Gasherbrum II. On July 26 we reached Base Camp on the Abruzzi Glacier at 16,700 feet. It took us until August 1 to set up camp on the plateau of the Gasherbrum Glacier at 20,000 feet. There our two Austrians, Otto Zöttl and Albert Hosp, had to give up and descend to Base Camp. Adi Fischer and I, Germans, went on alpine-style and bivouacked on August 7, at 21,325 feet. Conditions were very bad on the lower part with 60° bare ice. We bivouacked on the 8th at 24,000 feet. Fischer had stomach cramps and had to stop at 24,300 feet. I continued on alone but went over to the easier first-ascent route of Fritz Moravec. It took strength and time to traverse below the summit cone of Gasherbrum II since the snow was deep. At seven P.M. I reached Gasherbrum II’s summit (26,360 feet). My ascent was observed by telescope from the Japanese Gasherbrum V Base Camp. I suffered frostbite. No supplementary oxygen was used. We had followed the Polish route in the bottom part and found some of their snow pickets in the middle of the face. We also found the remains of two Polish tents at the foot of the summit ridge at 25,000 feet. From there I went over to the Moravec route to the right under the summit cone and then left up a ridge to the summit.

Georg Brosig, Deutscher Alpenverein