them — Aidin Bozorgi, Pouya Keivan, and Mojtaba Jarahi — ascended successfully but during the descent all three of them were lost and declared dead.
On July 23, 2016, Frenchman Antoine Girard's paraglider flight over Broad Peak was the first time a paraglider had flown above an 8,000-metre summit.
On July 14, 2019, 17-year-old Shehroze Kashif from Pakistan became the youngest ever to summit this peak.
Windy Gap is a 6,111-metre (20,049 ft)-high mountain pass 35°52′23″N 76°34′37″E﻿ / ﻿35.87318°N 76.57692°E﻿ / 35.87318; 76.57692 at east of K2, north of Broad Peak, and south of Skyang Kangri.