The mountains of the Gasherbrum group were explored in 1909 by the
Duke of the Abruzzi and
Vittorio Sella. The
Abruzzi Glacier, a tributary of the
Baltoro Glacier, is named after the Duke. In 1934,
Günter Dyhrenfurth and his International Himalayan Expedition, including
André Roch, explored Gasherbrum I and II, making it up Gasherbrum II. The
first ascent came on July 7, 1956, by Austrians
Fritz Moravec, Josef Larch and Hans Willenpart by the Southwest Ridge. After they set up Camp I, they had to descend, and found the camp—and all their supplies and food—buried by an avalanche when they returned. Despite this, they decided to make a quick summit attempt. After opening up a route, they left Camp III on July 6. The group spent the night in a
bivouac sack and reached the top at 11:30 am the next day.
1970s In 1975, four expeditions successfully climbed Gasherbrum II, including Jean-Pierre Fresafond's French expedition, a Polish group under
Janusz Onyszkiewicz, and another Polish expedition led by
Wanda Rutkiewicz. Four years later, a Chilean group claimed to have used the "normal" route to reach the top. Several others, including
Reinhard Karl, , and
Kurt Diemberger also reached the summit.
1980s Swiss Mountaineers
Romolo Nottaris and Tiziano Zünd were the first to reach the summit in alpine style on August 3, 1981. On July 24, 1982,
Reinhold Messner, along with
Nazir Sabir and Sher Khan, climbed the peak via the Southwest Ridge. During the ascent, Messner discovered the body of a previously missing Austrian mountaineer, whom he buried two years later at the G I – G II crossing. He wrote of his climb of Gasherbrum II in the book
3 x 8000: My Great Year in the Himalaya (). In July 1984, Reinhold Messner and
Hans Kammerlander reached both Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I without returning to base camp, in
alpine style. In August 1986, Gasherbrum II was successfully ascended by a
Slovene expedition in only 32 hours from the base to the peak, with only 22 hours of climbing and 10 hours of rest at the altitude of 5900 m. This was by far the fastest ascent until then.
1990s In July 1996,
Jean-Christophe Lafaille climbed Gasherbrum I and II in four days, without stopping at Base Camp in between. In 1997
Anatoli Boukreev achieved a solo speed ascent, camp ABC (5800 metres) to summit in 9 hours 30 min.
2000s In 2006,
Sebastian Haag and
Benedikt Böhm climbed Gasherbrum II twice within a week. At 8:00 am on July 29, they reached the top and then skied down without
abseiling or removing their skis. They rested for a few days before leaving Camp I again on August 3. They started out fast, reaching Camp IV in six hours, but of fresh snow slowed them down, and they reached the summit after over six hours of tough climbing. They descended on skis again, this time made even more dangerous by packed-down snow and the risk of avalanche. Despite this, they both made it safely back to Camp I in under 17 hours, whereas a normal expedition takes four to seven days.
2020s In 2021, two French ski teams, including Boris Langenstein, Tiphaine Duperier, Aurelia Lanoe, and Guillaume Pierrel successfully skied Gasherbrum. On July 18, 2023,
Hugo Ayaviri climbed Gasherbrum II without oxygen, the fourth 8000’er in his quest to be the first Bolivian to summit all fourteen 8000m peaks. On July 19, 2023,
Andrzej Bargiel made the highest descent from Gasherbrum II on skis. He summited the mountain without using supplemental oxygen and began his ski descent from 26,362 feet up, over 8,000m. ==See also==