Gasherbrum 2, 8035m
Kim is taking part in an expedition with Amical Alpin with the target to climb Gasherbrum 2 in Pakistan. This is the site for the updates from the expedition - connections permitting.
Background
The Himalaya extends for over 2500 km from the Brahmaputra river in Assam in the east to the Indus gorge near Nanga Parbat in the West. The Karakoram is a separate mountain range that lies to the NW of the Himalaya and stretches for 500 km from the Shyok river in the East to the hindu Kush range in the West. It contains a large number of +7000m peaks and 4 of the world’s 14 +8000 meter peaks, making it the greatest concentration of high mountains in the world. The word Karakoram itself means black gravel. This was the name of the Mongol capital in Chinese Turkestan under the emperor Gengis Khan.
Gasherbrum is a remote group of peaks located at the northeastern end of the Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram range of the Himalaya. The Gasherbrum massif contains three of the world's 8,000 metre peaks (G1 8068m, Broad Peak 8047m, G2 8035m). Gasherbrum is often claimed to mean "Shining Wall", presumably a reference to the highly visible face of Gasherbrum IV; but in fact it comes from "rgasha" (beautiful) + "brum" (mountain) in Balti, hence it actually means "beautiful mountain."
The approach route follows the Indus River gorge from the town of Skardu in the lower left of the picture, up to the NE, then making a hard turn to the E in the middle of the upper picture. Then it goes all the way up on the Baltoro Glacier to Concordia, turning to the SE around the Gasherbrum group onto the Upper Baltoro Glacier and then to the NE onto the Abruzzi Glacier. Base Camp will be on the moraine ridge on the Abruzzi Glacier at 5200m. Camp 1 will be at the foot of G2 at 5950m.
