(Editor’s note: With great regret we can not publish the whole article for reasons of space. We apologize to the author for having to leave out sections and hope the transitions will not be abrupt or confusing. The reader may wish to fill in details from the account which was published in the A.A.J., 1976 on pages 540–1.)

OUR expedition in fact consisted of two teams: seven men were added to the ten women as an emergency support team. We had hoped to climb independently, having applied to the Pakistani authorities for permission to attempt both Gasherbrum II and III. Unfortunately we were first granted a permit for Gasherbrum III only, which led to a merger of the two teams under Wanda Rutkiewicz, creating an embarrassing situation of an undeniably mixed expedition publicized as a ladies’ expedition!

The route above Camp I at 19,700 feet on the Gasherbrum South Glacier followed the southwest ridge, rather to the left of the route taken by Moravec in 1956. He found the lower part of the ridge too steep and iced up and steered a diagonal course up the face before joining the ridge higher up: a route which looked horrendous in 1975! We planned to place two camps on the ridge and a final, fourth camp on the col between the twin peaks of Gasherbrum II and III. For three weeks we laboured ant-like back and forth, gradually pushing our way up the ridge, fixing about a mile of rope and establishing and equipping Camps II and III. We were constantly being sent scurrying down to Base Camp, at the junction of the Abruzzi and Gasherbrum South Glaciers, by storms which raged for three or four days before giving way to more or less the same period of settled weather.

Two attempts to reach the col and establish Camp IV were foiled by bad weather, and it became clear that our summit attempts would have to be made from Camp III. On August 1, a group of five climbers left Camp III for the col: Wanda Rutkiewicz, Halina Krüger-Syrokomska, Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Zdzitowiecki. They made a late start, deterred by a fierce wind which had risen in the early hours of the morning. It was ten A.M. by the time they reached the great boulder-strewn embrasure overlooking China. To the right the shadowed, sawn-off end of the west ridge of Gasherbrum II rose sheer to the sky. To the left, reared the craggy bulk of Gasherbrum III, with an unsuspected peak of 7600 meters (24,935 feet) guarding the way to China. Disappointed by the obvious impossibility of the west ridge, the three men continued to traverse around Gasherbrum II in the hope that the northwest face might prove feasible. The women, meanwhile, plodded up towards the foot of the east ridge of Gasherbrum III. A 350- foot rock band had to be surmounted to reach the snow leading to the top. This was too much for the girls; Halina belayed as Wanda made two attempts to force a route and then they conceded defeat.

The boys had more luck. The northwest face looked reasonable and at eleven A.M. they started up, unroped and taking turns to kick steps. Apart from an awkward chimney, the route was almost entirely on snow and ice. It was steep and exposed and offered no escape from the bitter wind. At four o’clock, battered and frozen by the wind and exhausted by bands of deep, soft snow, they stopped. Laszek carried on up some 35 feet more to see if there was shelter on the other side. His shout mobilized the others. “Lads!” he yelled, “I’m on the summit!” The much publicized Ladies’ Expedition to Gasherbrum III had succeeded in putting three men on the summit of Gasherbrum II! They roped up to descend the easier east ridge, Moravec and the Austrians’ route.

On August 4 Leszek Wozniak, Andrzej Lapinski and Marek Janas left to make another ascent of Gasherbrum II, but they were out of step with the weather. They finally reached the summit in perfect weather on the 9th.

And still Gasherbrum III remained inviolate! Wanda and I were on our way, however, supported by Janusz and Krzysztof, and a second group was a day behind. Our job, as Wanda presented it before leaving Base Camp, was to climb the rockband. If she and I had sufficient time and strength, we would go for the summit. If not, we were to return to the col for the night where we would be joined the next morning by Halina, Anka Okopinska and Krystyna Palmowska.

Such was the plan. Little mention was made of the other possible route—the east face via the central couloir, probably a more serious route. The difficulties on the ridge were concentrated at the bottom, whereas on the face they increased as the angle steepened; the central couloir gave way to narrow fingers that thrust upwards and disappeared between the ribs and buttresses leading to the jagged crest. On the way to Camp III we discussed the alternatives and agreed the couloir would need a foursome to carry equipment to climb it and to safeguard our retreat as well as to plough through the deep snow.

We reached the col on the morning of August 11, still uncertain as to our route. The ultimate decision was Wanda’s and she struggled with it while Janusz and I stamped out a tent platform. By eight A.M. the tent was up and stove, food and sleeping bags stowed inside. “Well, Wanda, decision!” demanded Krzysztof. “Oh! The couloir, I suppose,” she said, jabbing the snow in a gesture of impotence as she abandoned her previous vehemently held position that the first ascent of Gasherbrum III would be made by women alone. There was a now-or-never feeling in this fourth consecutive day of good weather.

The going was good up the steep, crisp snow of the couloir and we gained height fast. Then came the first obstacle: the couloir closed ahead of us in a vertical rock step. Fortunately the right wall offered an escape. Janusz led. His crampons screeched on rock; then he floundered up a ramp of loose snow which led steeply to a rock rib. He banged in a peg, tied off the rope and we jümared up to join him. Being above the step, Wanda now led back into the couloir while Janusz belayed. I sat in the sun, enjoying the view. I felt like singing. After all those weeks flogging up and down the ridge, this was the real thing. Crane your neck and you could almost see the top. The scale was comprehensible at last.

The traverse was awkward—loose snow on loose rock—and Wanda took forever. We generated so much adrenalin that we surged across, jet-propelled. Leaving fixed ropes on these pitches, we set off together up the ever steeper and deeper snow of the couloir. Soon we had to use elbows and knees to burrow through the sugary, incompressible grains. Then we wormed our way on our stomachs under an overhanging rock buttress to reach a snowfield to the right, where the snow was slightly better. Several gullies led upwards. The left one, which we tried first, had an awkward chimney at its base and so we traversed back right and laboured up the next gully until forced left onto a rib of unstable, snow-covered rock. It was steep and exposed but it led directly to the summit ridge.

The ridge where we reached it was a knife-edge of loose rock. To our left a rickety pinnacle blocked the way to the summit. We had to wait while Janusz cautiously felt his way around the base, fixing a rope handrail as he went. A final snow slope and at six P.M. we were on the summit with a glorious view. The sea of mountains stretched out as far as we could see. Purple against the sun were K2, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum IV, while to the east stood Hidden Peak and Gasherbrum II bathed in a rosy glow. Gasherbrum V and VI, which towered above us at Camp I, were way below, and we could look across them to the dramatic wedge of Chogolisa and beyond. Briefly we were giants; but to survive as mere mortals, we had to race the lengthening shadows to the tent in the col. Night caught us on the fixed ropes but at 9:30 we reached the welcome, flimsy shelter.

The next morning we went down to Camp III, vacated a couple of hours earlier by Saeed, our liaison officer, and the three girls on their way towards the east ridge of Gasherbrum II. Unfortunately, Saeed suffered from the altitude and Krystyna had to return from halfway along the traverse with him. Halina and Anka continued on to the summit.

Summary of Statistics:

Area: Baltoro Glacier region of the Karakoram, Pakistan

Ascents: Gasherbrum II, 26,360 feet, by a new route, the northwest face, August 1, 1975 (Leszek Cichy, Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Krzysztof Zdzitowiecki); by the east ridge (the first-ascent route), August 9 (Marek Janas, Andrzej Lapinski, Leszek Wozniak); by the east ridge, the first ascent of an 8000-meter peak by women alone, August 12 (Halina Krüger-Syrokomska, Anna Okopinska).

Gasherbrum III, 26,090 feet, which had been since 1964 the highest unclimbed peak and highest peak on which women have taken part in the first ascent, August 11, 1975 (Wanda Rutkiewicz, Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz, Onyszkiewicz, Zdzitowiecki).

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