Broad Peak, Northwest Ridge, Traverse of the North, Central and Main Summits. From July 13 to 18 Jerzy Kukuczka and I made a new route on the unclimbed northwest ridge of Broad Peak. This is only the second route till now on this mountain since it was first climbed on the west side 27 years ago. We climbed in the purest alpine style without previous contact with the route. Our acclimatization, hampered by bad weather, took three weeks with two hazardous trips on the south face and another on the original route to 7300 meters. The final climb from the base of the ridge to the main summit took 4½ days. One more day was used for the descent of the normal route. The new route follows the ridge over the three distinct summits: the north (7600 meters, 24,935 feet), the central (8013 meters, 26,290 feet) and the main (8047 meters, 26,400 feet) summits. The upper ridges of both the north and central summits were traversed mostly on their western sides. The climb began on Friday, the 13th of July with a full moon. That night the sultry and hazy air of the past two weeks cleared. On the first day we timidly ascended the dangerous, steep ice-avalanche track topped with a sérac barrier with two ice pitches of 55° to 60°. [They were well left of Casarotto’s route to the north peak.—Editor.] We reached the ridge crest and at 6300 meters found our first and best bivouac site. July 14 and 15 were psychologically very harrowing days. We climbed unroped on the steepest part of the north summit spur. As we took each step on the precipitous rock and ice, we could see the discouraging and forbidding aspect of the ridge. In order to progress fast, we could not resort to the use of the rope. Only four very difficult pitches were climbed on belay. Good bivouac sites were extremely scarce. Only at the very last moment on the evening of July 14 did we find a tiny ledge of snow stuck to the wall, which we cut out to pitch our small tent. We bivouacked on July 15 after traversing over the north summit onto the north col at 7300 meters. Here at long last the seemingly vertical middle ridge became less threatening and promised to be climbable. On July 16 after an arduous climb on steep ice up to 60° and over the central peak, we completed the traverse of the middle ridge and toward evening began the abseils into the summit col. This was the scene of the Polish tragedy of 1975, when three of five summit climbers fell to their death during the descent in a snow storm. This time it was not snowing but a fierce wind was driving furious clouds between the ridge pinnacles. We felt as if we were abseiling into Hell. All five abseils were fixed on broken pieces of rock or on unstable pitons. Forty meters above the col we found the fatal ice axe from which the first climber fell in 1975 onto the Sinkiang side. At the col we joined the original route at 7800 meters and bivouacked for the fourth time in a wind that made us still uncertain of the summit. At ten A.M. on July 17 we reached the main summit after a 2½-hour climb. On the same day we descended the normal route to the site of Camp II at 6400 meters. Shortly before reaching it, I nearly fell to my death when one of the old and ragged fixed ropes, which are the biggest hazard of the normal route, broke under my weight. I started sliding hopelessly on the steep ice and desperately kicked both crampons against the ice. I jerked to a sudden and lucky stop. In the morning hours of July 18 we ran down to the base of the mountain. The route’s extension along the sky-high ridge demands from the team very serious commitment and arduous work. The reward is the stunning beauty, hardly letting the climbers notice the danger and to sense the loneliness or the terror of detachment. The surrounding scenery changes day after day from first the dominance of K2 to the slow and impressive approach of the complex Gasherbrum group. For many days limitless mountain ranges spread around. This route is much more reasonable and easier for a small alpine-style team. One can hardly imagine fixing many kilometers of rope on such extended ridges.

Wojciech Kurtyka, Klub Wysokogórski, Kraków, Poland