Template:Short description Template:Infobox mountain Template:Chinese Gasherbrum IV (Template:Langx; Template:Zh), surveyed as K3, is the 17th highest mountain on Earth and the 6th highest in Pakistan, as well as the highest independent mountain under eight thousand meters in Pakistan.
One of the peaks in the Gasherbrum massif, its immense West Face looms over the glacial junction of Concordia. The Name "Gasherbrum" is often claimed to mean "Shining Wall", presumably a reference to this face's tendency to reflect the rays of the setting sun, but in fact it comes from "rgasha" (beautiful) and "brum" (mountain) in Balti, hence it actually means "beautiful mountain."<ref name="carter">H. Adams Carter, "Balti Place Names in the Karakoram", American Alpine Journal 49 (1975), p. 53.</ref>
Despite its lower height relative to the surrounding eight-thousanders, Gasherbrum IV is a venerated challenge among mountaineers.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Notable ascents and attemptsEdit
| Year | Climbers | Summited? | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Template:Flagicon Walter Bonatti Template:Flagicon Carlo Mauri |
Yes | First ascent on an Italian expedition led by Riccardo Cassin via the Northeast Ridge and the North Summit. Traversing the pinnacled ridge to the main summit was considered the crux of the climb.<ref name="griffin">Griffin, Lindsay. "Gasherbrums Update." Alpinist Newswire, Alpinist Magazine, 30 August 2008. [1]</ref> |
| 1980 | Template:Flagicon Craig McKibben Template:Flagicon Steve Swenson |
No | First attempt of ascent via the East Face was unsuccessful due to weather conditions.<ref name="attempt1980">Normand, Bruce. "Gasherbrum IV East Face Attempt." American Alpine Club, 2018. [2]</ref> |
| 1985 | Template:Flagicon Wojciech Kurtyka Template:Flagicon Robert Schauer |
No | First ascent of the 2,500 m high West Face. Bad weather, depletion of food and fuel, and extreme exhaustion forced them to stop at the north summit. The climb was called the "most remarkable alpine-style ascent of the 20th century" and cited in support of Kurtyka's 2016 Piolets d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref name="griffin" /><ref name="piolet">"Piolets d’Or update!" Climber Magazine. [3]</ref> |
| 1986 | Template:Flagicon Greg Child Template:Flagicon Tim Macartney-Snape Template:Flagicon Tom Hargis |
Yes | First ascent of the Northwest Ridge, involving an open bivouac on the north summit. This was the second ascent of Gasherbrum IV.<ref name="griffin" /><ref>Child, Greg. "Gasherbrum IV's Northwest Ridge." American Alpine Journal, vol. 29, no. 61, 1987, pp. 17–25.</ref> |
| 1993 | Template:Flagicon Yasushi Yamanoi | No | Unsuccessful ascent attempt via the East Face.<ref name="attempt1993">Normand, Bruce. "Gasherbrum IV East Face Attempt." American Alpine Club, 2018. [4]</ref> |
| 1995 | Template:Flagicon Miroslav "Slavko" Svetičič | No | Died while attempting a solo climb of the West Face.<ref name="sveticic">"AAC Publications - Asia, Pakistan, Gasherbrum IV, West Face Solo Attempt and Tragedy." [5]</ref> |
| 1996 | Template:Flagicon Kim Chang-ho Template:Flagicon Lim Saeng-muk |
No | Attempted to summit via the East Face. Climb was abandoned after reaching about 7,400 m due to avalanche warning.<ref name="attempt1996">Normand, Bruce. "Gasherbrum IV East Face Attempt." American Alpine Club, 2018. [6]</ref> |
| 1997 | Template:Flagicon Bang Jung-ho Template:Flagicon Kim Tong-kwan Template:Flagicon Yoo Huk-jae |
Yes | First complete ascent via the West Face by a Korean team, via the central spur. Reached the summit after a sieged ascent quoted as 5.10 A3.<ref name="griffin" /> |
| 1999 | Template:Flagicon Kang Yeon-ryong Template:Flagicon Yun Chi-won |
Yes | Second ascent of the Northwest Ridge as part of a 13-member Korean team.<ref name="griffin" /> |
| 2008 | Template:Flagicon Alberto Iñurrategi Template:Flagicon Juan Vallejo Template:Flagicon José Carlos Tamayo Template:Flagicon Mikel Zabalza Template:Flagicon Ferran Latorre |
No | Third ascent of the Northwest Ridge by a Spanish team. Did not reach the main summit, stopped at a minor peak a short distance from the true summit.<ref name="ElPais">Carbonell, Rafael. "Oro en el Himalaya." El País, 8 August 2008. [7]</ref><ref name="vallejo">"mounteverest.net - Interview with Juan Vallejo, member of the Spanish team." [8]</ref> |
| 2012 | Template:Flagicon French Expedition | No | Attempting a summit of the "Shining Wall" on the West Face was abandoned mid-route due to an avalanche.<ref name="accident2012">"Accident stops French attempting the 'Shining Wall' of Gasherbrum IV." The BMC, 2012. [9]</ref> |
| 2016 | Template:Flagicon Aleš Česen Template:Flagicon Luka Lindič |
Yes (North Summit) | Reached the North Summit via the Northwest Ridge on July 26th. Intended to summit via the West Face, but weather conditions and heavy snow altered their route. This was the fourth successful summit of the Northwest Ridge.<ref name="interview2016">"Aleš Česen and Luka Lindič: the Broad Peak and Gasherbrum IV North Summit interview." PlanetMountain.com. [10]</ref><ref name="gripped2016">Gripped. "Ales Cesen and Luka Lindic Make Fourth Ascent of Gasherbrum IV Route." 31 July 2016. [11]</ref> |
| 2018 | Template:Flagicon David Göttler Template:Flagicon Hervé Barmasse |
No | Expedition to climb the Southwest Face was abandoned midway due to poor weather.<ref name="summit2018">"Summit attempts on Gasherbrum IV abandoned." Adventure Sports - DW.COM, 2 August 2018. [12]</ref> |
| 2018 | Template:Flagicon Oriol Baro Template:Flagicon Roger Cararach Template:Flagicon Iker Madoz Template:Flagicon Marc Toralles |
No | Spanish expedition abandoned their summit attempt due to bad weather. Planned to reach the summit via the still unclimbed South Pillar.<ref name="summit2018" /> |
| 2018 | Template:Flagicon Italian Expedition | No | Aimed to replicate the first ascent by Italians Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri on the sixtieth anniversary. Ended in tragedy as Maurizio Giordano was hit by falling ice and killed on the descent.<ref name="summit2018" /> |
| 2023 | Template:Flagicon Sergey Nilov Template:Flagicon Dmitry Golovchenko |
No | Expedition via a completely unknown route up the southeast ridge ended in tragedy as Golovchenko was lost in a fall.<ref name="climbing2024">Bernardi, Federico. "A Climber We Lost: Dmitry Golovchenko." Climbing, 10 January 2024. [13]</ref> |
| 2024 | Template:Flagicon Sergey Nilov Template:Flagicon Mikhail Mironov Template:Flagicon Sergei Mironov |
No | Attempt to recover Golovchenko's body ended tragically as a serac fell on the team. Expedition leader Sergei Nilov was reported missing and climbers Mikhail and Sergei Mironov were injured.<ref name="explorersweb2024">Benavides, Angela. "Another Tragedy on Gasherbrum IV: Nilov Presumed Dead, Two Injured, Call for Help." Explorersweb, 18 August 2024. [14]</ref> |
File:Bonatti Gasherbrum IV summit.jpg
Walter Bonatti on the Gasherbrum IV summit during first ascent in 1958
File:Gasherbrum group.JPG
Left to right: Gasherbrum IV, VII, V, VI<ref name="wala">Jerzy Wala, The Eight-Thousand Metre Peaks of the Karakoram (orographical sketch map, revised), Kraków, Poland, 1994</ref>