Broad Peak Attempt. Our expedition was led by Dr. Franz Berghold and composed of Günther Knauseder, Horst Schindlbacher, Peter and Wastl Wörgötter and me. We had the usual approach problems, such as porter strikes, lost baggage and swept-away bridges, which delayed our arrival at Base Camp until the end of June. Our original plan of climbing a new route, the southeast buttress, was given up because of bad conditions and lack of time. We prepared the normal route with the variant used by the Poles, Japanese and French. In only nine days, in which the weather could not have been better, we fixed ropes and set up camps at 18,700, 21,000 and just under 23,000 feet. On July 12, the day Messner climbed K2, we were all at Camp III and in top form. We set out on Friday the 13th of July at 1:30 A.M. in icy cold. There was some difficult trail breaking. The forward group, both Wörgötters, Schindlbacher and Knauseder, reached the col at 25,600 feet at about 9:30 when the weather turned bad and drove them back. I had to give up sooner fearing frozen feet. Two other attempts ended, one at Camp II and the other at Camp III. Time was up and we had to quit. Dr. Berghold did high-altitude medical research during the expedition, using the most modern equipment. We wore electro-cardiograph equipment during our summit attempt.

Herbert Karasek, Salzburg (Austria) Karakoram Expedition