Gasherbrum I and II. Gasherbrum I (Hidden Peak) and Gasherbrum II have been climbed by teams of Quota 8000, an organization which has a five-year project to climb all the fourteen 8000-meter peaks. Our first expedition had as climbers Gianni Calcagno, Pierantonio Camozzi, Sergio Dalla Longa, Marino Giacometti, Giambatista Scanabessi, Tulio Vidoni, Pierangelo Zanga and me as leader. On June 6 Calcagno, Scanabessi and Vidoni completed a two-day ascent of Gasherbrum II by the 1975 French route up the southeast ridge. They descended in one day. On June 9 Camozzi and I completed a new route on the extremely difficult northwest face of Gasherbrum I after eight bivouacs. On June 19 Calcagno and Vidoni got to the summit of Gasherbrum I after three days on a new route on the north-northwest face. We had only three or four “sunny” days in the 35 days we were climbing. Geographer Ciancarlo Corbellini studied the Balti population with particular attention to economy and agriculture. Glaciologist Claudio Smiraglia did research on glacial geomorphology and glaciology.

Agostino Da Polenza, Club Alpino Italiano